Power Profile: Representative Bill Kidd

Rep. Bill Kidd (R-20, Buckner) knows engineering and sci-fi. He can rattle off technical details of how electrical grids work as easily as he can cite Star Wars quotes. He deftly transitions from the mechanics of transporting natural gas to how the Enterprise fits into the Star Trek universe. And he recognizes that there is no magic, nothing out of this world, behind powering a home.

“You don’t just flip the switch on, and suddenly the lights come on. There really are a lot of details that go on to having that switch work,” said Kidd, who earned a degree in electrical engineering technology from Oklahoma State University. “When we had snowmageddon, or coldmageddon, or whatever you want to call it, people started to see that maybe the lights don’t come on when you flip the switch.”

He added that Ameren Missouri handled the energy difficulties from the winter storms “really well…which doesn’t just happen, it takes a lot of planning.” Kidd noted that despite the Callaway Energy Center being offline, that was not a problem. “Ameren Missouri still had enough reserve capacity – what’s called reserve baseload capacity – to handle all that went on.”

“One of the things that I’m concerned about as chairman of the House Utilities Committee is that we continue to be able to turn the switch on and the lights work. And that we are able to do so at an affordable rate,” Kidd said. Kidd – whose background ranges from oil rig engineer to small business owner – served on the committee several years before being named chair. He is a Republican who represents the northeast part of Jackson County, Missouri.

It’s all a balancing act, according to Kidd. He looks at proposed energy changes from two perspectives: What is good for the consumer and what is good for the utility company. Kidd said legislation needs to benefit both. But that balancing act can be complicated, particularly since Missouri does not take a one-size-fits-all approach to its power grid.

Kidd calls the Utility Committee one of the most complicated in the state for legislation since it has to navigate three different regulatory environments. There are investor-owned utilities such as Ameren Missouri, municipal utilities that are owned by cities like Springfield and Independence, and co-ops where everyone who has a meter owns part of the cooperative. 

“You really have to understand all three mixes of utility generation. And the unintended consequences for doing one thing for one and what happens to the other two,” Kidd said. “I have a business background and an engineering background. I understand it’s not black and white.”

While he does not plan on sponsoring any bills related to utilities while serving as utility chair, there are several pieces of utility legislation he is helping push. One is an expansion of rural broadband access. 

The legislation (HB321 and SB184 and SB185) would allow electric utilities to expand the use of rights-of-way and easements in order to provide broadband capacity to end-use providers. Essentially, it would allow internet providers to piggyback off existing fiber optic cables instead of installing a whole new network.

“This would get broadband to areas that are not covered. It is pretty exciting,” Kidd said. “We really need to expand our rural broadband and that is one avenue to do it. Anything we can do to expand rural broadband is huge.”

Kidd was involved in SB564, passed in 2018, which enabled Ameren Missouri’s Smart Energy Plan. He noted, “Ameren has implemented that bill really well.”

“I think it has worked out really well. We have gotten to see real rate reductions,” Kidd said. The legislation could be up for renewal by the Missouri General Assembly in several years, but Kidd will not be a member of the House at that point. 

Due to term limits, Kidd is currently serving his final term, but that does not mean this is the last politics has seen of the Kidd family. Jamie Kidd, his wife, has formed a committee to support a potential run for the state House seat her husband currently holds, and Bill Kidd has formed a committee to support a potential state Senate bid.