Aquila, Inc.
In 2001 UtiliCorp spun off Aquila but then bought it back in 2002 and then renamed the entire corporation Aquila, Inc.
Aquila's stock price peaked at $37.55 in May 2001 and it ranked #33 on the Fortune 500. The stock plummeted to $6.75 in July 2002 in the wake of the Enron scandal which had called into question business practices of all electric utilities.[3]
In 2004 five lawsuits were filed in federal court alleging that Aquila's board of directors steered employees into heavily investing their retirement savings in company stock. On Jan. 26, 2005, these suits were folded into a single class action[4] alleging top company officials violated the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act requiring that employers manage employees retirement programs responsibly.[5] The company settled the case for $10.5 million in April 2007.[6] 66,000 of the company's customers in Missouri lost power for several days in the Mid-December 2007 North American Winter storms.
The company began selling its assets and dropped to 891 on the Fortune list in 2007.[7] In 2007 its electric assets in northwest Missouri were acquired by its historic rival Kansas City Power & Light (via its new parent Great Plains Energy) for $1.7 billion.[8] Its gas properties, as well as its electric service area in southeastern Colorado (including Pueblo), were acquired by Black Hills Corporation.
In 2006, Aquila Networks sold the Kansas electric properties to Mid-Kansas Electric Company (a cooperative). The Mid-Kansas Electric Company consists of six electric cooperatives: Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Dighton, Kansas|Dighton), Prairie Land Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Norton), Pioneer Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Ulysses) (the old Aquila territory for Pioneer is operating as Southern Pioneer Electric Company), Victory Electric Cooperative Association, Inc. (Dodge City), Western Cooperative Electric Association (WaKeeney) and Wheatland Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Scott City) The Kansas gas operations were sold to Empire District Electric Company.[9] In 2008, the Colorado electric properties were acquired by Black Hills Corporation and was renamed Black Hills Energy.
Mid-Kansas Electric Company Communities formerly served by Aquila Networks:
Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative: Ness City
Prairie Land Electric Cooperative: Phillipsburg, Smith Center
Southern Pioneer Electric Company Coldwater, Liberal, Medicine Lodge
Victory Electric Cooperative Association: Dodge City
Western Cooperative Electric: Ellsworth, Lincoln
Wheatland Electric Cooperative: Great Bend, Harper
