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Jan. 4—St. Joseph residents will see higher electric rates beginning next week.
The Missouri Public Service Commission, which regulates investor-owned utilities in the state, approved a 4.2% rate increase that will allow Evergy to generate an additional $55 million in revenue from customers in its Kansas City and western Missouri service areas. The new rates take effect Monday.
In St. Joseph, the typical customer will pay an extra $4.50 a month based on the average usage of 1,000 kilowatt hours. In Kansas City, which has a different rate structure, customers will pay an additional $3.75 a month.
This represents the first general rate increase for Evergy customers since the 2018 merger of Kansas City Power & Light and Westar Energy, which is based in Kansas. Customers routinely see increases in their bills due to the fuel charges that are used to recover the cost of natural gas that generates electricity. The fuel cost is typically passed from the wholesaler to the customer, with little role for the PSC to regulate that cost.
This month's rate hike is different. The company filed last January to increase its base rates to recover the cost of infrastructure while providing a return on investment to its shareholders.
"An increase in rates goes to fund operations and continued investment," said Gina Penzig, Evergy's external communications manager. "These are things like infrastructure and the ongoing cost to serve customers."
In an annual report to shareholders last spring, Evergy said the cost savings from the 2018 merger allowed the company to pursue a smaller-than-expected rate increase to keep up with infrastructure and plant upgrades and modernization. After an 11-month hearing process, the PSC trimmed Evergy's original revenue request for the two service areas by $52 million.
"The ongoing savings since our 2018 merger keeps the requested price increases in Missouri below the annual rate of inflation, as they have been for the past decade," the company said in its annual report.
St. Joseph ratepayers aren't out of the woods on further increases in utility costs. A consultant's study recommends a sewer rate increase for St. Joseph residents, though the City Council has yet to act on that recommendation.
On Jan. 24, the PSC will hold a public hearing in St. Joseph to take testimony on Missouri-American Water Co.'s proposal to increase its annual water and sewer revenue by $99 million, or 25%, statewide. That rate case is pending with the PSC.
Missouri-American does not provide sewer service in St. Joseph.
Greg Kozol can be reached at greg.kozol@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowKozol.