Liberty files to adjust its Arkansas electric rates in spring of 2027

Updated rates would recover costs for infrastructure and investments over the last three years to support reliability and improve service, lower generation fuel costs, and meet growing energy demand for this thriving service area. 

Since March 2023, Liberty has invested approximately $48 million to strengthen the electric system and energy grid serving Arkansas homes and businesses. This amount reflects only the Arkansas portion of an overall investment in Liberty’s system, which also serves Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. With this investment, we upgraded aging infrastructure and modernized technology to support reliability, minimize outages and the number of customers impacted by them, and speed up outage restoration. We increased capacity to strengthen grid resilience during extreme weather and to better meet the energy needs of our growing Northwest Arkansas communities. We also made energy generation more cost-effective during periods of high demand, such as winter storms.

To seek cost recovery for this investment, on XXX, The Empire District Electric Company (doing business as Liberty) filed a request with the Arkansas Public Service Commission (APSC) to adjust electric base rates. If approved by the APSC, new rates would take effect in spring 2027.

What this means for Arkansas customers  

he rate update process can take about a year as the APSC and other stakeholders carefully review Liberty’s request to determine whether the rate changes are fair and reasonable and reflect Liberty’s obligation to serve customers safely and reliably.    

Liberty recognizes the impact of rising energy bills on customers. To help address this, Liberty proposes to phase in new rates over two years as part of this rate adjustment request. 

If the APSC approves the proposed rates, the average residential electric customer using about 1,000 kilowatt hours per month would see a total monthly bill increase of about:  

• $34.13 in year one (an approximately 20.7% increase over current rates), and 

• $34.11 in year two (an approximately 17.2% increase over year one). 

The current total bill, including riders, for Arkansas residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per month is about $164.52. The proposed total bill after two years would be about $232.76. This is about a 41.5% increase in the total bill, which includes base rates, fuel costs (listed as Energy Cost Recovery “ECR” on the bill), and other charges.

Here's what we've worked on for Arkansas customers that is included in this rate adjustment request:

The investment included in Liberty’s rate adjustment request includes:  

• Support for reliability with the addition of new and upgraded substations, including a new substation in Gentry added to meet growth in the region   

• Increased capacity to meet rising energy demand through improvements to our generation plants intended to make them more efficient    

• Hardening our system in Arkansas against extreme weather through the reinforcement or replacement of approximately 181 poles and upgraded transmission and distribution lines     

• Reducing the number of customers impacted by outages and speeding up outage restoration with protective devices that sectionalize existing circuits to isolate damage    

• Protecting our infrastructure?and the grid by?installing physical?security?and cybersecurity?technology?at?substations, including the substations in Gentry and Decatur?– these measures?enhance?customer reliability, personnel and substation security, and operational?efficiency.?    

• Transitioning to?new information?systems that allow for advances in customer service and utility planning and analysis to support operational efficiency.?  

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