Kansas City residents speak out against Spire rate increase. What could happen to gas bills

A crowd of around 70 Kansas Citians gathered in the Gregg/Klice Community Center Tuesday evening to voice their concerns about Spire’s request for a rate increase.

The natural gas company’s proposed rate hike would raise customers’ bills by an estimated 12.7% in the Kansas City area while netting the company an additional $143 million in revenue.

“Sometimes, as a consumer, I feel like the adult in the room,” Kansas City resident Elaine Artzer told state utility regulators.

“The only one willing to sacrifice during a bad economy, while all the companies come yelling like little children who don’t want anything disturbed in their world. And I am supposed to take care of it for them.”

Artzer returned to her seat to loud applause. She was the tenth of 22 people who testified before the Missouri Public Service Commission, which regulates some utilities in the state.

All of them voiced opposition to the rate increase request.

Spire currently estimates that the rate increase will raise customers’ bills by around $10.95 per month on average. However, some customers have experienced bill increases far beyond Spire’s estimates in the past, as The Star reported in March.

Many different factors comprise a natural gas bill– here’s how to make sense of them. The rate that Spire is trying to increase comes from what’s called the “delivery charge.” That’s the part of your bill where the company makes their profits, so the review process to increase it usually takes up to 11 months.

What concerns did residents share?

Hearing attendees included a diverse group of seniors, young people, business owners, environmental activists and local officials. Their concerns included the rate increase’s potential impact on low-income households, what residents described as Spire’s “misleading” testimony during hearings for the city’s Climate Protection and Resiliency Plan, the utility company’s high executive pay and fear over further price increases in the future.

Two members of the Public Service Commission listened to residents’ sworn testimony before regulatory law judge John Clark. Also present were four Spire executives, two Commission staff members and a representative from the Office of the Public Counsel, which represents utility customers before the Commission.

City Councilwoman Katheryn Shields was in attendance alongside Andrew Savastino, the city’s chief environmental officer. Savastino entered into evidence a recent city resolution expressing concern with Spire’s requested price hike.

“I’ve been on the council, off and on, for a combination of sixteen years,” Shields told commissioners. “We’ve never really come out against a rate increase before, but we did very strongly on this.”

The meeting also featured activists from the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led environmental organization. The Kansas City chapter has previously voiced opposition to Spire’s rates and to natural gas as an energy source in general, citing sustainability concerns.

“It’s getting harder to live out here,” said Laela Zaidi, a Sunrise Movement organizer. “The people in this community are united in saying that corporate greed cannot stand.”

During a question and answer period early in the meeting, Spire executives were unable to answer a resident’s question about how many of their customers who are on payment plans, or the number who have had their natural gas disconnected for nonpayment.

In the first six months of 2022, Spire disconnected 16,403 Missouri customers for nonpayment. As of June 30, when the most recent data is available, 146,270 Missouri customers are behind on their Spire bills– but only 34,184, or around 23%, are on payment plans through the company.

This information is reported monthly to the Missouri Public Service Commission under case number AW-2020-0356, a code Commission staff member Curt Stokes recited to The Star from memory after the hearing.

What will happen next in the rate case?

Spire and its regulators now have until Nov. 4 to take public feedback and other evidence into account and present updated proposals for how they think the case should proceed. If you still want to weigh in on the rate increase request, here’s how. Be sure to reference its case number, GR-2022-0179.

Requests like this one typically take the Public Service Commission around 11 months to review. Any outcomes in the case likely won’t take effect until early next year.

Following the hearing, Spire Missouri general counsel Matt Aplington told The Star that it went “basically as we expected,” adding that he has heard similar concerns from customers in other communities.

“It’s a difficult time for people, and we understand that,” he said. “Just because nobody showed up in support of the case doesn’t mean that there aren’t people out there who support the case.”

Do you have more questions about the cost of living in Kansas City? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.