Regulators OK rules for environmental surcharge
Jeffrey Tomich of the St. Louis Post Dispatch
02/28/2008 4:03 pm
The Missouri Public Service Commission voted 4-1 Thursday approving rules that may allow electric utilities to impose a customer surcharge to recover environmental expenses, PSC spokesman Kevin Kelly said.
Commissioner Robert Clayton III voted against the rules, which will take effect later this year.
The rules are based on 2005 legislation that was pushed by the utilities to help them recoup certain expenses without having to go through a rate case, a thorough, 11-month review of all a utility’s costs and expenses.
Utilities would need individual approval from the PSC to add a surcharge, which would be a separate line item on bills and could be adjusted from year to year. The amount of the surcharge would be limited to 2.5 percent of a utility’s revenue. St. Louis-based AmerenUE’s revenue exceeded $2 billion in 2007.
