Ameren Illinois customers will see about a $3.65 increase a month to their gas bill instead of between $8 to $10 effective this December as originally requested by Ameren.
The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) issued its decision Nov. 19 on the $128.8 million gas rate increase request by Ameren Illinois. It was significantly reduced to $73 million, or a 43% decrease.
The Citizens Utility Board, which is an independent group that advocates for fair consumer utility prices, said in November that Ameren has more than 800,000 gas customers, who “have already been hit by four rate hikes in the last seven years — a period when profits for the utility’s gas operations have ballooned by a whopping 112 percent.”
“At a time when Ameren is experiencing such unbridled prosperity, it shouldn’t be forcing its customers into more economic hardship,” the board’s statement said.
The recent filing reduced Ameren’s natural gas delivery rate hike request, part of which included increasing the cents per therm, which is a unit measuring the energy used for natural gas each month.
Ameren’s proposed increase to 56.207 cents per therm was reduced to 48.368 cents per therm as of Dec. 2. The customer charge, a flat rate per customer, was reduced from a proposed $25.16 to $23.33.
Various sources, such as Home Guide and Inspire Clean Energy, indicate average monthly gas bills in Illinois to be between $85 and $120. The Citizens Utility Board said the average was about $73 in 2021, which was prior to multiple rate increases.
In the final order from the commerce commission, it’s noted an Ameren employee said the company intends to file another rate increase request in 2026 “regardless of the size of the increase granted
by the Commission in this case.”
The Citizens Utility Board and state regulators said they discovered over $80 million in overcharges in the proposed hike. Ameren Illinois has raised rates three times in between 2018 and 2024, which totaled about $200 million according to the board.
The Citizens Utility Board responded to the cuts saying, “We urge state regulators to continue to crack down on profit-mongering by Illinois’ gas utilities so no one is forced to choose between paying for fuel to heat or food to eat.”
According to Ameren’s public notice, the original proposal they wanted would have raised “average monthly residential customer bills by roughly 12 to 13 percent, or $8 to $10 per month.” Following the ICC’s decision, it is now at just an estimated $3.65 increase.
During the time of the multiple rate hikes from 2018 to 2024, the St. Louis-based parent company, Ameren, increased its profits by 45% which totaled to just under $7 billion, according to the Citizens Utility Board. As a result, Ameren Illinois has seen its profits more than double.
In response to questions from CU-CitizenAccess, Ameren Illinois defended the proposal in an email statement from Brad Kloeppel, senior director of gas operations and technical services, by citing the storage and delivery of natural gas especially during the summer. The company claimed natural gas supply prices have declined 30%, in part due to its storage.
“These storage facilities allow Ameren Illinois to purchase gas during the summer months — when prices are typically lower — and deliver it to customers during the winter heating season,” said Kloeppel. “As a result, this heating season, customers will again see stable natural gas supply prices.”
Scott Allen, energy policy specialist for the Citizens Utility Board, said these hikes have more to do with profits, and utility companies like Ameren should be more transparent with their customers when it comes to raising rates.
“The biggest factor in the gas rates, it’s utility greed, it’s that constant need to recover money,” Allen said in an interview. “People are definitely not happy about another utility increase, especially when they see that a company like Ameren Illinois and its parent company Ameren are raking in record profits.”
Even after the rate increase, there are still resources that customers can use to help aid them in their upcoming gas bill cycles. Two of those resources are the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Energy Assistance Foundation, also known as the Warm Neighbor’s Cool Friends program.
Susan Sams, executive director of the Energy Assistance Foundation, said while the foundation expects more demand for assistance after the rate increases, it encourages customers to take advantage of its assistance programs.
“We have a website, warmneighborscoolfriends.org, and you go there and put in your zip code, and it’ll show you our agency that corresponds,” Sams said. “You can find the income range that we hold based on your family’s size.”
The program also offers one-time assistance during the heating season from Oct. 1 to May 31 by matching the amount the customer pays, up to $500, on their Ameren bill.