The City of Winfield will hold a public meeting regarding the Winter Storm Uri Impact to the Natural Gas Utility Monday, April 5, at 7 p.m. at the Winfield Community Center at Baden Square, according to a news release Wednesday from Winfield City Manager Taggart Wall.
“As has been widely reported, utilities across the Midwest were affected by soaring daily index pricing on the natural gas markets,” the news release stated. “Pricing that was normally in the $2.50/MMBTu range rose to unprecedented levels of $428/MMBtu for the pipeline that serves Winfield.
“Other pipelines in Kansas saw prices as high as $622/MMBtu.”
At the meeting, the City will review the gas emergency situation that occurred, past and present steps being taken with respect to mitigating costs impacts and cost recovery methods employed by the City to help reduce the immediate impact to customer natural gas bills.
On March 17, the City of Winfield announced it will be spreading the cost hike of natural gas during the cold snap via increased bills over six years. The City said over the course of the six-year period, the increase amounts to about $29 per month for an average user.
During the coldest days of the February freeze, the City of Winfield says it racked up a natural gas bill of $13 million in less than a week. Typically, the City says annual purchases of natural gas for customers amounts to $1.6 million.
Because of increased demand during the cold snap — a period that saw 12-straight days of below freezing and subzero temperatures in Cowley County — the City said it had to resort to an increase of daily natural gas purchases.
“We encourage anyone with questions about this important topic to come visit with us,” Wall said. “There are a lot of moving parts to this issue and we want people to be as informed as possible.”
Last week, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly answered questions from local media about the natural gas cost situation in Winfield and what outcomes were possible if price gouging was found.
Kelly, who was in Winfield Wednesday morning to sign a proclamation honoring USD 465’s Tabatha Rosproy for her selection as the 2020 National Teacher of the Year, told media after the ceremony any findings of price gouging would result in legal questions and court cases.
Freshman U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) told KSOK-NewsCow last week record natural gas spikes experienced by municipalities like Winfield during February’s cold snap will weigh on his mind if legislation on the issue ever comes to the Senate floor.
