Evergy, Inc. announced that a unanimous agreement has been reached with parties to its Kansas rate case. The agreement was filed Friday with the Kansas Corporation Commission and must be approved by the state’s Commissioners, who are scheduled to issue an order in December.
If it wins approval, there will be rate hikes of $5 to $6 more a month for Every customers.
“This settlement is a very strong result for our customers,” said David Campbell, Evergy president and chief executive.
“As a result of this settlement, average retail rates in Kansas will have increased just one percent, cumulatively, since 2017. And Evergy will recover investments made to improve the electric grid and build a cleaner, more reliable energy future for our Kansas customers, all while improving our record of regional rate competitiveness.”
If the agreement is approved, Evergy Kansas Central will implement a net increase of $74.0 million and Evergy Kansas Metro will have a net decrease of $32.9 million.
Costs for residential customers in Evergy Kansas Central, which includes Topeka, Pittsburg, Wichita, Hutchinson and other communities in the eastern third of the state, will increase about 4.05%, which translates to an increase of approximately $4.64 per month for the average residential customer.
For Evergy Kansas Metro, which includes Lenexa, Overland Park and other communities near the Kansas City metro area, rates for residential customers will decrease about 4.75%, and the average residential customer will pay about $6.07 less per month.
In a release announcing the settlements, Evergy said since its creation five years that it has saved more than $1 billion in operating costs and its Kansas rates have increased only 1% since 2017. The utility proclaimed that it is in contrast with neighboring states, where during the same period regional rates increased 12.7%.
Since 2019, Evergy has played a role in attracting 73 major economic development projects to our service territory in Kansas and Missouri. Of those projects, 47 of them (or approximately 64%) chose to invest in Kansas. This represents more than 12,000 jobs created, $7.3 billion in investment and major successes in attracting businesses in emerging market segments including new energy technologies, re-shored and advanced manufacturing, as well as major data centers. These projects are energy-intensive users where electric rates, cost competitiveness and reliability are primary considerations in choosing where to locate.