The Winter Storm Uri of 2021 and its disastrous impact on natural gas customers in Oklahoma and other states led this week to the filing of two class action lawsuits in Kansas.
Named as defendants are some well known companies,some of which have been sued in similar claims. BP Energy, the same firm that lost a lawsuit with Arkansas Oklahoma Gas company as reported earlier this year by OK Energy Today, was named in the suits and accused of taking advantage of the storm to sell natural gas at historic prices.
Another is Macquarie Energy, a natural gas supplier that is apparently under investigation by the Oklahoma Attorney General because it supplied natural gas during the storm to Oklahoma utilities. Macquarie Energy was already sued by the Kansas Attorney General when it came under the watchful eye of the Oklahoma AG’s office.
Eight companies in all were named in the Kansas lawsuits, according to the Kansas Reflector.
Five Kansas residents and customers of Kansas Gas Service brought one lawsuit “to recover damages as a result of defendants’ unconscionable practices,” the petition, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Kansas, says, according to the newspaper.
Another five residents who are customers of city-owned gas utilities that are part of the Kansas Municipal Gas Agency filed the other lawsuit.
Along with BP, the lawsuit filed by KGS customers names Southwest Energy, Macquarie Energy, Energy Transfer, Tenaska, MIECO and Rockpoint Gas Storage as defendants. The KMGA customers’ case also names BP, Macquarie and Southwest Energy, along with CIMA Energy.
Click here for Kansas Reflector