Topeka ? State regulators are low-balling the cost to consumers of a recent order on Westar Energy Inc.’s electric rates, misleading Kansans into thinking they face only $3 million a year in higher bills, customers’ attorneys said Wednesday.

Those attorneys estimated that decisions made last week by the Kansas Corporation Commission could increase annual electric bills by some $75 million and cause electric bills to rise again in future years.

The attorneys represent Westar’s largest customers and the Citizens’ Utility Ratepayers Board, a state agency advocating for residential and small-business customers.

They’re frustrated because the three-member commission has compared the change in rates it approved to the increase sought by Westar in May of at least $84 million.

“I think it’s a bit deceptive to consumers to present it in the manner the KCC did,” said David Springe, CURB’s chief attorney.

In its order last week, the commission gave Westar permission to pass along fuel and environmental costs to consumers. Previously, the commission had set overall rates, leaving the company to absorb higher-than-anticipated costs.

When it said it was allowing Westar to raise its rates $3 million, the commission didn’t factor in rising fuel costs or additional environmental costs. Nor did Westar, in discussing its $84 million proposal.

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But spokeswoman Rosemary Foreman defended the commission’s description of its order, saying it would be irresponsible for the KCC to forecast how changes in such costs would affect customers’ bills.

“We’d be speculating,” she said. “We can’t speculate on – or put a dollar figure on – what costs might be.”

Despite prevailing on some important issues, Westar officials have expressed disappointment in the commission’s order. Also, Standard & Poor’s declined Tuesday to increase its credit ratings for the utility, deeming the rate increase granted by the commission “insufficient.”

The KCC said rates would rise on average about $3 per month for residential customers in Westar’s northern region, which includes Atchison, Emporia, Lawrence, Leavenworth, Manhattan, Olathe, Salina, Topeka, Hutchinson and Parsons.

The commission estimated that rates would drop an average of $3.47 a month for residential customers in Westar’s southern region, which Arkansas City, El Dorado, Fort Scott, Independence, Newton, Pittsburg and Wichita.

But Springe and Jim Zakoura, an Overland Park attorney representing large Westar customers, said consumers are likely to face a shock when they get this summer’s electric bills and compare them to last year’s.

“Rates ought to be simple and clear,” Zakoura said. “The people who pay the bills ought to know exactly what happened and how it will affect them.”

In testimony before the KCC, Doug Sterbenz, Westar’s vice president of generation and marketing, testified that Westar’s fuel costs increased more than 15 percent from August 2004 to August 2005, or by $50 million. Springe and Zakoura cite that figure in estimating the cost to consumers.

Springe and Zakoura said they aren’t arguing that consumers shouldn’t pay reasonable fuel costs. But if the KCC had set fixed rates that attempted to account for rising fuel costs, it couldn’t avoid telling consumers they faced additional costs.

The same, they said, is true for Westar’s costs in making environmental upgrades at its plants. Westar already has two projects planned, which could add more than $22 million to Westar’s annual rates, according to testimony from the utility.

And, without fixed rates covering such costs, it will be harder to predict exactly what consumers will pay month-to-month, they said.

“It’s just impossible for small-business people to budget for utilities,” said Niki Christopher, a CURB attorney. “It’s impossible for big plants to figure out whether they should locate here or there.”