The Kansas Corporation Commission has approved a Westar Energy rate increase to help pay for environmental projects.

The approval on Thursday means residential customers who use about 900 kilowatt hours will pay about 67 cents more per month, for a total of $3.49 of each bill dedicated to environmental projects.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1tsEW33 ) Westar will collect about $58 million to cover its environmental costs. That’s about $11 million more than the utility recovered last year.

The company had requested $1.2 million more than it received.

Westar listed 20 environmental projects it had to meet federal or state requirements, and commission staff found all the projects met the standards for cost recovery.

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Information from: The Topeka Capital-Journal