Lucas Bristles at February Gas Bill for KCI

Residents across the Midwest are seeing some startling numbers with gas bills adjusted after the big freeze in February. The statement that arrived for Kansas City International Airport, however, took increases to a whole new level.

Consider this, from the Twitter feed of Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas: “Did you also receive an increase in your gas bill this winter? At @KCIAirport, our Texas-based gas service provider, Symmetry, increased our monthly bill for February from its regular $80K to $2.4 million!!! We weren’t born yesterday, so expect some further talks from here.”

Lucas and KCI are far from alone. Large-scale users like school districts, hospitals, universities–in many cases, funded with tax revenues–have been hit with major increases stemming from the surge in demand during a historic cold snap the week of Feb. 14. Spire, which supplies natural gas for a large portion of Missouri, says the mid-term impact of the shortage could add 15 percent to customers’ bills. Lucas would have been happy with a 15 percent increase, compared to a 30-fold spike

“Kansas City certainly understands the energy industry challenges from this winter, primarily originating in the southwest,” he wrote in a follow-up tweet. “We do not believe, however, those costs should be disproportionately assessed to our MoKan flying public.”