Monday, January 4, 2010
A group of consumer interest groups is taking its fight right to AmerenUE’s door, despite a move to stop them from speaking out.
Representatives of the Fair Electricity Rate Action Fund (FERAF) turned out Jan. 4 for a Missouri Public Service Commission meeting at the St. Charles County Administration Center, in St. Charles to protest a proposed 18 percent rate increase for AmerenUE.
AmerenUE filed a motion in December with the Missouri Public Service Commission against the FERAF trying to get clarification of the commission’s standard of conduct rules, which seek to limit those involved in a rate case from lobbying commissioners.
Greg Keller, spokesman for FERAF, said they aren’t campaigning for a particular candidate or ballot issue, so AmerenUE’s point is moot.
“We are comprised mainly of consumer advocacy groups and large employers in Missouri and what we’ve been attempting to do in recent weeks is inform Missouri’s public about this 18 percent rate hike,” Keller said. “I think what you see here tonight is that at a time when Missouri’s unemployment rate is closing in on 10 percent, I think that a lot of Missourians have a lot of questions about this 18 percent rate increase.”
Well over 100 residents from St. Charles and surrounding areas attended the hearing and one of them, St. Charles resident Bill Faulkner, said he was not in favor of giving AmerenUE a rate increase.
“I think it’s a little bit too much,” Faulkner said. “Eighteen percent is a lot of hike. I’ve spent the last 20 years working for General Electric and in the power industry and I just think right now is the wrong time to do what they want to do.”
Faulkner said people on fixed incomes probably could not afford an 18 percent rate increase, “especially with no social security raise for the next three years.”
FERAF counts the Missouri chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons, the Missouri Association for Social Welfare, the Missouri Retailers Association and several large employers among its supporters, Keller said.
“All we’re asking for is for the opportunity to inform Missourians to come to meetings like this and become informed on the issue,” Keller said. “This is a good thing people learning about rate hike is a good thing. What they (AmerenUE) seems to be saying is it’s against the rules or against the law to inform people and talk publicly about this.”
“We’re not a political organization so we’re not pushing for a particular election, or political candidate, for instance,” Keller said. “Of course we adhere to not just the letter, but the spirit of all the laws as we’ve always done. All we’re doing is exercising our First Amendment rights to inform the public about this 18 percent rate hike. It raises the question, ‘what is so bad about sharing that news with people?’”
AmerenUE made the rate hike request to the commission July 24, 2009 to collect approximately $402 million additional revenues every year. AmerenUE says it needs the money to continue system-wide reliability improvements, pay for higher financing costs and costs increase the utility bears for generating and delivering electricity.
By law the commission has 11 months from the time the rate hike is filed to make a decision. The Missouri Public Service Commission has public hearings are scheduled for March 15-19 and March 22-26 in Jefferson City.
For more information on FERAF log on www.fairelectricityrates.com to
For more information on the Missouri Public Service Commission log on to www.psc.mo.gov
Read previous story: Public hearing on AmerenUE rate hike Monday.
Comments
NRAMember (anonymous) says...
The Fair Electricity Rate Action Fund (FERAF) is a rouge organization that does not honor the no-call list laws in Missouri. I was getting 5 calls a day including these ridiculous "teleconference" calls. After sending several emails and making several calls to try to get them to stop, they continue to harass me. Do NOT sign up with this organization or you will suffer the same harassment. I have contacted an attorney who is looking into filing suit, but I may just do so myself as it would be easier and cheaper to take them to small claims. The greatest benefit is that they would have to pay an attorney to represent them and thereby lose several hundred dollars of the funds they are trying to raise to defeat this rate hike. At this point, because of the illegal harassment on behalf of the Fair Electricity Rate Action Fund (FERAF), I am incline to support an AmerenUE rate increase just to shut these idiots up.
If they don't want to pay higher rates, maybe they should quit using less electricity.
January 7, 2010 at 7:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )