News Release

For more information contact: Linda Berry, (785) 271-3269 or Samir Arif, (785) 271-3188

September 24, 2015

Kansas Corporation Commission Approves Settlement Agreement for Westar Rate Increase

Topeka, KS - Today, the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) issued an order approving a 4.1% increase in energy rates for Westar customers. As a result, the fixed charge for residential customers will increase from $12.00 to $14.50 per month.

Citing unrecovered costs from environmental upgrades at the La Cygne and Wolf Creek Generating Stations, Westar's initial application requested a revenue increase of $152 million. A settlement agreement proposed in August reduced the request to $78.3 million and recommended that issues relating to distributed generation, particularly solar generation, be addressed at a later date following a general investigation lead by KCC staff.

In July 2015, the KCC hosted public hearings related to the rate increase, drawing hundreds of interested citizens. In addition, more than 1400 comments on the request were submitted to the KCC's Public Affairs and Consumer Protection office.

The full text of the order can be found at http://estar.kcc.ks.gov/estar/ViewFile.aspx?Id=29b7b55e-b40c-4f66-9335-153bfe44a81e.

Westar Energy, Inc. serves roughly 690,000 customers in Kansas. The Kansas Corporation Commission regulates public utilities including natural gas, electric companies, and oil and gas producers. The Commission's regulatory oversight of public utilities primarily pertains to rates and terms of service. In order to ensure that customers of regulated utilities are provided sufficient and efficient service at just and reasonable rates, jurisdictional utilities may not change retail rates without Commission approval.