Western Resources and Kansas City Power & Light filed withthe FERC a settlement relating to market power, transmission andcustomer protection issues stemming from the planned merger of thetwo companies. Staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissionand other major parties to the case support the filing, accordingto Western.

“The filing of this agreement with the FERC staff and other keyparties to the case puts us another important step closer tofinalizing our merger with KCPL,” said David C. Wittig, WesternCEO. “We believe this agreement with the FERC staff demonstratesthat the merger will not result in creation of any market powerissues and the ratepayer protection provisions will benefit allaffected parties.”

Under the terms of the FERC filing, the merged company, WestarEnergy, will join a FERC-approved regional transmissionorganization (RTO) to ensure all participants in the regionalelectricity market have fair access and an equal opportunity tocompete for generation supply. Westar will further transfer controlof its transmission facilities to the RTO, which will operate thefacilities as once control area for reliability, and will maintainseparate zonal rates that will not increase for four years. Theonly remaining unsettled party contesting the merger on competitiongrounds is the Kansas City, KS, Board of Public Utilities.Negotiations with the Kansas City board continue, Western said.

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