Evergy’s capital spending plan jumps 24% to $21.6B, driven by generation
- Finance
ThePostMaster- 0
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Evergy’s utilities are signing deals with major data center operators and increasing their capital expenditure plans on approved power plant and renewable energy additions, company officials said Thursday during a fourth-quarter earnings conference call.
Evergy’s capital plan includes building nearly 1.9 GW of gas-fired generation in Missouri and Kansas for about $4 billion and 325 MW of solar for about $570 million. State utility regulators approved those plans in July.
$21.6B
5-year capital spending plan, up 24% from previous $17.5 billion plan.
1.9 GW
Total of four electric service agreements signed in February with Google, Meta and Beale Infrastructure.
6%
Weather-normalized annual retail sales growth forecast through 2030.
$855.6M
2025 income, down 2% from $873.5 million in the previous year, driven by higher O&M, depreciation and interest expense, a $49 million loss from non-regulated investments and lower proceeds from corporate-owned life insurance.
Evergy is adding generating resources to support growing customer demand and meet higher generation reserve margin requirements in the Southwest Power Pool, David Campbell, Evergy chairman and CEO, said.
Beside the approved generating projects, Evergy’s utilities are evaluating adding 1.9 GW of gas-fired capacity and 200 MW of battery storage, according to the company’s fourth-quarter presentation.
Campbell said he expects the spending plan will result in an 11.5% annual rate base growth through 2030, up from Evergy’s previous 8.5% forecast.
“While capital investments are higher than historical levels, so too is load growth, which will allow us to spread system costs over significantly higher kilowatt-hour sales,” Campbell said.
Evergy expects rate increases over the next few years will be at or below inflation rates for most residential customers, according to Campbell.
Evergy’s utilities are in “advanced discussions” with data center customers that could total 2 GW to 3.5 GW, according to a company presentation.
With the addition of large load customers, Evergy expects retail load growth of 6% a year through 2030, up from 0.5% to 1% in recent years, according to Campbell.
Last year, Evergy’s weather-normalized sales grew 0.3%, as industrial sales fell 1.9%, residential sales dipped 0.4% and commercial sales grew 2%, according to the company. It expects weather-normalized sales to increase 3% to 4% this year.
The expected sales increase this year reflects the continued ramp-up of Panasonic’s electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Kansas as well as data center customers with signed ESAs, according to Bryan Buckler, Evergy CFO.
Evergy has 1.7 million customers in Kansas and Missouri.
