By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – St. Louis-based Ameren wants to raise electricity rates more than $10 a month by 2008 for most of its customers.
Proposals filed Tuesday with the Illinois Commerce Commission seek increases in rates at Ameren's three Illinois utilities. Ameren is the second-biggest utility in the state.
The utilities serve more than a million customers throughout central and southern Illinois. Ameren hopes to generate an extra $200 million by raising the rates.
Ameren says it's seeking the rate hike to cover costs, noting rates have been frozen for years.
"We are concerned about the impact higher delivery services rates will have on all of our customers," said Scott Cisel, president of Ameren Illinois Energy Delivery, in a statement. "For residential customers, we will help with the phase-in plan and with payment options, like Budget Billing, which levels out monthly bill amounts.
Ameren plans to phase in the rate hikes in two phases for customers of AmerenCILCO and AmerenIP. AmerenCIPS customers will only face one increase.
On average, monthly bills for Ameren IP customers would go up $7.08 a month in 2007. Ameren CIPS bills would increase just $0.27 for those who live outside the St. Louis Metro East area, and $5.19 a month for those in the Metro East AmerenUE-Illinois territory. For AmerenCILCO customers, the hike would be $6.84 a month.