[Posted by Barton Lorimor]
* Ameren’s request for a $130 million Illinois rate increase has drawn all sorts of criticism, especially after the company posted its 2009 profits. Despite the recession, Ameren finished the year with profits of $612 million - just $3 million shy of 2008…
The $612 million profit for 2009 compared to $615 million in 2008.
Ameren also had an amazing fourth-quarter…
Net income improved to $79 million, or 34 cents a share, from $57 million, 27 cents, in the same period a year earlier
* The big story, though, is how Ameren is faring in Illinois…
[Ameren’s Illinois earnings] from these utilities jumped 150 percent during the past year, from $51 million in 2008 to $127 million in 2009. That primarily is due to a rate increase that took effect in October 2008, along with lower operations and maintenance expenses. […]
The question for the [Illinois Commerce Commission] is how much profit in Illinois is too much? [Emphasis added]
An ICC administrative law judge has answered that question. He’s calling on Ameren to scale back the utility’s $130 million request to $56 million…
The 317-page proposal… suggests Ameren actually lower natural gas delivery rates for two of its three utilities. Electricity delivery rates would go up for all three.
Now, the Illinois Commerce Commission will review Administrative Law Judge John D. Albers’ report and make a final decision by the end of April. Only then would any rate changes kick in.
Even with Albers’ proposed reduction, Ameren still likely stands to increase its profits. AARP responds…
The Administrative Law Judge’s finding that Ameren should lower its rate hike request to $56 million is further proof that Ameren’s $130 million rate request was excessive. But Ameren’s request for a rate increase, even at $56 million, is still wrong.
State Rep. John Bradley, a Marion Democrat, quickly came out against Ameren’s rate increase request…
“Communities throughout Southern Illinois are facing the highest unemployment rates in recent history,” the Marion Democrat said. “Those workers who have managed to keep their jobs are facing cutbacks to their hours and benefits. For Ameren to ask these people to fund an increase so that their executives can see another year of growing profits is frankly appalling.”
Bradley was very vocal against Ameren’s request in 2008. He even took tour buses of people in and around his district to Springfield to attend commerce commission hearings.
* Meanwhile, the recent revelation that ComEd intends to ask the state for another rate increase has consumer advocates screaming at utility companies. Exactly how much ComEd will ask for is still unknown, but that hasn’t stopped the Citizens Utility Board and other consumer advocates from screaming at the state’s largest electricity provider.
“It’s terrible timing with the economy the way it is,” said Jim Chilsen, spokesman for CUB, a consumer advocacy group founded by the Illinois General Assembly in 1983.
Illinois consumers will also see electrical bills rise this spring as a result of a 2009 law designed to help people struggling financially to make utility payments.
Payments for lower-income families are based on a sliding scale that’s related to their income, one of several provisions in the 2009 law.
CUB is using an ongoing review of the last ComEd rate increase as a reason to hold off this request…
“The ink on the last rate hike isn’t even dry,” Chilsen said, adding, “and now we get disturbing news that ComEd’s filing with the Illinois Commerce Commission to ask for more.” ComEd said it understands the impact a potential rate increase may have on customers. “That’s why last year, instead of filing for a rate increase, we tightened our belts and reduced our budgets by approximately $200 million,” ComEd said in a prepared statement.
* Related…
* Shenanigans On The Senate Environment Committee?