Edward Smith, edward.smith@sierraclub.org
Jefferson City, Mo – Today, the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC), which regulates monopoly utilities like Evergy, unanimously approved a plan to charge customers in advance for two new Kansas gas-burning power plants and one new Missouri gas plant. Sierra Club and other stakeholders opposed the proposal because of Evergy’s flawed economic analysis that inflates revenue assumptions.
Under the new law established by Senate Bill 4, Missouri customers will see utility bills increase during the construction phase to cover half the cost of the two Kansas plants and the full cost of the Missouri plant, totaling more than $2.4 billion for Evergy’s Missouri customers alone. Kansas regulators approved a similar plan for Evergy customers earlier this month. No party, except Evergy, argued that the gas plant proposals are economically feasible, a critical factor in the Missouri approval process.
An expert witness for the Sierra Club, Michael Goggin, Vice President at power sector consulting firm Grid Strategies LLC, testified to the Missouri PSC that, “If Evergy’s application is approved as submitted, Missouri ratepayers will be on the hook for gas plants that are likely to be unprofitable, operate less than expected, and incur high maintenance costs or even premature failure due to excessive generator starts and cycling.”
In a separate order today, the PSC unanimously approved Evergy’s two solar projects that reflect a unanimous settlement among the parties. The Missouri solar project is 107 megawatts and located in Jasper County while the Kansas solar project is 65 megawatts and located in Wilson County.
Evergy regularly performs poorly in the Sierra Club’s forward-looking evaluation of utility plans to move from coal and gas to clean energy, scoring 13 out of 100 possible points in the most recent evaluation. Evergy’s score remains low because, on top of its remaining coal, the utility plans to build nearly 3 gigawatts (GW) of new gas by 2035 while only 45 percent of its current gas and coal generation will be replaced with renewable energy by 2035. The rise of data center demand for electricity and Evergy’s newly approved gas plants will be evaluated in the next Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledges report that comes out this September.
Great Rivers Environmental Law Center represented the Sierra Club before the PSC.
Statement from Billy Davies, KC-based Missouri Chapter Organizer for the Sierra Club:
“Missouri will follow Kansas in approving gas projects that not a single party, besides Evergy, claimed are cost-effective. If Evergy is confident in its financial projections, then it should have no problem agreeing that its shareholders pay for excessive costs instead of forcing customers to foot the bill. Sadly, the PSC is enabling utilities and multi-billion dollar tech companies to use average Missouri families as piggy banks to power new data centers. The last hope for the Commission to protect Missouri families from utility bill shock is to have a strong large user fee that ensures multi-billion dollar tech companies pay their fair share of these new power plants being built in the name of their data centers. Tech companies with serious climate goals, like Google, must demand clean energy from utilities to power their data centers.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.