Edward Smith, edward.smith@sierraclub.org
Kansas City, KS - Evergy could retire its Jeffrey and La Cygne coal plants and replace them with a lower cost and reliable clean energy portfolio as soon as 2025 and 2028, according to the Kansas Pays the Price Volume 2 report released today by Sierra Club. Retiring these coal plants could save customers between $333 million and $869 million based on how quickly Evergy retires them.
The report also details that energy burden, which is the portion of household energy costs compared to income, is double for Black and Hispanic households in the Kansas City metropolitan area compared to white households. Investing in energy efficiency programs, like insulating homes and sealing air leaks, can help reduce energy burden disparities while ending disconnections for late payment can help limit evictions and reduce unhoused families.
Sierra Club encourages Evergy to adopt the recommendations released in the report. Kansas Pays the Price Volume 2 builds on the Kansas Pays the Price report that Sierra Club released in 2019.
Statement from Ty Gorman, Kansas Campaign Representative for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign:
“Evergy’s promise of a clean energy future must be measured by its actions. Just last month, Evergy chose to reduce its solar investments while increasing its reliance on fracked natural gas, which failed catastrophically during the deep freeze in February. The report today provides a path for the utility to quickly reduce its carbon emissions while stimulating the regional economy through clean energy portfolio investments that deliver reliable and affordable energy for its customers.
“Evergy, as a monopoly utility, also plays a critical role in alleviating the pain many people feel from generations of systemic racism and disinvestment in Black communities, which is a contributing factor for energy burden disparities today. Evergy’s energy efficiency programs need to succeed because people cannot choose where to get their electricity. We are committed to both owning up to the harms done by the Sierra Club, and transforming our current practices to be grounded in our values of equity, inclusion, and justice. We are not asking Evergy to do anything we are not doing ourselves. We need Evergy to actively listen to the needs of its struggling customers. We need to build healthy and safer communities together.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.