Gov. Laura Kelly signed bipartisan legislation stretching over time consumers’ payment of exorbitant natural gas costs incurred during the February freeze and to offer financial incentive for utility companies weighing transition from old coal plants to newer solar or wind sources of electricity. The law’s most immediate result would be issuance by public utilities such as Kansas Gas Service of ratepayer-backed bonds so customers had years instead of months to pay extraordinary utility bills. The long-term consequence was that investor-owned utilities, including Evergy, would be permitted to issue bonds covered by ratepayers that softened the risk of taking a step away from coal. Bonding, also referred to as securitization, has been relied upon in a couple dozen states to help utility companies deal with undepreciated investments in aging coal plants. In Kansas, much of that investment was in emissions control equipment installed to tame some of the country’s biggest coal-plant polluters.
Source: Kansas Reflector
