How much, and how long, will you be paying for 2021 winter freeze? | Opinion

And so it begins …

If you’re like me, you probably recently received a notice in your Evergy electric bill informing you that the company has begun collecting the “extraordinary costs” for fuel associated with the February 2021 deep freeze now known as Winter Storm Uri.

In case you’ve forgotten, that was about a weeklong episode when the temperatures dropped to dangerous levels in a band stretching from the Dakotas to Texas. It sent wholesale natural gas prices skyrocketing from about $3 per million British Thermal Units to a previously unimaginable high of $622.

Suppliers reaped hundreds of millions in windfall income in Kansas that week, which the gas and electric utilities that provide service to you and me had no choice but to pay — that or turn off service and watch their customers freeze to death in the dark.

Of course, those costs, by law, are eventually passed on to consumers.

It became apparent early on that expecting customers to pony up hundreds of dollars overnight was a non-starter. If they’d tried that, we’d have been melting tar and plucking feathers.

So instead we get to pay it back on the monthly installment plan, baked into our bills.

I’ve been covering this ever since the storm, but the installment plans were crafted utility-by-utility over the past two years, making it difficult to see the overall damage to our wallets.

Now, the plans have clarified and it’s become possible to see the big picture — and it’s not pretty.

If you’re like me — and most Wichitans are — you get your natural gas from Kansas Gas Service and your electricity from Evergy’s Central Division, formerly Westar Energy. You’re on the hook for a total of $744.48 — $676.80 to the gas company and $67.68 to the electric company.

If you’re one of the about one-fourth of Wichitans who get gas from Black Hills Energy and electricity from Evergy, you’re looking at a total extra charge of $755.88 — $688.20 and the aforementioned $67.68 to Evergy Central.

Here’s a wrinkle: If you’re in the Kansas City suburbs and exurbs served by Evergy’s Metro Division, formerly KC Power & Light, you’ll actually get a bit of a refund on electricity, because your division managed to generate and sell excess power during the winter emergency.

If you have Kansas Gas Service and Evergy Metro, you’ll be paying $676.80 extra for gas, minus a refund of $79.20 for electricity, for a total of $597.60.

If you get your gas from Atmos Energy and electricity from Evergy Metro, you’ll pay and $614.40 — $693.60 for gas, minus the Evergy refund.

Overall, those of us served by investor owned utilities are paying a grand total of approximately $642 million in extra energy costs over the next 10-15 years.

And that doesn’t include the myriad of co-ops and municipal utilities across Kansas that aren’t under state regulation.

It’s obviously price-gouging — and litigation is underway trying to prove that in court and recover some of the excess costs for consumers.

But that effort has been sporadic at best.

The Kansas Corporation Commission, which regulates utility rates, decided fairly early on that it’s not its job to recover the money for customers, and punted to the attorney general.

It’s a complex case — too complex for the attorney general’s staff to handle — so former AG Derek Schmidt hired outside counsel to do it.

Now, we have a new attorney general, Kris Kobach.

He fired the firm Schmidt was working with, Morgan & Morgan. Its founder, John Morgan, says it was political — the firm donates to Democrats.

Interestingly, Iowa’s Republican attorney general also fired the same firm from state work, and the Wall Street Journal editorial board — the national voice of the conservative establishment — opined that it was a “mystery of modern politics” why Republican AGs would deign to hire law firms that donate to Democrats.

Kobach admits he doesn’t like the firm’s politics, but says the work they did on the case and their contingency fees were his primary motivation to cut ties.

Now, he’s putting out a request for proposals to hire another law firm. It will be interesting to see which politicians they donate to — and I will be checking.

At the rate this is going, someone might get a nice refund on their utility bills someday. Or maybe the sun will burn out first and we won’t have to worry about it.