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From June 2024 to June 2025, electricity costs in the Midwest increased by 7.5%, according to the region's Consumer Price Index.
Evergy is asking the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) for permission to increase rates for the company's Kansas Central region, which includes cities like Lawrence and Topeka, in September.
"You're finding higher prices everywhere you look," said Jay Amyx, owner and operator of Downtown Barber in Lawrence.
On Tuesday, a settlement was filed in Evergy's rate case. Under the agreement, the average homeowner would see about an extra $9 — or 6.97% — added to their monthly electricity bill. It's down from Evergy's previous proposition, which would have increased the same bill by about $13.
A small business like Downtown Barber would see about a 5.4% increase in its electricity bill, according to a spokesperson with Evergy.
At a public hearing in June, Evergy's senior director of regulatory affairs, Ron Klote, said the company does not want to increase its rates but that "we are operating in an increasing cost environment."
"Your prices go up, our prices go up, their prices go up," Amyx said. "It's a cycle."
Evergy says its Kansas Central region — the company's largest regional footprint — has aging infrastructure, and the revenue from the rate increase would be invested in the modernization of systems, such as power grids.
Aging infrastructure across the country is contributing to rising electricity prices, according to CNBC.
Amyx said he wasn't aware of Evergy's possible rate increase.
"I'm a numbers guy," he said. "I like to have a budget, I like to know the budget, and yeah, it'll surprise you sometimes."
He's been running the shop for about a decade. He said basic utilities, rent and tax costs have increased the most over the years as a business owner.
"I probably would have laughed you out of the room if you had told me the bills are where they are today," he said.
Amyx said that over the past couple of years, he's increased his haircut prices by about 15 to 20%. It's not as much as the hair products he sells to his customers and uses as a barber, which he says have increased in price by about 40 to 45%.
"With rising prices, you don't want to overcharge your customers, but in the meantime, you have to make ends meet," he said.
Even still, Amyx said his regulars remain constant.
"This guy has been coming in since the day he was born," Amyx said of his customer.
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