The Kansas Corporation Commission postponed a final vote on Westar Energy’s proposal to raise its transmission delivery charge on Thursday. That charge compensates Westar for what it spends to transmit energy to customers.
Despite a motion by its staff to approve the proposal, members of the Kansas Corporation Commission said they have questions about the rate changes. The plan would cause costs for home customers to go up by 31 percent. Rates for small businesses would go down by 20 percent.
The proposal comes on the heels of a separate increase passed last September as part of a $78 million general rate increase as well as an ongoing rate proceeding questioning the company’s high return for stockholders. The current plan would bring Westar an additional $25 million in yearly income and raise the average resident’s bill by about $4 a month.
Samir Arif, a spokesperson for the KCC, says the higher costs resulted from “a substantial upgrade to the electric grid.”
The KCC is set to reconsider Westar’s request on March 31--that’s the day before the proposed rates were supposed to go into effect. Arif says a final decision is expected in June.
A representative from Westar Energy said the delay is not an uncommon action and the company still has time to implement the transmission rate changes, if the proposal is approved.
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