Meeker School Supt. Jeff Pruitt said this week the third party gas vendor that sent the exorbitant bill to the district in March has discounted it by 30 percent.
The bill that was originally sent by Symmetry Energy Solutions totaled $51,702.78. Pruitt said this week that amount has been reduced to $36,191.
On Tuesday this week, Pruitt further explained, “I’m working through that issue and making sure the district is going through the parameters of our legal obligation in regards to the bill.”
Pruitt said in April he sent a letter of protest to the third party gas vendor about the exorbitant bill the district received in March. Along with the letter, he sent a payment that he believed was appropriate, he noted.
Pruitt explained previously, “I got in touch finally with a representative of Symmetry Energy Solutions and that person at Symmetry didn’t give me any immediate solution to the problem.”
He was told by the person at Symmetry Energy that he would take a look at the letter and send it on up the channels.
“I mailed the letter on March 30,” Pruitt stated in early April.
Pruitt said with the letter he sent a payment of $2,743.39, which was 19 percent more than the district’s January bill.
That payment came from the district’s building fund. “That’s where our utility bills are paid from,” he stated earlier.
When Pruitt returned from Spring Break in March, he discovered February’s gas bill for the district had arrived totaling $51,702.78.
Pruitt said even though Oklahoma Natural Gas is the district’s gas supplier, the bill came from a third party vendor, Symmetry Energy Solutions.
Pruitt said he stated in his letter to Symmetry Energy and also told the person he talked to that amount equated to five years worth of annual encumbrances for a third party gas supplier.
Pruitt pointed out, “Annually, we pay about $10,000 to the third party gas supplier.”
Pointing again to the $51,702.78 gas bill for February, Pruitt has emphasized in comparison the district’s highest bill among the previous three months was for $2,305 and that was for January. In November, it was $1,202 and December’s totaled $1,879.
He said he informed Symmetry in his letter that the district shouldn’t have to pay any penalty or interest on not receiving its full payment.