LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. -- The Missouri Public Service Commission holds a public hearing on a rate increase for Kansas City Power & Light at 5:30 p.m. Monday.

The hearing will be held in the lecture hall at Lee's Summit North High School at 901 N.E. Douglas St.

Customers can comment on the proposed rate increase.

The utility filed requests in Kansas and Missouri in the fall seeking to increase rates by as much as 17.5 percent.

A consumer watchdog in Kansas complained about many parts of the proposal, including $3.6 million in expenses that included an employee appreciation event at the Worlds of Fun amusement park, golfing fees and tickets and meals at Kansas City Chiefs and Royals games.

The company continues to say some of those are legitimate business expenses. But spokesman Charles Caisley said Wednesday that KCP&L was dropping attempts to recover from customers those and other expenses, including $500,000 for annual expense accounts for senior executives.

"We don't want these buckets of money to distract from the real issues of the case," Caisley said.

Missouri and Kansas regulatory staffs, as well as the Citizens' Utility Ratepayer Board, which represents Kansas customers in utility cases, had challenged each of the items. The board thought many of the expenses were questionable given the recession and the difficulty some customers were having paying their electric bills.

KCP&L provides electricity to about 300,000 customers in Missouri.