TOPEKA — The Kansas Corporation Commission issued orders requiring retail residential ratepayers to bear the brunt of $622 million in extraordinary costs absorbed by public utilities to buy natural gas during a brutal cold snap in February 2021.
The three-member KCC didn’t require utility companies to eat costs associated with a winter storm given the name Uri. There was no negotiation for price breaks on behalf of residential customers, despite private commercial deals reducing by 25% or more their payments tied to the weather.
Nor did the commission launch its own investigation into the mystery of what transpired when natural gas prices surged during a crucial seven-day period.
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