Tear Sheet: Evergy Inc.'s Kansas Rate Cases Staff Recommendations Are Below Base Case Expectations

Evergy Inc . subsidiaries, Evergy Kansas Central Inc. (EKC) and Evergy Metro Inc. (Metro) filed rate cases in Kansas seeking net increases of $204 million and $14 million, respectively. Recently, other intervenors and the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) staff filed testimony. The KCC staff recommended a net increase of $109.5 million for EKC and a net decrease of $42.3 million for Metro. The KCC staff?s recommendation partly reflects more leveraged capital structures due to imputing holding company debt to the utilities and lower returns on equity. We continue to have a negative rating outlook on the company, primarily reflecting our expectation of weaker financial measures. These are the first rate cases the companies have filed in Kansas since Evergy was

...Foreign currency issuer credit rating A-/Negative/A-2 Local currency issuer credit rating A-/Negative/A-2 Business risk Excellent Country risk Very Low Industry risk Very Low Competitive position Strong Financial risk Significant Cash flow/leverage Significant Anchor a- Diversification/portfolio effect Neutral (no impact) Capital structure Neutral (no impact) Financial policy Neutral (no impact) Liquidity Adequate (no impact) Management and governance Satisfactory (no impact) Comparable rating analysis Neutral (no impact) Stand-alone credit profile a-...

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