Evergy is going to start charging more for electricity during peak hours. What to know

Evergy will introduce a new rate structure in October that adjusts the price of your electricity based on the time of day you use it.

The utility company said the change should slightly reduce most customers’ electric bills, while giving them the opportunity to save more money by changing the time of day they use large appliances like the dryer, dishwasher, HVAC system or electric car charger.

Evergy is offering four rate plans for customers to choose from — but none give customers the chance to opt out of the program altogether. If you don’t pick one by October 1, the company will shift you onto its “standard” time-of-use plan. You can switch among plans at any time.

Here’s the big takeaway: All four new rate plans charge a premium for electricity used between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on weekdays. And they all offer some discounts on electricity used between midnight and 6 a.m. every day.

Evergy said the purpose of time-of-use rates is to reduce the strain on the electric grid during peak times, which can prevent blackouts and theoretically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“The goal behind them is a good one, and that is to discourage usage of electricity during the highest peak times,” said John Coffman, an attorney with the St. Louis-based Consumers Council of Missouri.

What options will Evergy give customers?

All four new rate plans are already available to Evergy’s Missouri customers, who can log in online to choose from four plans:

Standard Peak Saver: This is the default plan. It charges higher prices from 4-8 p.m. on weekdays only in the summer, and lower prices overnight throughout the year. Evergy recommends it for everyday electricity users.

Peak Reward Saver: This plan is the closest to a flat rate. It charges a small premium from 4-8 p.m. every day year round, and offers a small discount between midnight and 6 a.m. every night. It may be a good choice for those whose electricity use habits are hard to predict.

Nights & Weekends Saver: This plan charges a lot more during peak hours year round, but offers big discounts overnight. Evergy recommends it for those with the flexibility to do laundry, run the dishwasher and use other large appliances at night after 8 p.m. and on weekends.

Nights & Weekends Max Saver: This plan charges the largest premiums during peak hours year round, but offers the biggest savings overnight. Evergy recommends it for customers with electric vehicles that can be charged between midnight and 6 a.m.

Which new rate plan should I pick?

If you aren’t sure which plan to choose, Evergy can calculate the one that would save you the most money based on your electricity use habits from the past year. You can log into your online account and select the rate comparison tool.

Evergy said it plans to provide tips help customers adjust during the first year of these new rate plans. It said it has begun this process by spreading the word through billboards, advertisements and social media.

“This is going to be a journey that we’ll be on together,” Evergy spokesperson Jeff Beeson told The Star. “We’re really concerned with customers understanding how this works.”

If you live in Missouri, you can’t opt out of time-of-use rates — you need to either choose one or be automatically added to one on October 1.

However, if you live in Kansas, time-of-use rates are optional. Evergy is offering one time-of-use plan to Kansas customers, but will not put you on it automatically.

How much will my electricity cost under Evergy’s new plans?

The exact rates for electricity under each plan vary based on the time, day and season. Under the Peak Reward Saver plan, the rates also vary based on how much electricity you use.

Every plan has three basic types of rates in each season: a peak rate from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m, a discounted rate between midnight and 6 a.m., and a standard rate that is usually seen on weekends and during any hours outside peak and discounted times.

Check out the graph below for the rates a typical customer who uses 1,000 kWh per month can expect on each plan. The best way to compare plans is by hovering over a color of your choice to see the rates included in that plan, rounded to the nearest cent.

Summer is defined as June-September, while winter is defined as October-May. Weekday holidays are charged at weekend rates in all plans.

While the Standard Peak Saver’s premium price reaches the highest rate on the chart above, Evergy said it’s a more economical option for many customers because it doesn’t charge the same premium during those peak times during the winter.

How will the new rates affect my electricity bill?

Most customers should see at least a small decrease in their electricity bills under the new plans, according to a study that Evergy commissioned.

According to analysis conducted by the consulting firm the Brattle Group, around 68% of Evergy Missouri Metro customers and 74% of Evergy Missouri West customers will see lower bills on the company’s standard time-of-use plan, even if they don’t change their electricity use behavior at all.

The average savings will likely be small, the study found. They come out to around 4% savings in the Missouri Metro area and just 3% in the Missouri West area if customers choose the rate plan that best fits their electricity usage.

These numbers were calculated using customers’ behavior over the past year. That means we should take them with a grain of salt: We don’t know yet how the new rate plans will impact customers’ behavior, or how outside factors like weather patterns could affect electricity usage in the years ahead.

But lawyers with the state’s Office of the Public Counsel (OPC), which advocates for private utility customers, are cautiously optimistic about the new plans’ impact.

“On a whole, this should result in a net benefit to customers,” said Geoff Marke, the group’s chief economist.

Some advocates concerned about new rates

The Brattle Group study looked at the default time-of-use plan’s potential impact on marginalized groups, including low income households and seniors.

In the Evergy Missouri Metro area, the study estimated that around 72% of seniors and 74% of low-income customers will benefit from the new plans, but some local advocacy groups aren’t convinced.

“People with the flexibility to lower their usage during peak hours may see some benefit, but without that flexibility users will likely end up with larger bills than they had before,” said Raymond Forstater, an organizer with the Kansas City chapter of the Sunrise Movement, a national youth-led environmental organization.

“Homes with fewer energy efficient upgrades will be disproportionately impacted as they will need to use more energy to keep their space livable during those peak hours of the day.”

Robin Ganahl, the chair of the city’s Climate Protection Steering Committee, added that energy efficiency concerns could also disproportionately affect renters under the new rate plans.

“(Time of use rates) can also increase costs for renters who have little control over how efficient their homes, HVAC and appliances are,” she said.

The Brattle Group study suggested that the only groups likely to see higher bills as a result of the time-of-use plans are those who heat their homes with electricity in the winter and those who use high amounts of non-electric heat.

Marke with the OPC said that while these groups are relatively small, their bills could rise significantly under the new plans.

“We do have concern about electric space heating customers because if they don’t change their behaviors, they in theory could be exposed to some high bills come wintertime,” he said.

What can I do to save money on my bills under these new rates?

“The most important information for the public to know at this point is just that (from) 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. is a time when rates are definitely going to be higher,” Coffman said. “And if you can avoid using electricity then, it’s to your benefit.”

This might look like doing your laundry later in the evening or on the weekend, setting your dishwasher to start running overnight when rates are low or programming your thermostat to pre-cool your home before 4 p.m. in the summer or pre-warm it before 4 p.m. in the winter.

“Time-based rate plans are all about trying to shift large appliance usage,” Evergy wrote on its website. Coffman added that small appliances like lights and phone chargers won’t make as big of a difference as energy-intensive ones like the dryer, dishwasher or HVAC system.

How will the new Evergy rates affect the environment?

In theory, time-of-use rates can reduce emissions by decreasing the strain on the power grid during peak hours. Many utility companies, including Evergy, rely on natural gas power plants during peak times because they can easily be switched on and off as needed.

“If you can ‘shave the peak,’ if you can get people to reduce (usage) during the highest time, to put it in simple terms, you can delay the need to build more power plants,” Coffman said.

Limiting the use of these “peaker plants” can help avoid the emissions they produce — but time-of-use rates don’t decrease power companies’ reliance on other fossil fuels like oil and coal.

Marke added that the OPC is hoping to push Evergy to provide customers with more information about the emissions caused by their electricity use during different times of day. Currently, that information is available on a site called Watttime — simply type in your zip code to see the grid emissions intensity in your area.

Two Evergy spokespeople told The Star that the company doesn’t yet have data on how the new time-of-use plans will impact CO2 and other emissions. We’ll continue to follow up on this as the new plans go into effect.

Why can’t I opt out of the time-of-use program?

The Missouri Public Service Commission, which regulates many privately-owned utility companies in the state, recently ordered both Evergy and Ameren to adopt time-of-use rates.

The difference is that Ameren customers in the eastern half of the state can choose to opt out of these plans, while Evergy customers in the western half of the state cannot.

Evergy’s original proposal for time-of-use rates included an option for customers to opt out of the program, but the commission removed this option in their decision.

It’s not entirely clear why regulators chose to require time-of-use rates for all Evergy customers. The Public Service Commission did not respond to The Star’s request for comment.

Do you have more questions about public or private utilities in Kansas City? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.