Kansas Corporation Commission approves first Evergy Kansas rate hike in five years
Following up on unanimous agreement between parties in a rate request settlement case reached in September, the Kansas Corporation Commission last week authorized Evergy Kansas’ plans to change its rates by millions in the region.
The rate request represented Evergy’s first in five years, and its approval concluded a process that had been ongoing since April. For Evergy Kansas Central, the change could bring an estimated net annual increase of $74 million, while Evergy Kansas Metro should go the other direction, with a net annual decrease of $32.9 million. New prices greenlit by the arrangement will be implemented as early as next month.
“This now-approved settlement is a strong result for our Kansas customers,” David Campbell, Evergy’s president and CEO, said. “Today’s approval means our Kansas customers’ average rates will have increased just 1 percent in the last five years – well below inflation and electric rate increases in neighboring states over the same time period. This decision also allows Evergy to recover investments made to strengthen the electric grid and provide reliable, affordable, and sustainable service to our customers across the region.”
For the average residential customer of Evergy Kansas Central, this should bring monthly bill increases of about $4.64 (3.54 percent), while those in Evergy Kansas Metro should see bill slashes of about $6.07 per month (4.53 percent). Evergy’s last base rate increases took place in 2017.
The company – originally a merger of regional utilities Westar Energy and KCP&L – noted that the sparing rate requests have set its rates apart from neighbors. In a statement, Evergy pointed out that neighboring states have experienced rate increases of 12.7 percent since 2017.
