Now three weeks after a massive surge of cold air and the resulting freeze-up of energy sources to our south, the Kansas Corporation Commission says it’s busy on several fronts to make things better for utility customers, both short-term and long-term.
Director of Public Affairs Linda Berry tells KVOE News utilities have been willing partners as the KCC works to spread out the impact of what could be massive price spikes in the coming months.
Sub-zero or near-zero temperatures pushed south into Oklahoma and Texas, literally freezing up natural gas operations and forcing the Southwest Power Pool to demand rolling energy blackouts across its 14-state coverage area at a time when demand was at record levels. Berry says a protection from COVID-19, having utilities offer payment plans through the rest of the pandemic, will help customers. The KCC is also having utilities track their payments from the extreme cold last month and report back to the agency.
Over the long term, Berry says the KCC is working with federal investigators to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.
The KCC will launch an audit at some point later to determine the exact causes of any price spikes to come. As part of that, Berry says the KCC will look into items like what’s “just and reasonable” to charge to customers.
As utilities and Governor Laura Kelly have done over the past three weeks, Berry asked utility customers to line up 12-month average payment plans if they haven’t already done so. She also urged residents to apply for emergency assistance through the Low Income Energy Assistance Program. The application deadline is March 31. Representatives of the Kansas Department for Children and Families will be on KVOE’s Morning Show at 8:40 am Thursday with more information.
