The City of Valley Center, Kansas, recently took the next step towards possible municipalization of its electric utility through the issuance of a solicitation for a municipalization feasibility study.
The city’s current power provider is investor-owned Evergy.
“The scope of the municipal utility and the customers served is yet to be determined, and via this study, working with staff and a public power steering committee, definition of the utility will be achieved,” the city notes in the request for proposals (RFP), which was issued in early March. Valley Center’s City Council recently approved formation of the public power steering committee.
“A fundamental consideration in this study is the change that is occurring in the electric utility industry today,” the RFP said.
It is the city's intent “that full advantage be taken of this coincidence of timing to ensure that the new utility is properly structured to be effective meeting the needs of its customers and to determine if there is significant opportunity for savings given financially conservative assumptions about future developments.”
The city said that proposals should be specific to the statutory requirements in Kansas related to acquisition, purchase, and financing of facilities and services of customers.
The study will use a 20-year evaluation period. Capital expenditures for assets with an expected useful life may be amortized over a longer period of time, if appropriate, but cost comparisons will be limited to the 20 years.
The RFP is available here and proposals in response to the RFP are due April 15, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. CST.
