Sierra Club Supports KCC Approved Plan to Protect Customers

Topeka, Kan. – The unanimous settlement reached by Evergy, the Sierra Club, Google, and several other intervenors was approved today by a 3-0, unanimous vote, at the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC). The Sierra Club’s intervention substantially improved the terms of the original proposal, changes that will provide additional protections to existing Evergy customers amid data center development. Those changes include: 

1. A decrease in the customer size threshold; from 100 megawatts to 75 megawatts, meaning smaller loads will qualify for the tariff, thus creating more protections for smaller Evergy customers, like families and small businesses.
2. An increase in the minimum contract term; from 10 years + a 5-year load ramp to 12 years + a 5-year load ramp. Increasing the duration of the term of the agreement by two years means more financial skin in the game for the entities adding new demand to the power grid, protecting existing customers.
3. A change of the optional clean energy choice rider; it now allows large load customers – including companies like Google and Meta with climate goals – to help shape Evergy’s integrated resource plan to invest in new renewable energy to strengthen the grid and/or replace existing assets, like coal- or gas-burning power plants. 

Evergy is delaying coal plant retirements and building new gas-burning power plants in the name of increased energy demand from data centers. The monopoly utility recently received approval to increase rates in both Kansas and Missouri, as well as new approvals in both states to charge customers in advance for new gas-burning power plants. Evergy and Ameren each proposed substantially similar large load tariff plans in Missouri. 

The Sierra Club was represented in the docket by Great Rivers Environmental Law Center. 

Statement from Ty Gorman, Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign Senior Organizing Strategist in Kansas: 

“This large load tariff is a step in the right direction to protect Kansas ratepayers from the negative impacts of data centers, and ensure that speculators aren't driving the utility toward rash decisions. Evergy is going in the wrong direction by delaying coal plant retirements that are increasingly expensive and less reliable, but we joined this agreement alongside tech companies and the utility because it places reasonable protections on existing customers while enabling new investments in clean energy.” 

Statement from Sarah Rubenstein, Staff Attorney with Great Rivers Environmental Law Center: 

“Without clear protections, families and small businesses would be left footing the bill for the massive energy appetites of data centers. This settlement ensures that large energy users share responsibility for the infrastructure they require while also creating new opportunities to move the grid toward clean, renewable energy.”