Ameren Missouri’s customers will soon pay more for electricity after the state’s Public Service Commission approved the company’s request to raise its rates last week.
Starting June 1, rates will increase for households by about 12%, or about $14 a month. Customers will see higher prices on their next bill after the rate takes effect.
Ameren initially asked the PSC to approve a 15% rate increase in July, representing an annual revenue increase of $446.2 million. The final increase will be $355 million.
“[It] may not be as low of an increase as we had hoped, but we think the entire settlement was fair, given all of the other concessions that the utility made and the protections that were negotiated in the deal,” said John Coffman, an attorney with the Consumers Council of Missouri, which advocates for lower utility prices.
The Consumers Council highlighted multiple concessions it said will help customers. One held the fixed residential customer charge at $9, rather than increasing it to $10.43. Another blocks Ameren from passing costs to customers stemming from a federal pollution case related to the Rush Island coal plant.
During the rate case, hundreds of customers offered written comments and public testimony saying the increase was too much.
Earlier in April, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a large utility bill into law that the Consumers Council estimates will cost Missouri households more than $1,000 per year.
“I understand there's no good time to adjust rates, but we do have energy assistance available for customers that find themselves needing assistance,” said Page Selby, manager of customer advocacy at Ameren.
Selby said customers struggling to pay their bill should reach out to Ameren. The company also has a section on its website with information about multiple utility assistance programs that serve low-income customers and veterans.
Last year, Selby said Ameren customers received more than $36 million in energy assistance from multiple sources, including the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
That program, known by its acronym LIHEAP, recently saw staff cuts at the federal level that advocates worry will impact its ability to provide utility assistance. Selby said the company works regularly with the state, and it understands that the program is continuing through at least this year.
“What we're hearing is everything is business as usual, that those funds have already been allocated,” Selby said.
Coffman worries that between the rising rates and the new utility legislation, increasing power costs will have a ripple effect throughout the economy.
“Almost every sector of our economy relies on electricity,” Coffman said. “So if you're worried about eggs, well, the grocery store has to pay an electric bill.”
Last year, Ameren disconnected more than 90,000 households because they were behind on their electric bills, according to data obtained by the Energy and Policy Institute.
