Missouri’s biggest power company says it needs more money. AmerenUE says costs of things like coal for power plants … copper for power lines … and pollution controls are going up.

Company CEO Gary Rainwater says two decades of declining costs have allowed Ameren to keep rates low. But he has told New York financial analysts power companies are no longer declining-cost industries.

Ameren has not said how much it will try to increase rates here. It’ll have to get Public Service Commission permission.