Revisor summarizes Kansas utility statutes, KCC authority, transmission siting rules, and jurisdictional limits

Nick Myers, assistant revisor of statutes, presented an overview of public utility regulation in Kansas to the Senate Utilities Committee during the committee’s first meeting of 2025.

“My name is, as the chair said, Nick Myers,” Myers said, and he described the Revisor’s role in drafting bills and providing legal assistance to legislators. He framed the presentation as a high-level survey of terminology and statutory structures that committee members are likely to encounter this session.

Myers told the committee that the Kansas Corporation Commission, created by the legislature, is the primary state regulator for public utilities. He summarized statutory definitions and distinctions: a public utility has been defined in Kansas statutes since 1911 to include entities that own, operate or manage equipment, plants, or machinery—other than for private use—for services that include telephone, telegraph, conveyance of oil and gas through pipelines, and furnishing heat, light, water, or power.

Myers explained that the KCC consists of three commissioners appointed by the governor for four‑year terms, with a statutory limit that no more than two commissioners be from the same political party. He described jurisdictional differences among utility types: investor‑owned utilities are generally subject to KCC regulation; municipal utilities are statutorily exempt from KCC definition of public utility and are governed locally; cooperative utilities are typically subject to KCC jurisdiction but may exempt themselves, leaving governance to member-elected cooperative boards.

On electric service territories, Myers said the Retail Electric Suppliers Act divides the state into retail electric service territories. Within those territories, one certified utility has the exclusive right and obligation to provide retail electric service. By contrast, natural gas certification is not statewide and may include overlapping territories in some areas.

Myers described the rate‑setting process for jurisdictional utilities: utilities file rate cases with the KCC in publicly available dockets; the KCC determines how much a utility must earn to provide sufficient, efficient, and safe service while earning a fair return, then designs rates across customer classes. He noted that interveners such as the Citizens Utility Ratepayer Board (CURB) can participate in rate cases to represent residential and small commercial ratepayers.

He said state law provides a backstop: the KCC may review municipal or cooperative utility rates upon complaint and, in some cases, set aside governing‑body rate decisions and set rates itself.

Myers also summarized transmission‑line siting statutes. He said a KCC transmission‑line siting process applies to lines that are five miles or longer and carry 230 kilovolts or more; entities seeking to build such lines must apply to the KCC and the commission conducts public hearings before issuing a final order. He noted a specific statute establishes procedural steps for urban electric transmission lines in the City of Wichita.

At the federal and regional level, Myers said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulates interstate wholesale electricity sales and certain natural gas pipeline activities, and the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) is the regional transmission organization that manages reliability and wholesale markets in the region. He added that FERC also has jurisdiction over interstate natural gas pipeline transportation and related facilities, while pipeline safety and certain intrastate matters fall within state authorities.

Myers closed by identifying other common committee topics — telecommunications, broadband, independent power producers, renewables, oil and gas regulation under Chapter 55 of the Kansas statutes — noting that those topics were beyond his high‑level memo but are likely to appear on the committee’s agenda this session. Committee members asked no substantive follow‑up questions at the close of his presentation.