The Missouri Public Service Commission recently approved the monthly electric rate increase for Liberty Utilities’ southwest Missouri customers. The approved amount is now a $97 million increase, less than the original request of $152.8 million.
The approval comes after the Commission said Liberty met its improvement targets with 99% compliance.
The Commission staff reviewed Liberty’s billing and customer service for January, February and March. Commission Chair Kayla Hahn said out of the 466,000 bills sent out, less than 10 had issues.
“This level of improvement I believe Liberty should be commended for, and quite frankly, one that I wasn't sure we would ever see,” Hahn said.
Commissioner John Mitchell offered his comments about the case at a recent agenda meeting.
“This has been a long and painful process for the commission, for the company, and most importantly, for the customers of Liberty,” Mitchell said.
Prior to this approval, the Commission extensively investigated Liberty’s inconsistent customer service and billing practices. The Office of Public Counsel, the PSC and Liberty Utilities hosted several public hearings and town halls in southwest Missouri last summer to hear from customers.
Southwest Missouri is Liberty’s largest service area and was the area most affected by the billing problems.
The first batch of public hearings in June 2025 were for the company’s customer service and billing issues. The following month there were town halls about the rate hike request.
Both were hosted at a Missouri Southern State University auditorium. Frustrated customers filled the auditorium and gave emotionally driven testimonies.
In total, the Commission and the Office of Public Counsel received more than 700 customer testimonies after the town halls and public hearings.
Liberty initially submitted the request for a rate increase in November 2024. But with the customer service and billing inconsistencies, the Commission requested more work to be done with Liberty’s billing services.
A November 2025 stipulation from the Commission required Liberty to improve their customer service and billing practices before it approved the rate increase. Liberty was ‘sent back to the drawing board’ in January 2026 because the commissioners believed the company had not yet made improvements.
While the Commission has now approved the increase, it still has stipulations that Liberty has to follow. The first is a smaller rate increase at $97 million, decreased from the originally requested $152.8 million. It's unclear how the new amount would translate to residential customers.
Liberty must also have an external independent audit. A press release from the PSC said the audit should include “billing accuracy and timeliness and customer service and satisfaction across all channels.”
The company must also forgive $8.5 million in customer debts through a targeted relief package.
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