Photo of the Day - December 15, 2020

Taking the charge

St. Joseph-Ogden's Jordan Brooks takes a charge in SJO's home game against St. Thomas More on January 16, 2018. The Spartans held on to pick up their seventh straight victory after their State Farm Holiday Classic loss to Quincy Notre Dame, squeaking by the Sabers, 95-92. Brooks, a senior and prolific 3-point shooter, finished with season with program best of 82 treys. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Ameren Illinois customers will see smaller bills in 2021

Collinsville - Residents who rely on Ameren for their electricity will find their bills a little smaller in 2021. Under the plan approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), the typical Ameren Illinois residential customer will save approximately $12 per year on the delivery portion of their electric bill beginning next month.

"Under performance-based ratemaking, Ameren Illinois is constructing a smarter electric infrastructure, reducing the number and duration of outages and keeping customer rates stable," said Richard Mark, Chairman and President, Ameren Illinois. "As the electric grid continues to evolve, we must continue to make strategic investments to strengthen our system. Having a transparent and fair cost-recovery mechanism in place is allowing us to do just that while providing real and tangible benefits to our customers and the communities we serve."

Thanks to an approximately $48.7 million overall reduction in revenue, the rate reduction will be the third consecutive rate decrease for Ameren Illinois customers and the seventh overall rate decrease since the Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act (EIMA) – or Smart Grid Bill – went into effect in 2011. The company says Ameren customers will pay 2.4% less each month for energy next year than they did 10 years ago. The company says their residential rates are 21 percent lower than the national average.

"Today's residential energy customer wants affordable, reliable energy. They also want to know that we're looking to the future and working on providing them with cleaner energy options," said Mark. "In the last few years, we have developed and tested systems needed to produce and store renewable energy. Our customer satisfaction results show that these efforts, along with our daily work modernizing the energy grid, do matter."

Since the company began implementing its modernization action plan, 1.2 million smart meters have been installed, power poles and wires have been strengthened, and more delivery infrastructure is being placed underground. These improvements, along with new outage detection technology, have resulted in a 20% improvement in system reliability.