Evergy Inc.
Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVRG) is a publicly traded electric utility company headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, formed in 2018 through the merger of Great Plains Energy and Westar Energy to create one of the Midwest's largest regulated electric utilities. According to its website at evergy.com, the company provides electricity to approximately 1.7 million customers in Kansas and Missouri through three utility subsidiaries — Evergy Kansas Central, Evergy Kansas South, and Evergy Metro — operating approximately 13,000 miles of transmission lines and 64,000 miles of distribution lines across its combined service territory. Evergy serves a diverse customer base spanning urban centers including Kansas City, Topeka, and Wichita; suburban communities; and rural agricultural regions across its two-state service territory.
Evergy's clean energy transition strategy, described at evergy.com, centers on the retirement of its older coal generating fleet and its replacement with wind and solar generation capacity, leveraging Kansas's exceptional wind energy resources — among the best in the nation — to build a clean energy portfolio that reduces carbon emissions while maintaining reliable, affordable electric service. The company has set a target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2045 and has committed to retiring substantially all of its coal generation capacity by 2040, investing billions in renewable energy development that positions Evergy as one of the most aggressive clean energy transition utilities in the Midwest. Kansas's abundant and cost-effective wind resources provide a natural competitive advantage for Evergy's clean energy development program, enabling the construction of wind generation that can be economically competitive with continued operation of aging coal plants.
Evergy operates as a cost-of-service regulated electric utility in both Kansas and Missouri, earning a regulated return on its invested capital base determined through rate case proceedings before the Kansas Corporation Commission and the Missouri Public Service Commission. According to investor.evergy.com, the company's multi-year capital investment plan encompasses renewable energy development, transmission expansion, grid modernization, and distribution reliability improvements that are expected to grow the company's rate base and support earnings per share growth over the planning period. Evergy's combination of two-state utility franchise, abundant Midwest wind resource advantage, aggressive clean energy transition strategy, and constructive regulatory relationships in Kansas and Missouri establishes it as a distinctive and competitively positioned participant in the Midwest electric utility sector.