Category: Board of Public Utilities

BPU members call for meeting with UG over ‘misinformation’

Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities members called for a meeting with the Unified Government, saying at Wednesday night’s meeting that the BPU wants to correct “misinformation.”

There is “misinformation” being discussed by UG committee members, according to Rose Mulvany Henry, BPU vice president.

She said that members of a UG committee recently gave a presentation to a local business group, in which the committee members gave out incorrect information about the PILOT fee on the BPU bills.

The PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) fee is an 11.9 percent fee that the UG places on BPU customers’ bills. The BPU has no authority in approving the fee, according to board members.

“Literally, all we do is collect the PILOT fee and remit the fee to the UG,” Mulvany Henry said at the meeting.

The BPU has no say in how the funds are spent. The funds go into the city general fund of the UG, she said. The UG Commission votes on how much the PILOT fee will be every year at budget time. BPU bills are just used to collect the funds for the UG.

At a recent UG Commission meeting, a UG commissioner asked where the PILOT fee on Bonner Springs and Edwardsville residents’ bills go. Any funds collected from there would go back to Bonner Springs and Edwardsville cities, according to Bill Johnson, BPU general manager.

There was general agreement among the rest of the BPU board that the board needs to meet with the UG Commission and mayor.

Mulvany Henry said although the UG’s website describes the PILOT fee as a franchise fee, it really is not, and that needs to be corrected, also. She said it is a payment in lieu of taxes, different from a franchise fee.

According to BPU officials, the UG gets 11.9 percent of the amount that the BPU bills. If customers are slow to pay their bills, the UG will get its funds right away from the BPU, while the BPU will have to wait for the customers to pay.

According to Mulvany Henry, the UG legal department has looked into the PILOT fees and has determined that the BPU is handling them correctly.

In other discussion, the BPU heard a report about the utility’s electric supply operations. BPU board members said they hoped the BPU was protected against cyber attacks in the wake of the UG website being hit by a cyber attack last weekend. BPU officials assured them that although it could happen to anyone, the BPU is well protected against cyber attacks.

BPU to meet April 20

The Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities will meet on Wednesday, April 20.

On the agenda for the work session at 5 p.m. are a board update, a general manager update and BPU strategic plan review.

On the agenda for the regular meeting at 6 p.m. are a public comment time, Argentine Betterment Corp. report, general manager and staff reports, electric supply quarterly update, miscellaneous comments, board comments and executive session.

The public may access the BPU meetings through the telephone and through the internet. The Zoom meeting will be held at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84523139724.

The public may call toll-free, 1-888-475-4499.

The meeting ID number is 845 2313 9724.

The board meeting information packet is available online at https://www.bpu.com/Portals/0/pdf/board-information-packet-4-20-22.pdf.

For more information about the meeting, see https://www.bpu.com/About/MediaNewsReleases/April20thBPUBoardMeetingNotice.aspx.

BPU board members discuss cold weather rule

The Board of Public Utilities’ cold weather rule was the subject of a discussion on Wednesday evening.

No action was taken after a BPU committee discussed the policy.

A resident, Jared Emmons, brought the policy issue to the board in recent months. He said the BPU’s policy is different from the Kansas Corporation Commission’s cold weather rule.

BPU’s policy says it will not disconnect residential customers when it is 32 degrees or below for 24 hours, while the KCC’s rule was 35 degrees for 48 hours.

Board member Jeff Bryant said if a house was disconnected when the temperature is 32 degrees or 40 degrees, it didn’t make much difference as it would still be cold. He thought they could ask water department staff for their opinion on temperatures when pipes freeze, and use that as the temperature for the disconnection policy.

BPU officials said the BPU’s disconnection procedure was longer than other area utilities. Notices start going out and 25 days later, BPU can disconnect if the weather is not too cold.

Customers faced with disconnection can make payment arrangements with the BPU, and if they don’t, then the utility can disconnect them, according to BPU officials.

Bryant said he thought that other utilities require a payment arrangement to be in place for the customer to qualify for the cold weather policy.

Disconnections are now done electronically, according to BPU officials.

Bryant said if the BPU updates the cold weather policy, customers should be reminded that they can make or post a payment online electronically. That could get the power turned back on the same day.

To get their electric service restored, customers have to pay all past due fees, bills and penalties, plus a deposit if necessary, according to the BPU’s current policy. If they call the BPU and make payment arrangements before their service is disconnected, then they avoid the reconnection fees.

Bryant and BPU committee members discussed requiring customers to go on a payment arrangement if they had a disconnection notice two or three times in a year. Bryant said that every time a customer’s utilities are disconnected, there are also soft costs to the utility in accounting, customer service and billing, creating more costs that have to be paid. These costs are passed on to the rest of the BPU’s customers, according to Bryant.

Board member Bob Milan said it was his opinion that the customer has the responsibility to pay the bill. The customer has the responsibility to notify the BPU and make arrangements so the customer will not be cut off, he said.

Emmons said during the public comment time at the regular BPU meeting that the KCC rule is not contingent on having a payment plan in place.

Also, he asked for information on supporting data and analysis of a previous staff presentation projecting BPU revenue losses if the rule was changed to the KCC version. He had made that request a few weeks previously, and did not get the information requested.

According to BPU members, the discussion on the cold weather policy will be continued at another later meeting. They are not currently under the cold weather policy, as it ends each March 31.

The BPU’s current cold weather policy states: During the period of Nov. 1 through March 31, BPU will not disconnect residential electric customers for nonpayment of bills when the National Weather Service forecasts the temperature will remain at or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit for 24 hours. BPU will check the weather forecasts daily between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Water service can be disconnected at any time.

The policy also states that to avoid being disconnected, a customer must contact BPU to check eligibility and establish a payment arrangement.

The BPU also has a hot weather rule that states that during the summer, or any day when the National Weather Service forecasts the temperature will rise above 95 degrees, or the heat index will rise above 105 degrees, BPU will not disconnect electric service for nonpayment of bills.

To see previous stories about this topic, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/bpu-to-review-policies-on-cold-weather-rule/

https://wyandotteonline.com/resident-questions-bpus-cold-weather-rule/