Kansas City Power & Light

Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) is the name of the utilities that operate under the parent company Great Plains Energy. KCP&L services more than 800,000 customers in 47 northwestern Missouri and eastern Kansas counties - a service territory of approximately 18,000 square miles, with 3,300 miles of transmission lines, close to 25,000 miles of distribution lines, and 322 substations.

The Company operates nine generating stations with 26 units and 10 peaking plants providing power to both KPC&L customers and selling into the wholesale market. Over 6,100 megawatts of generation assets are in operation or under construction. Approximately 75 percent of KCP&L fuel costs are from lower cost coal.

On July 14, 2008, Great Plains Energy acquired the Missouri operations of Aquila, which now operates under the name KCP&L.

History
Timeline:

The company traces its roots to November 1881 when Joseph S. Chick obtained the exclusive rights to use the Thompson-Houston arc lighting system in the counties of Jackson, Missouri, and Wyandotte, Kansas, for $4,000. The following month, the initial franchise to establish an electric works in the City of Kansas, Mo., was granted to Lysander R. Moore and later assigned to Kawsmouth Electric Light Company. Construction was begun in February 1882 on a power plant on a tract of land at the southeast corner of 8th and Santa Fe Streets in the West Bottoms. Kawsmouth Electric Light Company built quickly and, on Saturday night, May 13, 1882, brought electric illumination to the first 13 customers on the west side of Main Street in the downtown district. In 1885 the company recincorporated as Kansas City Electric Light Company.

Weeks spun off the Edison Electric Light & Power Company to meet residential demand. An electric war ensued when in 1883 J. Ogden Armour, heir to the Armour Packing Company purchased the company on May 14 1900, to power the Metropolitan Street Railway Company and Kansas City Electric Light Company. Under Armour the company bought competitors and built a new power plant in 1903, providing steam heat to downtown businesses. The company focused on the trolley company and in 1911 it went into receivership. In October 1917, the company spun off the trolley business (which still controlled some power plants) and emerged from bankruptcy as Kansas City Light & Power Company. In 1917 the company began construction on the Northeast Power station.

In June 1919, the company reincorporated again, as Kansas City Power and Light Company. After acquiring the Carroll County Electric Company on July 29 1922, the reorganized company became Kansas City Power & Light Company, adopting the ampersand and corporate name that continues to this day. Armour sold his interest in 1923. Continental Gas & Electric Corporation purchased the controlling interest in 1924 and was part of United Light and Power until United dissolved in 1950. The Hawthorn Station, situated on the Missouri River, was started in 1948, and the first of two units were completed in 1951. Two other units followed and were fully operational by 1956. Kansas City Power became independent in 1950. It acquired Eastern Kansas Utilities in 1952. It was part of a consortium that built Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Burlington, Kansas. In a 2001 corporate restructure it became part of Great Plains Energy Incorporated.

New Coal Plant
On its website KCP&L reports that its future energy plan calls for the construction of a new 850-megawatt coal-fired plant, Iatan 2, at the existing Iatan Generating Station in Missouri, because "coal is cheaper and less subject to price volatility than other fuels, and is in abundant supply. A new plant is an essential element in our plan because it will help keep energy prices affordable."

In March 2007, KCP&L, the Sierra Club, and the Concerned Citizens of Platte County (CCPC) agreed to a legally binding contract that will run through 2015 and reduce emissions for the Kansas City-based utility, thus resolving four appeals and a six year dispute with the Sierra Club. KCP&L agreed to reduce overall carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2020 through legislative and regulatory changes that are yet to be determined, and also agreed to offset all greenhouse gas emissions at its Iatan 2 unit. This will be accomplished by adding 400 MW of wind power, and programs that will save 300 MW of energy demand. The measures will be initiated by 2010 and fully implemented by 2012.

In May 2008, KCP&L released new cost estimates for plant, raising the cost 15 percent to almost $2 billion, and indicated it may increase the estimate again after the engineering analysis is complete. KCP&L expects to raise customers' electric rates by over 25 percent to cover costs of the new plant.

The Kansas Electric Power Cooperative (KEPC), which wants to invest $55 million in the plant for a 3.5 percent share, was turned away by the Rural Utilities Service when the agency issued a moratorium on loans for new coal plants in early 2008. However, KEPC received alternate financing from the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) at 2 percentage points higher than the original RUS loan.

According to an August 2008 update by the Sierra Club, Platte County School district is concerned that KCP & Light is not paying enough taxes on its Iatan 2 unit. Given the rising costs of the plant construction, the school feels the amount that they are receiving will not be enough to offset the financial difficulties they will face once the new projects are completed.

Coal lobbying
Kansas City Power & Light is a member of the American Coal Ash Association (ACAA), an umbrella lobbying group for all coal ash interests that includes major coal burners Duke Energy, Southern Company and American Electric Power as well as dozens of other companies. The group argues that the so-called "beneficial-use industry" would be eliminated if a "hazardous" designation was given for coal ash waste.

ACAA set up by a front group called Citizens for Recycling First, which argues that using toxic coal ash as fill in other products is safe, despite evidence to the contrary.

Contact Details
KCP&L P.O. Box 418679 Kansas City, MO 64141 Phone: 888-471-5275 http://www.kcpl.com/

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