Ingram’s January 2023

not totally immune from market conditions in this country. We do have key account people who meet on an ongoing basis with customers, have annual meetings and have fireside chats with them to keep in touch, see how we’re doing, and what we can do to be supportive of them. A: While the biggest growth we’ve seen is more on the commercial retail side within Wyandotte County, we’re hoping manufactur ing can pick back up or is on an uptick with us because that’s going to attract new business. With all the large warehouses here, when you see that growth, it all adds up. It may not be as energy intensive—comparing one warehouse to one manufacturing plant—but we’ve had a good run building that type of business out, and the more we do, that’s certainly better growth than we’ve seen on the residential side. That growth helps stabilize things for the utility, and it provides jobs, something we never want to lose sight of in this county. Q: Finance professionals we report on tell us that most of the pandemic-era federal assistance for those at the lower income levels has been exhausted. Is that showing up with your customer payment levels and timing? A: I know the state assistance has run out if I’m not mistaken, and the housing piece is about to run out, and utility assistance is coming to an end. I don’t know what’s on the horizon for the state, exactly, but we’re certainly tracking what’s coming out of Washington and keeping a close eye on what may come out to help the community. The economics of our community, the people who live here, some struggle with just having the resources to pay their bills and get by, whether that’s utility bills or other aspects of affordable living—it’s sometimes a struggle. Q: From your side, are you pressing any legislation through either Topeka or Congress for the upcoming sessions? A: We have been working with our congressional delegation, particularly with Rep. (Sharice) Davids and Sen. (Jerry) Moran, to secure funding. We know some Q: Are any of those sectors suggesting strong growth ahead?

level of federal funding is coming through, but we don’t know the details yet, for a backup generator for the water treatment plant, which is crucial—really great news there. We’re going to be monitoring, from as far as D.C., by going there in the early part of the first quarter to visit with lawmakers on the Hill to do some grass-roots lobbying in a number of areas. Infrastructure funding is crucial for us, particularly on the electric side. There are still supply-chain issues and disruptions, we want to protect municipal bonds, and cyber security is always important in this age. Then with bills related to climate change, we’re already 48 percent green with our generation, but there’s a fine line between the cost of new technology to be even greener and the incremental benefits because that goes on the backs of rate-payers. We have to make sure that legislation gives utilities time to ramp up. A: We are leading most states and utilities with our green portfolio, but we have to be careful that as the technology has continued to improve that we’re not impacting our ability to provide service or our prices. We have to be conscious that green can be more expensive. People want it, but can they afford it? And we have to address the grid so as not to suffer through that challenge. Q: Any final thoughts? A: We’ve been talking about this for a while; if this country can get its arms around a national energy plan, that’s where we want to be in the next few years—longer-term plans, especially, will help. As far as the House and Senate being controlled by different parties this year, I don’t want to get too political, but if the moderates can find more of a voice, that’s where you can build consensus, where you can push a political agenda and bills that make sense, as opposed to extreme groups that go into their corners and not move legisla- tion forward. My hope is that Congress will do that over the next couple of years and beyond. We seem to have the best opportunities at times but seem to let a lot of things get in the way of realizing them. Q: Can you address that green chal lenge in more detail?

On energy policy in Congress: “We seem to have the best oppor tunities at times but seem to let a lot of things get in the way of realizing them.”

— Bill Johnson, President/CEO Kansas City Board of Public Utilities

to come up with the funding to create the plan we now have, and with the state-of the-art facilities we expect to be in place for decades to come. Q: What about the economic devel opment aspects of your mission, especially in a county known for its manufacturing muscle? A: We’re projecting stable but slow growth in the industrial sector; we haven’t seen as much growth there as on the commercial side. Our industrial customers have had certain challenges themselves with inflation and the recessionary periods we’ve gone through. A lot is dependent on sales throughout the U.S., and while our customers’ business sectors are very diverse, they are

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I n g r a m ’ s

Kansas City’s Business Media

January 2023