Rate Hikes

Monday, March 29th, 2010

Information about several rate hikes was in the Missouri news this past week.

  • A $0.34 hike for Laclede Gas Customers was approved by the Public Service Commission, to take effect beginning March 31.  This brings the total monthly charge for customers to $1.34.  This charge will appear on customers’ bills as the infrastructure system replacement surcharge. (ISRS)  For more information about what the surcharge covers you can visit this St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.
  • Missouri American Water Company has put a request forward in front of the Missouri Public Service Commission to raise their rates by 21 percent.  Missouri-American serves about 370,000 customers in St. Louis County.  This proposed rate increase, to upgrade the company’s infrastructure, would increase the average customer’s bill by $5.40 per month, or $16.20 every quarter.  For more information about this proposal you can visit this St. Louis Post-Dispatch article. (Note: this article was also featured in the previous post.)
  • Empire District Electric Company is proposing a rate increase of almost 20 percent per 1000 kilowatt-hours for its customers.  A public hearing was held on the evening of Monday, March 22nd, at which many individuals aired their concerns on how this increase would impact them.  Empire services the Joplin area, and this proposed increase would go towards funding the “largest expansion program in the company’s 100-year history,” according to this article about the proposal in the Joplin Globe.

Water: Liquid Gold

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

Home water rates are going up

By Michael Sorkin of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

 

The price of water in St. Louis went up Tuesday, and residents of St. Louis and St. Charles counties and Southern Illinois may be next to pay more when they turn on their water faucets at home.
St. Louis residents buy water from the city. The Board of Aldermen and the mayor passed a law to raise rates by 19 percent starting this month. A typical city resident will pay $58.80 every three months, up from $49.54.

Those rates will go up again on July 1, 2009, by 11 percent.

Meanwhile, the Missouri-American Water Co. is seeking rate increases for its 466,000 water customers in Missouri. The company asked state regulators this week to approve $50 million in annual rate increases.   Increases would vary by community.  Click here to read the full story.