photo by: Westar Energy Logo

Westar Energy Logo

Lawrence residents may notice significantly lower electric bills this month.

As part of an agreement approved by the Kansas Corporation Commission last summer, utility customers will begin seeing credits on their bills that reflect savings that Westar Energy will realize as a result of recently enacted federal tax cuts and a merger of Westar and Kansas City Power & Light.

The credits were to begin at the start of 2019, but some customers may have already noticed credits in the $50 to $60 range in their bills. Linda Berry, a spokeswoman for KCC, said the timing of the credit depended on each customer’s billing cycle.

“It seems like it was the next billing cycle after the decision, either in November or early December, was when people started seeing those,” she said.

The credits, which are listed on a customer’s bill as the “Tax Cut & Jobs Act Credit” and the “Merger Savings Credit,” will give about $73 million worth of credits to customers, according to a KCC news release.

In September, the KCC also approved a new rate structure that will, on average, lower monthly electric bills for most Westar residential customers by about $3.80 a month.