Bill would allow Ameren UE to raise rates

After the bill passed 6-4 in a Senate committee, it loses support.

By Greg Young

Published April 2, 2009

A bill scrapping 1976 legislation, which prevents energy companies from increasing rates to pay for construction in progress, passed through the Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment Committee on Tuesday. The vote was 6-4.

The legislation, which would allow the electrical company Ameren UE to increase its rates on rate-payers to construct another nuclear power plant in Calloway County while the power plant's construction is still in progress, is touching off a unique divide between energy and environmental groups in Missouri.

The committee passed a substitute bill from Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, which added consumer protections and increased the Public Service Commission oversight on Ameren. The bill passed despite two Republican defections, Sens. Luann Ridgeway, R-Smithville, and Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis.

Schaefer indicated he wanted to ensure the bill reached debate on the Senate floor, but the bill still needed substantial work.

"I don't think the substitute's perfect but I think it was a basic minimum to get it out of committee," Schaefer said.

Other Republicans, including Sen. John Griesheimer, R-Washington, indicated they did not support the legislation despite wanting another power plant built in Calloway County.

Griesheimer, a co-sponsor of the bill, voted in support of the bill but said he would vote against it in when it reached the Senate floor.

Griesheimer expressed skepticism that the bill would be able to pass any Senate vote.

"At this point the bill isn't going to go anywhere," Griesheimer said. "It doesn't have a snowball's chance of passing."

Griesheimer also said he would not have co-sponsored the legislation if he had known the bill consisted of more then the repeal of the 1976 legislation.

"What I was led to believe what the bill did and what the bill actually did were two different things, so shame on me," Griesheimer said.

Griesheimer is joined with some Democrats, including Sen. Joan Bray, D-St. Louis, against the bill. Bray was one of only two Democrats who didn't vote the bill out of committee. Bray said Schaefer's substitute bill did not go far enough to ensure rate-payers are protected.

"I would like them to prove they need that type of capacity and I would like them to prove they are putting in place conservation measures," Bray said.

Some energy groups in Missouri are coming out against the legislation. The Fair Electricity Rate Action Fund is a group that has been running ads throughout Missouri to rally support against the bill. The group is also touting a poll they sponsored that shows support for passage of the bill at only 14 percent, while 82 percent oppose it.

The group released a statement on Wednesday commending the four senators who voted against the bill.

"These courageous senators stood up to Ameren's lobbying colossus and not only did the right thing, but they did the smart thing," FERAF spokesman Gregg Keller said in a news release.

Keller is a veteran Republican political operative in Missouri.

But other conservative groups, including the Show-Me Institute, have come out in favor of the bill because it would increase the amount of energy available to Missourians.

"If the status quo were a viable option, this might not be a difficult choice -- but Missouri's ever-increasing power needs must be met," a Show-Me Institute news release stated.