The state’s utility consumer advocate is calling for a management audit of Aquila, a power company that serves thousands of customers in western Missouri. Public Counsel Lewis Mills says the company has been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by some recent management decisions. Mills has told the Public Service Commission he questions the Aquila board giving company executives millions of dollars in bonuses at a time when the company’s stock price dropped from $40 a share to almost nothing in one year. Last September, Aquila agreed to sell four of its utilities for $900 million to prop up its finances. The next day, a committee of directors approved paying $3.3 million in bonuses for nine company leaders.
