Extreme Cold, Snow Wallops The Region; Consumers Urged To Conserve Energy Use

Updated: Monday, 8:39 p.m.

Extreme cold continues this week in south central Kansas as snow and rolling power outages were added to the mix Sunday and Monday with more of the white stuff on the way.

Wind chills Monday morning were -25 and colder through Cowley and Sumner counties and are expected again for Tuesday morning.

Another round of accumulating snow is expected for Tuesday through Wednesday, on top of the snow received since Sunday. Ark City recorded nearly 6 inches of snow Sunday into Monday. Winfield reported at least 4 inches.

Much of Cowley County is expected to see another snowfall of two inches or more Tuesday through Wednesday, with the southern-most portions of the county slated for the highest potential of added snowfall — upwards of an additional four inches.

The extreme temperatures have stressed the regional power grid, according to both Evergy and the Southwest Power Pool, and rolling blackouts have been executed to conserve energy.

Friday, the City of Winfield asked natural gas customers to cut back on gas usage to help mitigate the impact of prices that have reached unprecedented levels.

When it comes to electric, Winfield City Manager Taggart Wall told KSOK-NewsCow Monday that the same message applies.

“It behooves us all to do what we can to conserve energy, turn the thermostat down,” Wall said. “It can be a little uncomfortable but it helps. We’re all in this together.”

Wall said the City has made contact with heavy users to ask that they please do what they can to cut back usage.

“Certainly at this point. For the region. Demand has outpaced supply,” Wall said.

In a special meeting Monday morning, the Kansas Corporation of Commission issued an emergency order directing utilities under its jurisdiction to do all things possible and necessary to ensure adequate amounts of natural gas and electricity to meet the needs of Kansas customers including interconnected non-jurisdictional utilities that depend on them for power.

According to a news release from the KCC, the prolonged stretch of extremely cold temperatures has increased demand, created natural gas supply constraints, and potentially reliability issues.

“It’s in every Kansan’s best interest to conserve electricity and natural gas over the next few days when possible,” said KCC Chairperson Andrew French. “Reducing your usage will help ensure everyone continues to receive these services, and it will save you money on future utility bills.”

Utilities are experiencing wholesale gas prices anywhere from 10 to 200 times higher than normal, the KCC said. Those costs will eventually impact customers through increases in monthly natural gas and electric bills.

Monday’s order also authorizes every jurisdictional electric and natural gas distribution utility that incurs extraordinary costs associated with ensuring its customers continue to receive utility service during this cold weather event to defer those costs to a regulatory asset account for future review by the Commission.

This deferral is for accounting purposes only. Any decisions related to ratepayer recovery will be addressed in future proceedings.

Today’s order from the KCC can be viewed here. Video of the meeting can be viewed here.

After directing member utilities to implement controlled interruptions of service shortly after noon on Feb. 15, SPP has restored load to its 14-state region as of 2 p.m. CT. We now have enough generation available to meet demand throughout our service territory. pic.twitter.com/rUGSf06r7m

— Southwest Power Pool (@SPPorg) February 15, 2021

Winfield schools will be remote learning Tuesday and Wednesday. USD 465 says it will resume to in-person learning on Thursday.

Ark City will be also be remote Tuesday and Wednesday, and will return to in-learning four days per week starting Thursday.