{"id":43860,"date":"2025-10-16T10:51:53","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T15:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/?p=43860"},"modified":"2025-10-16T14:39:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T19:39:22","slug":"regulatory-opinion-favors-cutting-ameren-gas-rate-hike-by-44-million-half-the-reduction-consumers-are-due-watchdogs-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/blog\/2025\/10\/16\/regulatory-opinion-favors-cutting-ameren-gas-rate-hike-by-44-million-half-the-reduction-consumers-are-due-watchdogs-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Regulatory opinion favors cutting Ameren gas rate hike by $44 million, half the reduction consumers are due, watchdogs say"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A $128.8 million gas rate hike proposed by Ameren Illinois would shrink by about one-third, under a recommendation pending before the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). But consumer advocates said Thursday<\/a><\/strong> that state regulators should cut much deeper when they issue a final ruling on the threat of another stinging increase in heating bills that comes as Ameren profits have been booming.\u00a0[Sign CUB’s petition against the Ameren rate hike<\/strong><\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Gas affordability has become such a concern that on Nov. 1, weeks before the ICC\u2019s final ruling in the rate case, several advocacy groups plan to hold a forum to discuss a decade of chronic gas rate hikes from Ameren and the future of gas utilities in Illinois. After a summer when Ameren customers also dealt with skyrocketing electricity prices, the utility\u2019s proposed increase in heating bills would be its fourth in seven years, exacerbating a pattern that has caused its gas delivery rates to spiral by $202 million, or 50 percent, during that period. It would also generate another lucrative cash infusion for both Ameren\u2019s gas segment and the utility\u2019s parent company, which have recorded staggering profit increases of 112 percent and 45 percent, respectively, over the same period.<\/p>\n

In the latest development in the gas rate case, an opinion, known as a \u201cProposed Order,\u201d that was submitted to the ICC late last week by administrative law judges advises the ICC to trim $43.7 million from Ameren\u2019s hefty rate hike. Consumer and environmental advocates have collectively urged the ICC to wield a much sharper axe to Ameren\u2019s haul, arguing that it should be slashed by the maximum the law permits, roughly $82 million, at least.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe regulatory judges\u2019 Proposed Order reinforces that Ameren\u2019s rate hike is significantly inflated and must be cut, but it still falls short of giving consumers their just due,\u201d CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said.\u00a0 “By\u00a0accounting for only about half the unwarranted costs Ameren has proposed, we hope this opinion is a catalyst for the ICC to police even harder against the excesses still embedded in this rate hike. With winter looming and the fallout from rising energy prices already afflicting households across Illinois, consumers are depending on state regulators to act as the strongest possible bulwark against Ameren\u2019s profiteering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe applaud the recommendation to cut Ameren’s proposed rate hike by more than $40 million,\u201d said Illinois PIRG Director Abe Scarr. \u201cBut utility regulators at the Illinois Commerce Commission can do more to limit the impact of Ameren fourth rate hike since 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposed order takes some steps to hold Ameren accountable to reduce costs for consumers, but we urge the Commission to adopt more affordable and effective approaches that could drive costs down even further,\u201d said Curt Stokes, Senior Attorney for Environmental Defense Fund. \u201cGoing forward, regulators should prioritize proven, practical solutions like the zonal electrification pilot\u2014not waste funds on ineffective efforts like Ameren\u2019s renewable natural gas proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ameren, which has 816,000 gas customers in Central and Southern Illinois, originally proposed a $134 million rate hike in January \u2014 a sum that has been pared slightly to $128.8 million in its current filing with the ICC \u2014 and estimated it would cause customer bills to escalate by as much as 13 percent, or $10 per month. Among the largesse that consumer advocates are seeking to eliminate from the rate hike, chief examples include:<\/p>\n