By Todd Snitchler, President and CEO, EPSA for The Kansas City Star (MO)
In an opinion piece for The Kansas City Star, EPSA President and CEO Todd Snitchler outlines why Missouri lawmakers should embrace competitive electricity markets and move beyond the limitations of the status quo. He also pushes back on familiar utility arguments — from claims that competition can’t deliver resources quickly enough to comparisons with California’s past energy crisis — pointing instead to decades of market improvements and real-world examples of successful reform. Competitive electricity markets, he argues, can attract investment, accelerate development, and better protect customers from rising costs.
Excerpt: Missouri is at an inflection point. Utility rates have climbed 61% since 2008 — the fifth most among all states — because of rising spending on poles and wires. The power generation fleet remains largely unchanged with a significant portion set to retire within a decade, and no new dispatchable generation has been built since the early 2000s. In short: Costs are rising, supply is tightening, and the system is not keeping pace. Many states faced a similar position in the late 1990s and early 2000s before restructuring their electricity markets to break up utility monopolies and allow competition. Missouri has two paths forward: business as usual or reform.
Read more in The Kansas City Star.
Read more about SB 1411 and related legislation under consideration in Missouri: Energy reform gains ground as Missouri lawmakers target utility monopoly, advocate for consumer options
