Whistleblower says Spire hid and destroyed documents to protect rate increase request
A former Spire employee says the company instructed him to hide documents related to the company’s forthcoming rate increase request. He alleges leadership shared plans to destroy the documents so Missouri regulators wouldn’t find them.
The whistleblower emailed Missouri Public Service Commission chair Kayla Hahn and commission attorney Rodney Massman on Monday, Sept. 23, about his concerns.
“On December 12, 2023, I was in a Spire Regulatory Department meeting, where the Regulatory team was instructed how to hide documents (specifically so certain documents would not be discoverable by the PSC),” he wrote. “The department leadership stated that they would also destroy documents so they are not traceable.”
The documents allegedly contained information that Spire believed would hurt its forthcoming case for raising rates on Missouri natural gas customers. The whistleblower is also involved in a lawsuit against Spire for alleged workplace discrimination.
In accordance with commission rules, the email and Massman’s reply was added to Spire’s publicly accessible rate case docket Wednesday, Sept. 25. The exchange includes the whistleblower’s full name, email address and phone number, which The Star is not publishing to protect his privacy.
Spire spokesperson Jason Merrill denied the allegations in an emailed statement.
“No employees were instructed to destroy documents and Spire has all documents referenced by the former employee,” he wrote. “Spire conducted a thorough investigation into the allegations made by the former employee and determined they are unfounded.”
Merrill said over the phone that no Spire employees either destroyed or hid documents to keep the PSC from finding them.
“We’ve got every document that is mentioned by this guy in this email,” he said. He did not elaborate on what those specific documents are or what information they contain. A PSC spokesperson said that the commission cannot comment on current cases.
What was in the documents the whistleblower was told to hide?
We don’t know for sure what was in the documents that the whistleblower says Spire officials made plans to hide and destroy. However, he claims the information could have been damning for Spire’s upcoming rate increase request.
“It was also mentioned in the meeting that if these documents were to be discovered by the PSC, the Spire request in the next rate case could be reduced by 50%,” he wrote in the email to regulators.
Merrill added that Spire found no evidence of internal wrongdoing.
“Spire conducted a thorough investigation into the allegations made by the former employee and determined they are unfounded,” he wrote.
Spire hasn’t yet filed its official request to increase the rate it charges customers on their natural gas bills — but it notified regulators Friday, Sept. 20, of its intention to do so.
“With changing weather patterns, conservation trends, and energy efficiency investments, the Company is hard-pressed to fully recover its revenue requirement,” Spire lawyers wrote in the notice.
They don’t specify what specific charge they hope to increase, or by how much. That will come in the company’s official rate increase request in November.
In addition to its plan to raise rates, the company intends for the first time to unify its Missouri East and Missouri West service areas, creating a unified rate that all customers will pay throughout the state.
What do we know about the Spire whistleblower?
Based in St. Louis, the whistleblower is a former employee of Spire’s regulatory department whose last day with the company was Wednesday, Sept. 4.
The whistleblower also claims to have an audio recording of the Dec. 12 meeting, which he says he was supposed to destroy by Wednesday, Sept. 25. We don’t know whether he is still in possession of the recording. Texts and an email from The Star were not returned.
Court filings show that the whistleblower sued Spire for discrimination in the Eastern District Court of Missouri in 2023.
“Plaintiff alleges Spire illegally discriminated against him on the basis of race, color, sex, and/or age and later took illegal retaliatory employment actions against him for reporting the alleged discriminatory actions to Spire’s human resources department,” the lawsuit states.
The employee’s age, race, color and gender identity have not been shared publicly. Merrill declined to comment on the lawsuit or its potential impact on the whistleblower’s actions.
Do you have more questions about utilities in Missouri or Kansas? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
This story was originally published September 26, 2024 at 1:34 PM.
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