Randall O. from Kansas City. Just wanted to share some hard-learned lessons about tracking PSC dockets for rate changes. Been doing this for 15 years and still get surprised sometimes. Last month Evergy filed a rate case that would have completely changed our client's industrial rate structure - Schedule LGS going from declining block to straight energy charge plus huge demand charge increases. The preliminary filing was buried on page 847 of a 1,200 page document. Only reason I found it was searching for "Schedule LGS" specifically in the PDF. Traditional docket summaries completely missed it because it was listed as a "minor tariff adjustment" in the cover filing. Client would have seen a 34% increase starting next January if we hadn't caught it and filed intervention. Missouri PSC website search is terrible - you really need to download the full documents and search manually.
PSC docket search tips - rate case changes coming
Pam L. in St. Louis. Randall O. - great catch on that Evergy filing! I've been burned by similar situations with Ameren Missouri. Their last rate case had industrial demand charge changes buried in Appendix G of the cost of service study. What search terms do you use when going through those massive filings?
Pam L. - I search for obvious stuff like rate schedule names first, but then I get creative. Search for "kW", "demand charge", "$/kW", specific voltage levels like "13.8 kV", and even dollar amounts if I know current rates. Sometimes they reference "existing customers" or "grandfathered" which can signal changes coming. Also search for effective dates - if you see a date 6-12 months out, something big is usually changing.
Randy Dawson here. Excellent thread Randall O. One trick I learned from an old regulatory attorney - search for "whereas" and "therefore" in rate case orders. Those sections usually contain the plain English summary of what's actually changing. Also set up Google alerts for your utility name plus "rate case" or "tariff filing" - sometimes trade publications catch things faster than the PSC websites.
Angela F. in Columbus. This is gold, thanks everyone. Just checked AEP Ohio dockets after reading this and found a proposed change to Schedule GS-2 that would affect three of my clients. Filing was from two weeks ago and buried in a "miscellaneous tariff" docket instead of a rate case. Demand charges going from $8.15/kW to $11.90/kW effective July 1st.
Bob W. from Akron Ohio. Angela F. - which docket number was that AEP filing? I've got clients on GS-2 that need to know about this. PUCO website is showing me three different miscellaneous tariff dockets from this month.
Bob W. - docket 17-0389-EL-ATA. The demand charge increase is in Exhibit C of the March 15th filing. Also includes changes to the customer charge going from $28 to $35 monthly. Effective date is July 1st assuming no protests are filed.
Donna C. in Harrisburg. This thread convinced me to dig deeper into PUC filings here in Pennsylvania. Found a PPL rate schedule change I completely missed - Schedule GP-Small was being eliminated entirely and customers moved to GP-Medium with higher demand charges. Sometimes you find things by accident when looking for something else.