As new rates for large data centers take effect in Ameren Missouri’s service territory, the Consumers Council of Missouri filed a motion for a rehearing or reconsideration in the case late on Wednesday.
The Consumers Council, which advocates for monopoly utility customers in Missouri, said the agreement in Ameren’s case does not sufficiently protect others from rate increases driven by large data centers.
Missouri’s Public Service Commission approved Ameren’s terms and rates for large data centers in late November that went into effect Thursday.
“In our opinion, the Public Service Commission has gone too far in promoting economic development for these data centers and not protecting other customers,” said John Coffman, an attorney for the Consumers Council. “Our worry is that under these recent decisions, residential customers, as well as small business customers, might be paying a lot more for energy because of the data center revolution.”
An Ameren spokesperson told St. Louis Public Radio that there were already consumer protections laid out in the order, including minimum terms of service and requirements that these large businesses pay 100% of the up front interconnection costs and provide collateral.
“The Missouri Public Service Commission already fully reviewed and issued an order addressing the issues brought forth in this request,” Steve Wills, senior director of Regulatory Affairs for Ameren Missouri, said in a statement. “Our approved rate structure to serve large new industrial customers provides strict customer protection measures and fully complies with the law cited by Consumers Council."
But the order taking effect Thursday — which Ameren says still stands — doesn’t go far enough, according to the Consumers Council.
“We think that the decisions weigh too heavily in favor of the data centers and don't do enough to protect the general public,” Coffman said.
In approving the agreement, commissioners for the state regulator said Ameren’s plan sufficiently followed a new Missouri law that required utilities to write tariffs for large-load customers like data centers to ensure they pay their fair share.
“The rates and terms in the agreement are just and reasonable and not only protect customers, but provide a mechanism for Ameren’s customers to benefit from the addition of large users,” said PSC Chair Kayla Hahn as the body approved the plan.
The Consumers Council did not originally intervene in the case. The agreement the commission approved was supported by staff for Missouri’s Public Service Commission, the Sierra Club, Google, Amazon and other parties that took part in the case.
The Office of Public Counsel, which advocates for the public in PSC cases, did not support the agreement or oppose it. It asked that the agreement be considered nonunanimous. The Missouri Department of Commerce & Insurance, which houses the Office of Public Counsel, did not respond to a request to clarify this position.
“They are the entity in government that is supposed to represent consumers, just residential, small business consumers, and they did not think that there were enough consumer protections, and so they do not agree with these decisions, and we don't either,” Coffman said.
Incoming data centers
With the new rates taking effect, data centers could sign electric service agreements with Ameren immediately, said Rob Dixon, senior director of economic, community and business development for Ameren Missouri, in an interview last week.
“There's a number of potential customers that are looking at locating in the area, and we get requests in, frankly, just about every day right now,” Dixon said.
In Ameren’s November earnings call, CEO Marty Lyons said data centers have signed construction agreements asking for 3GW of new electricity demand, more than the total of seven new energy centers the company is building or seeking approval for.
The level of that energy demand is a major concern for Coffman of the Consumers Council.
“The question is, what happens to the rest of us if an entire power plant is built to serve these data centers and they're not there?” Coffman said. “The answer is that those costs are likely going to be applied to the rest of us.”
Lyons said potential data center customers have already paid the company $38 million in nonrefundable fees to cover transmission upgrades and demonstrate their commitment to the proposed projects.
As of Wednesday, Ameren did not have any customers that would meet the 75MW threshold to retroactively qualify for these new rates. Dixon said, historically, smaller data centers have been operating in Ameren Missouri’s area, but not yet the types of hyperscale data centers that are used to train and run artificial intelligence.
The first step to add a large customer would be a review of the grid, Dixon said, to make sure the system can handle the new demand for electricity. Then, those large data center customers would be required to sign long-term contracts with the terms set out in the new agreement.
“If a new business is ready to make that commitment to Missouri, we're ready to serve them,” Dixon said. “And I think we're ready to serve them in a way that everybody listening and reading should have confidence in, that it's going to protect other customers along the way as well.”
New terms
Ameren’s new rates have four main areas aimed at protecting existing customers from data center costs and ensuring the data centers stay for the long term.
- Contract terms: 12 years with a five-year ramp period.
- Minimum demand: 80% of requested demand.
- Credit and collateral: Collateral of two years of minimum monthly bills.
- Termination notice and fees: 36 months' written notice to end service, exit fees and early termination fees.
If there is excess revenue from these large customers, the new agreement will require a percentage of that to go back to all customers, with half of that amount specifically going to low-income customers.
The agreement also establishes subscription programs so that the companies can pay a premium for wind, solar or nuclear energy. Both Google and Meta, large users of hyperscale data centers that are already in Missouri, have sustainability goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
“Many of the large customers … they oftentimes will have their own clean-energy targets that they're trying to meet as a company,” Dixon said.
In the new motion for a rehearing, the Consumers Council laid out more than a dozen issues it has with the order. The organization wants to see longer contracts, minimum monthly demand at 90% or higher, changes to the collateral provisions and other protections.
“We believe that customers should be held harmless,” Coffman said. “They should be protected from this because they're not the ones driving this potential growth of new power plants.”
The commission will decide whether or not to reopen the case. Other parties in the case have 10 days to file responses to the Consumers Council motion, according to a spokesperson for the PSC.
