KCP&L parent company’s earnings decline 14 percent

Third-quarter earnings declined 14 percent from a year ago at Great Plains Energy, the parent company of the Kansas City Power & Light Co. reported Thursday.

The $126.4 million earned works out to 82 cents a share, down from $147 million, or 95 cents a share, in the third quarter of 2014.

The company said Thursday the decline in profit resulted in part from increased costs for transmission; operations and maintenance, particularly at the Wolf Creek nuclear plant; and taxes and interest. Great Plains also noted that its profit margin had declined on the electricity it sold on the wholesale markets.

Great Plains also lowered the top end of the range of what it expects to make for the year. It had been projecting earnings of $1.35 to $1.60 a share in 2015 and changed that to $1.35 to $1.45.

It attributed the reduced expectation to the effects of milder weather and the softer wholesale market, along with “the impact of regulatory outcomes” in recent rate cases. Kansas and Missouri regulators both granted KCP&L substantial rate increases, but not all the utility had requested.

For the first nine months of the year, Great Plains has earned $188.9 million, or $1.22 a share. That’s down 15.4 percent from a year ago, when earnings through three quarters were $222.1 million, or $1.44 a share.

This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 4:52 PM with the headline "KCP&L parent company’s earnings decline 14 percent."