Deadline set for intervention on Liberty Utilities fuel adjustment increase request

(From the Missouri Public Service Commission)

The Empire District Electric Company d/b/a Liberty (Empire) has filed a request with the Missouri Public Service Commission to adjust the fuel adjustment charge (FAC) on the bills of its electric customers.

Empire made two filings. In its first filing (Case No. ER-2022-0095), Empire proposes to adjust the FAC to reflect actual energy costs incurred by the Company during the six-month period March 2021 through August 2021, less an adjustment for what Empire states are “extraordinary costs” associated with the February 2021 cold weather event (Storm Uri). Empire states in its application that it is seeking to defer a significant portion of the Storm Uri extraordinary fuel costs to a future proceeding to determine a different approach to recovery that will benefit Empire’s Missouri customers. The second filing is Empire’s true-up filing (EO-2022-0096).

 

For a residential customer using 1,000 kWh (kilowatt-hours) of electricity a month, the current FAC is $0.00 a month. Under this filing, the FAC will increase to approximately $7.15 a month. The proposed change would take effect on December 1, 2021.

Applications to intervene and participate in these cases must be filed no later than October 21, 2021, with the Secretary of the Missouri Public Service Commission, P.O. Box 360, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102-0360, or by using the Commission’s Electronic Filing and Information System (EFIS) at www.psc.mo.gov .

Individual citizens wishing to comment should contact either the Office of the Public Counsel (Governor Office Building, 200 Madison Street, Suite 650, P.O. Box 2230, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102-2230, telephone (866) 922-2959, email opcservice@opc.mo.gov) or the Public Service Commission Staff (P.O. Box 360, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102, telephone 1-800-392-4211, email pscinfo@psc.mo.gov). The Office of the Public Counsel is a separate state agency that represents the general public in matters before the Commission.

Empire serves approximately 155,400 electric customers in the Missouri counties of Barry, Barton, Cedar, Christian, Dade, Dallas, Greene, Hickory, Jasper, Lawrence, McDonald, Newton, Polk, St. Clair, Stone and Taney.