Last week, Ameren Illinois filed new electric rates with the Illinois Commerce Commission following the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO) seasonal planning resource auction.
Last summer, downstate consumers were hit with a dramatic increase in electric rates, resulting in many families paying over 90 percent more on their utility bills. The new rates announced last week fell to approximately 7 cents from approximately 12 cents per kilowatt-hour—still higher than what consumers were paying in May 2022, but a small step in the right direction for energy affordability for Illinois families and businesses.
While these rates take effect June 1, 2023, individuals who live in the Ameren Illinois territory but within a municipality or county that has entered into an aggregation contract won’t see a change in the rates on their bills until either their contract expires, or they opt out of the municipality’s contract. Aggregation contract rates vary per municipality.
The announcement of new rates comes as the Illinois General Assembly just took a major step in seeking to provide more clean, reliable, and affordable energy to Illinois’ power grid. Last week, the House of Representatives and the Senate approved a measure, Senate Bill 76, which would end the decades-long ban on the construction of nuclear plants and would allow for the creation of small advanced nuclear reactor plants.