The newly combined Great Plains Energy Inc. and Westar Energy Inc., now known as Evergy Inc., is now a major utility in the Midwest and the Southwest Power Pool region, with more than 1.6 million electric customers and more than 13,000 MW of generating capacity.
The transaction closed June 4 following the approval of the proposed merger by the Kansas Corporation Commission and Missouri Public Service Commission in separate decisions on May 24.

The new holding company will serve the 955,459 customers in Kansas and 600,321 in Missouri reported in 2017, and produce a total sales volume close to the 42 million MWh reportedly sold in 2016. The merger will make the company the largest power provider in Kansas, serving 64% of the total customers in the state, and the second-largest in Missouri with 19%, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis of 2016 U.S. Energy Information Administration Form 861 data.
For the time being, the company will continue to operate using the Westar name in Kansas and Kansas City Power & Light Co. in Missouri and portions of Kansas the former Great Plains subsidiary served.

Together, Westar Energy and Great Plains have a operating capacity of 13,167 MW, all of which is regulated capacity. Coal-fired capacity accounts for 6,785 MW, while natural gas-fired units make up 4,149 MW. Ownership of the largest plants, such as the 2,147-MW coal-fired Jeffrey Energy Center, 1,400-MW coal-fired La Cygne plant and 1,205-MW Wolf Creek nuclear plant was already shared between the two companies prior to the merger. The only notable generating asset outside of Kansas and Missouri is the 308-MW gas-fired Crossroads Energy Center peaking unit in Coahoma County, Miss.
Part of the revised merger agreement included an announcement to retire 778 MW by the end of 2018. The plants planned for retirement include the 65-MW coal-fired Tecumseh in Shawnee County, Kan., and two gas-fired facilities in Sedgwick County, Kan., the 190-MW Murray Gill and 523-MW Gordon Evans power plant. All three plants were previously owned by Westar Energy.
According to reported 2016 values, the new company will also have 13,469 miles worth of transmission lines, with about 74%
Prior to the merger, both Great Plains and Westar Energy had transmission development partnerships with American Electric Power Co. Inc. The partnership between AEP and Great Plains, called Transource Energy LLC, has so far resulted in the construction of two 345-kV lines in northwestern Missouri, one of which continued into Nebraska, and has two projects under development in the PJM Interconnection region. The partnership between Westar and another AEP transmission development partnership, called Prairie Wind Transmission, built more than 100 miles of 345-kV line in Kansas.

Regulatory approvals for the merger were filed in the third quarter of 2017 and were approved by the Federal Communications Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the first quarter of the year. The stock-for-stock merger has a total equity value of approximately $15 billion, with the new holding company trading under the stock symbol EVRG.
Did you enjoy this analysis? Click here to set alerts for future power/coal/natural gas Data Dispatches. Use SNL Energy's Electric Utility Profile to see retail electric sales and financials for electric investor-owned utilities.
|

