[{"_1":2,"_88":-5,"_89":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6641341,"mediaKeyId","2543293-e818c4785ec021b156d3e0dea60bf5d7","parentId",2543293,"title","House committee advances bill tightening consumer disclosures for rooftop solar, authorizes LMP pilot and capacity caps","audioSeconds",2737,"startMs",3694000,"endMs",6431000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2543293-e818c4785ec021b156d3e0dea60bf5d7&start=3694&end=6431","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2543293-e818c4785ec021b156d3e0dea60bf5d7/thumbnail_3694000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6641341/Kansas/House-committee-advances-bill-tightening-consumer-disclosures-for-rooftop-solar-authorizes-LMP-pilot-and-capacity-caps","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6641341-b4c2ca93e3749bbfe88ee4276e6d5386/orig.mp4?Expires=1773591646&Signature=mrkNtAkegCIARPPfmEBPYMXp1nj~yTIKr-ozoqNWdlBGMB~8hP9osK-81CFRL4MExH4yVDNdw9Xh4QBndviD5UGka~36g4noaeQLm9Fmk3r7MCl0K5c4yYJ2xm2CurAH9Gt74uCRQuPl6zYBMjbMWTG1FNxfSsdPQvMY6enVaEFiSoZdUhbuLrQjxWxG17NsNIBrVtw1R57vQoHwLxh8AZC0f9RW6g2IRjrVSsK7z95LidmhyqiPgGQsF8FOerfS~tt9nD7qRqgqpuRcQPLpr980usQLyiGvolriPenV6QGnors4IjbRbe~352lfHEbcE3BBdI4n0FoPokSAGzw5Dw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Kansas Legislature","date","2025-03-11T16:53:39.337Z","article","A Kansas House committee voted to advance House Bill 2149, a comprehensive rewrite of state rules for customer‑scale distributed energy systems that the committee’s reviser said adds consumer protections, modifies compensation for exported energy and establishes a temporary pilot for locational marginal pricing.

Nick Myers, the committee reviser, said the substitute amendment requires residential distributed‑energy retailers who enter contracts for systems on single‑family homes and duplexes to provide prospective customers with a standard disclosure form developed and published by the Kansas attorney general’s advisory group. The advisory group must be convened by the attorney general and publish the standard disclosure form on the attorney general’s website before July 1, 2025, under the amendment.

The substitute also moves several provisions into a revised Parallel Generation statute and changes compensation for small systems. The amendment strikes an existing 150% payment metric for small systems and requires compensation of not less than 100% of the utility’s monthly avoided cost; it also authorizes utilities to use locational marginal pricing (LMP) or monthly system average cost when determining compensation and includes a sunset for that LMP/monthly-cost option in 2030.

The bill creates registration and consumer‑protection requirements for distributed‑energy retailers, including a requirement that businesses be registered with the Secretary of State to operate in Kansas and a civil penalty cap of up to $10,000 for violations of the disclosure requirements. Myers told the committee the civil‑penalty provision allows an aggrieved customer, the attorney general or a county or district attorney to bring enforcement actions.

The substitute adds an explicit cap on total distributed energy interconnections under parallel generation and net‑metering programs: utilities must permit customer systems so long as cumulative customer generation does not exceed 6% of the utility’s historic peak power demand as of July 1, 2025; that cap rises to 7% on July 1, 2026 and 8% on July 1, 2027. For one year after July 1, 2025, the substitute allows utilities to deny parallel generation service to new or expanded customers taking service at or above 34.5 kV and to exclude such customers’ new load from the historic peak used in the percentage calculation.

The revised bill also requires certain operational and safety provisions (technical standards and disconnect mechanisms) and clarifies that the Kansas Corporation Commission’s authority to set contract terms for parallel generation applies only to investor‑owned utilities. The substitute carries an effective date for the consumer‑disclosure provisions of July 1, 2025, and the attorney general’s advisory‑group work begins upon publication in the Kansas Register so the standardized disclosure will be available by that date.

Kimberly Ginterswati, representing Kansas Municipal Utilities, told the committee the amendment addresses many municipal concerns and highlighted one requested language change the committee adopted: the substitute now requires retailers to declare whether a contract will result in a property lien. Ginterswati said that disclosure is intended to prevent homeowners from discovering liens when they try to sell their property.

Jessica Lucas of the Clean Energy Business Council and a representative of Kansas electric cooperatives both described compromises in the substitute. Lucas said an annual reconciliation with a floor was retained in part to prevent customers who export energy from avoiding negative market prices in any monthly settlement; a multi‑party negotiator explained the annual reconciliation and the temporary LMP pilot as transitional steps toward more market‑based pricing and broader adoption of storage.

Committee debate included several procedural motions. Representative John Hoheisel moved initially to pass the bill; Representative Roth seconded that motion. Representative John Carmichael later moved adoption of the balloon substitute, with scrivener’s permission to the reviser; Representative Roth seconded. The committee adopted the substitute and then passed HB 2149 out favorably as amended. Committee members recorded no roll‑call tally on the floor during the recorded audio; the committee chair asked for a show‑of‑hands vote and several members requested their affirmative votes be recorded in the minutes.

Ending: With the substitute accepted and the bill passed out favorably as amended, committee members said they expect continued stakeholder negotiations and potential trailer bills; the attorney general’s advisory group and the Kansas Corporation Commission process were identified as the next implementation steps.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","House Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Telecommunications 03/11/2025","oneSentenceSummary","A Kansas House committee voted to advance House Bill 2149, a comprehensive rewrite of state rules for distributed energy systems, requiring standard disclosures for residential rooftop and small‑scale systems and creating a temporary LMP pilot and caps on total customer generation.","taxTitle","Senate, Committees, Legislative, Kansas","taxId",15103,"location","Kansas","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6641346,"Evergy outlines $17.5 billion capital plan, new gas and solar builds to meet rising demand",3059,45000,3104000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2543293-e818c4785ec021b156d3e0dea60bf5d7&start=45&end=3104","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2543293-e818c4785ec021b156d3e0dea60bf5d7/thumbnail_45000.jpg","/articles/6641346/Kansas/Evergy-outlines-175-billion-capital-plan-new-gas-and-solar-builds-to-meet-rising-demand","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6641346-f5e26353978d65be9de6daf75afa2d47/orig.mp4?Expires=1773591646&Signature=BeodjsqplWAQgDtBlfGGAi19jRQdY1xSZWG368RPoVRUF7Dvg3ZFDL9dfELhUVBZZvVB0kkFQSkevnnZlJGR8YVdneDfwdxSKiRZ1wBome2qmtsLyA5warh~hRz5FbiPDPUB954YR8n8uBMesKns9CECyLtOlv4p1OYH0FGU74mfwnZayZpix4ros4hRqyvGojAMB8TTL-sFvANNMrpbut8OJtd9HRT2mKsjByZGLakrQjYhtByYix5mpyRv1n~G8VcqkQoX6LLEVBpxeGOjN~hTJXFbBReiFpuNnESP9TERi2l-RmH5SzFsVoe8IYaGejyvJwlE9BEd9Ri09tIyOw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","David Campbell, chief executive officer of Evergy, told a Kansas House committee that the company will pursue a multibillion-dollar investment program to preserve affordability while meeting sharply rising electricity demand.

Campbell said Evergy expects about $17.5 billion in capital investment from 2025 through 2029, with roughly one-third of that total funding new generation and nearly half devoted to transmission and distribution improvements. He said the utility has announced multiple new gas-fired plants in Kansas and is planning utility-scale solar projects in both Kansas and Missouri.

The spending program, Campbell said, is designed to balance “affordability, reliability, and sustainability” — the three priorities he said guide Evergy’s strategy. He told committee members that savings produced after the 2018 merger of legacy utilities have helped hold down rate increases for Kansas customers even as the company invests in new infrastructure.

Campbell said the company’s planned generation portfolio additions include combined-cycle natural-gas units expected to enter service in 2029 and 2030, with one site identified near Viola in Sumner County and another near Hutchinson in Reno County. He said the construction cost for a plant of the announced size is “upwards of $1,500,000,000,” and noted tariffs or commodity-price changes could raise that figure.

Chuck Hazely, an Evergy operations and customer-service executive, told the committee the company is seeing an historic level of demand growth from large industrial customers and data centers. He said Evergy’s current summer peak across its system is about 10.6 gigawatts and that the company’s economic-development pipeline represents about 11.2 gigawatts of prospective new load — a level that, if fully realized, would roughly double the company’s current peak within several years.

Hazely cautioned the committee that the company cannot serve all prospective projects but described five large announced projects — including Google, Panasonic and Meta facilities — that together represent about 800 megawatts of new demand. He said such large customers help spread fixed costs and can put downward pressure on rates if the customers contribute appropriately to the incremental system costs needed to serve them.

Campbell and Hazely emphasized that much of the near-term generation build will be dispatchable natural gas because the region needs resources that can be turned on when intermittent wind or solar output is low. Campbell said the company still plans to add wind and utility-scale solar where locally permitted and economic, and noted Evergy currently lacks significant utility-scale solar capacity.

Other figures cited during the presentation included a 27% reduction in “total cost” between the legacy companies’ 2018 baseline and 2024, a near-20% reduction in headcount since the 2018 merger, and Evergy’s filing this year for a rate increase for its Kansas Central service territory of about 8.62% (Evergy said it does not expect to receive the full requested amount). Campbell said the Kansas Corporation Commission will report on regional rate trajectories and that the company acquires data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration for national comparisons.

Committee members asked about conversion of older coal units to gas; Campbell said conversions are possible and in some cases practical where gas pipeline infrastructure already exists, but he warned that converting a large coal boiler to burn gas typically produces a slower-ramping, high‑cost unit best suited as a capacity or bridging resource.

Campbell also described regional reliability concerns reported by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and said Evergy is planning resources in part to respond to regional dispatchable‑generation shortfalls. He described the planned investment as an intergenerational build — assets with 30–40 year lives that will be paid over time by customers.

Evergy also described customer-service metrics: the company reported an average outage duration in the 90–95 minute range in recent years and said call‑center performance improved in the most recent year, with 70% of calls answered within 120 seconds.

The presentation included a discussion of the company’s investor-facing earnings trajectory and the need to balance returns that attract capital with rate impacts on customers.

Campbell and Hazely answered committee questions before the meeting moved to other business.

Ending: The utility presentation concluded with committee discussion of regulatory approvals required for the new plants and ongoing rate‑case and tariff work; company officials said regulatory reviews, interconnection and permitting remain pending and that company decisions to proceed will depend on those proceedings.","Evergy told a Kansas House committee it plans roughly $17.5 billion in capital spending from 2025–29, emphasizing natural-gas dispatchable generation, transmission upgrades and utility-scale solar to support strong industrial and data-center demand.","actionData","errors"]

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House committee advances bill tightening consumer disclosures for rooftop solar, authorizes LMP pilot and capacity caps

Evergy outlines $17.5 billion capital plan, new gas and solar builds to meet rising demand