Did your Spire bill go way up this winter? Here’s why and what you can do about it
Spire Energy, the supplier of natural gas to much of Missouri, Alabama and parts of Mississippi, has boosted its gas prices in the Kansas City area.
The increase, which was approved by the Missouri Public Services Commission (MPSC) on Nov. 29, raises the price of gas from $0.40 to $0.79 per hundred cubic feet. That’s a jump of 96.2%.
While the price increase went into effect on Nov. 30, 2021, customers are only now starting to receive bills that reflect the new, higher cost.
Why did Spire raise the cost of gas?
Spire has provided two reasons for the price increase: last year’s polar vortex, and the current high wholesale price of natural gas.
“The market moved about sixty percent,” said Scott Weitzel, Spire Missouri’s VP of Regulatory and Government Affairs. “We’re having to… [make] up for the high cost of Winter Storm Uri, but also deal with a market that increased as well.”
Uri, which was the winter storm that hit Kansas City last February, caused a big jump in the wholesale price of natural gas from which the market still hasn’t fully recovered.
Does the gas price nearly doubling mean my bill will double?
Not necessarily. The amount that recently almost doubled is the cost Spire charges for gas itself. But that cost only makes up around 60% of your gas bill. The other 40% comes from delivery costs that Spire charges customers to help maintain their pipelines, pay their employees and run their business.
In a November 12 letter to the MPSC reviewed by The Star, Spire predicted that the average customer would end up paying around $24.36 more per month as a result of their gas price increase. That’s an estimated bump of around 42% for the average customer.
My bill increased by more than 42%. Why is that?
Weitzel told The Star that customers seeing bill increases much larger than the company predicted were probably using more energy in January than they were in December.
“December was… 26% warmer than normal,” Weitzel said. “[Customers] might have had a $150 bill then, and now it’s two hundred, three hundred dollars. That’s probably mostly driven by their usage increasing.”
Here are some methods that Spire suggests to decrease your natural gas usage at home.
What should I do if I can’t pay my bill?
If customers need help paying their bill, he recommended looking into the payment assistance options listed on Spire’s website. These include federal and state assistance programs, payment plans for low-income or fixed-income households and a new Payment Partner program that provides a credit of up to $35 per month for those living at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.
Is your higher energy bill threatening your housing security? How much has your bill increased by? Let us know by emailing kcq@kcstar.com.
Will the price of gas go back down next year?
Probably not. Spire has permission from the MPSC to spread the cost of Winter Storm Uri out over the next three years. After that, it’s hard to predict how the price will change.
Weitzel said that experts expect the wholesale price of natural gas to drop again in the next few years, leading to lower costs for Spire and its customers. But critics note that natural gas futures don’t account for the threat of more extreme weather events.
“As long as we keep burning fossil fuels, these cold snaps [and] storms will continue to get worse and the financial burden will continue to be passed on to the people,” said Raymond Forstater, a spokesperson for Kansas City’s chapter of the Sunrise Movement, a national youth-led environmental organization. “How can [Spire] be so certain that we won’t see another cold snap like this over the next three or so years?”
Wietzel said that Spire “is constantly looking at risk mitigation tools,” like buying and storing natural gas when it’s cheap in order to protect against future shortages. But unexpected price changes like the one during the big winter storm Uri are difficult to predict in advance.
Is Spire planning to propose any other price increases?
Yes. Weitzel told The Star that the company plans to ask the Missouri Public Service Commission for approval on a delivery charge increase this spring. That’s different from the gas price that just went up: this is the other portion of your energy bill that funds the company’s operations.
“Our cost… to provide service to our customers is not matching up to what [the MPSC] ordered for us,” he said. “We need to have proper recovery of some of our expenses.”
Weitzel did not have an estimate of what rate increase Spire will ask the MPSC to approve. But any increase will lead to higher energy bills in Kansas City for homes that use natural gas.
How can I voice my feedback on MPSC decisions?
The best way to voice your feedback to the MPSC is through the Missouri Office of the Public Counsel, a separate agency that exists specifically to represent customers of “investor-owned utility companies operating as state-sanctioned monopolies” such as Spire Energy. You can contact the agency by calling 573-751-4857 or emailing mopco@opc.mo.gov.
Unlike their process to approve gas price changes, the MPSC’s process to approve delivery rate changes takes 11 months and involves multiple public comment periods. You can view the commission’s calendar and upcoming agenda items here. Once Spire files its request this spring, it will be assigned a case number and added to the commission’s calendar.
Do you have other questions about utilities or other services around Kansas City? Ask us at kcq@kcstar.com or with the form below.
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