Evergy, born from the KCP&L and Westar merger
Evergy is one of the largest investor-owned utilities in the Midwest, serving 1.7 million customers across Kansas and Missouri. The company was formed in 2018 from the merger of Westar Energy and Great Plains Energy and now operates four regulated subsidiaries that share generation, transmission and grid technology investments.
- The size of the Evergy network and the regions it covers
- Why power outages happen on the Evergy grid
- Recent grid investments and the new generation plan for Kansas
- How automation, AMI and IoT connectivity are reshaping reliability
A 1.6 million-customer grid across Kansas and Missouri
Evergy operates four regulated subsidiaries: Evergy Kansas Central (eastern third of Kansas), Evergy Kansas Metro (Kansas City Kansas area), Evergy Missouri Metro (Kansas City Missouri area) and Evergy Missouri West. Each subsidiary has its own state regulator, but generation and grid investments are coordinated at corporate level.
- About 1.7 million electric customers across Kansas and Missouri.
- Evergy Kansas Central serves about 735,000 customers in Topeka, Pittsburg, Wichita and other communities; Evergy Missouri West serves more than 340,000 customers in St. Joseph, Liberty, Platte City, Harrisonville and Warrensburg.
- About half of Evergy's power comes from carbon-free sources, including the Wolf Creek nuclear plant (commissioned in 1985).
- Two new natural gas baseload plants and additional solar capacity planned in Kansas, the first new baseload plants since Wolf Creek in 1985.
Evergy (NASDAQ: EVRG) is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, and is regulated by the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) and the Missouri Public Service Commission.
Tornadoes, ice storms and Plains thunderstorms: why Evergy customers lose power
The Kansas and Missouri territories sit in the heart of the U.S. severe weather corridor, with thunderstorms, tornadoes, ice storms and extreme summer heat all driving outages on the Evergy grid.
Severe weather and tornadoes
Both states sit on the eastern edge of Tornado Alley. Tornadoes, derechos and intense thunderstorms cause most large-scale outages, with damage often spread across hundreds of miles in a single event.
Ice storms
Winter ice storms cause some of the longest restoration events on the Evergy grid, with ice on lines and broken tree limbs combining to take down both transmission and distribution circuits.
Trees and vegetation
Tree contact remains a major day-to-day cause of unplanned power outages, particularly in the more wooded eastern parts of Kansas and Missouri.
Aging infrastructure
Older poles, conductors and substation equipment fail more often. Replacement and modernization is the largest line item in the current rate cases filed in both states.
The Evergy Forward investment plan
Evergy is running its first wave of major rate cases since the merger, with infrastructure modernization and new generation as the headline drivers. Ongoing savings from the merger have allowed the company to keep rate increases below regional averages.
Evergy investment plan in numbers
Nearly $1 billion invested in Evergy Kansas Central infrastructure since the 2023 rate review.
Generation investments cover the Jeffrey, La Cygne and Lawrence power plants.
Two new baseload natural gas plants and additional solar capacity planned in Kansas.
Approximately $232 million in merger savings and bill credits delivered to Kansas customers since 2018.
From 2017 to October 2024, Evergy Kansas Central residential rates increased only 5.6% (versus 17% regional average and 25.7% CPI).
Grid investments are focused on outage prevention and response, including automation and sensor technology that better identify outages and isolate them to fewer customers.
Smart meters, automated switches and self-healing rollout
Distribution automation and sensors
Advanced automation and sensor technology let Evergy identify the cause of an outage faster, isolate the affected segment and reroute power. The same data feeds analytics that target high-risk circuits for maintenance and replacement.
Private LTE network and IoT connectivity
Evergy operates a private LTE network covering 100 sites and supporting thousands of IoT sensors, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and operational technology devices. The 2025 partnership with Kigen adds automated failover between private LTE and public networks, ensuring uninterrupted telemetry during severe weather.
Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI)
Smart meters detect outages at the address level and confirm restoration without customer phone calls. AMI is also the foundation for dynamic billing and time-of-use rates.
Carbon-free generation and reliability
Wolf Creek nuclear plant continues to provide carbon-free baseload. Together with two new natural gas plants and additional solar capacity, the Kansas generation plan aims to keep electricity reliable as load grows and aging coal capacity retires.
Evergy outage map and energy assistance programs
Evergy outage map
Evergy publishes a public outage map updated in near real-time. Customers can search by address or zip code, see the size of an outage and follow estimated restoration times.
Mobile app and alerts
The Evergy mobile app gives access to the outage map, lets customers report a power outage and pushes proactive SMS, email and app notifications when service is interrupted.
Bill assistance and Stay Connected
The Evergy Stay Connected Pilot in Kansas offers monthly bill credits to income-eligible residents to help them stay current on their account. The program is modeled on the Economic Relief Pilot Program in Missouri, which has supported low-income customers for more than 15 years.
Ameren and Kansas/Missouri ISPs
For a wider view of how the U.S. electric grid works and why outages happen, see the U.S. power outage page. The other major utility serving Missouri (and Illinois) is Ameren. For internet outages across the same Kansas and Missouri footprint, the most common providers are Spectrum, AT&T and Xfinity.