KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Environmental and consumer groups are raising alarms about what they claim is limited transparency as Kansas regulators review Evergy’s plan to spend more than $8.9 billion on the utility provider’s infrastructure across the state.
“The (plan) represents the direction of the energy future that our monopoly utility is saying we should go, and the people who that’s going to affect should have a say in that process,” said Ty Gorman, Kansas representative for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign.
The Kansas Corporation Commission is reviewing Evergy’s “sustainability transformation plan,” which it announced last year after Elliott Management Corporation, a major Evergy shareholder, told the utility company it should either develop a plan to invest in its infrastructure or sell.
The plan, which Evergy says will help speed its transition to renewable energy and improve grid reliability after widespread outages during a severe cold snap this winter, doesn’t need KCC approval. The commission will review any spending Evergy proposes for its infrastructure when it reviews the rates the utility proposes to charge customers. Evergy, which formed from the merger of Kansas City Power & Light and Westar, provides power to about 1.6 million customers in Kansas and Missouri.
But a third-party consultant’s analysis that helped form the plan — and some information about the plan itself — aren’t publicly available. Evergy has marked them confidential through the KCC review process, claiming they contain sensitive information and plans that are still evolving. It says the KCC case gives environmental and customer groups a window into its planning, but shouldn’t require as much disclosure as a normal KCC case.
And while the name indicates Evergy’s plan is about sustainability, only a sliver of the spending is dedicated to generating new renewable energy. Consumer and environmental groups worry the plan, developed under pressure by Elliott, is meant to boost shareholder profits, not customer benefits.
“In the STP docket, we are sharing potential business decisions and considerations that have not been made,” said Gina Penzig, the company’s spokeswoman. “The docket includes material information that under Securities Exchange Commission guidelines is considered material and not appropriate for a publicly traded company to openly share.”
And while the KCC review process is nearing an end — comments on the STP were due last week — the commission has yet to rule on two pending motions attempting to force Evergy to be more transparent.
In an email, KCC’s legislative liaison, Jake Fisher, said the commission has not released a timeframe for ruling on those motions.
EVERGY emerged from the merger of Westar and Kansas City Power & Light in 2018. The combined company is owned by investors and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Last year, Elliott pressured the company to spend more on infrastructure or sell. The company explored a sale, but instead decided to remain a standalone company. Earlier this year, Elliott gained two seats on Evergy’s board.
In developing its plan, Evergy underwent an intensive 12-week analysis by Boston Consulting Group. Out of that came the sustainability transformation plan. Evergy’s website about the plan says it is expected to “drive increased value and benefits for all of the company’s stakeholders, including Evergy’s shareholders, customers, employees and the communities it serves.”
Evergy president and CEO Terry Bassham says the plan focuses on “decarbonization and grid modernization.”
“The result is greener, more reliable and affordable energy for our customers, and enhanced earnings growth and value creation for Evergy’s shareholders,” Bassham said.
But Gorman said the plan was simply an attempt to “greenwash” for Evergy’s investors.
The investments Evergy plans to make — primarily in transmission and distribution projects — don’t indicate a much faster transition to renewable energy or the closure of any coal power plants, Gorman said.
