JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s Public Service Commission (PSC) dismissed an application from a pair of energy entities to approve a transition of assets.
GridLiance and NextEra asked the commission to approve the total acquisition of GridLiance Holdco’s limited partner interests by NextEra — or to find that it had no jurisdiction over the matter. The applicants argued that multi-state NextEra was not subject to the commission’s authority and the entity it would acquire was not either, though it has authority over another corporation under the PSC’s control.
After investigating the specifics of the acquisition and reviewing Missouri statutes, the commission found it had no jurisdiction over the transaction and dismissed the request during this week’s agenda meeting.
The commission scheduled a hearing in a complaint case over an Evergy Missouri West customer’s account. Evergy West was ordered to submit the customer’s energy consumption data from 2017 to 2019 in addition to billing records from 2018 through 2020. Staff filed a report on the filings, and the commission set a hearing date for April 30 to further consider the matter.
The PSC also approved a partial stipulation and agreement over Evergy Metro’s Missouri Energy Efficiency Investment Act (MEEIA) cost prudence review. The agreement requires Evergy Metro’s next Demand Side investment Mechanism (DSMI) adjustment to include a $10,000 credit to customers and allows the company to only recover costs from membership and conferences if they were a direct result of its MEEIA program.
Utility companies in Missouri and across the Midwest struggled under the weight of intense winter storms this week. Various utilities, including Evergy, initiated rolling blackouts across their service areas to conserve power on the grid, while PSC Chairman Ryan Silvey joined them in asking Missourians to reduce their energy consumption to avoid outages and higher bills down the road.
The next PSC agenda meeting is scheduled for Feb. 17. Commissioners said they would continue to meet virtually for the foreseeable future.
Cameron Gerber studied journalism at Lincoln University. Prior to Lincoln, he earned an associate’s degree from State Fair Community College. Cameron is a native of Eldon, Missouri.
Contact Cameron at cameron@themissouritimes.com.
