Forgot your password?
New user?
Document Actions
Kansas Liberty: 01 July 2009
Chump change now, but the difference paid by Westar's North and South customers could grow in time.
Westar seeking rate consolidation
Westar Energy is promoting a rate consolidation proposal that would result in customers of Westar South and Westar North paying the same rates.
The Kansas Corporation Commission, which regulates public utilities in Kansas, would have to approve of the plan before it could be enacted.
The rates for the two territories are very similar, with Westar South residential customers paying an average of $77.31 a month, and Westar North customers paying an average of $77.28 per month.
According to a statement released on the proposal, if the rates are not consolidated, there is a chance the two costs would become less similar in the future because of the need to improve power generation sources at one location or the other.
The cost of energy is also determined through different cost structures and strategies for Westar North and Westar South.
The two different rates were created when Westar formed by the merging of Kansas Power and Light Company and the Kansas Gas and Electric Company. Westar North was formed out of the former Kansas Power and Light service area, while the former Kansas Gas and Electric Company territory became Westar South.
Westar Energy serves about 679,000 customers in the western part of the state.
“Since the merger of KPL and KGE more than 20 years ago, the KCC has repeatedly urged Westar to reduce the disparity between the rates of the two territories and Westar has done so,” Thomas Wright, chair of the Kansas Corporation Commission, said in a statement issued today.
The process is supposed to be neutral for customers’ rates. Westar is seeking the consolidation at this time because the rates for the two areas are so similar.
Westar is hosting informational meetings July 9, July 14 and July 15 to explain the rate consolidation plan to customers or interested parties.
Following these informational meetings, the KCC will hold two public hearings on Westar’s proposal — one in Topeka July 16, and one in Wichita July 23.
The public will be able to discuss their view of the proposal to Kansas Corporation Commissioners at the hearings.
“The KCC will not come to a decision lightly regarding the questions of whether the rates should be consolidated and, if so, how the rates should be consolidated,” Wright said.
- Holly Smith
Resources
- Link to Westar Energy press release on consolidation plan
- Kansas Corporation Commission
- KCC press release on rate consolidation proposal
http://www.kcc.state.ks.us/pi/WestarRateConsolidation2009.pdf
- Information about public meetings on consolidation plan
Senate tightens up provision of school funding law