April 13, 2020: Last month, the Public Service Commission of Missouri approved a settlement in the Ameren rate case. The settlement—negotiated by Sierra Club attorneys along with our allies—provides an overall $32 million reduction in electric rates for Ameren customers in St. Louis and throughout eastern Missouri. The settlement also includes specific elements that represent progress on clean energy and for low-income customers.
First, in its rate case filings, Ameren had requested state permission to raise the fixed customer charge for electric service from $9 to $11/month, and stated its plan to eventually raise it to nearly $25/month. Fixed fees are inequitable as they are charged no matter how much electricity a customer uses. In addition, high fixed customer charges create a strong disincentive for energy conservation as well as installing rooftop solar. Sierra Club, along with our ratepayer advocacy partners, pushed back hard and we forced Ameren to keep the charge at $9/month.
Second, we helped to secure a large expansion in Ameren’s low-income assistance program. The settlement increases the program by more than 50% from $1.3 million to $2 million/year, a huge victory for those most vulnerable, especially in these difficult times. There will be hundreds of thousands of additional dollars every year dedicated to helping low income people pay electric bills via this settlement.
Third, we improved the long-term electricity planning process that Ameren will be going through over the next 12 months. Ameren agreed to rigorous discovery and an evidentiary hearing for its ongoing long-term planning, the so-called Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), due this fall (October 2020). We are optimistic that the long term planning models will confirm our own internal analyses that Ameren’s coal plants are expensive and keeping rates high for ordinary Missourians. These planning improvements are a major victory as this fall’s IRP will be a pivotal point in accelerating our Ameren coal-to-clean goals.
In sum, Sierra Club’s engagement in the Ameren rate case helped achieve lower and fairer rates for everyone in St. Louis and eastern Missouri, and a better long term planning process too that we expect could lead to an acceleration of coal plant retirements.
In the Ameren rate case, Sierra Club was represented by Sierra Club attorneys Tony Mendoza, Casey Roberts, and Josh Smith as well as Henry Robertson of Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, supported by Sierra Club research analyst Lauren Hogrewe and senior advisor Jeremy Fisher. In the litigation, we worked in concert with several other parties, including the Missouri Office of Public Counsel, Consumers Council of Missouri, and Renew Missouri.