Menu
KCP&L rate hearing draws little interest
By Rusty Murry
Nevada Daily Mail
Thursday's Missouri Public Service Commis-sion public hearing about a proposed Kansas City Power and Light rate increase, scheduled to last for as long as three hours, lasted less than 45 minutes, because only two local customers took advantage of the opportunity to ask questions.
The hearing was held in the circuit courtroom at the Vernon County Courthouse, with representatives of the Public Service Commission and KCP&L available to answer the questions from concerned customers.
Both customers asked questions, answered by Chuck Caisley, a KCP&L vice president of marketing and public affairs; and by Darrin Ives, of the company's regulatory division.
Rex Williams of Nevada wanted to know when the company last asked for an increase and how much that increase was.
Caisley said that in 2012, KCP&L asked for a rate increase of 14.4 percent or $75.5 million. The Public Service Commission approved an increase of 7.1 percent. It was "about half of what we requested," according to an e-mail from Katie McDonald, the company's director of corporate communications.
Mike Ast of Nevada asked what the total "percentage of increase" had been since KCP&L took over the service of Aquila in July of 2008 and he wanted to know "what is the reason for this increase."
Ives said the total increase had been about 40 percent over what customers were being charged when they took the service over. Ives cited several examples including line and equipment maintenance, increased transmission costs, capital structure costs and returns to shareholders as some of the increased expenses that warranted an increase in rates.
Caisley said "we do realize that is a lot -- there has been a lot of asset investment" on the part of the company." Ives added that "a significant portion of past increases are because of government mandates."
Kevin Kelly of the Office of Public Counsel added that some mandates led to benefits like "cleaner air and water and longer-lived plants."
Williams also expressed concern about different types of fuel used to generate electricity and about what the rate hike would mean to citizens living on a fixed income. The company uses coal to generate about 75 percent of its power and nuclear energy for 12 percent. The balance is created using renewable energy and natural gas.
Responding to Williams' question about citizens on fixed incomes, Caisley said KCP&L has "plans for limited income customers," noting that a fund of $1 million has just been started to address that issue, and an Economic Relief Program that was available to qualified customers and a family relief fund was open to eligible families whose income is as much as 200 percent over the poverty line. "Customers should call our customer contact center" to learn more about those programs, he said.
When the question-and-answer portion of the hearing was over, Regulatory Law Judge Daniel Jordan officially opened the meeting and offered those present the opportunity to testify. No one did, and the meeting was adjourned.
KCP&L filed for the rate increase in February. In August, the company announced a decrease in the rates that would amount to about $1.91 per month for the average residential customer. The proposed increase will amount to just over $6 per month, or about 21 cents per day. The increase will affect about 270,000 customers in the Missouri Public Service area. Most of the work is done by the public service commission staff members, who review the company's books and records, conduct interviews with company and gather other pertinent information.
Then a series of public hearings is held in the affected area. and all of the evidence will be presented to the commission for their decision.
The commission may render a decision as early as October. Ives said the company has never been denied an increase, but "we've never been given the full amount either."