Green Energy Could Mean Higher Electrical Rates

September 04, 2008

(WICHITA, Kan.)

People brought their electric bills to complain about what they're paying now. So as state regulators gathered for public input for Westar's request for a rate increase, they knew what to expect.

"I'm on a fixed income and every little bit they hit me, it's hurting," Westar customer Gary Rosiere says.

Westar has nearly 700,000 customers in Kansas. The public hearing in Wichita followed hearings in Salina and Topeka earlier in the week.

Nobody likes paying more, but the Kansas Corporation Commission considers what the rate hike is for and whether it's justified.

"We go through an intensive investigation, comprehensive audit of the company and look at all their costs," commission spokesperson Rosemary Foreman says.

Gary Barnes has been looking at the costs he's paying now and doesn't get it.

"This is really a joke," Barnes says. "Four dollars and 57-cents for an environmental charge."

While Westar says 20% of the rate increase would pay for ice storm repairs and another 20 for ongoing upgrades, 60% would pay for non-polluting natural gas and wind generation plants.

"There is a lot of regulatory and environmental risk associated with coal," says Wester Vice President James Ludwig. "We are trying to delay as long as we can the committment to a new coal plant."

While encouraging consumers to conserve, The Clean Air Act and uncertainty over what the government will do next has Westar turning to green energy that costs a premium.

"We talk about how wind is free," Ludwig says. "There's not fuel charge associated with it, but the turbines are made of aluminum and aluminum costs have sky-rocketed. The basic message is none of this is free."

So somebody has to pay for it, and Westar wants that to be you. The Corporation Commission must decide on the rate increase by late January 2009.

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