Parson wants to probe for natural gas price gouging before aiding Missouri towns

Missouri has the resources to assist those facing a surge in natural gas prices during an unprecedented cold snap, Gov. Mike Parson said Thursday, but he wants to investigate potential price-gouging first.

“I don’t want people to be taken advantage of,” Parson said during his weekly press briefing. “Just because we’re finding a way to pay some corporation money that’s making millions and millions of dollars off a natural disaster, I want to make sure that’s not happening.”

So far, Parson has declined to declare a state of emergency or disaster in Missouri, which could trigger federal aid. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly made the declaration Sunday, citing the natural gas price surge as one reason.

“We do have resources, we just have to see how that plays out,” Parson said.

A wave of bitterly cold temperatures has immobilized natural gas supplies during a surge in demand, prompting private and municipal utilities alike in Missouri to urge residents to turn down their thermostats.

Spire, Inc., which supplies natural gas to western Missouri including the Kansas City metro area, warned that customers could see higher gas bills.

Small, municipal utilities have been harder hit, digging deep into their reserves to pay anywhere from four to 100 times the normal price for natural gas, town officials across the state told The Star this week.

Over four days starting last Saturday, officials in Fulton paid $3 million for natural gas. In the same period of time in the north Missouri town of Macon, the city spent $1.8 million — the entirety of what it had budgeted for natural gas for the year.

Macon officials, reluctant to raise gas rates on residents, have pleaded with state and federal officials for disaster relief money.

“It hurts the end user,” said Stephanie Wilson, general manager of Macon Municipal Utilities. “Even if the city has reserves, they’re going to have to replenish the reserves.”

Missouri officials this week announced their program to help pay low-income households’ gas shutoff costs would pick up a bigger share of the bill. Parson said on Thursday he has asked Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office to investigate potential price-gouging on the part of gas suppliers.

“We will use all resources possible to stop any kind of illegal behavior,” he said, later adding,“I think we have those options out there to help those communities but first of all you have to figure out what that source was.”

He said he was unsure how state funds could be used to help municipalities.

A spokesman for Schmitt said only that the office was “monitoring the situation,” and that consumers can make individual complaints.

In Macon, Wilson said she welcomed any investigations of price-gouging but hoped it would come with financial help for the city. By the end of the week, the price of gas was beginning to level out, to roughly three times its normal cost, she said.

“We still don’t know how it will all shake out on a bill and how that will impact customers short-term and long-term,” she said. “It’s like the house is on fire and it’s still smoldering we don’t know what we can salvage yet.”