Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. has selected OGE Energy’s Enogex for a plant in northeastern Oklahoma, OGE Energy said Dec. 2

Enogex LLC, a subsidiary of OGE Energy Corp. will provide natural gas transportation service to the planned, new 540 megawatt combined cycle power generation plant near Pryor, Okla.

"Associated Electric Cooperative provides wholesale power to six regional generation and transmission cooperatives that serve Missouri and portions of Iowa and Oklahoma, including KAMO Power headquartered in Vinita, Oklahoma," Roger Clark, AECI's director of engineering and operation, said. "Our mission is to provide reliable, low cost power to these growing systems. To meet that mission, we determined a new, efficient natural gas power plant was our best option.

The new plant will be adjacent to a similar plant owned by AECI and served by Enogex. Upon completion of the second generation unit, the generation facilities will burn up to a combined 173,000 MMBtu per day. The new generation plant is expected to be in service in 2011.

"Enogex continues to strive to partner with our customers to be their pipeline company of choice and in this case making the most out of our strong understanding of the needs of electric generation," Keith Mitchell, Enogex chief operating officer, said. "We feel that this agreement with AECI represents our level of service and reliability to the end user customer while giving producers yet another outlet for their product."

OGE Energy Corp. also announced that its Board of Directors has approved an increase in the company's annual dividend to $1.45 per share from $1.42 per share.

The increase is effective with its first-quarter 2010 dividend of $0.3625 per common share of stock, to be paid Jan. 29, 2010, to shareowners of record Jan. 8, 2010. This continues an uninterrupted string of quarterly dividends dating back to 1947.

"We are pleased to be able to increase our dividend again this year," Pete Delaney, chairman, president and CEO of OGE Energy, said. "As we operate in a challenging economy, we are controlling costs and maintaining our company's strong financial position. This enables us to continue our commitment to growing earnings and dividends for the long term."