Billing Definitions

Take into account a few terms and charges when understanding energy usage and your bill. The charges you see listed on your bill help Evergy provide you with reliable energy service by paying for the investment, operation and maintenance of our electrical system. To learn more about the meaning of terminology and charges you might run across, check out the definitions below. 

Terms

Kilowatt hour (kWh): standard measure of electricity used equal to 1,000 watts used for one hour.

Demand (kW): the rate at which you consume energy, or the amount needed to power your home or business at any given point in time. For homes, this charge is based off the amount of energy needed during the highest 60-minute interval during peak hours of each billing period. 

Peak hours (on-peak hours): hours when demand for energy are highest, excluding weekends and some holidays. Peak hours can be different by service area and rate. To view specific hours, head to our rate plan option pages. 

Off-peak hours: hours when demand for energy is lower, between 7 pm to 2 pm for Kansas Central and 8 pm to 4 pm for Kansas Metro, Missouri Metro and Missouri West.  To view specific hours, head to our rate plan option pages. 

Energy use: total amount of electricity you use during the billing period, which is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh).

Energy efficiency: the costs associated with our investments in programs to improve energy efficiency and usage.

Energy generation: an energy mix we rely on to generate electricity utilizing coal, natural gas, fuel oil, wind, solar, nuclear, biogas and hydro.

Transmission: costs associated with building and maintaining the transmission system.

Base rates: reflect the customer, facilities, demand and energy charges associated with your energy consumption during a billing period.

Environmental compliance: costs associated with our responsibility to meet environmental laws and standards.

Riders: additional charges added to the base rate designed to recover specific costs, defined in "Charges" below. They provide visibility to the costs that a specific rider represents and allow the amount of the rider charge to vary independently of the base rates.

Summer months: summer months are defined differently based on service area. Kansas Central and Missouri West are the full months of June through September, while Kansas Metro and Missouri Metro are May 16 through September 15. 

Rate information: detailed rate information is available here. A breakdown of each rate can be found here.

Charges

Customer charge: a monthly charge intended to recover costs of metering, billing, collection and customer service incurred in servicing your account that's applied to all accounts, residential and business, regardless of how much energy you use. 

• The monthly Missouri Customer Charge is currently $12.00 (the same charge for both Missouri Metro and Missouri West territories)
• The monthly Kansas Customer Charge is $14.50 for the Kansas Central territory and $14.25 for the Kansas Metro territory

Basic service fee: a flat monthly fee that partially covers fixed costs associated with providing electricity to your location.

City franchise fee: generally, the "rent" paid to a city to use the rights-of-way for our lines, poles, etc. This fee percentage may vary depending upon city.

Late fee: a percentage (dependent on service area) late payment charge is assessed on bills that are delinquent.

Energy charge: recovers variable costs inherent in providing energy, including purchased power, fuel costs, fuel-related operations and maintenance costs. For some rates, it can also include facility and demand costs. This charge is billed on a cents-per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) basis. 

Demand charge: recovers fixed energy generation and transmission costs related to building and maintaining infrastructure. This charged is based on the maximum demand of power (kilowatts/kW) your company uses at any one time and is billed based on your demand for the month, or at a minimum demand charge. 

Facilities charge: recovers the operating, maintenance and capital costs of the distribution system closest to the customer, including poles, wires and transformers. This charge is only applied to customers served on rates with a demand charge and is determined using the highest kilowatt (kW) demand measured within the past, rolling 12 months. 

Property tax surcharge: reflects changes in the amount of property tax that are over or under what we estimated and included in our base rates.

Annual base demand (ABD, business only): provides an additional seasonal factor based on usage. ABD is part of the the demand and energy charges with a threshold set at 100% of your previous summer demand (kW). All of your non-summer demand is billed below that threshold at the base rate and any non-summer demand above the threshold represents seasonal use (and is provided at no cost), rewarding customers who tend to use energy in the non-summer season.

Fuel used in power generation: the cost of the fuel used to produce your electricity each month. Fuel costs are passed through from fuel suppliers to customers with no profit to Evergy. It's reviewed by the MPSC and KCC.

Other charges: additional adjustments and/or surcharges may be imposed as approved by the MPSC or KCC.

Rate riders and adjustments

Fuel adjustment charge (FAC): this Missouri charge covers fuel costs over or under what's estimated and included in base rates. Customers pay for only the actual costs of fuel used to serve them. This charge is applied on a per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) basis and is evaluated and approved by the Missouri Public Service Commission. 

Demand-side investment mechanism (DSIM): this Missouri charge covers the cost of energy-efficiency programs established as a result of the Missouri Energy Efficiency Investment Act (MEEIA). This act helps keep rates affordable over time by reducing the amount of energy needed to serve the community and offering energy efficient solutions to customers. The charge is applied on a per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) basis and is evaluated and approved by the Missouri Public Service Commission. 

Renewable energy standard rate adjustment mechanism (RESRAM): this Missouri West service area charge is a way to account for costs and benefits experienced to comply with Renewable Energy Standard, over what is already included in base rates. This charge applies on a per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) basis and is evaluated and approved by the Missouri Public Service Commission. The Company prepares annual reports to detail its compliance with the Renewable Energy Standards. You can view RES reports at any time. 

Securitized Utility Tariff Charge (SUTC): this Missouri West charge is related to recovering the extraordinary costs of generating, purchasing, and delivering power during Winter Storm Uri in 2021. 

Transmission delivery charge (TDC): this Kansas charge is associated with the costs of building and maintaining our transmission system. The Kansas Corporation Commission evaluates and approves these costs.

Energy cost adjustment (ECA): this Kansas charge recovers costs incurred by producing and purchasing energy. It's offset by the sale of energy to other utilities during times of low customer demand. The Kansas Corporation Commission evaluates and approves these costs.

Property tax surcharge (PTS): this Kansas charge covers the property tax amount that is over or under what's already included in base rates. The Kansas Corporation Commission evaluates and approves these costs.