Missouri pays too much for electricity. We deserve market competition | Opinion
During the holidays, we find ourselves shopping for just about everything. And along the way we find great deals, unique products and bountiful options for that perfect gift or holiday necessity.
But there is one product I could really use a deal on but can’t shop for at any point throughout the year: electricity.
The Show-Me State’s energy market is “take it or leave it.” It’s Hobson’s choice, because there is no other option.
In Missouri, we operate in a monopoly energy market, meaning that the utility companies control the production of the electricity and the delivery of it — everything from the creation of electrons to the poles and wires that help them reach your home.
The problem with this design is that there is no competition, no need for the utility to compete for my business.
Everyone knows that to get the best deals on any product or service you have to shop around. The presence of competition creates downward price pressure on what’s being sold because sellers want me to purchase the product from them.
Because there is no competition in Missouri, we have seen our rates continuously increase. My July bill alone was $500.
As consumers, we are stuck. And I don’t foresee prices improving now that Evergy is going to start building new power plants that could cost more than $2 billion, just in Missouri. That’s a lot of money for only 1,200 megawatts of capacity generation. In the past 10 years, Evergy has added only 13 megawatts of generation, and in five years we have seen a compounded rate increase of 11%.
Other states converted to competitive energy markets years ago. Not only do those consumers have options in the type and price of electricity, but those states have also seen a growth in electricity production, creating better resource adequacy — the energy grid’s ability to satisfy demand. That’s because energy companies spent their own money to build power plants with an interest to compete for the business of consumers.
Here in Missouri, as all these new power plants will be constructed, every electricity user — you and me included — will have to pay for those costs. And the more expensive the project, the bigger the profit for the utility company’s shareholders because utilities are allowed to earn a regulated percentage return on capital investments.
The traditional model of supplying consumers with electricity isn’t working. Consumers do not benefit when they are handcuffed to a product or price. We need a voice and the ability to exercise our own choice.
I want to be able to shop in an energy market to choose whom I buy my electricity from and what kind of electricity they are selling me. I want the utility company and other electric suppliers to compete for my business so that as a consumer, I can help hold whoever is selling electricity more accountable for the price they are selling it at.
The power is ultimately in the hands of our elected leaders. Finding a way to deliver a better electricity deal to their constituents must be a priority in 2026.
Cory Crawford is an information technology professional. He lives in Liberty.