Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative is based in Vinita and serves more than 38,000 electric customers in the northeast corner of the state, according to its website.

If the Oklahoma Corporation Commission approves the utility’s request, electric rates would increase by nearly 5%, boosting the cooperative’s annual revenue by about $4.5 million.

The requested rate hike is “necessary to provide safe and reliable electrical service,” according to the cooperative’s application for a rate review.

Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative “is currently earning less than a sufficient return on the plant, property, and other assets required to maintain a safe and reliable electrical system,” the cooperative’s lawyers wrote.

This would be the utility’s first rate hike since 2010. For comparison, OG&E, the state’s largest electric utility, applied for six rate reviews in that same time and most recently implemented a 6.6% rate hike in July.