The Missouri Public Service Commission is fighting back accusations from the Senate Majority Leader that it is requiring private electric utility companies to move residential customers to time-based rates.
Public Service Commission Chairman Scott Rupp tells Missourinet affiliate KDRO in Sedalia that time-based rates will only take effect if customers choose that specific rate option provided by their utility company.
“You know what, I don’t want to mess with it, I want status quo, I liked the old rate I have, there’s a rate that’s designed that’s almost exactly like your old rate and you don’t have to worry about when I use my energy and you can just continue to do things the way you always have been and that’s designed that way is so that people that don’t want to have to think about it, you don’t have to,” Rupp said. “There’s a rate for those people that just want status quo.”
Rupp said that the time-based rates are designed to benefit the consumer and save them money, and said that Evergy has the stats to prove it.
“Ninety-one percent or 9 out of every 10 people are going to save money on these new rates. If a whole bunch of people are saving money, that’s less revenue for the company, and they’re actually concerned that they might not get enough money and not be able to hit their revenue target and hit their profit target,” said Rupp. “So they’re very concerned that people are going to save too much money on these rates. Their own data shows that 9 out of 10 people, if they had been on these rates a year ago, they would have saved money.”
Under the plan, when the cost to generate and deliver electricity is higher, the cost for customers to use electricity will be higher. The same applies when the costs and rates are lower.
“If you do choose, you could say I’m going to sign up for this rate that has a 40% discount for about 95% of the month, but when during those peak hours, when energy is really expensive, the price goes up,” said Rupp. “Yes, if you do choose to, ‘hey I’m going run my dishwasher at 8PM, or I’m going to put the clothes in the dryer before I go to bed’ and you choose to make those changes, yeah, you can save money.”
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