Western Resources, KCPL and FERC Staff File Merger Agreement With FERC Commission.

TOPEKA, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 1999--

Western Resources (NYSE:WR) announced the filing today of their settlement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) staff which is supported by most of the other parties to the case.

The FERC staff and other major parties have resolved issues, including market power, transmission and customer protection issues, which were set for hearing by the FERC in connection with Western Resources' merger with Kansas City Power & Light Company (KCPL).

"The filing of this agreement with the FERC staff and other key parties to the case puts us another important step closer to finalizing our merger with KCPL," said David C. Wittig, Western Resources chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer. "We believe this agreement with the FERC staff demonstrates that the merger will not result in creation of any market power issues and the ratepayer protection provisions will benefit all affected parties.

"We also are pleased that the uncontested settlement recently approved by the Missouri Commission, which becomes a final order today, again recognizes the many benefits of our merger," said Wittig.

Under the terms of today's FERC agreement filing, the merged company, which will be known as Westar Energy, will join a FERC-approved regional transmission organization (RTO). The RTO is designed to ensure all participants in the regional electricity market have fair transmission access and an equal opportunity to compete for generation supply. Westar will further transfer control of its transmission facilities to the RTO, which will operate the facilities as one control area for reliability, and will maintain separate zonal rates that will not increase for four years.

"This agreement backs up our commitment to treat all of our wholesale customers fairly and equally, and protects them from the risks of cost increases for the next four years," Wittig said.

This four-year rate freeze is also a major element of the customer protection plan submitted in the agreement. In addition to the rate protection, wholesale customers may elect to have their fuel adjustment clause eliminated and replaced with a base energy charge which reflects the anticipated fuel cost savings of the merger.

The other parties supporting this filing include: Kansas Electric Power Cooperative; Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission; City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri; Kansas Municipal Energy Agency; and Kansas Municipal Utilities. UtiliCorp United, Inc., Public Service Company of Oklahoma, St. Joseph Light and Power Company, and the Empire District Electric Company are not opposing the settlement.

The only remaining unsettled party contesting the merger on competition grounds is the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities (BPU). However, we continue to negotiate with BPU in an attempt to resolve their concerns.

Western Resources (NYSE: WR) is a consumer services company with interests in monitored services and energy. The company has total assets of more than $8 billion, including security company holdings through ownership of Protection One (NYSE: POI), which has more than 1.5 million security customers in 48 states. Its utilities, KPL and KGE, provide electric service to approximately 614,000 customers in Kansas. Through its ownership in ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE), a Tulsa-based natural gas company, Western Resources has a 45 percent interest in the eighth-largest natural gas distribution company in the nation, serving more than 1.4 million customers. For more information about Western Resources and its operating companies, visit us on the Internet at http://www.wr.com.

Forward-Looking Statements: Certain matters discussed in this news release are "forward-looking statements." The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 has established that these statements qualify for safe harbors from liability. Forward-looking statements may include words like we "believe", "anticipate," "expect" or words of similar meaning. Forward-looking statements describe our future plans, objectives, expectations, or goals. Such statements address future events and conditions concerning capital expenditures, earnings, litigation, rate and other regulatory matters, the outcome of accounting issues being reviewed by the SEC staff, possible corporate restructurings, mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, liquidity and capital resources, interest and dividend rates, year 2000 issue, environmental matters, changing weather, nuclear operations, ability to enter new markets successfully and capitalize on growth opportunities in nonregulated businesses, events in foreign markets in which investments have been made, and accounting matters. Our actual results may differ materially from those discussed here. See the company's 1998 Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Forms 10-Q for further discussion of factors affecting the company's performance. Western Resources disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this news release.