Although the Illinois Commerce Commission has approved a rate hike package for Ameren Illinois, the company now says customers will actually see a reduction on their bills. The ICC had said Thursday that Ameren residential customers who use about 750 kilowatt hours per month of electricity would pay approximately $4 more per month. And the ICC added that Ameren customers using about 80 therms of natural gas per month would pay about $3.50 a month more. But Ameren says customers will instead save money.
Ameren explained the increases will be off-set by lower delivery costs. The company says an 18-percent decrease in delivery costs will mean residential electric customers are expected to see bills drop by an average of $5.47 per month. And residential natural gas customers will see those bills drop by about $2.41 per month.
So Ameren says customers who receive both electricity and natural gas from the company will save, on average, about $8 a month on their utility bill. Ameren also says it will continue the next phase of upgrading its electric and natural gas infrastructure, which is expected to create jobs and improve service reliability.
