Evergy and the Independence, Missouri, utility have announced rolling power blackouts beginning at 12:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15.
Most of Wyandotte County is served by the Board of Public Utilities, which had not made a similar announcement of power blackouts, but there are some Wyandotte County customers under Evergy (formerly Westar), according to the Unified Government’s utility listings.
According to an Evergy news release, the utility will begin to turn off electricity to blocks of customers for about 30 to 60 minutes at a time today.
After the 30 to 60 minutes, power will be restored to the area, according to the news release. The emergency outages then will rotate to another portion of Evergy’s service area, the utility stated in the news release. Power will cycle off and on periodically until the reduction is no longer required by the Southwest Power Pool, according to the announcement.
Outages could last longer than 30 to 60 minutes, as equipment may not operate as intended, the Evergy news release stated.
Independence announced on social media that it would start rolling power outages with about 2,000 customers at a time for 20 to 30 minutes.
The Kansas Corporation Commission issued an emergency order Monday morning directing utilities under its jurisdiction to do all things possible and necessary to ensure adequate amounts of natural gas and electricity to meet the needs of Kansas customers, including interconnected utilities that are not under their jurisdiction, that depend on them for power, according to a news release from the KCC.
In a special meeting this morning, KCC commissioners issued an emergency order directing utilities under its jurisdiction to do all things possible and necessary to ensure adequate amounts of natural gas and electricity to meet the needs of Kansas customers including interconnected non-jurisdictional utilities that depend on them for power.
The prolonged stretch of extremely cold temperatures has increased demand, created natural gas supply constraints, and potentially reliability issues, according to the KCC.
“It’s in every Kansan’s best interest to conserve electricity and natural gas over the next few days when possible,” KCC Chairperson Andrew French said in a statement. “Reducing your usage will help ensure everyone continues to receive these services, and it will save you money on future utility bills.”
Utilities are experiencing wholesale gas prices anywhere from 10 to 200 times higher than normal. Those costs will eventually impact customers through increases in monthly natural gas and electric bills.
Today’s order also authorizes every jurisdictional electric and natural gas distribution utility that incurs extraordinary costs associated with ensuring its customers continue to receive utility service during this cold weather event to defer those costs to a regulatory asset account for future review by the Commission. This deferral is for accounting purposes only. Any decisions related to ratepayer recovery will be addressed in future proceedings.
The Board of Public Utilities in Kansas City, Kansas, is not under KCC jurisdiction, but is a member of the Southwest Power Pool, which is coordinating emergency response in the region. BPU had not announced rolling blackouts at midday Monday, but it has asked customers to use less power. Later on Monday, the BPU also announced rolling blackouts.
Kansas City, Kansas, may already be using less power on Monday because of other circumstances. The Unified Government offices, for example, are closed for the Presidents Day holiday. It is also a state and federal holiday, with those offices closed, as well.
The Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools are closed today, and on Tuesday, they will be under the Plan E of the district’s inclement weather policy, according to the district’s webpage. Under Plan E, there is no remote work, teaching or learning. All school campuses, district offices the library branches are closed. There is no bus transportation and no meal pickup and delivery service. Essential workers are on call. The Kansas City, Kansas, Public Library has announced it is closed on Monday and Tuesday (the buildings are currently not open to the public to reduce the spread of COVID-19).
The General Motors plant in Kansas City, Kansas, has been closed for a week because of a parts shortage.
Tips offered by the BPU on how to conserve energy include:
Turn thermostats a little cooler (65-68 degrees). Avoid the use of electric space heaters.
• Close blinds and shades to reduce the amount of heat lost through windows.
• Change or clean filters on furnaces.
• Turn off unnecessary lights and appliances in your home.
• When possible, use large appliances (clothes washers, dryers and dishwashers) between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.
• Reduce air leaks that let cold air in by sealing around doors and windows with weather-stripping or caulk and inserting foam gaskets on electrical switches and outlets.
• Businesses should reduce the use of electric lighting and electricity-consuming equipment as much as possible.
• Large consumers of electricity should consider shutting down or reducing non-essential processes.