Here's what Kansas' new utility regulator says about catching up on Evergy rate case

The Kansas Corporation Commission now has a new member as the utility regulators decide if and how much to allow utility monopoly Evergy to raise electric rates.

The Senate Confirmation Oversight Committee voted 5-0 Wednesday to approve the appointment of Annie Kuether, a retired longtime Democratic legislator representing central Topeka. The oversight committee opted not to vote on Gov. Laura Kelly's reappointment of current KCC commissioner Andrew French.

Kuether acknowledged that her appointment comes at an important time.

"We all know that that's the elephant in the room, the rate case at KCC," she said, referring to Evergy's requested rate hike, originally set at $218 million a year.

But she largely declined to weigh in on Evergy's proposal — a stance she also took when asked about a separate issue of transmission lines being addressed in an ongoing KCC docket.

"I just don't think it's appropriate," Kuether told reporters afterward. "I mean, I don't know what I'm going to be hearing, so I really just need to go in with an open mind and clear focus."

Senate Majority Leader Larry Alley, R-Winfield and chair of the oversight committee, backed Kuether's decision and also declined to share his own views on Evergy's rate case.

"I think it was probably appropriate for her to answer that way since she's not up to speed on the rate case. She didn't attend any public meetings. She hasn't read the documents," Alley said, "and throwing her into that fire probably wasn't the best way to do that."

Despite Alley questioning whether Kuether will be up to speed in time to make an intelligent decision on the rate case, she assured that she will be.

Annie Kuether joins KCC amid first Evergy rate case in 5 years

Kuether represented central Topeka in the Kansas House from 1997 to 2022, when she decided not to run for reelection. Her time in the Legislature included two decades as the top Democrat on the energy, utilities and telecommunications committee — a point Kelly emphasized in her statement.

"In those 20 years, I was able to learn a whole lot about all the very complicated issues that come before that committee," Kuether said. "So it was quite an education and involved a lot on my part, I believe, to do my homework and to do the work to understand what the issues before me were."

Kuether's appointment comes as the KCC considers electric monopoly Evergy's first request in five years to increase utility rates across the eastern half of Kansas. The utility company, which has its Kansas operations headquartered in Topeka, has asked for a larger increase in its central region, which includes Topeka, than in its Kansas City metro region.

Evergy's proposal would increase rates by $218 million combined from the central and metro regions, while KCC staff have argued that much of the increases are not justified. The regulatory staff say there should be a smaller rate increase in the central region and a rate cut in the metro region, combining to $18 million worth of Evergy rate cuts.

Kuether told senators that she did not attend the KCC's public hearings on the case and has not read the publicly available documents in the KCC docket, although she has read the news.

She downplayed joining the KCC at this point in the rate case.

"It's my understanding that nothing substantial has started to take place with that rate case," Kuether said. "So I will be going in on the ground floor, just like the rest of the commissioners will be. So that's good news for everybody, and I'm willing and ready to put in the hard work to come up to speed."

So far, the KCC has accepted thousands of pages of documents along with ongoing public comments, but official actions by the commissioners have been largely limited approving intervenor status for various entities. The commission's work is accelerating with testimony and discovery deadlines ahead of five days of evidentiary hearings in early October.

The KCC commissioners are expected to make a decision in either late December or early January.

Republican senators didn't like the timing

While the vote to approve Kuether was 5-0, there was one abstention from Sen. Rick Billinger, R-Goodland. He said his issue was not with Kuether, but with the governor's timing.

"I think it looks bad when we're changing a KCC board member in the middle of this rate case," he said. "I think it should have been done in January if they wanted to make a change, and if not they should have waited until next January."

Kuether is replacing Commissioner Susan Duffy, whose term expired in March. The governor's office has said Duffy decided not to seek reappointment. It is unclear why the process took until September, but the governor had offered the job to Kuether by at least early April and had begun the background check that month.

The governor's office said in a statement that the routine vetting process was used. Discussion centered on philosophical views of energy regulation issues, and there were no discussions about specific cases or dockets that were currently before the KCC or that might appear before the KCC.

"When the governor called and asked me if I was interested, I said, 'Yes, ma'am,' and that's about all we've talked about," Kuether said.

She signed her application April 10, which was about two weeks before Evergy filed its rate case with the KCC.

The confirmation oversight committee's vote approves Kuether in the interim before the legislative session starts, but her appointment will still need to follow the normal procedure come January.

Timing also led to the committee not voting on French's reappointment. His term is scheduled to end next March.

Alley said that the oversight committee was opting to leave it for January, when the legislative session starts and the confirmation can follow the typical process of going through the Senate Utilities Committee.

Alley said he does not believe the governor is trying to influence the rate case, and senators are not trying to use the rate case as a barometer for whether French or Kuether should be confirmed next session.

The other member of the three-person commission, Dwight Keen, was reappointed by Kelly last year.

Under state law, KCC commissioner pay is tied to the annual salary of appellate court judges: $118,971. The KCC chair's pay is tied to the appellate court chief judge's salary: $122,062.

KCC handles wide range of issues

The KCC handles a wide range of issues. Its five divisions cover administration, conservation, utilities, transportation and energy.

Sen. Rick Wilborn, R-McPherson, whose redrawn Senate district contains the state's two largest oil refineries as well as natural gas facilities, pressed Kuether on fossil fuels.

"There seems to be a war against hydrocarbons," he said. "We all recognize that it takes a balance of all the different energy sources, but we're attacking a Kansas industry that employs a lot of people, that provides revenue for the state and provides energy for other states, just like Kansas."

Kuether largely agreed with Wilborn, emphasizing that she supports and "all-of-the-above" approach.

"You take one away and you're going to create a horrible void for industry, for the economy," Kuether said. "You can't just pull the rug out from underneath an industry that's been putting forth good jobs and such for Kansans. So I'm an all-of-the-above kind of girl."

Wilborn attempted to get Kuether to wade into the controversy over transmission lines, but she declined, citing the ongoing KCC docket.

"It's a delicate balance, I realize," Wilborn said. "Eminent domain and getting the transmission lines, and protecting property rights. Property rights are really key in this state."

Billinger continued to press, particularly on who should pay for transmission lines erected to export electricity from wind farms out of the state. Kuether agreed with Billinger that Kansans should not have to pay for such infrastructure, and she said transmission lines for electricity consumed within the state should be paid for by the user.

She also said, in response to a Billinger question, that she has no problem with property tax breaks for wind turbines.

Kuether also addressed broadband expansion and bipartisanship, and she vowed to respect the Legislature's role as policy-makers while carrying out the KCC's role of regulation and enforcement.

"Policy comes from you all," she told the senators. "That is not our job over in the KCC. It is your job, and that's a dynamic I intend to keep in mind always."

Jason Alatidd is a statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas' new utility regulator says she'll catch up on Evergy rate case