Residents in Missouri who rely on Evergy as their source of utilities received flyers, brochures and emails over the last few months detailing a new time-based rate plan by Oct. 1.
Associate professor in the School of Science and Engineering, Preetham Goli said, “It’s a way to change the behavior of the customers as far as the energy consumption is concerned.”
Customers will pay for energy in alliance with the cost to produce it. The hours of off-peak time will have a lower price than 4-8 p.m. when usage is highest.
There were four options to choose from:
- Standard peak saver is the default plan that only has peak pricing during the summer months.
- Peak reward saver is the closest to the current standard residential plan.
- Night and weekends saver has three time periods, overnight and weekend discount.
- Nights and weekends max saver also include three time periods and the largest difference in price.
Households that failed to set a new plan before October were placed on the default, standard peak-saver plan.
However, one of the biggest concerns for the rate change has been the spread of information.
“I’m worried about low-income neighborhoods; they’re quite vulnerable,” Goli said. “I’m not sure if they get this news or receive any messages from Evergy. So, they are going to probably receive very high bills.”
Students who live off-campus must be more mindful of their energy usage, so their bills do not skyrocket this fall. Many have stated that they do not fully understand the change or what it means for them and their families.
Junior computer science major Jade Jones said she lives at home with her parents but had only seen brief billboards depicting the rate change.
“I think my mom was confused about how to [change plans],” Jones said. “She talked about how it was weird, but I don’t know what she chose.”
While the change went into effect this month, residents are still able to choose a new plan at any point during the billing cycle to accommodate their electricity needs.
According to Evergy, the flexible rate options aim to help save consumers money and align with their budget, lifestyle and energy consumption.
For more clarification on terminology, residents can view bill definitions to understand the breakdown of their utilities.
