Oklahoma Gas & Electric Pushes Rate Hike Request

The Red Rock plant, a joint venture with other utilities that carried a price tag of $1.8 billion, was abandoned.

"We have set a stretch goal to defer any new fossil generation until 2020," Alford said. "By avoiding that new construction, we help prevent the cost associated with significant investments like that."

The utility instead plans to concentrate on helping its customers be better consumers of energy and invest in wind and other renewable energy sources, he said. OG&E also plans to spend more than $200 million to build new transmission lines from wind farms in northwestern Oklahoma to the Oklahoma City area.

The project is one of more than 30 transmission projects that have been completed, are under way or are planned by utilities across the nation to transmit solar, wind, geothermal or biomass-generated electricity as part of their overall electric load, according to EEI.

"We still need investment in our system and this technology, but it is much more economical to invest in helping our customers save," Alford said.

Balancing the need for utilities to invest and customer demand to keep rates low puts new pressure on regulators, officials said