Jefferson City, Mo. – The Missouri Public Service Commission on Tuesday ordered its staff to look into compensation and bonuses
Missouri orders inquiry into bonuses, pay at Aquila
given to Aquila Inc. executives.
Missouri Public Counsel Lewis Mills, the state’s official consumer advocate, requested a management audit in March.
One of his objections was to the company’s awarding millions of dollars in bonuses to top executives who ran the company while the stock price plummeted from $40 a share in 2001 to almost nothing a year later.
Aquila serves 1.3 million electric and natural-gas customers in Kansas, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, Michigan, Minnesota and Iowa.
The company denies that customers have paid for executives’ bonuses. Aquila spokesman Curt Floerchinger declined to comment on the allegations but said of the audit, “We plan to work in full cooperation with the commission.”
Shares of Aquila closed at $3.98 Tuesday.