PSO, which serves 285,000 customers in the Tulsa area, has agreed to purchase 106.5 megawatts -- enough to power 31,000 homes -- under a 20-year contract from a wind farm planned near Weatherford in western Oklahoma, where the wind often blows at incredible speeds.

But the project will not proceed unless Congress approves the extension of a federal tax credit for wind power production.

Extension of the 1.8-cent per kilowatt hour credit was contained in the controversial energy bill, which has repeatedly stalled amid fierce debate between Democrats and Republicans. The provision has since been pulled from the energy bill and placed into House and Senate versions of a corporate tax bill.

"The two bills need to go to conference," a spokeswoman for the American Wind Energy Association said. "The negotiations are likely to take a while."

Mike Bergey, a member of the Oklahoma Renewable Energy Council, questions whether the extension will pass, citing election-year politics.

"Congress is so dysfunctional right now," Bergey said.

The proposed wind farm, known as the Weatherford Wind Energy Center, would include 71 wind turbines on a 3,800-acre site. Florida Power and Light, the nation's top wind farm developer, would construct the facility.

The project will not lead to higher rates for PSO customers, said Stuart Solomon, president and chief operating officer of PSO.

"This is a competitively priced agreement," Solomon said in a prepared statement. "Competition in the wind energy industry in Oklahoma is increasing and helping to make wind power economical for customers."

Oklahoma is the eighth windiest state in the nation, according to AWEA.

Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co., the state's largest electric utility, began providing wind power to customers on a voluntary basis last year. The Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority and Western Farmers Electric Cooperative, which serves 19 Oklahoma cooperatives, also began supplying wind power to their customers last year.

Nearly 9,000 OG&E customers are subscribing to the utility's wind power option. The goal is 10,000, a company spokeswoman said.

The PSO project would be the state's third major wind farm. The first two were completed last year.

Wind power from OG&E and OMPA is produced at the Oklahoma Wind Energy Center, a 102 megawatt wind farm near Woodward. WFEC, which delivers electricity to 500,000 customers, buys its 74.25 megawatts of wind power from the Blue Canyon Wind Farm northwest of Lawton.

The PSO agreement could lower costs for its customers because the cost of wind-generated electricity is well below the cost of conventional power supplies, Bergey said.

"Wind power is just about the cheapest form of electric generation," Bergey said.

About 40 percent of PSO's power supplies are produced with natural gas, whose price has risen substantially in recent months. Those fuel costs are passed on to PSO customers.

There are no fuel costs associated with wind power. The PSO deal could help protect customers from spikes in natural gas prices, Bergey said.

The PSO project would be Florida Power and Light's second wind farm project in Oklahoma. FPL built the Oklahoma Wind Energy Center near Woodward last year.

In a separate matter, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission approved a settlement Monday that establishes additional quality-of- service standards for PSO.

Specific requirements were approved for PSO due to a rise in consumer complaints after American Electric Power acquired PSO in June 2000, said Denise Bode, commission chairman.

"We're going to require a lot more detail from them because of the problems we've had," Bode said.

The additional requirements call for the reporting of more information related to customer service, repairs and reliability.

PSO is a subsidiary of Columbus, Ohio-based AEP, the nation's largest generator of electricity. The PSO system serves 505,000 customers.