Energy Efficiency Standards
Kansas does not have a statewide energy efficiency standard to require utilities to provide energy efficiency programs to their customers.
Resource Planning
The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) does not have general requirements for utilities to conduct integrated resource planning, but it may order IRP filings in specific cases. Individual utilities in Kansas run internal resource planning processes.
The KCC required an IRP as part of the utility merger that created Evergy in 2018. they approved Evergy's IRP filing in 2020, which covers a 10-year planning horizon, and will be repeated every 3 years.
- Order: Order Adopting Integrated Resource Plan and Capital Plan Framework (in 19-KCPE-096-CPL)
Rate Structures & Incentives
Cost Recovery
The KCC permits electric and natural gas utilities to implement programs that have been approved, and recover the costs of implementing those programs.
Lost Revenue Recovery
The KCC may allow the recovery of lost revenues associated with demand-side programs.
Utility Incentives
Kansas does not have specific incentives for energy efficiency portfolio performance by utilities. The KCC considers proposals for shared savings performance incentive plans where they are tied to specific energy efficiency programs the commission believes most desirable.
For example, the commission approved Westar Energy’s Shared Savings mechanism.
Noncompliance Penalties
There are no penalties for utilities in Kansas that do not meet their energy efficiency goals. Kansas does not have a statewide energy efficiency standard and utility energy efficiency programs are approved on a case-by-case basis.
Program Evaluation
Cost Effectiveness Testing
Kansas utilities use all of the standard benefit-cost tests for evaluating their voluntary energy efficiency programs. The primary test used is the Total Resource Cost (TRC) test.
Net vs. Gross
Kansas utilities, in reporting on their energy efficiency programs to the commission, report net savings and include the measurement of free-riders (but not spillover) in their net savings calculation.
Technical Resource Manual
Kansas does not have a statewide TRM for energy efficiency program design and evaluation.
State Energy Plan or Vision
The Kansas Energy Council (KEC) was established by executive order by Governor Sibelius in 2004 and dissolved by executive order in 2008. Among its duties, it produced the Kansas Energy Plan, later renamed the Kansas Energy Report, which provided background on energy topics and annual policy recommendations. There does not appear to be any successor to the KEC currently active in Kansas.