By KWMU
St. Louis, MO – There will be two hearings today (Tuesday) on the question of whether Ameren should get to raise rates in Missouri.
The company says the $370 million in new money it would reap each year would go for improving infrastructure. Rates would go up an average of $6 dollars a month for both electricity and natural gas.
But just last week, state regulators said they expect to recommend that Ameren's electric rates be cut by $168 million a year.
The hearings also will likely include discussion of two big power outages last year that resulted after storms in the summer and then again in the winter.
One of the hearings will be at noon in the Thornhill Library branch in St. Louis County; the other will be at 6:00 at the Wohl Community Center on Kingshighway, in the City.
Meanwhile, higher rates went into effect in Illinois Monday for customers of Ameren and Com-Ed, though there are still lawmakers in that state looking to roll some of those hikes back.