1.   Area utilities, which are priority customers, said they did not expect to be affected by the order.

2.   Area utilities report that the ranks of consumers with delinquent bills have been climbing by the hundreds.

3.   But since February the price of Powder River Basin coal, the kind favored by area utilities, has nearly tripled.

4.   Gas costs have been low enough that the hedging programs for all three area utilities are expected to lapse without being triggered.

5.   Gas rates among area utilities vary widely.

6.   Instead, area utilities are beginning to offer assurances that customers probably will be spared the record-high gas prices of last winter.

7.   It buys water from an area electric utility then resells it to other governments.

8.   Kansas City area utilities have not added up the costs of the outage but expect it will be in the millions of dollars.

9.   Kansas City area water utilities defended the quality of their product.

10.   That was one reason why its cost of gas now is higher than other area utilities.