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OG&E and Google Announce Contract for Three Data Centers in Oklahoma

LCG, April 30, 2026--OG&E, the operating subsidiary of OGE Energy Corp., announced today that it will power three new data centers that Google announced in Muskogee and Stillwater, Oklahoma last year. As part of the agreement, Google will also make power generation capacity available from two solar facilities in Stephens and Muskogee Counties that are currently under construction. The data centers and associated Electric Service Agreements are expected to provide economic growth for local communities and the state, contribute to grid stability, and benefit OG&E's current customers.

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Graphic Packaging and NextEra Energy Resources Sign 250-MW Virtual Power Purchase Agreement

LCG, April 29, 2026--Graphic Packaging Holding Company today announced a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with NextEra Energy Resources, LLC. With the VPPA agreement, NextEra Energy Resources plans to build the Selenite Springs Energy Center, a 250-MW solar energy facility in West Texas, and Graphic Packaging will be the sole buyer of the facility's renewable energy attribute certificates. Graphic Packaging, a global provider of sustainable consumer packaging, expects the agreement to cover approximately 43 percent of its 2025 electricity usage in the U.S. and Canada. The agreement will advance Graphic Packaging's commitment to source renewable electricity and reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

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Industry News

Regulators Asked to Block Nicor Gas Choice

LCG, Sept. 19, 2000--The Citizens Utility Board yesterday asked Illinois state regulators to investigate a natural gas deregulation program underway at Nicor Inc. and to prevent the company from expanding the program until it can prove the plan benefits consumers.

Under the program, which Nicor began in 1998 and calls "Customer Select," 260,000 natural gas customers in 16 Illinois cities and towns have been allowed to switch to new suppliers for their gas. The company now wants to expand the program to all of its 1.9 million customers.

In a petition filed yesterday with the Illinois Commerce Commission, CUB said there are too many problems with the plan as it is to warrant its expansion. The advocacy group pointed to problems consumers are said to be having with the program and asked that the regulators investigate them. The biggest problem, according to CUB, is confusion about the alternative suppliers and their prices.

CUB says one company offered gas at 29.5 cents per therm on a three-year contract but, now that gas prices have risen, is charging its customers market rates. "So sue me," seems to be the company's attitude, but individual residential customers do not have that option and, because of the small sums involved, no trial lawyers have emerged to make the contract abrogation a speculative class action case.

CUB is also concerned about Nicor Energy, the unregulated marketing affiliate of the utility. It seems that Nicor Energy offered customers who switched a "lock-in rate" of 26.5 cents per therm, but when gas prices started to rise it turned out the company had a skeleton key to the lock it was in the fine print.

CUB wants the ICC to block the expansion of the program until the agency reviews these problemsand sets clear rules for how the alternative companies can market their rates and service. CUB alsowants Nicor Energy to be prohibited from misleading customers into thinking it is the same companyas Nicor Gas.

" Competition isn't supposed to be about misleading people into making the wrong choice, but that's exactly what's happening here," said Martin Cohen, executive director of the group.

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