Chambana Sun

State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) is one of several lawmakers seeking relief for downstate Ameren electric utility customers who’ve recently seen big increases in their electric bills.

Rose said the situation in downstate Illinois is dire.

“Last week in Kincaid, Illinois, an entire grocery store went out of business because they couldn't pay the power bill for their coolers,” Rose said in a press conference. “That community is without a grocery store and I think Rep. (Dave) Severin, when he talks he's got the exact same thing happen in his district, a different place. So this is a significant crisis. It is a serious crisis. Families cannot afford what is happening to them. If you saw the inflation report yesterday, far from inflation coming down, it is still well over 6% and again, when you look at what's happened to those power bills doubling, people can't afford this.” 

Rose said rate relief was not provided to those customers in the most recent state budget. He suggested the state government provide $200 million in rate relief and also remove restrictions on gas-fired power. 

“They wrote into the bill (the governor’s) ability to waive certain EPA emissions restrictions on clean burning natural gas, which could immediately or very quickly put over 2,000 megawatts onto the grid,” Rose said. “Simple economics, supply demand. You put more electrons on the grid, the price is going to come down. The governor has that authority to do it. He could do that today. He needs to do that today.”

The Citizen’s Utility Board (CUB) noted the rate hike earlier this year. The current rate is 116% higher than last year.  “Ameren Illinois, the electric utility in Central and Southern Illinois, is only responsible for delivery and not supply. Thus, it does not profit off the supply portion of bills–Ameren simply passes along what they pay for supply, with no markup,” the CUB said.

The CUB cited several reasons for the price hike. "Natural gas prices have been at extremely high levels for more than a year because of multiple factors, including, most recently, the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The high gas prices have now led to high electricity prices–because natural gas is often used to generate power."

The typical Ameren Illinois residential customer has seen a $626 annual increase in their power bill. “Higher energy prices (electricity and natural gas) will continue to impact monthly utility bills into the winter heating season. The causes are varied but include a tight supply/demand balance, record-low coal inventories and high coal prices driving increased natural gas power generation, and a rise in U.S. natural gas consumption compared to 2021,” Ameren said in June 2022 when prices started rising. “We know this is frustrating for our customers; it's frustrating for us at Ameren Illinois, too.  Many people are facing challenging times, and no one wants to see higher energy bills.”

Ameren has filed paperwork to push power bills even higher, which saw immediate pushback from the CUB. “In one month, Ameren Illinois has filed for a $160.4 million gas rate hike and a four-year $435.6 million electric increase, and they couldn’t have come at a worse time,” CUB Executive Director David Kolata said in a press release. "This is awful news for Ameren customers who already were suffering under some of the highest electric and gas supply prices in Illinois history as well as earlier Ameren rate hikes. CUB will do a thorough review of these rate cases, and we will challenge every penny Ameren can't justify." 

Radio host Corey Hall, a Saint Elmo resident, took to Facebook to decry the situation. “Apparently having working lights and heat in Illinois is unacceptable and we should all be sitting in the dark and cold,” Hall said, according to South Central Reporter. “Rates are the highest they’ve ever been, with a massive recent increase, and now they want me to pay more??!!”