Topeka ? The state’s largest electric company still plans to sell a major asset and raise cash to pay down its debt, but a dispute over the transaction is looming.

Westar Energy Inc. announced Thursday it would attempt to sell its stock in ONEOK Inc., a Tulsa, Okla., natural gas company. Westar owns 42.5 percent of ONEOK.

Westar had hoped to sell the ONEOK stock back to ONEOK for $971 million. But last week, ONEOK announced it would not make the purchase, saying it wasn’t in its best interest.

Westar, consumer advocates, and the staff of the Kansas Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities, all saw the sale of the ONEOK stock as a good way for Westar to raise cash quickly to pay down its $3.25 billion in debt. After taxes, Westar would have received $738 million.

Susan Cunningham, the KCC’s general counsel, said the commission’s staff was disappointed that ONEOK did not agree to buy back the stock. She said the KCC still supports a sale.

“We still believe that’s a viable means to pay down a good portion of their debt,” she said. “We hope they get a good price and find a buyer quickly.”

Reducing debt is a priority both for Westar and the KCC, as well as consumer advocates. Cunningham said doing so is likely to make borrowing money less expensive in the future.

“All of that gets translated eventually into higher rates for ratepayers,” she said.

Before Thursday’s announcement, David Wittig, Westar’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said he believed “100 people” may be interested in buying Westar’s share in ONEOK.

Wittig even described ONEOK’s decision as helpful to Westar because it increased the chances that Westar would get the maximum value possible for the ONEOK stock.

Westar had proposed a sale price to ONEOK of $21.77 per share. In regular trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange, ONEOK stock finished at $18.99, down 32 cents. On May 2, it closed at $22.77. Westar’s stock finished Thursday at $12.60, up 20 cents.

Westar officials plan to search for buyers in September and hope to have a deal put together by Thanksgiving.

ONEOK is the largest gas retailer in Kansas, with about 635,000 customers. Westar continues to provide electric service to about 636,000 customers in the state.