Kansas utility regulators are being urged to reject Westar Energy’s request for a $17.2 million rate increase and instead order the company to cut rates for Kansas customers by $69 million to $125 million.
Those recommendations were made this week in testimony filed by the Kansas Corporation Commission’s own staff and the Citizens Utility Ratepayer Board, or CURB, a state agency that represents consumers in utility rate cases.
“CURB’s evidence strongly supports the need to decrease rates for all Westar customers and we hope the KCC will adopt our recommendations in this rate case,” CURB consumer counsel David Nickel said in a statement.
Westar is the largest electric utility in Kansas. It provides service to about 700,000 customers in the state, including customers in Lawrence.
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