Kansas electricity rates

Kansas has an outstanding wind resource and has built a great deal of wind capacity, which pushes marginal energy costs down. Against that sit two significant fixed costs: the Wolf Creek nuclear station, whose capital and operating costs are recovered from a relatively small ratepayer base, and an extensive transmission programme built to move western Kansas wind east.

Kansas transmission investment was aggressive, early, and recovered through a mechanism that allowed relatively rapid cost recovery. That infrastructure is part of why SPP can move as much wind as it does, but Kansas ratepayers paid for a network that benefits a wider region.

The merger that created Evergy was followed by a period of regulatory scrutiny over whether promised savings materialised, and rate cases since have been closely fought.

Evergy is the dominant utility, formed from the merger of Westar Energy and Kansas City Power & Light, and serves most of the state's population. Midwest Energy, municipal systems and rural co-operatives cover much of the rest.

Kansas has no residential retail choice. The Kansas Corporation Commission sets rates, and the Citizens' Utility Ratepayer Board represents residential and small-business customers.

Kansas has an unusually high fixed monthly customer charge relative to neighbouring states, which means reducing usage saves less than the headline rate implies. Check the fixed charge on your bill before modelling savings from efficiency work.

Evergy's optional time-of-use plans have wide peak-to-off-peak spreads. They are worthwhile for households that can shift load and worse than the standard rate for households that cannot.