Utilities

Illinois American Water’s regional treatment facility, located along the Mississippi River in East St. Louis, serves a population of 350,000 in St. Clair and Madison counties.

A new report by state regulators projects energy shortfalls will begin in northern Illinois by 2029 and the rest of the state by 2031 if lawmakers and grid operators don’t act.

The Consumers Council of Missouri filed a motion for a rehearing earlier this month in the Ameren Missouri case setting terms and rates for large customers like data centers, saying the new tariffs would not protect existing customers from rate increases.

As Illinoisans use more natural gas to heat their homes with colder weather hitting the region, Ameren says changes to the company’s local natural gas storage fields in the Metro East will help make it more efficient and save customers money in the long run.

Following the ICC’s approval of a $73 million rate increase for Ameren last month, the company’s residential customers can expect to see an average $3.65 increase on their monthly bills starting in January.

The utility disconnected more than 17,000 households that were behind on their bills in October, according to its latest public filings.

The move comes in response to the government shutdown, which could be coming to an end later this week but will still have ripple effects.

Municipally owned electric utilities are rare in the St. Louis area. Kirkwood owns its own utility and recently announced a rate increase.

The Business Social Services program offers nonprofit customers cash incentives for cost-effective energy efficiency projects. The program will continue through the end of 2026.

Ameren Missouri is courting AI data centers by building new power plants and offering them lower bulk electric rates, but their unprecedented energy demands could drive up everyone’s electricity bills.