In one of Kansas City's hottest summers, thousands face brutal utility bills and shutoff threats
Kansas City resident Kay Id has three window air conditioning units to cool down her apartment off Paseo Boulevard. Photo by Carlos Moreno/KCUR 89.3
KCUR | By Rachel Schnelle
LINC’s Morning Star team provides relief
By LINC staff
Through the hot summer of high energy bills and looming evictions, LINC’s relief team at Morning Star continued to help hundreds of families secure federal funds to stay safely in their homes.
This summer LINC/Morning Star pushed its total amount of funds processed over $2.5 million since May of 2021, providing relief to more than 1,450 households.
LINC set up the service center at Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church’s Youth and Family Life Center at 27th Street and Prospect Avenue in part to help residents in need complete the complicated federal applications for relief funds under the American Rescue Act.
LINC and the church continue to team up. In addition to the rental and utility aid, LINC/Morning Star has distributed more than 3 million pounds of food, more than 26,000 Covid vaccinations and other services since early 2020.
The number of disconnection notices sent to customers by utility company Evergy has nearly doubled over the last year.
Between July and August this year, Kay Id’s utility bills shot up nearly $200.
While she’s used to energy bills increasing from spring to summer, this year felt worse. The walls of her apartment near 48th Street and Paseo Boulevard have little insulation, making it hard to contain air conditioning.
The drywall is ripped away in some parts of her apartment’s walls, revealing mold.
“All my heating and cooling go, it's kind of out the window, and that's why my bills are so high,” Id says.
Id suffers from a number of chronic health issues – COPD, asthma, osteopenia and osteoarthritis – that are exacerbated by the heat. And Kansas City has seen record high temperatures this summer.
Her health issues also make it hard for her to work – Id is on a fixed income. And between the heat and inflation, she is struggling to get by.
“It's hard for me to manage,” Id says.
Id is not alone. Thousands of Kansas City residents are struggling to pay rent and utility bills — to the point where utility companies are threatening to pull service.
The number of customers of Evergy Metro, which covers the Kansas City area, who received final disconnection notices for non-payment in May and June nearly doubled since last year, according to the Missouri Public Service Commission. (Numbers were not yet available for July or August.)
In May and June 2021, just under 10,000 people received disconnection notices. This year, more than 19,000 customers were notified.