Tax cuts spur KCP&L rate update case

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BRANSON MO NEWS: Kansas City Power & Light is proposing an increase in some rates for its customers, even though the new federal tax cuts could generate some savings for ratepayers.KCP&L submitted rate hike requests for its two Missouri service areas in late January. The plan closely follows the announcement of the new federal tax program. The reductions in corporate income tax rates are influencing utilities to pass on those savings.“We’re always taking a look at where our costs are,” said Courtney Hughley, a spokeswoman for the utility. “It’s much more an art than a science.”

And while KCP&L is seeking state approval for roughly a 0.3 percent rate decrease in base rates on customer bills in its GMO service area, it’s also seeking state approval of a 3 percent increase in fuel and purchased power charges. The GMO service area includes Buchanan, Andrew and 12 other Northwest Missouri counties. The case represents about a $19.3 million increase in annual electric revenues, with KCP&L hoping to recoup spending on such infrastructure improvements as light pole replacements.Hughley said the fuel charges are not permanent.“That 3 percent could change. It could go up and down” outside of a rate case, she added.Hughley said the utility most likely would have filed for a rate update even without the tax cuts, due to those investments.Simultaneously, the company is asking for the ability to place an additional 1 percent increase in fuel and purchased power charges for its KCP&L-Missouri customers, which includes those in Platte and Livingston counties, and a 1 percent hike in fuel costs assessed on monthly bills for those in the service area. The fuel adjustment charges, as they are formally known, are reset as part of each rate update.If the rate update is approved, the average residential customer …



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