Gas shutoff rule drawn out to June
By Dion Lefler
© 2001 The Wichita Eagle

The Kansas Corporation Commission ordered a two-month halt on utility shutoffs Tuesday to give customers more time to recover from record-high natural gas bills this past winter.

Gas and electric companies will be barred from turning off customers' service for non-payment of bills through May 31, said commission spokeswoman Rosemary Foreman. Commissioners "simply felt this was the right thing to do," she said.

In addition, the commission also extended the state's Cold Weather Rule until May 31. The rule usually bans shutoffs from November through March and requires utilities to allow customers to pay off high winter bills over 12 months.

Utility shutoffs usually begin on April 1 for customers who haven't made payment arrangements or kept to them. But this winter was unique, Foreman said.

Thousands of Kansans find themselves facing bigger utility debts than they've ever had or anticipated.

Gas prices at the peak of the winter were two to three times what they've been in recent years. In addition, extreme cold forced usage up.

"We're seeing the result of record high gas prices and the second-coldest winter on record in Kansas," said Foreman. "Many, many people are left with unmanageable bills because of it."

The state's two largest utilities, Western Resources and Kansas Gas Service, said they do not intend to challenge Tuesday's order.

"We'll comply with their decision," said Kim Gronniger of Western, which owns the KGE and KPL power companies.

Many customers are behind on both gas and electric charges because their services are jointly billed and most people don't know they can direct their payments to one or the other.

"Eventually, those bills will be paid," Gronniger said. "This just gives a little more time for customers to get that figured out."

Steve Johnson of Kansas Gas Service said the number of people who can't pay their bills hasn't risen by much, but the amount customers owe is much larger than in the past.

He said the gas company has no problem letting honest people have additional time to make payment arrangements.

He added, however, that there are some customers the gas company would like to shut off as soon as possible. "There are those we're concerned with who don't pay anything," he said.

Foreman said it is important for utility consumers who are behind on their bills to show good faith by paying as much as they can.

The commission is hoping the emergency will abate before the summer air-conditioning season pushes electric bills up, she said.

Tuesday's order also gives the commission some breathing room to decide how to distribute about $37 million in refunds from overcharges to gas consumers in the mid-1980s.

Both houses of the state Legislature passed unanimous resolutions urging the commission to put the money into bill relief for those who are too poor to pay hundreds of extra dollars in utility bills, but too rich to qualify for regular assistance programs.

Some of the state's largest industrial gas users have argued that they deserve a share of the money because they can prove they also overpaid for gas in the 1980s.

Hearings on the issue were delayed until next month -- after utility shutoffs would have begun -- because some of the industrial customers' lawyers argued that the commission had given inadequate notice of the proceedings.

However, Foreman said the potential refunds and Tuesday's emergency orders are unrelated. "A lot of customers may not be eligible (for assistance), but still have substantial problems paying their bills," she said. "Even if there were no (refund) money, we'd be doing exactly what we're doing."

Reach Dion Lefler at 268-6527.