The Kansas Corporation Commission has approved a partial settlement agreement for a rate increase plan by Kansas Gas Service.
The agreement was reached with KCC staff, the Citizens Utility Ratepayer Board, Kansas Gas Service and other groups that intervened in the rate case.
Under the agreement, residential customers will see an increase of $2.40 per month on average, and that will include an increase in the customer charge from$16.70 to $18.70 per month. The new rates will go into effect February 6th. The original proposal from KGS called for a monthly residential increase of $5.67 or ten percent.
The settlement will provide for an annual increase of $21.5 million, compared with the original proposal to increase base rates by $45.6 million.
One issue that still has to be decided is whether KGS will be allowed to keep the tax savings it has accrued since the Federal Tax Cut and Jobs Act took effect in late 2017. The utility asked to keep the accrued savings of $17.9 million to offset its cost of service. KCC staff and CURB have opposed the request. A decision is expected by the KCC in the next few weeks. The KCC had issued an order in 2017 requiring utilities to put the tax savings in an interest-bearing account to allow time to study the economic impacts of the lower tax rates and pass cost savings on to consumers where appropriate.