Ameren UE Electric bill

[itsmejd]

For the past two months my electric bill is more than double what it was last year at this time. Two of my neighbors say the same with their bill.

Has anyone else had a large increase?

[Blondie]

itsmejd wrote:

For the past two months my electric bill is more than double what it was last year at this time. Two of my neighbors say the same with their bill.
Has anyone else had a large increase?

yeah!!!! it was on tv every time ameren wanted a increase! it used to be gas but it's electric getting over! greed greed

[po po]

Ameren sucks. Install geothermal heating and cooling systems and let the bastards suck air. Then put solar panels on your roof and have the a holes send u a check.

[itsmejd]

po po wrote:

Ameren sucks. Install geothermal heating and cooling systems and let the bastards suck air. Then put solar panels on your roof and have the a holes send u a
check.

I live in a small condo and have a neighbor over my unit so the solar panels aee not an option. I will look into the other but right now I have baseboard heat.
I am retired so I watch alot of TV while cleaning and rxrtcising at home.
Does a tv use alot of electric?

[ThomasA]

itsmejd wrote:

<quoted text>
I live in a small condo and have a neighbor over my unit so the solar panels aee not an option. I will look into the other but right now I have baseboard heat.
I am retired so I watch alot of TV while cleaning and rxrtcising at home.
Does a tv use alot of electric?

Ask the power company to send you a printout of your last twelve months usage . It should show the days between reading and the heating/cooling degree days that determine what the weather was during that month that your system was working against. Bad as it seems,those meters are pretty accurate and if it read it,you used it. Good luck.

[Ameren Missouri customer]

Folks...Missouri's rates are 14th lowest in the country at 7.78 cents per kilowatt hour. The national average is 9.83 cents per kilowatt hour! On ther other side of the river, Illinois averages 9.13 cents per kilowatt hour, much higher than Missouri but still below the national average. To help understand the desparity, one only has to look at the regulatory requirements in each state. Illinois regulatory requirements are not only much more stringent than Missouri, they are more stringent than federal requirements. Illinois is also a deregulated utility market which exposes fuel generation costs to the open market which drives up rates. The problem is not Ameren greed here guys, the reason rates are going up is regulatory requirements. The equation is simple really, if we want cleaner electris/gas generation (cleaner environment), someone has to foot the bill. Ameren is a publicly owned utility and shouldn't be expected to pay it all, they have operaring expenses after all. The costs need to be shared by all (including Ameren) that benefit from reliable energy. So, as hard as that pill is to swallow, if we want cleaner air and water (which we all should), then we need to understand that it's partly up to us, the rate payers, and it's not going to magically happen without our rates going up. Remember the stat I listed above, Missouri has the 14th lowest rates in the country so I would say Ameren is doing a darn good job managing our energy needs and rates.

[Ameren Illinois]

Ameren Missouri customer wrote:

Folks...Missouri's rates are 14th lowest in the country at 7.78 cents per kilowatt hour. The national average is 9.83 cents per kilowatt hour! On ther other side of the river, Illinois averages 9.13 cents per kilowatt hour, much higher than Missouri but still below the national average. To help understand the desparity, one only has to look at the regulatory requirements in each state. Illinois regulatory requirements are not only much more stringent than Missouri, they are more stringent than federal requirements. Illinois is also a deregulated utility market which exposes fuel generation costs to the open market which drives up rates. The problem is not Ameren greed here guys, the reason rates are going up is regulatory requirements. The equation is simple really, if we want cleaner electris/gas generation (cleaner environment), someone has to foot the bill. Ameren is a publicly owned utility and shouldn't be expected to pay it all, they have operaring expenses after all. The costs need to be shared by all (including Ameren) that benefit from reliable energy. So, as hard as that pill is to swallow, if we want cleaner air and water (which we all should), then we need to understand that it's partly up to us, the rate payers, and it's not going to magically happen without our rates going up. Remember the stat I listed above, Missouri has the 14th lowest rates in the country so I would say Ameren is doing a darn good job managing our energy needs and rates.

Not to argue with you but you are way off on the cost per kwh in Il. Illinois is divided into 3 zones and they have the summer rate and the non summer rate. In the non summer months it ranges from 5.65 to 5.67 cents per kwh and a few cents higher in the summer.

If you really take a close look at your bill each month you will see the actual cost of the electric that you used is only about 1/3 of your total bill. The rest of your bill is service, distribution, taxes and anything else they can dream up to charge you with.

[Ameren Missouri customer]

Ameren Illinois wrote:

<quoted text>
Not to argue with you but you are way off on the cost per kwh in Il. Illinois is divided into 3 zones and they have the summer rate and the non summer rate. In the non summer months it ranges from 5.65 to 5.67 cents per kwh and a few cents higher in the summer.
If you really take a close look at your bill each month you will see the actual cost of the electric that you used is only about 1/3 of your total bill. The rest of your bill is service, distribution, taxes and anything else they can dream up to charge you with.

Thanks for the clarification...you actually made my argument that much stronger. Although i maintain the regulatory environment in Illinois is much more stringent than Missouri as well as the federal government, the rates you quoted are still well below the national average. As for what is charged on a utility bill, everything you stated "service, distribution, and taxes all cost money and weren't dreamt up by Ameren. By service I assume you are referring to Customer Service and that is an operational necessity, the same goes for distribution where it is expensive to maintain the poles and lines required to convey energy from larger transmission lines to our homes and businesses. As for taxes, that's not on Ameren, to understand that one you need to write your congressman. My point is, I'm not seeing greed here, I'm seeing a lot of operational expenses that are being passed on to the customer. In an unregulated market, there are no subsidies and there's no such thing as a free ride. The goal of deregulating is to encourage competition which theoretically should drive rates down. To do that however, the market has to incentivize companies to want to operate in it. Those incentives in the open market are mainly profit potential...no company goes into business to provide free rides...they do it to make money so they can grown and make more profit. If you want to levelize rates, go back to a regulated utility market!

[Scotts Contracting]

Dear St Louis Renewable Energy Readers,
Can you believe it? In 2012, Ameren Missouri profited around $70 million more from electric customers than regulators authorized. On top of that, Ameren's CEO received $6.2 million in compensation in 2012, a 9% increase from 2011. This was the same year that Ameren raised your rates AGAIN, up 43% since 2007 costing customers a total of $2.8 billion by the end of the year.
In 2012, the Missouri Public Service Commission authorized Ameren to collect a generous 10.2% profit margin but financial data shows that the company actually received around an 11.48% profit from Missouri customers for the year. In addition, Ameren Corp.'s chairman, president and CEO received a 9% increase in total compensation in 2012, totaling $6.2 million.
Ameren continues to raise rates and attempts to add surcharges to your bill, all the while making more profits off of your money than ever and paying their executives more than ever. Ameren is currently pushing legislation in Missouri that would allow it and other investor-owned utilities to add a new and expensive surcharge on Missourians' electric bills. Learn more about this bill and urge your legislator to vote no on this egregious overreach.http://stlouisrenewa bleenergy.blogspot.com/2013/03 /re-ameren-asks-for-more-of-yo ur-money.html

[Diarrhea Jones]

They could use that money to put all the lines underground instead of having them dangle from poles. Very primitive.

[WorkingMom]

Scotts Contracting wrote:

Dear St Louis Renewable Energy Readers,
Can you believe it? In 2012, Ameren Missouri profited around $70 million more from electric customers than regulators authorized. On top of that, Ameren's CEO received $6.2 million in compensation in 2012, a 9% increase from 2011. This was the same year that Ameren raised your rates AGAIN, up 43% since 2007 costing customers a total of $2.8 billion by the end of the year.
In 2012, the Missouri Public Service Commission authorized Ameren to collect a generous 10.2% profit margin but financial data shows that the company actually received around an 11.48% profit from Missouri customers for the year. In addition, Ameren Corp.'s chairman, president and CEO received a 9% increase in total compensation in 2012, totaling $6.2 million.
Ameren continues to raise rates and attempts to add surcharges to your bill, all the while making more profits off of your money than ever and paying their executives more than ever. Ameren is currently pushing legislation in Missouri that would allow it and other investor-owned utilities to add a new and expensive surcharge on Missourians' electric bills. Learn more about this bill and urge your legislator to vote no on this egregious overreach.http://stlouisrenewa bleenergy.blogspot.com/2013/03 /re-ameren-asks-for-more-of-yo ur-money.html

Thx for the clarification...Ameren Missouri customer isn't fooling anyone...it doesn't make your statements stronger when you admit that you used incorrect info.

[KashmirX]

If you are unhappy with your electric bill contact your city municipality because they are the ones that contract with the utility provider to supply the municipality with the utility provided. Find another utility company that charges better rates and ask your city government to consider changing utility providers.

Many municipalities across the state buy electricity from power plants not even located in the same state. Many power plants in the state of Missouri sell their electricity produced to other states. It is a competetive market and voters can force municipal leaders to buy from other suppliers.

[Ameren Illinois]

Scotts Contracting wrote:

Dear St Louis Renewable Energy Readers,
Can you believe it? In 2012, Ameren Missouri profited around $70 million more from electric customers than regulators authorized. On top of that, Ameren's CEO received $6.2 million in compensation in 2012, a 9% increase from 2011. This was the same year that Ameren raised your rates AGAIN, up 43% since 2007 costing customers a total of $2.8 billion by the end of the year.
In 2012, the Missouri Public Service Commission authorized Ameren to collect a generous 10.2% profit margin but financial data shows that the company actually received around an 11.48% profit from Missouri customers for the year. In addition, Ameren Corp.'s chairman, president and CEO received a 9% increase in total compensation in 2012, totaling $6.2 million.
Ameren continues to raise rates and attempts to add surcharges to your bill, all the while making more profits off of your money than ever and paying their executives more than ever. Ameren is currently pushing legislation in Missouri that would allow it and other investor-owned utilities to add a new and expensive surcharge on Missourians' electric bills. Learn more about this bill and urge your legislator to vote no on this egregious overreach.http://stlouisrenewa bleenergy.blogspot.com/2013/03 /re-ameren-asks-for-more-of-yo ur-money.html

Yours is a comment I believe simply because it is based on facts and not opinions. It's very hard to argue with facts.
We have the same issues with Ameren Illinois and their constant attempts at price gouging. Sometimes they get by with it and some times they don't but now they are trying to bypass the regulations concerning what they can charge and slip in an automatic rate increase each year.
Where I live we have the gas and electric bill combined whereas it used to be 2 seperate companys and should have remained that way. In my opnion, no one company should have a monopoly on utilities.

[ThomasA]

Diarrhea Jones wrote:

They could use that money to put all the lines underground instead of having them dangle from poles. Very primitive.

Subdivisions and house services yes,but the higher voltage main transmission lines going underground would be cost prohibitive and power outages would be longer while the power company searched and dug to repair faults. Then you have the toads that dig before they call instead of calling before they dig and would put people out of power for long periods.

[Ameren Illinois]

ThomasA wrote:

<quoted text> Subdivisions and house services yes,but the higher voltage main transmission lines going underground would be cost prohibitive and power outages would be longer while the power company searched and dug to repair faults. Then you have the toads that dig before they call instead of calling before they dig and would put people out of power for long periods.

I agree with your comment. It absolutely would be cost prohibitive to run underground lines with the exception of new subdivisions and even then would be pretty much a risk.
As you pointed out, someone on a backhoe with little or no experience can easily break all the lines that are buried underground. Wasn't this what happened in Kansas City a few weeks ago when someone cut into a gas line and a building blew up.
Another issue is some of the older communities in St. Louis and all over the country where the wealthy live. That ain't gonna happen.