Laclede Gas, based in St. Louis, is taking over Missouri Gas Energy, based in Kansas City. Public Service Commission Chairman Robert Kenney says the new Laclede Gas Company will have 1.1-milion customers in Missouri’s two largest metro areas and will operate MGE as a divisions.
The PSC has approved the takeover with limits on rate hikes for two years.
MGE began as the Kansas City Gas Light & Coke Company in 1867. It began distributing natural gas in the Kansas City area in 1905 after gas supplies were discovered in southeast Kansas . Laclede serves about 630,000 customers in St. Louis city and parts of ten eastern Missouri counties. It was formed in 1857 as the Laclede Gas Light Company to provide gas street lights throughout the city.