PR-10-46 -- MEDIA ADVISORY: PSC Coming To Kansas City

Contact: Kevin Kelly (573) 751-9300

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

JEFFERSON CITY---The Missouri Public Service Commission plans to take its Wednesday, September 9, 2009 Agenda meeting on the road.  The Commission will hold its regularly scheduled Agenda meeting in Kansas City at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Law, E.E. “Tom” Thompson Courtroom, 500 East 52^nd Street.  The meeting, scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m., will be the first time a PSC public meeting (agenda) has been held in the Kansas City area in recent memory.

“The Public Service Commission serves the entire state of Missouri and I plan to bring the Commissions proceedings and public deliberations to each region of the state.  I hope our presence in local communities will cause the public to have a greater understanding of what the Commission does and how important utility regulation is to their health, finances and everyday life,” said PSC Chairman Robert M. Clayton III. 

Part of the agenda on Wednesday will include a discussion of an Office of the Public Counsel petition asking the Commission to promulgate a rule relating to billing and payment standards for residential customers.  The Office of the Public Counsel is a separate state agency which represents the general public in cases before the Public Service Commission.

The Commission will also hold local public hearings in Kansas City and Lee’s Summit on September 9, 2009, to receive public comment on a natural gas rate case filed by Missouri Gas Energy (MGE).

The Kansas City local public hearing will be held at the Kansas City Public Library-Plaza Branch-Lower Level, Cohen Conference Center, 4801 Main Street.  A PSC staff question and answer session starts at 11:30 a.m. with the local public hearing scheduled to start at noon.  The hearing will conclude when all those who wish to testify have done so.

The Lee’s Summit local public hearing will be held on the University of Central Missouri-Summit campus, Central Summit Center, Room 145, 850 NW Chipman Road, Suite 5170.  A PSC staff question and answer session starts at 5:30 p.m. with the local public hearing scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m.  The hearing will conclude when all those who wish to testify have done so.

The agenda meeting and the local public hearings are open to the public.  They will also be webcast and available over the internet at psc.mo.gov.

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