By Tim Carpenter
TOPEKA — The Kansas House passed a bill Wednesday prohibiting utility companies from including in general rate increases the cost of building and operating electric vehicle charging stations.
The original legislation was sought by businesses expressing interest in investing in EV infrastructure to serve vehicles requiring charging stations, but concerned electric utility companies had an unfair advantage in that market. More than a year of negotiations among lobbyists for fuel retailers, electric utilities and EV interests led to Senate Bill 380.
Under the bill, utility companies wouldn’t be allowed to receive future consumer rate adjustments to cover costs of building or operating EV recharging stations. Utility companies would be forbidden from charging themselves a lower price for electricity used at their EV charging locations than the amount assessed other companies operating EV charging facilities.
Rep. Lauren Bohi, an Olathe Republican who carried the bill on the House floor, said private fuel retailers were reluctant to invest in charging-station infrastructure because regulated utility companies engaged in discriminatory business practices.
“This bill does not prohibit any Kansas electric utility from owning a charging station,” she said, “but it does prevent them from socializing the cost broadly to all their ratepayers.”
The initial version of the bill was unanimously approved by the Senate, but an amended version was endorsed 122-2 by the House. The chambers would need to reach a compromise before a bill was sent to Gov. Laura Kelly.
Brian Posler, executive director of the Fuel True Independent Energy and Convenience trade association, said the bill needed to address non-utility retailers’ concerns about market imbalance in the EV charging arena. At this point, he said, Kansas ratepayers were compelled to subsidize growth of a utility company’s network of charging stations.
He said a level playing field was necessary for fuel retailers to take on “potentially risky, significant upfront capital investments” necessary to offer EV charging services.
“It is out goal to make recharging an EV in Kansas as convenient as it is today to fill a car with gas,” Posler said.
Laura Lutz, a lobbyist for Evergy, the state’s largest electric company, said Kansans would benefit from current law allowing Evergy to seek cost recovery from the Kansas Corporation Commission whenever engaged in under-invested areas, including the EV charging marketplace.
She said Evergy’s 300 charging sites had served the public for nearly a decade. She said Evergy offered a rebate program to incentivize non-utility entities, including gas stations, to install, own and operate their own charging stations for EVs.
“This dual approach not only enhances the accessibility and convenience of EV charging for all Kansans, but also fosters a collaborative effort in building comprehensive and reliable EV infrastructure,” Lutz said.
She said a state law adopted in 2021 permitted unregulated businesses to install charging stations and set no restrictions on the price they could charge EV customers. Evergy’s charges had to be analyzed and scrutinized by the KCC during an “inherently transparent” general rate case process, she said.
