The Linn County Leader has asked if you believe Ameren UE is justified in requesting an 18 percent rate increase, and you have responded with a resounding “no!” In response to our recent survey, 70 percent of the LCL readers who offered their opinion said, “No, I think Ameren customers are already paying more for electricity than is necessary for Ameren to make a reasonable profit.” In all, 91 percent of those who responded to our survey did so in the negative. Fourteen percent of you selected another negative response in our survey [i.e., “No, I can see how arrogantly Ameren behaves without sufficient regulation (i.e., its treatment of unregulated wholesale customers), so PSC (Public Service Commission) needs to keep the utility provider reined in on the retail side.”]. This response may have resonated most with our readers in Marceline and Linneus where Ameren’s unregulated wholesale rates have threatened the provision of other municipal services.
But there were also those of you who felt Ameren UE is justified in asking for the 18 percent increase that will generate about $402 million in additional revenue.
Most of the affirmative responses, which made up four percent of the total, agreed with the statement, “Ameren needs the extra profit if clean coal technology is to ever be universally applied.”
Another four percent answered “yes” either because they believed that costs associated with materials used to produce electricity are rising or because infrastructure improvements are needed to keep pace with peak demand. In all, nine percent of those who responded to our survey believed the rate hike is justified.
- See today's LCL for the full story
