A state consumer agency is alleging that the Kansas Corporation Commission violated the state’s open meeting law when it approved a water rate increase without a public vote.

The Citizens’ Utility Ratepayer Board filed a complaint Tuesday over the KCC’s decision to allow a private water provider in rural Salina a total rate increase of $47,231 – a 127 percent increase for customers.

The complaint sent to prosecutors alleges the KCC may have been routinely violating the open meetings law for the last four years by using a practice called “pink sheeting” to make decisions without a public meeting.

The corporation commission’s lawyers said the commission uses pink sheeting to approve orders when it’s inconvenient for the three commissioners to get together for a meeting.

At issue is an interim order issued by the KCC that Howison Heights Inc, which provides water service to a residential subdivision in Saline County and the order is on an interim basis subject to a 90-day comment period.