Public meetings begin tonight on Ameren Missouri’s proposal to increase its electric rate by more than 15%. If approved, the average residential customer would pay an additional $17 per month.
Warren Wood, Vice President of Regulatory and Legislative Affairs for Ameren Missouri, said that the company wants to adjust electric rates to reflect upgrades designed to make the system more reliable.
“Basically, we’re hardening the grid, replacing older power lines, strengthening poles, and upgrading substations and we’re installing more smart technology, including outage detection and restoration switches,” Wood told Missourinet. “We’re focused on doing all of this while keeping our rates well below national Midwest averages.”
He also said that extreme weather events, like the arctic cold, causes more peak demand for electricity.
“You know, we are seeing some increases in extreme summer and winter weather,” he explained. “Really, the most dangerous type of storm to us, you know heavy rain, snow that is something we all deal with, but it doesn’t hit the grid like an ice storm does. You know, when we start having tree limbs breaking off, landing on lines, that causes a lot of problems.”
The Public Service Commission is holding numerous public hearings this month about the proposed increase.
“Customers were able to go into the Public Service Commission System, in this case, and they’re able to enter public comments…and I looked through them,” he said. “What I see is a couple things – certainly customers want reliable electricity. They also want affordable electricity. We live and work in this community. We understand some customers are struggling to keep up.”
The rate hike would raise about $446 million for Ameren.
The meeting schedule includes:
- Jan. 21 @ 6pm in Cape Girardeau. Osage Centre, Room 1AB, 1625 N. Kingshighway.
- Jan. 22 @ 12pm in St. Charles. St. Charles County Administration Building, Room 116, 201 N. 2nd Street.
- Jan. 22 @ 6pm in St. Louis. St. Louis Community College-Forest Park, 5600 Oakland Ave., Student Center Cafeteria.
- Jan. 23 @ 12pm in Jefferson City. Governor Office Building, 200 Madison Street, Room 310.
- Jan. 23 @ 6pm: Virtual Local Public Hearing
- Jan. 24 @ 12pm: Virtual Local Public Hearing
- Jan. 27 @ 12pm in Sunset Hills. Sunset Hills Council Chambers, 3939 S. Lindbergh Blvd.
To attend a virtual local public hearing by telephone, at the time of the virtual hearing, call toll-free 1-855-718-6621, listen to the prompt and enter the meeting number/access code (2630 871 4245 for the Jan. 23rd hearing at 6:00 p.m.); or (2867 125 9125 for the Jan. 24th noon hearing); followed by #. If prompted for a password, enter 0319.
To attend a virtual local public hearing by video, visit the website www.webex.com. You can also download the Cisco WebEx meetings application on your mobile device, laptop, desktop or tablet prior to the hearing and join the meeting at the start time by entering the corresponding meeting number/access code and password listed above.
Ameren Missouri serves about 1.2 million electric customers in central and eastern Missouri, including St. Louis.
Click here for more information.
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