Kansas Evergy customers could see lower increase to their bills under revised plan
Kansas Evergy customers could see a lower increase on their bills than previously planned under Evergy’s multi-billion renewable energy investment plan.
During a seven-hour meeting Monday, Evergy was pushed by regulators, environmental groups and advocates to answer how the plan would stack up to President Biden’s infrastructure and climate plans.
This was the fourth and last workshop, where Evergy responded to criticisms and concerns about their plan from regulators and others, which were heard during the first three workshops.
The Sustainability Transformation Plan is a $9 billion investment in Kansas and Missouri, which Evergy would use to upgrade the grid and aging infrastructure and transition to relying more heavily on renewable energy. In Kansas, Evergy plans to spend $3.5 billion over the next five years.
The “underlying principles and pillars to the STP remain intact,” said Greg Greenwood, Evergy’s executive vice president for strategy and chief administrative officer.
None of the changes are finalized, and Evergy executives said they would continue to evaluate them.
Evergy customers can send their thoughts about the utility’s investment plan to the KCC until 5 p.m. on July 7. Customers can comment online, send a letter to the KCC or email them at public.affairs@kcc.ks.gov.
Will the plan meet Biden’s goals?
Evergy’s move towards renewables may not be on a quick enough timetable to meet national requirements even with the STP. President Biden has indicated he would like to see an 80% clean-power grid by 2030.
In 2020, 40% of Evergy’s generation came from coal. 27% was wind, 26% was natural gas and oil and 7% was nuclear.
Under the STP, Evergy anticipates that by the end of 2030, 33% of its generation will be wind, 24% will be coal, 23% will be natural gas and oil, 12% will be solar and 7% will be nuclear.
Evergy plans to have net-zero carbon emissions by 2045, according to Kevin Bryant, Evergy executive vice president and chief operating officer. However, this does not mean a full turn from fossil fuels. Instead, Evergy will look toward carbon sequestration to offset its emissions.
Evergy anticipates Biden’s plan will signal a movement towards renewable energy and net-zero. Still, for Evergy to meet those goals, the utility would need to spend more on infrastructure, according to Bryant.
Evergy representatives couldn’t answer how much of the current investment under the STP would facilitate renewable energy.
“We absolutely do believe that it’s (Biden’s Infrastructure Plan) beneficial,” Bryant said. “Any incentives that unlocks infrastructure investment, we are very much in support of.”
Transparent Process
Evergy said it plans to work with regulators and other intervenors to report the utility’s reliability. Regulators went even further during the hearing and asked how Evergy could be held accountable in reporting whether their electric rates were regionally competitive.
After a back and forth, where Greenwood said that asking Evergy for more reporting requirements could have a chilling effect and discourage the utility from participating in regulator’s proceedings, the KCC chair expressed disappointment.
“I was disappointed that the company seems to believe that there wouldn’t be a heightened level of scrutiny and it would be somehow unfair for the regulators to go that direction,” said Andrew French, chair of the KCC. “For me, it’s natural that the regulator would be interested and would want to see some benchmarking.”
Evergy executives apologized and agreed to compare the rate increases to inflation and past rate increases and present that information to the KCC. They also agreed that transparency is warranted and that they would work proactively with regulators.
Rate Impacts
After hearing concerns from regulators and intervenors during the first three workshops, Evergy plans to even the rates for Evergy Central and Evergy Metro customers and reduce the increase to Evergy Central it had previously planned.
Evergy Central rates, which includes all Kansas customers outside of the Kansas City area, are already lower than Evergy Metro rates. Based on the criticism Evergy received after revealing it planned to raise rates, executives said they plan to keep Evergy Central rates lower.
Additionally, instead of rising at the rate of inflation, Evergy Kansas rates are expected to increase at less than half of inflation until 2024.
Evergy executives did not answer how the rates would change after 2023.
Evergy will phase in the central region’s transmission investment over a longer period of time to make these changes.
“One of the criticisms we hear about the STP . . . is that the level of capital investment is inappropriately high and will result in less competitive rates. . . . That is simply not the case,” said Chuck Caisley, Evergy senior vice president of marketing and public affairs and chief customer officer. “Under the STP, the level of capital investment is well underneath both our regional and our national peers.”
Evergy is also considering a $100 million reduction in transmission investment in the central region, according to Bryant.
This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Kansas Evergy customers could see lower increase to their bills under revised plan."
