Ameren UE requests a 18% rate increase
By Cara | January 21, 2010
This was emailed to me by Susan Turk, 8th ward activist. I encourage you to let the PSC how you feel about this issue and will add the public hearing meetings to my event calendar – CJ
Today I did something different. I attended a Public Service Commission hearing for the very first time. I had received 2 phone calls over the weekend from a group named the Fair Electricity Rate Action fund. I don’t know how they got my number but I am glad they did. Their website is www.fairelectricityrates.com. They publicized the hearing today at Harris Stowe.
Ameren UE has requested an 18% rate hike for its residential and commercial customers in St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County as well as some other southeast Missouri counties. The Public Service Commission is holding hearings about the request in St. Louis this week. They will have an open mike session at their offices in the Wainwright Building on Thursday during the day.
Ameren claims it needs the rate increase to cover the cost of improvements they have already implemented and paid for such as the recent tree trimming. They want to be reimbursed for those expenses, higher financing costs, and higher fuel costs. They have also been providing their investors with an 8.5% return.
The PSC staff has recommended giving Ameren an increase of between 9 and 10%
Can you afford an 18% increase or even a 9% increase? Can our school district afford it? Can our cities? Our businesses?
A lot of people spoke at the hearing today. No one spoke in favor of the request. There was a pretty broad spectrum of people there, people on fixed incomes, unemployed people, disabled people, people who had to absorb pay cuts because of the economy. There was a lot of testimony about wasteful spending by Ameren, such as their marketing expenses among others.
The PSC will make a decision in May or June. If you cannot make it to a hearing, you can submit comments to them in writing or by phone. There is a comment form available on their website www.psc.mo.gov. Comments should include a reference to the case number which is ER-2010-0036
Their phone number is 1-800-392-4211
The PSC members present did seem interested in testimony about Ameren’s screw ups, especially how people were affected by outages and the kind of response gotten when calling Ameren about problems. They also were interested in the affects of rate increases on people on fixed incomes and testimony about inadequate social service funding resources to help people with their bills. There was a lot of testimony about this not being the right time for an increase given the economy and about Ameren’s asking for this outrageous amount in order to get half of it, which people said would still be too much.
Since this will affect all of us, I urge you to contact the PSC and also to spread the word through whatever networks you belong to.
Susan
Topics: Issues, newsletter | No Comments »
Comments
« State of the Union Watch Party at the Royale! | Home | MoDOT Schedules I-70 Closure to Remove Bridges »
