Latest news with #LibertyUtilities
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Public hearings set in Southwest Missouri over Liberty Utilities rate hike
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Beginning in July, the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) will host in-person and virtual public hearings for Liberty Utilities customers in Southwest Missouri regarding Liberty's request for an electric rate increase. Liberty is looking for an increase of $152.8 million per year from rate revenues and to raise the monthly fixed residential customer charge from $13 to $16, PSC says. The hearings will consist of a public information and Q&A session, followed by the Commission taking public comments. Those interested in attending are encouraged to go to the meeting location closest to their service area. Missouri Public Service Commission investigating Liberty Utilities billing The in-person public hearing schedule is as follows: July 21 at 6 p.m.: Joplin, Missouri Southern State University, Corley Hall, 3950 Newman Road July 22 at noon: Nixa, City Council Chambers, 715 West Mount Vernon Street July 22 at 6 p.m.: Bolivar, Southwest Baptist University, McClelland Joe Roberts Room, 1600 University Avenue July 23 at noon: Branson, City Council Chambers, 110 West Maddux Street July 24 at noon: Aurora, Recreation Center, 126 West Hadley Street There will also be two virtual local public hearings on July 23 at 6 p.m. and July 25 at noon. To attend the hearing by telephone, you can call toll-free at 1-855-718-6621 and enter the access code 2861 936 9973 when prompted for the July 23 meeting and access code 2866 586 9948 when prompted for the July 25 hearing, then press #. If prompted for a password, enter 0261. To attend a virtual hearing online, visit or download the Cisco WebEx application on your mobile device, computer or tablet and join the meeting by the hearing time and entering the access code and password above. Individuals who cannot make the hearings can also submit a written comment through the methods on the PSC website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Missouri PSC to hold town hall to hear from Liberty customers
The Missouri Public Service Commission has scheduled hearings next month in Southwest Missouri to hear from Liberty customers who have experienced or are still experiencing problems with service and/or billing practices. The commission on Feb. 27 ordered its staff to open an investigation after hearing from a number of customers commenting during a pending rate case by Liberty about faulty billing and poor service. The staff of the PSC will host a series of town hall meetings on the topic June 10-12. A town hall in Joplin is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, June 12, at Missouri Southern State University's Criminal Justice Center Auditorium, 3950 Newman Road. Three other town hall meetings are scheduled in the area: • 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, at the Aurora Recreation Center, 126 W. Hadley St., in Aurora • Noon Wednesday, June 11, at the Branson Chamber of Commerce Council Room in Branson City Hall, 110 W. Maddux St. • 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 11, at the Ozark Community Center in Ozark, 1530 W. Jackson St. PSC staff is currently in the process of gathering information and will file a report when completed. 'The purpose of these meetings is to hear directly from you, the customer, about your experiences with Liberty Utilities,' the staff said in a written release. '... Collecting information directly from customers will assist Staff in its investigation and provide a forum for customers to interact with Liberty, OPC and Staff.' The OPC is the Office of Public Counsel, a separate agency that represents ratepayers in hearings and rate cases before the PSC. In a separate filing, the staff said it it had issued 74 data requests to Liberty and had received responses to 41 of those requests. It said responses to the remaining data requests were expected as they came due in the coming weeks and the staff anticipated it would need to issue new data requests as it learns more about issues related to recent complaints with customer service and billing. Missouri Sen. Jill Carter, from Granby, held a town hall with Public Service Commission staff and Liberty officials, including Tim Wilson, president of Liberty Central Region Electric, and others on March 9 in Joplin. At that meeting, customers spoke about receiving inaccurate bills and about not receiving bills for months at a time and getting no help over the phone or in person from Liberty's customer service representatives. Wilson acknowledge problems with billing since April 2024, when the utility launched a change in its computer operating system of all the different utilities at Liberty to a common system used nationwide. 'I stand here before you tonight to own those,' Wilson said in March. 'And that's not been good for our customers. We implemented companywide, not just Empire, but companywide. We operate multiple utilities and in multiple states across the United States and all of them were on different operating systems. And so you can imagine the inefficiencies that come about whenever you have multiple operating systems over multiple companies.'
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Yahoo
Liberty Utilities ‘reckless' in Missouri blast that killed boy, attorney general says
The Missouri Attorney General on Monday filed suit against Liberty Utilities for last month's natural gas explosion in Lexington, Missouri, that killed a 5-year-old boy, sent his sister and father to the hospital with serious burns, destroyed three homes and damaged multiple others. Attorney General Andrew Bailey claims Liberty Utilities (Midstates Natural Gas) Corp was 'reckless' and violated the Missouri Underground Facility Safety and Damages Prevention Act after failing to properly mark a gas line in early April. That, Bailey said, ultimately caused the explosion. 'Defendant falsely reported to an excavator that it had marked all of its underground gas pipelines,' Bailey wrote in the suit. 'Relying on Defendant's assurance that it did not have a pipe in the area, the excavator drilled into the ground and punctured Defendant's pipe, allowing natural gas to leak into the community. 'Defendant's actions put a residential community at risk, caused an explosion that shook the community of Lexington, Missouri, and grievously harmed an innocent family.' Bailey wrote that his office was bringing the action to penalize the company for 'its reckless actions' and to insure that it 'takes every reasonable precaution to prevent such horrendous tragedies in the future.' The lawsuit, filed in Lafayette County Circuit Court, is the third filed in the tragedy, which occurred on April 9. 'This was a preventable tragedy,' Bailey said in a release Monday afternoon. 'These companies must take their responsibilities seriously. The law is clear, the process is simple, and the consequences of failure are catastrophic. We're holding Liberty Utilities accountable to ensure that every utility in Missouri does its due diligence to prevent future disasters.' The family of Alistair Lamb, who was killed in the explosion, and his father, Jacob Cunningham, and sister, Camillia 'Cami' Lamb, filed a wrongful death suit on April 21. That suit names Liberty Utilities Corp. as a defendant, along with United Fiber LLC, Alfra Communications LLC, and Sellenriek Construction, whose workers were involved in digging to lay fiber optic cable in the hours prior to the explosion. Earlier this month, a second family, Shayne and Alicia Billings, filed suit in Lafayette County Circuit Court against The Empire District Gas Company, which does business as Liberty Utilities or Liberty, along with United Fiber, Sellenreik Construction and Alfra Communication. The Billings family claims that the companies were negligent in contributing to the gas leak that destroyed their family home near the point of the explosion, at 17th Street and Franklin Avenue. Bailey's suit comes a week after the National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report showing that days before the digging began, Liberty Utilities sent a locator to mark all buried utilities in that area. But the section of the line involved in the explosion 'was not identified or marked during this process,' according to the preliminary report released May 5. Just after 4 p.m. on April 9, the subcontractor who was among the crew helping install fiber optic cable in the area of Franklin Avenue and 17th Street began drilling into the 'unmarked section of a capped underground gas distribution main,' the report said. More than three hours later, after neighbors had repeatedly reported smelling gas, the explosion occurred inside Cunningham's rented home along Franklin Avenue near 17th Street. In a press statement, the Missouri Attorney General noted that the Missouri Underground Facility Safety and Damage Prevention Act requires utility companies to respond to 'locate' requests and mark the location of underground facilities within two working days. 'Liberty Utilities not only failed to do so, but also falsely reported that the site was marked,' the Attorney General's Office said. Since the day of the explosion, neighbors surrounding the area, which is part of the town's antebellum historic district, have been angry. The odor of natural gas had been wafting through the neighborhood for hours on April 9. Neighbors have repeatedly complained that no authorities — either police, fire department or utilities — warned them of possible dangers or suggested they evacuate. Yet the NTSB's preliminary report said Liberty Utilities directed that a business about 15 feet from the leak be evacuated before the explosion. Cunningham's family has said that he and his children returned to their home adjacent to the gas leak in the early evening. The explosion reportedly occurred when Cunningham turned on a light switch to his home. The explosion could be heard for miles, and shattered windows in more than a dozen surrounding homes. Flames and black smoke shot into the air. 'Tragedies like this are exactly why this law exists,' Bailey said in the statement. 'It's imperative that companies follow the law — not just to avoid penalties, but to protect lives. When they fail to do so, my office will hold them accountable.'
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Yahoo
Missouri attorney general files lawsuit against Liberty Utilities after deadly gas explosion
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Monday, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a lawsuit against Liberty Utilities after the company's failure to properly mark a gas line caused a deadly explosion in Lexington, Missouri. The April 9 explosion killed a 5-year-old boy and severely injured the boy's father and sister. His father filed a lawsuit against Liberty Utilities and three other companies in April, and the couple who lived next door also filed a lawsuit against the same companies last week. 'ChiefsAholic' sentenced for 2022 Oklahoma bank robbery Now, Bailey is following suit, accusing Liberty Utilities of violating the Missouri Underground Facility Safety and Damage Prevention Act. 'This was a preventable tragedy,' Bailey said. 'These companies must take their responsibilities seriously. The law is clear, the process is simple, and the consequences of failure are catastrophic. We're holding Liberty Utilities accountable to ensure that every utility in Missouri does its due diligence to prevent future disasters.' Missouri's Underground Facility Safety and Damage Prevention Act requires utility companies to respond to 'locate' requests and mark the location of underground facilities within two working days. Attorney General Bailey said Liberty Utilities not only failed to do so but also falsely reported that the site was marked. Section 319.045 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri authorizes the attorney general to seek injunctive relief and civil penalties against any person who violates this Act. Under Missouri law, Bailey said 'he is duty-bound to enforce compliance with public safety statutes and take legal action against entities that endanger Missourians through negligence or misconduct.' Second lawsuit filed by neighbors of 5-year-old boy killed in Lexington gas explosion 'Tragedies like this are exactly why this law exists,' he said. 'It's imperative that companies follow the law—not just to avoid penalties, but to protect lives.' Bailey is seeking the maximum penalty allowed by law, as well as mandatory safety training, the appointment of a compliance monitor and a permanent injunction barring further violations. . Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Independent
12-05-2025
- The Independent
Missouri's attorney general has sued a utility over an explosion of a home that killed a 5-year-old
Missouri 's attorney general sued a natural gas company Monday over the explosion of a home in a small town that killed a 5-year-old boy, accusing the utility of violating a state safety law. Attorney General Andrew Bailey 's lawsuit came less than a week after federal investigators said in a preliminary report that a Liberty Utilities employee failed to mark a section of a gas line before another company drilled into it while installing a fiber optic cable. The April 9 explosion destroyed a home in Lexington, a town of about 4,500 people about 55 miles (89 kilometers) east of Kansas City. The blast killed Alistair Lamb and injured his 10-year-old sister, Cami, and their father, Jacob Cunningham. Bailey's lawsuit, filed in Lafayette County Circuit Court, alleges that a Liberty employee 'falsely' told the company installing the fiber optic cable that all gas lines had been marked. The lawsuit called the explosion a 'preventable tragedy.' Bailey said Liberty violated a state law designed to ensure that digging for underground water, sewer and telecommunications lines is safe. Bailey is seeking a $10,000 fine for each day the section of gas line wasn't marked and wants a special monitor appointed to ensure that the company complies with the law. The company said in a statement that as a party to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board's ongoing investigation, it cannot comment much about the explosion or the lawsuit. Liberty said it will continue to help families affected by the explosion and 'support broader recovery efforts.' 'Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our customers, employees, and communities,' the statement said. 'We remain fully committed to working with authorities and regulatory agencies to support the ongoing investigation into the cause of the incident.'
