Commission holds Empire rate-increase hearings

The Missouri Public Service Commission will hold public hearings in Joplin and Reeds Spring for customers to make comments or bring any service-related problems to the commission’s attention.

The first hearing will begin at 6 p.m. today at Webster Hall, 3950 E. Newman, on the Missouri Southern State University campus in Joplin.

At noon Tuesday, a hearing will be held at the same location, and at 6 p.m. tomorrow, a hearing will be in the ITV Room at Reeds Spring High School, 20277 State Highway 413.

No sessions will last longer than three hours.

Empire on Feb. 1 filed the case with the commission, seeking to increase annual electric revenues by about $29.5 million. For a residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatts per month, the increase would add about $11.11 to monthly bills.

Any new rates would not be effective until later this year or early 2007.

The investor-owned utility serves approximately 141,500 electric customers in southwest Missouri and an additional 15,000 in Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.[[In-content Ad]]