TOPEKA (KSNT) – Kansas launches new $ 80 million joint loan program to help businesses recover, as well as reduce massive energy bills from the state’s February cold weather crisis .

The program has two components and is aimed at small commercial or agricultural businesses with less than 200 employees, as well as schools. The first, the Economic Stimulus Loan Program, takes a $ 60 million stake, and any business with less than 200 employees can apply for a loan of up to $ 250,000 of that share for expenses associated with its operations.

The second, the Extraordinary Utilities Program, allows businesses or schools that buy wholesale natural gas to apply for a low-interest loan if they received a high utility bill due to the winter of. February. Candidates for this second round can get loans of up to $ 500,000, according to Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Rogers.

“We’ve had calls from companies about these loans,†Rogers said. “They are ready to apply, and we want to encourage as many banks, credit unions and farm credit associations to participate.

At the height of business, more than 100,000 Evergy customers went without power the week of February 15 as the power company began rolling out power outages to compensate for power generation problems. energy. Conditions such as freezing fog affected power generators like wind turbines. Coal-fired power plants also suffered from problems such as coal stacks freezing due to extreme cold, and natural gas power plants had to compete with scarce natural gas supplies.

Some Kansas cities like Winfield, which get their energy from a municipal supplier instead of a regional supplier like Evergy or the Kansas Gas Service, have reported multi-million dollar bills for natural gas over a six-day period. in February.

Click here for more information on Roger’s two office loan programs.