Newly approved Evergy rates mean lower bills for some Kansans — but others’ will go up
Many Kansas residents in the Kansas City metro will pay less for electricity, while most areas of eastern Kansas outside of KC will pay more, under new rates approved by state regulators.
The Kansas Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities, on Tuesday approved a settlement agreement with publicly-owned Evergy that will reduce monthly bills by about $6.07 for the average residential customer in the Evergy Kansas Metro region, which covers much of the metro southwest toward Ottawa. That’s a reduction of about 4.53% for the average customer.
Residential customers in the Evergy Kansas Central region will pay on average $4.64 more per month — about 3.54%. The area spans most of eastern and south-central Kansas, including Wichita, Topeka and Manhattan.
The settlement agreement, approved unanimously by the three-member Kansas Corporation Commission, ends what initially began as a push by Evergy to raise rates in both regions for the first time in five years. The company applied this spring for a rate hike of 1.95% in the Metro region and 9.77% in the Central region.
The original proposal would have led to the average residential customer paying as much as $14.24 more per month in the Central region and $3.47 per month in the Metro region.
Instead, the final settlement allows Evergy to collect 3.54% more revenue – an additional $74 million – in the Central region, while cutting revenue in the Metro region by 4.53%, or $32.9 million. The end result is a net gain for the company of about $41 million in revenue across the whole state.
“I do believe looking at this and the end result, customers are getting very good value for the product given how much we rely on that service and how much of it is needed,” KCC chair Andrew French said during the commission’s virtual meeting. “But that’s not to say that there’s not work to be done.”
French said a lot of future pressures are coming, noting aging infrastructure and a demand for new energy sources.
“It’s going to be very important that we continue to make energy affordable. We’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure that we keep energy reliable,” said French, who was appointed to the KCC by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
“And after we keep those primary goals in mind, I think we need to continue responsibly and stably transitioning to cleaner and more environmentally-responsible electric generation sources.”
Evergy president and CEO David Campbell said in a statement that under the agreement, Kansas customers’ average rates will have increased only 1% in the past five years, well below the rate of inflation and increases in neighboring states.
“This now-approved settlement is a strong result for our Kansas customers,” Campbell said.
Shares of Evergy were up on Monday following the vote.
Evergy’s initial rate proposal drew public opposition, including from some businesses and school districts. It also encountered pushback from the staff of the Kansas Corporation Commission, who, after auditing the company’s income and expenses, said only a far smaller increase could be justified.
In late September, Evergy filed a proposed settlement agreement that didn’t go as far as KCC staff recommended, but nevertheless was a far cry from the company’s initial proposal. The settlement, which the KCC described as unanimous, had the support of the Citizens Utility Ratepayer Board, which advocates on behalf of ratepayers, and other parties in the case.
Andrea Crane, a consultant for CURB, testified in October the agreement “will result in just and reasonable rates.” The Shawnee Mission, Olathe and De Soto school districts, along with Johnson County Community College, also filed a statement in support of the agreement.
Evergy’s ability to reach a unanimous agreement likely made it easier for the KCC to sign off on the new rates. Approval of the agreement was the first major vote by new commissioner Annie Kuether, a former Democratic state representative who joined the commission in October after she was appointed by Kelly. Kuether didn’t comment during Tuesday’s vote except to thank those involved for their hard work.
Evergy is expected to seek another rate increase within a year. The agreement authorizes the company to file an abbreviated rate case related to distribution upgrades necessary to serve the sprawling Panasonic battery plant under construction in De Soto, expenses related to the future decommissioning of the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant southeast of Emporia, and additional spending on renewable energy sources.
At full production, the Panasonic plant will have roughly 200 to 250 megawatts of demand, Ryan Mulvany, Evergy’s vice president of distribution, has testified. The load is equivalent to that of a small city.
Evergy spokesperson Gina Penzig noted in an email that if the company pursues an abbreviated rate case in 2024, “it will be related to the acquisition of additional wind energy for our Kansas customers.”
“In the event that an abbreviated rate case occurs in 2024, we do not anticipate anything in that case related to serving Panasonic,” Penzig said.
This story was originally published November 21, 2023 at 11:22 AM.
