Advocacy Groups Call on Missouri Public Service Commission to Reject Spending at Ameren’s High Cost Coal-Burning Plants

ST. LOUIS, MO - This week is the midpoint in a series of public hearings in Ameren territory to address a rate proposal by Ameren before the Missouri Public Service Commission. Ameren is seeking a business-as-usual proposal that would continue spending customers’ money on its high-cost coal-burning power plants, even though there are cheaper, cleaner alternatives.The request has groups within the region calling for greater accountability from the utility. 

Environmental groups and community groups have criticized Ameren’s dependence on coal for years, but now a new analysis demonstrates the financial folly of such investments. Between 2016 and 2018, Ameren’s St. Louis area coal plants lost $347 million compared to market energy prices. 

“Ameren is forcing ratepayers and shareholders to go along with its risky gamble on coal and the market has spoken - coal costs us all,” said Andy Knott, Senior Campaign Representative for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal in Missouri. “Ratepayers should not be footing the bill to pay for these expensive coal plants when investment in renewables save money for ratepayers in our neighborhing states.”

This rate case comes just months after a federal court decision requiring Ameren Missouri to install pollution controls on the Rush Island and Labadie coal plants for violations of the Clean Air Act. These violations are estimated to have contributed to as many as 800 premature deaths over a 9 year period in Missouri. Installing pollution controls on these old outdated plants would cost ratepayers close to a billion dollars, but wind and solar are saving consumers around the country already. 

As part of its rate case, Ameren is proposing a $2 increase in the monthly charge for residential customers, which would require them to pay $11 a month before consuming a single kilowatt-hour. Ameren has stated it wants to eventually raise the customer charge to almost $25 a month.

“Although the current administration continues to rollback environmental regulation to benefit industry, Ameren should do what benefits its customers and the communities in which the utility is situated. Hospitals that Ameren powers have patients who are suffering from pollution impacts because of the electricity generated from dirty coal-fired plants. The economics and more importantly the morality points to closing the Labadie and Rush Island plants and purchasing electricity on the open market,” said Rev. Rodrick K. Burton of the New Northside Missionary Baptist Church. “While raising the customer charge and keeping the coal-fired plants open may mean an increase in profits to shareholders, Ameren's reputation will decrease with the communities it serves and our air will continue to get dirtier. Ratepayers are already paying too much for Ameren’s dirty coal plants and increasing the customer charge just adds insult to injury.”

High fixed charges hit low income rate payers the hardest because they cannot be avoided and they disproportionately increase the bills for low-usage customers. Those charges also diminish consumers’ ability to control their bills by reducing the savings customers can realize from energy efficiency.

“Increasing the customer charge on ratepayers who may be living on a limited fixed income and living in poorly kept residences where landlords ignore energy efficiency is inequitable, unjust and disregards the needs of those customers,” said Myisha Johnson, Co-Founder of the State Street Tenant Resistance of St. Louis. “If Ameren is not going to pay attention then we need our leaders at the Public Service Commission to do so.”

Sierra Club is asking the PSC to require Ameren to study the retirement of its coal plants before future costs at those plants are passed on to customers and to reject Ameren’s $2 increase in the monthly customer charge. Four more public hearings will be held throughout the Ameren territory regarding the rate case before it reaches the Missouri Public Service Commission on a decision from Ameren’s proposal.