Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach filed suit against a major corporate player who services Kansas Gas Utilities last week, alleging the company manipulated natural gas prices during the brutal February 2021 “arctic cold snap” that ravaged municipal gas budgets in Garnett and across the midwest and left millions of customers the tab through eventual rate increases. Winter storm Uri, as it was called, saw gas prices increase from a few dollars per unit days before the cold snap to more than $600 per unit in the height of the dangerous cold.
The State of Kansas initiated an Emergency Loan Fund for Kansas towns whose utility budgets were destroyed by the price hike. Garnett borrowed $2.9 million from the fund, and later raised gas rates to customers to cover the cost. The lawsuit is also one of the first State lawsuits to accuse energy companies of price gouging