Here in Kansas, March signifies the changing of the seasons. Sure there are a few false springs, second and third winters, maybe even a mud season before we’ll see true spring, but it’s on the way.
You can see it in the trees starting to bud, in the tulips and crocuses and other bulbs starting to emerge.
With that change, it can be easy to forget that winter weather can leave a toll even after the snow melts.
The 2021 winter certainly left a mark for many Kansans. Especially those who got slapped with a large gas bill in the wake of Winter Storm Uri.
Almost two years later, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach hasn’t forgotten.
The Topeka Capital-Journal’s Andrew Bahl reports Kris Kobach’s office has filed suit against a key firm that serves as a middleman for Kansas gas utilities, arguing it manipulated market prices during a 2021 winter storm that saw temperatures plummet and gas costs skyrocket across the Great Plains.
Kobach’s office alleges that Macquarie Energy engaged in an artificially inflated sale of natural gas in order to drive the benchmark used to set gas prices upward and thus increase costs for utilities.
Kobach is using his office to advocate for those who can’t do so for themselves. He’s fighting against unfair fixed prices. He’s pursuing justice for Kansans and businesses. We appreciate that greatly. Thank you for doing your job.
“Indeed, no one has ever paid any fixed price for Southern Star gas even remotely close to the price that Macquarie agreed to pay,” the lawsuit said. “The fixed price that Macquarie agreed to pay … is — and at the time of its transaction (and delivery) was — an outlier: far above, and disconnected from, all other contemporary Southern Star transaction prices.”
Bahl reports shortly after Uri slammed Kansas, then-Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced he was launching a price-gouging investigation under the state’s consumer protection laws. Schmidt’s office signed a contract with a Florida-based law firm to support the investigation last year and filed a subpoena enforcement suit against Macquarie Energy in November.
Here’s hoping Kobach can do some spring cleaning for Kansas with this second lawsuit.
— Topeka Capital Journal
