News Release 06-17

KCPL Granted $29 million Electric Rate Increase

The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) today approved a Stipulation and Agreement granting the Kansas City Power & Light Company (KCPL) a $29 million rate increase, which equates to an overall revenue increase of 7.4 percent. The Agreement was reached through a collaborative process and agreed to by KCPL, Commission Staff, Citizen Utility Ratepayers Board, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Unions No. 412, 1464, and 1613, and Wal-Mart. Also, the Midwest Utility Users Group, representing a group of large volume and industrial customers, filed a formal statement in support of the Agreement. The Sierra Club and Kansas Gas Service, also parties to the proceeding, did not sign the Agreement, but indicated they did not oppose it.

In its order, the Commission states that following a review of all the evidence admitted into the record during the course of the evidentiary hearing, "…the Stipulation is in the public interest and represents a fair and balanced resolution of the issues." The Stipulation represents a $13.3 million decrease in KCPL's January 1, 2006 application requesting an overall electric rate increase of approximately $42.3 million or 10.5 percent.

Under the Agreement, residential customers will experience an average increase of approximately 9 percent. This includes an increase in the monthly customer charge for residential customers with one meter from $5.78 to $7.25 per month, and residential customers with two meters will experience an increase from $7.23 to $9.00 per month. Small commercial customers will experience an average increase of approximately 6 percent.

This rate case is one of the requirements of the company's five year regulatory plan. The regulatory plan, approved in August 2005, addresses the supply, delivery and pricing of electric service to be provided by KCPL into the future. KCPL committed to invest approximately $1.2 billion in the construction of a new power generation plant, environmental upgrades to existing generation facilities and energy efficiency programs for consumers. The plan requires KCPL to file one more rate case, with the option of up to three other additional rate filings over the life of the plan. The rate case filings and other provisions of the plan provide a structure for the KCC to review the prudence of KCPL's capital improvements and the reasonableness of rates as the plan is implemented.

KCPL's corporate office is located in Kansas City, Missouri. The company provides retail electric service to approximately 230,000 customers in northeast Kansas. The company's last rate change was in 2002 when the Commission required KCPL to reduce overall rates by approximately $12.4 million or 3 percent.