SE Illinois News

State Rep. Dave Severin (R-Benton) is one of several lawmakers pushing for rate relief and long-term answers to the downstate energy crisis amid a rate spike by Ameren. 

Severin said he learned of the rate increases in a meeting with Ameren in April 2022.

“We learned that during that call that the citizens that are served by Ameren, which is all of southern Illinois, are in for a shocking increase,” Severin said in a press conference. “They were in for it, now they're experiencing it. And that's what's going on now in southern Illinois. Since that time, through multiple hundreds of emails, phone calls and texts. And everywhere I go, people talk to me. They tell me one thing, they can't handle these increased costs. In fact, the electric bills are more than doubled.”

Severin, who serves as the House Energy & Environment Committee Minority Spokesperson, called for immediate action to address the rising costs burdening Illinoisan households.

“Their massive rates of increase have come at a time when gas is more, fuel is more," he said. "As far as heating and cooling. We don't know about cooling their home, heating their home. Then the other thing is food. The other thing you didn't talk about was how do we pay for their medicine costs. And so I got a phone call from West Frankfort, from the city of West Frankfort, and they said that their electric bill for some of the services that they offer for senior citizens in West Frankfort went from $4,000 to $12,000. I got a call just last week from a new part of my district that there's a grocery store that is closing that serves that county. They do not have a grocery store in that county anymore as of these costs. It's serious and we've got to find answers.”

The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) noted the rate hike earlier this year. The current rate is 116 percent higher than last year. However, this is due to increased power generation costs due to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s 100 percent carbon-free electricity goal introduced under the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. “Ameren Illinois, the electric utility in Central and Southern Illinois, is only responsible for delivery and not supply. Thus, it does not profit off the supply portion of bills–Ameren simply passes along what they pay for supply, with no markup,” the CUB said.

The rate increase led the CUB to note this winter could be the costliest in history for Ameren customers. The typical Ameren Illinois residential customer has seen a $626 annual increase in their power bill. “Higher energy prices (electricity and natural gas) will continue to impact monthly utility bills into the winter heating season. The causes are varied but include a tight supply/demand balance, record low coal inventories and high coal prices driving increased natural gas power generation, and a rise in U.S. natural gas consumption compared to 2021,” Ameren said in June 2022 when prices started rising. “We know this is frustrating for our customers; it's frustrating for us at Ameren Illinois, too.  Many people are facing challenging times, and no one wants to see higher energy bills.”

Ameren has filed paperwork to push power bills even higher, which saw immediate pushback from the CUB. “In one month, Ameren Illinois has filed for a $160.4 million gas rate hike and a four-year $435.6 million electric increase, and they couldn’t have come at a worse time,” CUB Executive Director David Kolata said in a press release. "This is awful news for Ameren customers who already were suffering under some of the highest electric and gas supply prices in Illinois history as well as earlier Ameren rate hikes. CUB will do a thorough review of these rate cases, and we will challenge every penny Ameren can't justify."

Radio host Corey Hall, a Saint Elmo resident, took to Facebook to decry the situation. “Apparently having working lights and heat in Illinois is unacceptable and we should all be sitting in the dark and cold,” Hall said, according to South Central Reporter. “Rates are the highest they’ve ever been, with a massive recent increase, and now they want me to pay more??!!”