OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE) on Thursday announced first-quarter earnings that were more than quintuple those of last year’s first quarter, which was marred by the severe winter storm.

The Oklahoma City-based company reported earnings of $279.5 million ($1.39/diluted share), compared to $52.7 million ($0.26/diluted share) for the same quarter a year ago. The increase was driven by higher operating revenues at OGE’s Oklahoma Gas & Electric subsidiary, partially offset by increased depreciation on a growing asset base and higher operations and maintenance expenses.

“Solid execution and load growth in the first quarter have us on plan for the year,” CEO Sean Trauschke said in a statement.

OGE’s load growth came in at 1.3% in the quarter, helped by a 2.7% unemployment rate in Oklahoma.

The company is continuing its exit from its joint partnership with CenterPoint Energy in Enable Midstream Partners, which they sold to Energy Transfer Partners late last year. (See OGE, CenterPoint Complete Enable’s Disposal.)

OGE has sold 21.75 million units of Enable through April and received $246 million in net pre-tax proceeds this year, which it plans to use in retiring short-term debt. Trauschke said the company expects to exit the majority of its position in Enable by the end of the year.

The company’s share price lost 34 cents during the day’s sell-off on Wall Street, closing at $39.34.