WICHITA, Kansas (KWCH) – Evergy on Tuesday got ahead of the state’s utility regulations on Tuesday after the Kansas Corporation Commission expressed concern about a large increase in expected spending.
Evergy’s five-year capital spending plan calls for an additional $1.2 billion to be spent, most of it on renewable energy projects. But the question arises what this means for customer rates.
“We never find ourselves in a situation where we don’t want to invest.
The $1.2 billion increase in spending is more than 20% higher than the plan Evergy put forward last year, according to the KCC. He Evergy on Tuesday pointed to his two key factors in the increase. The first is inflation.
Evergy President and CEO David Campbell said:
According to Evergy, this adds about $110 million. The plan also calls for new renewable energy projects, the company said. The new generation under this plan totals him over $500 million.
“Our analytical support will result in savings for our customers over time because the relative costs of renewable energy are low, especially compared to alternative energy sources, in providing energy,” Campbell said. says.
The main reason we called Tuesday’s meeting was to understand what all this means for our customers. Evergy said that for people in central Kansas, rate projections, excluding fuel, would increase people’s bills by 2.5 to 3 percent between 2022 and 2026.
Evergy said an anti-inflation law passed earlier this year will provide incentives for renewable energy, offsetting some of the costs. KCC should consider changing the rates, but Evergy has not filed a lawsuit under this plan.
Evergy is one of the utilities approved for settlement after winter storms and cold snaps in February 2021. Starting next April, the company’s Central Kansas customers will see a $2.82 monthly bill increase over the next two years. Kansas City Subway riders receive $6.60 in credit for the following year.
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