Southern Pioneer Electric crews continue restoration efforts for consumers near Haviland, Greensburg and Byers impacted by outages from a severe storm system that blew through portions of its service territory on May 18, 2025.

“Sunday night’s storms created significant damage impacting over 1,400 Southern Pioneer customers at its peak,” said Brian Beecher, manager of operations and engineering. “Crews will be working to restore service to our remaining customers as quickly and safely as possible.”

Evening storms brought high winds and tornadoes to portions of Kiowa and Pratt counties, damaging approximately 60 poles owned by Southern Pioneer Electric. Most of the impacted are transmission lines used to service the company’s substations. These damages are in addition to long-distance transmission lines serviced by Southern Pioneer Electric’s generation and transmission provider, Sunflower Electric Power Corporation.

“The wire on these poles is heavy and can pose potential safety hazards,” said Beecher. “We encourage our customers to stay away from any downed or damaged lines and ask that they give our crews plenty of space to work.”

Southern Pioneer Electric anticipates this will be an extended outage for the area as crews assess and navigate the damage from the storm. Updates regarding the restoration will be shared through the company’s Facebook page.

Customers who see downed or damaged lines should report the damage by calling 1 (866) 668-8800. Southern Pioneer will continue to provide restoration updates on its social media page and website until restoration is complete. Customers with questions or concerns may call 1 (800) 670-4381 during regular business hours (M-F, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.).

House Bill 2149 introduces consumer protection for Kansans when purchasing or financing renewable energy systems from vendors and includes specific rules for vendors regarding maintenance and repair obligations, warranties and transparency. The bill also provides for certain changes to the existing parallel generation statute, including provisions for how electric utilities must size and compensate for distributed energy systems owned by consumers that are installed behind-the-meter and interconnect under a parallel generation rider.

Consumers with questions regarding the changes to Southern Pioneer Electric’s Parallel Generation rider, or who would like more information, are encouraged to contact its Energy Solutions department by calling 1-800-670-4381. Additional information regarding HB 2149 is available on the state of Kansas’ website.

How This Affects Consumers

As of July 1, 2025, when members want to install solar systems, the retailers selling those systems must do the following:

• Be properly registered in Kansas and in good standing
• Provide clear disclosure documents in at least 10-point font
• List total aggregate costs in bold, highlighted type
• Explain ownership of tax credits, rebates, and incentives
• Show proof of proper permitting and installation
• Pause customer payments if systems aren’t operational within 90 days

These protections will help members avoid misleading sales practices.

Southern Pioneer Electric’s Responsibilities

Under this law, Southern Pioneer will need to:

• Share accurate interconnection requirements with solar retailers upon request
• Disclose historic compensation rates for the past five years
• Process member applications within 90 days (unless studies are needed)
• Install and maintain necessary meters at the co-op’s expense
• Allow distributed energy systems, including in total those utilizing net-metering and parallel generation, on the grid each year:
  • 6% of the utilities’ peak demand by July 2025
  • 7% by July 2026
  • 8% by July 2027 and beyond