Sound Off

When KPL had service in Lawrence, it had special considerations for people with medical conditions that required electricity. I notice Westar doesn’t. Can you tell me why? Also, why have we had two outages this year by the fairgrounds in two weeks and it wasn’t the hottest day of the week?

Westar representative Leonard Allen said the company has a 21-day medical extension policy that can be granted if a customer establishes in a letter that a disconnection would be dangerous to his or her health. Requirements for the letter are: • It must be received prior to the disconnection. • It must be on a physician’s letterhead and include: a doctor’s statement, patient information and reasons why the exception is necessary. Also, according to Westar’s Life Support Program, if someone in the household depends on medical equipment that requires electricity, the company will alert them to planned outages. A physician’s letter is also required. Allen said with no dates or durations on the outages mentioned, it was hard for him to pinpoint a reason for them. He said a possible reason could be small animals that sometimes get into the equipment and cause a short, which causes the system to shut down to protect itself.



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