The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC), which regulates monopoly utilities like Evergy, approved a non-unanimous settlement allowing the electric company to build two gas plants totaling an estimated $1.6 billion.
Half of the new gas plant costs will be charged to the utility’s Kansas customers. A separate, unanimous settlement includes a new solar project Evergy estimates the approval will increase Kansans’ rates by 8.6 percent in the future, on top of the pending 15 percent increase that Evergy recently asked of the KCC, for which public comments remain open through July 14th.
The Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) will soon make a decision on three gas plants, including whether Evergy’s Missouri customers will cover half the costs of the two Kansas plants approved today by the KCC in addition to an estimated $835 million expense for a new Missouri gas plant.
The Sierra Club did not intervene in the Kansas docket; however, it did intervene in the pending Missouri docket where the issues are substantially similar. In Missouri, no party except Evergy argued that the gas plant proposals are economically feasible, a critical factor in the Missouri approval process.
The Sierra Club and other intervenors provided the Missouri PSC with legally-sound objections, stemming from a lack of evidence provided by Evergy, that the gas plants should be rejected for failing to meet the PSC’s own approval standards. Should the PSC disregard those concerns, Sierra Club asked the Missouri PSC to mandate in its order that, “Evergy’s shareholders shall exclusively bear the burden of any costs in excess of those projections. Finally, the Commission should postpone any prudence review until the requisite rate case.”
An expert witness for the Sierra Club, Michael Goggin, Vice President at power sector consulting firm Grid Strategies LLC, testified to the Missouri PSC that, “If Evergy’s application is approved as submitted, Missouri ratepayers will be on the hook for gas plants that are likely to be unprofitable, operate less than expected, and incur high maintenance costs or even premature failure due to excessive generator starts and cycling.”
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action.
Statement from Zack Pistora, Kansas Chapter Director for the Sierra Club:
“Kansas families and businesses are being asked to subsidize data centers with tax breaks and gas plants to power data centers through utility bill increases for financially healthy utility and tech companies. Governor Kelly and KCC Commissioners supported and approved these gas plants, and now they have the opportunity to ensure that utilities and data centers pay their fair share, because the alleged new demand for electricity is from data centers, not Kansas families or existing businesses. Our environment will be negatively impacted by these plants and data centers, and Governor Kelly and the KCC must ensure that consumers are not unduly harmed.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Public_Service_Commission
https://witnessdirectory.com/signup.php
