Your Spire bill may increase even more next year. Here’s why and what you can do about it
Spire Energy, which provides natural gas to over one million customers across Missouri, has asked regulators to approve an increase to its rates. This request comes on the heels of two recent rate increases, which went into effect in November and December of 2021 and caused gas bills to skyrocket across the metro area.
The Missouri Public Service Commission (MPSC) now has to decide whether it will approve the company’s request– a process which generally takes around eleven months. If approved, new rates would go into effect early next year.
Here’s a closer look at what Spire is asking for, and why.
What rate increases is Spire asking the MPSC to approve?
According to documents shared with The Star, the company hopes to boost its summer and winter rates for the delivery of natural gas in Missouri. It does not plan to increase its customer charge of $20 per meter per month in the Kansas City area.
If approved, Spire’s winter rate would increase from around $0.27 per CCF (hundred cubic feet of gas) to around $0.44 per CCF. That’s an increase of roughly 63%. The summer rate would increase from around $0.24 to around $0.40 for the first 50 CCF used per month, and from around $0.30 to around $0.49 for gas used beyond that amount. Those increases are roughly 67% and 63%, respectively.
These seasonal rates are only part of the delivery charge on your natural gas bill, and delivery charges only make up around half of your bill overall. For these reasons, Spire predicts that customers in Western Missouri will only see their monthly bills rise by around 12.65%. For the average customer, this comes out to an additional $10.95 per month.
Recent reporting by The Star found that Spire’s past predictions may have underestimated the bill increases caused by its most recent rate increases. The company maintains that bill increases are in line with its predictions.
Here’s a line-by-line breakdown of the charges on a typical natural gas bill in the Kansas City area.
Why is Spire asking for another rate increase?
The specific reasons are very complex, but the overview is that Spire wants to be making more money than it is making now for a variety of reasons. Here are a few the company has mentioned:
Accounting changes made by the MPSC in recent years have caused Spire’s profits to decrease. The company is hoping to reverse this trend so it can continue to grow.
Winter Storm Uri caused Spire to take on a lot of debt, which hurt the company’s financial profile. These new rates would help offset that disadvantage.
The company is trying to improve its credit outlook, which is similar to a credit score, in order to get better terms on future loans for infrastructure and other projects.
The company says its current rates don’t match up with the cost of providing natural gas service to customers. They say that charging more would fix that.
“The proposed rate increase is necessary because the current authorized rates do not
reflect Spire Missouri’s actual cost of service, nor allow it to earn a reasonable return on
investments it has made to benefit customers,” the company wrote repeatedly in its rate request filing.
How can I give feedback to the MPSC while it considers this request?
The MPSC is reviewing Spire’s latest rate request under the case number GR-2022-0179. Typing that number into this search bar will allow you to see all the documents on file relating to this case, including comments from the public.
You can add your voice to the conversation by submitting your comments in writing here. Be sure to enter the case number in the “Case/Tracking No.” field at the bottom of the page.
The other way to participate in this case is by attending a public hearing to provide testimony to the commissioners. For now, hearings are being held online due to COVID-19. A list of upcoming hearings can be found on the MPSC’s website. Currently, no public hearings are scheduled for this case.
The other way to give 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.
This group employs a small team of lawyers and experts who can help the public navigate complaints, argue on the public’s behalf during controversial cases and appeal MPSC decisions to the state’s Court of Appeals if they believe they go against the public interest. You can contact the agency by calling 573-751-4857 or emailing mopco@opc.mo.gov.
Do you have more questions about utilities in Kansas City? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
.jpg)