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MO senators consider bill to pay for power plants

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Senators grilled AmerenUE leaders during a hearing Tuesday on legislation allowing utilities to charge electric customers for the costs of new power plants before they come online.

Missouri law bars investor-owned utilities from passing the expenses of building a power plant to their customers before the facility starts producing electricity.

Ameren is considering construction of a second nuclear reactor at its Callaway County power plant and says repealing the 1976 state law is critical to financing the estimated $6 billion project.

A large crowd attended Tuesday’s Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment Committee hearing on the legislation, which would apply to new plants powered by nuclear energy, renewable sources or new coal technology.  Please click here to read the entire AP story by Chris Blank.

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Missouri lawmakers debate a bad energy bill

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

A state Senate committee is scheduled to begin hearings today on a deeply flawed bill that would remove key consumer protections for utility customers.

The measure, Senate Bill 228, would repeal a 1976 law that prohibits utilities from charging for the cost of building a new power plant until it starts generating electricity.

SB 228 is designed to benefit utility giant AmerenUE, which has applied to build a new nuclear plant in Callaway County. Whether or not you think that new plant is a good idea — whether you favor nuclear energy or oppose it — SB 228 is a bad bill. Click here and let the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board count the ways.

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KSDK-TV coverage of AmerenUE’s request for rate increase for nuclear power

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

Click here to view KSDK’s story.

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AmerenUE Feigns Nuclear Indecision

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

This editorial is just a place holder. We haven’t decided yet whether to write about one of the biggest issues facing Missouri legislators this year.
Our colleague Tony Messenger did. In a column published Tuesday, Mr. Messenger wrote that executives from utility giant AmerenUE danced around the “gorilla in the room” when they briefed lawmakers on energy issues.
That gorilla would be a new nuclear reactor the utility applied to build in Callaway County. Strictly as an option, of course.
“No decision has yet been made,” utility lobbyist Matthew Forck insisted. It’s the same line utility executives have used for months.
We wouldn’t want to jump the gun. But if we did decide to write about the issue, we’d mention that AmerenUE filed an 8,000-page application to build the plant with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last July. It expects the facility to cost at least $6 billion.
AmerenUE asked state utility regulators for a rate hike that includes between $5 million and $7 million a year to pay for the application. The company spent about $50 million on it last year.
Maybe it’s just us, but we wouldn’t spend $50 million and fill out an 8,000-page application unless we were pretty sure we were going ahead.  Click here to read the entire St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial.

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Nuclear Plant Bill Worrisome for Consumers

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

Missouri’s energy debate is about to go nuclear.

A state lawmaker filed a bill in the Legislature on Thursday that sets the stage for a battle between utility interests who want to build a new nuclear plant and consumer groups that are leery of the costs.

The action comes the day after AmerenUE chief executive Tom Voss visited key decision makers in the Capitol to lobby for the bill.  Click here to read the entire St. Louis Post-Dispatch article which includes quotes from John Coffman, our lobbyist.

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Former Enviro Lobbyist Sells Out

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

Groups trying to pave the way for a second AmerenUE nuclear plant in Missouri have a new weapon in Jefferson City — a top lobbyist for environmentalists.

Irl L. Scissors, who previously represented a leading Missouri environmental and conservation alliance, last week announced in an e-mail to leaders of that group he was going to work to help undo the law that prohibits utilities from charging customers for power plants under construction.  Click here to read the full St. Louis Post-Dispatch story.

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Business paying its own costs of doing business

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

Ameren UE needs to be stopped a lot sooner than later. Why should it be the burden of all customers to pay for tree removal encroaching on power lines. What about those who have no trees on their property? Ameren UE should have buried their lines years ago. Now they want a nuclear plant, compliments of consumers? This trend of utility companies especially, expecting consumers to pay for the costs of operating their businesses is ridiculous. Goods and services cost more today than ever. These windfall profits are not being circulated into jobs and wages but being siphoned off at the top of these organizations. Daimler-Chrysler sold Fenton a bill of goods when it skated out on 70+% of it taxes with promises of not leaving and taking away jobs. Now half of its plant is shutting down, along with half of the jobs. Citizens do not get 70% tax exemption! Everyone (including businesses) needs to carry their share of the costs of having a governing system – not just Jane and John Doe.

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April Fool’s Day (actually 10 pm) Hearing Attempts to Hoodwink Consumers

Friday, April 4th, 2008

Consumers are rejected in late night meeting with legislators

by Michael Sorkin, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Consumers complain that they don’t get much respect from Missouri legislators, even in an election year.

A group of consumer representatives asked a key legislative committee to block surcharges that could be tacked onto consumer electric bills starting this year. Critics say it could add millions of dollars to monthly electric bills statewide.

The legislators agreed to hear the consumers — at 10 p.m. Tuesday, on April Fools’ Day. Please click here to read the full story.

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The Trojan Horse Gallops around Jeff City

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

Power switch

Missouri utilities want to change state law to encourage energy efficiency programs. They’re willing to help their customers pay for installing energy-saving equipment, insulation or even new energy-saving air-conditioning systems.

Saving power is a good thing — for the nation, for consumers and especially for electric companies. It means they don’t have to build expensive new power plants to meet increasing demand. The economic benefits for utilities are so great, in fact, that legislators should be asking why Senate Bill 1277 and House Bill 2298 are needed to encourage them.

The answer is that they are not. Not the way they’re currently written, anyway, and probably not at all.  Please click here to read the full editorial that ran in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Sunday, March 16, 2008.

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Consumers Ignored Again…..

Friday, February 29th, 2008

Regulators OK rules for environmental surcharge

By 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.

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