Edward Smith, edward.smith@sierraclub.org
Kansas City, Mo – None of the three largest electric utilities in Missouri and Kansas improved their scores in the Sierra Club’s annual Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledges report, which is an apples-to-apples comparison of utility energy plans throughout the country. The report grades 75 utilities across the country on their plans to retire coal plants by 2030, not build new gas plants through 2035, and transition to clean energy through 2035. The average score across the country was 15 out of 100.
Missouri utilities advocated for a law passed earlier this year that will make it easier to increase utility bills for new gas-burning power plants and future projects approved by regulators who are appointed by the Governor. Kansas passed as similar law last year. Customers will see new rate increases to pay for new gas plants years before they provide service, largely in the name of economic development for multibillion dollar tech companies building power-hungry data centers.
The price of new gas-burning power plants is outpacing inflation, and the trend is likely to continue according to new analysis. Duke University research notes that new demand for electricity, for example from data centers, can be flexed to avoid building expensive new gas plants while maintaining electric grid reliability.
Ameren Missouri earned a 5% (F), an 11% decrease from the previous year. Ameren owns and plans to operate its Labadie coal-burning power plant until 2042, which is the one of the largest, dirtiest, and deadliest power plants in the country, because it lacks all modern pollution controls. Ameren admits its Sioux coal-burning plant is unlikely to operate at least 20% annually, meaning it could be offline when needed as customers continue to pay for the asset. Last year, the Sierra Club told utility regulators that Ameren over-inflated the price of renewable energy when critiquing the cost of Sioux’s extended operation.
AECI earned a 0% (F), which is the same score the utility earned the previous year. AECI is throwing good money after bad at its Thomas Hill coal plant in northern Missouri that has a recent history of breaking down. Thomas Hill didn’t operate for more than six of the last twelve months, including this past January when it was needed to power the grid during a polar vortex. AECI can be more secretive about its financials because it’s not a monopoly utility regulated by the state, nor is it a municipal utility that is overseen by locally elected officials.
Evergy earned a 9% (F), a 3% decrease from the previous year. Evergy was spotlighted in the report because of the utility’s multi-year backslide from renewable energy investments toward extending coal plant operations and building new gas-burning power plants. CEO David Campbell’s pivot toward more coal-burning and gas-burning saw the utility quietly drop its 70% greenhouse gas reduction target by 2030 goal from its website and regulatory filings as the company continues greenwashing its image.
In an interactive webpage, users can see their utility’s score and what progress–if any–the utility has made toward transitioning to cleaner, more affordable energy since the first version of the report in 2021.
Statement from Ty Gorman, Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign Organizing Strategist in Kansas:
“The dirty truth is that Evergy is extending uneconomic coal plants and building loads of new gas-burning power plants that will extract a massive amount of wealth from hardworking Kansans and benefit their worldwide shareholders. CEO David Campbell is responsible for this problem, and we need communities to come together and demand that his monopoly utility address its harms. Multibillion dollar tech companies with climate goals must fund clean energy, like Google, because Kansas communities are subsidizing new gas-burning power plants for their power-hungry AI data centers.”
Statement from Brian Smith, Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign Organizer in Missouri:
“I’ve talked to cooperative members throughout Missouri, and the dirty truth is that the average person has no clue that AECI exists, let alone the massive influence it has over the rates and power sources for their regional electric cooperatives. Knowing that AECI exists would be like the average cooperative member knowing that Pepsico owns Doritos—choice is an illusion.”
Statement from Jenn DeRose, Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign Organizing Strategist in Missouri:
“Just this year, Marty Lyons and his utility successfully lobbied state lawmakers to make it even easier for Ameren to increase our already-high monthly utility bills while receiving presidential pardons to pollute at its Labadie and Sioux coal plants. Ameren’s recent investments in fixed-cost solar are welcome, but not nearly enough to limit consumer exposure to volatile gas prices and the increasing cost of building new gas plants.”
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.