In Evergy rate case, put Kansans’ wallets, health ahead of shareholder profits | Commentary
The Wichita crowd at the final public hearing on the proposed rate increase for Evergy Kansas gave the utility and its regulators, the Kansas Corporation Commission, an earful Thursday evening.
Most in the audience objected to the $170 average increase to annual electric bills that’s being proposed for customers in the company’s Central Division.
Me too.
According to the Kansas Industrial Consumers group, “Evergy is earning enough money as-is to cover its business expenses.”
Evergy has boasted increased profits and rewards for its shareholders in recent years.
On top of that, Evergy’s proposed rate increase is happening at the same time that it released a new 20-year integrated resource plan, which slashes investments in renewables, asks permission to build two expensive gas plants, and delays Evergy’s 2021 promise to retire its Lawrence coal plan.
Compared to surrounding utilities, Evergy is way over-invested in coal and under-invested in affordable solar, energy storage and energy-saving programs that could save customers hundreds of dollars each year.
Regarding coal, Evergy now spends about $500 million of its customers’ money each year purchasing coal from Wyoming for its coal-burning power plants. That’s money that could be spent on renewable energy investments in Kansas, installed by good Kansas labor.
And on natural gas: Evergy plans to build two new gas power plants. Consider this:
▪ Methane is the largest component of gas. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is driving the severe and escalating heat that’s endangering people in Kansas and around the world.
▪ Methane warms our planet over 80 times faster than carbon dioxide emissions from coal. It is estimated that at least 25% of today’s global warming is due to methane.
▪ The more it is studied, the more we understand that the life cycle of extracting, flaring, transporting and burning gas is as bad as or worse than burning coal.
These fossil fuels — coal and gas — are sort of last century compared to newer, less costly solar and wind.
Wyoming coal’s prices, transportation and production are less and less trustworthy as that industry continues its decades-long decline.
And gas prices can spike wildly any time of year in this unregulated market, causing crisis and deaths as in the Winter Storm Uri catastrophe. Not only does gas pollute the planet, but it poisons our lungs more directly, causing significantly reduced lifespans and childhood asthma from indoor gas appliances.
Clean energy in the home, on the other hand, works beautifully.
With only eight rooftop solar panels, I’ve paid Evergy’s minimum service charge for five of the past twelve months.
That’s right, the hot sun worked with my air conditioner to cool my house, plus power the dishwasher, lights and other electrical systems.
Next, I’m eager to get an electric car so it can store my extra energy.
I have to be careful though, because Evergy is like other utilities across the nation that are paid based on how much infrastructure they own.
The Sierra Club won a lawsuit that kept Evergy from gutting solar net metering for now, but without changing policy to performance-based ratemaking, Evergy may limit innovation and investment in any Kansas energy source it can’t own.
We in Kansas need cheap clean energy. Our customer dollars should be invested in reliable, clean energy options, not economically failing coal plants that shovel our money into the pockets of coal companies and shareholders.
The KCC has the power to make sure Evergy puts its customers first.
KCC, please prioritize Kansans’ future over Evergy’s profits.
Jayne Byrnes teaches nutrition and health at Wichita State University and is a member of The Eagle Editorial Advisory Board.
