Press Release

November 29, 2007

CURB Continues Battle for More Refunds from Westar

CURB recently filed its second appeal of the Westar's 2005 rate case, seeking more refunds for Westar's customers. If the appeal is successful, Westar will have to refund approximately $7 million more to its customers.

The Kansas Industrial Consumers and Unified School District No. 259 have joined CURB in arguing that the KCC failed to properly implement the pro-consumer decisions ordered by the Court of Appeals last year. The court overturned three decisions of the KCC, but on remand, the KCC essentially reissued two out of the three decisions, effectively negating much of the gains to customers ordered by the court. Although the remand process resulted in Westar being ordered to flow some refunds to customers, consumers were denied about $7 million in refunds.

So CURB and other customer representatives have returned to the Court of Appeals to ask the court to reverse the KCC once again. The court must issue a decision within 180 days of the initial filing of the appeal, so we are expecting a decision in early spring.