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Statement From Citizens Utility Board Director David Kolata On Ameren's Proposed $226 Million Rate Hike
A statement from Citizens Utility Board (CUB) Executive Director David Kolata reacting to
news that Ameren is filing for a $226 million increase in the rates it charges customers to deliver
electricity and natural gas to their homes.
CHICAGO, June 5, 2009—“Ameren’s $226 million rate-hike proposal is a slap in the face to consumers who already are
struggling to pay monthly bills during the economic downturn. The ink is barely dry on Ameren’s $160 million rate hike, approved just last year, and the company is back at the table, asking state regulators for a new $226 million increase. The timing couldn’t have been worse. Just this past Monday, Ameren customers got the good news that the rates they pay for the actual electricity they use went down. Now, they hear that Ameren has proposed a $226 million ‘delivery’ rate hike that threatens those gains. CUB will fight Ameren’s new $226 million proposed rate hike to protect the June 1 rate cut. Our legal and policy teams will study every number of Ameren’s proposal and fight every penny that isn’t justified.” According to Ameren: Under the proposed rate hike, residential customers who use 10,000 kilowatt-hours (kWhs) of electricity a year would pay the following, depending on their utility: AmerenCIPS: $59 more per year; AmerenCILCO: $64 more per year; AmerenCIPS-Metro East: $65 more per year; AmerenIP: $97 more per year. Residential customers who use 785 therms of natural gas annually would pay the following: AmerenCILCO: $38 more per year; AmerenIP: $55 more per year; AmerenCIPS: $60 more per year. Any rate increase would have to be approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) after an 11-month case, and wouldn't take effect until mid-2010. CUB is Illinois’ leading nonprofit utility watchdog organization. It was created by the Illinois legislature in 1983 to represent the interests of residential and small-business utility customers. Since then, CUB has saved consumers more than $10 billion by helping to block rate hikes and secure refunds. For more information, call CUB’s Consumer Hotline at 1-800-669-5556. |