Missouri utility asks regulators for permission to increase rates in 2021
Spire, the utility company serving Kansas City and much of western Missouri, asked regulators on Friday for permission to increase rates for natural gas.
If the Missouri Public Service Commission grants Spire’s request, the company said the average household customer will see their monthly natural gas bills increase by $3.28.
Scott Carter, president of Spire Missouri, said he recognized the sensitivity of asking to increase bills for customers during a difficult economic time, but pointed out that no final decision would be made by the Missouri Public Service Commission until well into next year.
“This is a kickoff to an 11-month process,” Carter said. “Any rate adjustment that comes out of this won’t come until the fall of 2021.”
Carter added that Spire’s investments in improving infrastructures, such as the underground pipes through which natural gas travels to a customer’s home and other technology upgrades, have cost about $1 billion since the last time the company asked the PSC for a rate increase in 2017.
The average residential customer, which accounts for 94% of Spire’s customer base in Missouri, currently spends $765 a year for gas service.
If the PSC grants Spire’s request, the average annual bill will increase to just more than $800.
When regulators approve utility rate increase requests, it’s often for less than what the utility requested.
“It’s rarely what we ask for,” Carter said.
In 2005, the average bill was $1,112, largely because natural gas was more expensive in 2005 before the discovery of new natural gas shales in Pennsylvania and elsewhere that drove gas prices down in recent years.
