Ameren Rates

If you get your electricity directly from Ameren, expect your rates go go up about 50% starting in August. Those who get their power through Homefield can expect to pay about 1 penny less per kilowatt hour.

 2025/2026 AMEREN ELECTRIC SUPPLY FAQ 

MISO, the regional grid operator for the Ameren service territory, held its annual capacity auction to ensure there is sufficient electricity supply to provide power on peak days throughout the year. The auction resulted in a significant increase in summer capacity prices over current prices and will increase the overall power supply price that Central and Southern Illinois will pay this summer. 

How does the cost of power supply impact my utility bill? 

There are two components of the energy bill: Supply & Delivery 

• The main components to the energy bill are the delivery charge, which covers the costs of Ameren Illinois' wires and poles, our technology and operating systems, maintenance and modernization of the grid, and the people who do the work. As a delivery-only utility, Ameren Illinois earns a profit on energy delivery as set each year in rates approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission. 

• The other element of the bill is the power supply charge – or the cost of electricity itself. Ameren Illinois does not own generation or generate power; it is purchased for us to deliver by a state agency. The cost of electric supply accounts for more than half of a typical customer’s monthly electric bill. 

How much will customers pay for power supply? 

Beginning June 1, 2025, and ending September 30, 2025, Ameren Illinois' supply price (also known as the Price to Compare) will increase by roughly 50 percent, going from around 8 cents per kWh to around 12 cents per kWh. This will result in an approximately 18% to 22% total bill increase for the typical residential customer for the summer period, depending on their usage. This supply price increase will only be in effect for four months (June-September). Beginning on October 1, 2025, the supply rate is expected to return closer to current levels (around 8-9 cents) for the remaining eight months. 

Because of billing cycles, customers likely won't see the new rate reflected on their bills until July 2025. 

Why are power supply prices going up? 

MISO, the regional grid operator for the Ameren service territory, held its annual capacity auction to ensure there is sufficient electricity supply to provide power on peak days throughout the year. The auction showed lower available surplus capacity for the summer months, resulting in a twenty-fold increase in summer capacity prices over current prices (from $30/MW-day to $666.50/MW-day). 

How are supply prices set? 

• In Illinois’ restructured energy markets, the Illinois Power Agency (IPA) procures electricity and a portion of the electric capacity for residential and small commercial customers who have not made the switch to an alternative supplier. 

• The electricity procurement acquires the basic generation needed to meet forecasted usage through the year. Capacity is acquired to ensure that there is enough power available on days when peak usage in an hour is at its highest (like on extremely hot days) and energy usage spikes. 

• The IPA attempts to procure as much capacity as it can in advance (known as “hedging”). The remainder is procured by MISO through its annual capacity auction. 

• The supply price includes the electricity costs (IPA) and capacity costs (IPA & MISO). Ameren Illinois enters into pricing contracts with generators at the prices secured by IPA and MISO and passes the costs to customers, dollar-for-dollar without mark-up or profit. 

Is there a concern about power availability? 

Ameren Illinois is confident that there is a sufficient amount of energy to meet the needs of our residential and business customers this summer and throughout the year. Supply constraints, however, increase the risk that insufficient generation will be available during periods of extreme temperatures and high energy usage. In the unlikely event that this would occur, Ameren Illinois has a well-developed process to reduce electric load with minimal impact on residential customers. 

Are all Ameren Illinois customers subjected to the new supply rates? 

No. Only Ameren Illinois customers who elect to receive their electric supply through Ameren Illinois’ Basic Generation Service should expect to pay the new rates. 

Nearly half of Ameren Illinois customers receive their electricity from an Alternative Retail Electric Supplier (ARES). Ameren Illinois encourages all customers, including those who are supplied by an ARES under a municipal aggregation agreement, to know their supply rate and the terms of their contract. Customers can find their rate and supplier by locating the "Electric Supply" portion of their Ameren Illinois bill. 

As a delivery-only company, Ameren Illinois supports electric supply choice as another option for customers to lower their energy costs. Customers can visit the Illinois Commerce Commission website at pluginillinois.org to learn more about electric choice. 

Power

 Power is off at random locations around town. Much of the south side of town has power sporadically. Chautauqua and Tower road's power came back on, from what I have heard, came back on about 10 p.m. last night while over by NoName Road, the power came on about 10 then went off again about 2. Power stayed on in the area north of Willow and east of  Oakland while it went off on the west side of Oakland. I heard of a least 4 transformers catching fire and/or blowing up and WSIU's transmission tower took enough damage last night that the station is not transmitting over the air for the foreseeable future.

Electric Rate

 The city sent out another email reminding electrical customers in the city that the new electric rates will kick in July1 although the price will only go up about a half cent a kilowatt hour, which is still pretty cheap. We had one of the companies in the store a  couple of weeks ago that pitch a lower electric rate because they can search among different suppliers. The problem is, from what I have found is that, like teaser internet or cable rates, the price is really low up front but jumps significantly when the initial contract ends. 

The City of Carbondale participates in an electric aggregation buying group with 94 other communities known as the Southern Illinois Aggregation Partnership (SIAP). Through this, the City of Carbondale has a contract with Homefield Energy that keeps electric prices at a fixed, steady rate throughout the year, instead of fluctuating as with other energy suppliers. The new aggregated rate from Homefield Energy will be

$0.091/kWh. This is a 12-month fixed rate from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025.

However, this summer Ameren’s rates are sitting at a slightly lower cost. The new price-to-compare will be $0.08136/kWh from Ameren’s BGS-1 electric supply service this summer (June 1, 2024 – September 30, 2024) compared to Homefield Energy’s new aggregated rate of $0.091/kWh. The non-summer numbers from Ameren will not be official until late September for the period of October 1, 2024 – May 31, 2025.

The slight increase in the Homefield Energy rate from it’s previous rate of $0.08473/kWh to $0.091/kWh is attributed to capacity costs increasing for our region for the annual capacity planning year running June 1, 2024 to May 31, 2025. Homefield Energy also had to procure additional energy hedges for December 2024 through

June 2025 and the markets have continued either holding steady or slightly increasing for energy commodity prices.

If you wish to participate in the City's negotiated aggregation rate you do not need to do anything further after receiving your letter. If you DO NOT wish to participate, you must Opt-Out. Instructions will be on the letter or you can call Homefield Energy at 866-694-1262 to opt-out. The deadline to opt-out is June 19th, however there will be no penalties or early termination fees if you choose to opt-out at a later date. Here is the press release

Opt-out letters were recently sent out for the new aggregation rate by Homefield. There is an opt-out period currently happening until June 19th for all eligible residents which includes the following:

1. Residents currently enrolled with Homefield Energy under the previous aggregation rate of $0.08473/kWh

2. Residents currently being served by Ameren’s basic generation service for electric supply, regardless of if they opted out of the previous aggregation rate.

Residents who opted out previously, or moved within or into the City since the last opt-out period, may still have Ameren as their electric supplier and were mailed an opt-out letter by Homefield for the new aggregation rate beginning next month. These people can opt-out now before the June 19th deadline and will not be subject to Ameren’s minimum stay requirement since they will not be getting dropped by an electric supplier.

Minimum stay requirement from Ameren comes into play when a customer is receiving electric supply from a retail electric supplier and returns to Ameren’s electric supply service. If they do so, they have 60 days to select a new retail electric supplier and if they do not choose one, they must remain a customer of Ameren’s electric supply service for an additional 10 months (12 months total being on Ameren’s service).

Power Outage

 According to this, Thursday night's power outage was caused by "damage to several Amerin substations". From what I have heard, the entire campus was out as well as areas of West Wall and Chatauqua, although power remaned on out in the Tower Road area.

Power

 Appears that a plane over by Murphysboro as taking out the power through much of the city from Wal-mart west. Lights in the Walnut and Poplar area of Carbondale flickered a couple of times around 6 p.m.  and the flicked about 4 times near Main and Illinois 

Electricity

Got an notice about Carbondale's electrical program this week. Unless something changes at city hall , the city will probably renew the contract with Homefield Energy this June. If you don't want to participate and would rather negotiate your own rates, you have until May 5th to opt out.

Rates are pretty good and, if the city opts to stay with the program, they will drop slightly for the period of June 2019 through December 2020.

Another benefit of the program, not that it really matters too much to the average energy consumer, is that 100% of the energy sent to Carbondale comes from renewable sources. I believe, under the last contract, in order to support the region's history of coal mining, several of our surrounding communities opted to go with a percentage of their electricity generated from coal. However, Carbondale being Carbondale, the city chose to go renewable all the way.

Downtown Power Lines

Putting the utility lines underground in downtown Carbondale is a good idea from both an aesthetic and a practical viewpoint as underground lines are much less likely to break, especially if a tree falls on them.

The primary argument against them is the cost of installation. Installing power lines underground costs anywhere from 4 to 14 times as much as comparable installation of above ground lines. According to the linked article, an above ground power line costs approximately $390,000 per mile to install, compared to $2 million per mile for an underground line.

City Council and Energy Aggregation

City Council meets tomorrow night.  A couple of major items on the agenda:  contract for the new fire station and a vote authorizing the mayor and city manager to enter into a contract for electric aggrigation.  The entric aggrigation vote does not actaully choose an electric provider, since the city's negotiatior, Select Energy Providers, will not supmit the list of suppliers until January 9.  At the end of tomorrow night's meeting, the time and place of a follow up meeting to discuss and vote upon the city's chosen supplier.

There are a number of communities represented in the neogiations by Select Energy Partners: 

Chester, Coulterville, Elkville, Marion, Sparta, Steeleville, Tamaroa,  West Frankfort and Unincorporated Perry County.  All of these will participate in the aggregation and all must vote to select the same energy supplier.  However, each community may select the level of "green energy", ranging from a base rate of 9%, required by state law, up to 100%

 

From what I have heard, Carbondale is the only community in the aggregation leaning heavily towards any appreciable level of green energy, with other communities leaning heavily towards coal fueled providers as a show of support towards southern Illinois' coal mining industry.

City Council Meeting

Last night's City Council meeting got rolling fairly late last night.  I didn't turn on the television to watch until after 8 and the public hearings regarding establishment of the two new TIF districts were still going on.

Given that I had been told during earlier in the day that there was no opposition to establishing either TIF district (incidentally, it rather surprised me to hear both Mayor Fritzler and City Manager Kevin Baity refer to the two TIF districts as established rather than proposed in their State of the City speeches.  Neither has been approved by council yet, hence tonight's hearings), the number of people who rose to speak against TIF district #3, encompassing the old school complex, the National Guard Armory and the stretch of Oakland between the two, surprised me. Almost all were concerned with business encroaching into what is currently an area zoned for residential use.  Baity pointed out the area would have to be rezoned in order for a purchaser to make any business use of the properties.

This, of course, leads to two quetsions:

1. Why is Oakland Avenue Auto Repair still operating in an area zoned for residential use?
2.  What use could any purchaser make of either the Armory or high school buildings unless they are rezoned or granted a special use exemption?  Neither is suitable for residential use as they stand.

The proposal to move appointment of the city clerk back under the city manager passed with only one vote against it.  The major concern appeared that the clerk's position was important enough that the holder of the position should come directly under council control.  However, the rest of the council did not share the same concerns.

The request for more funds for the Convention and Tourism Bureau passed without any controversy. Since I sit on the CCTB board, I will pass on making any further comments.

Next up was a revision to Carbondale's panhandling ordinance banning unlawful panhandling on an business zoned property or any public property.  Two groups spoke regarding the ordinance.   One, business owners and organizations representing them argued that aggressive panhandlers affected business, disturbed customers and made employees feel unsafe. The other, community organizers and activists, argued that the ordinance would made it harder for the homeless and others living in poverty to get money for food and shelter.  Councilman Don Monty pointed out that the ordinance had no effect upon those who stood on a corner with a sign asking for donations, it was aimed at those who asked for money multiple times after being rebuffed originally.  If memory serves, I believe this passed, after lots of discussion, six to one.

During the discussion, it gradually became apparent that there are only about a dozen or so panhandlers in Carbondale that engage in the aggressive panhandling that disturbs businesses.  A reading of the relevant ordinance indicates that aggressive panhandling of the type described during the discussion is already illegal throughout the city, so it's not apparent what effect specifying more places where one cannot unlawfully panhandle will have, since according to the current ordinance, they can't do it already.  Seems to me it would be better to enforce the current ordinance against the dozen or so abusers rather than add on to the code.

If electrical aggregation takes place as I understand it from the discussion over the ordinance and we see the savings alluded to by councilmen Chris Wissmann and Don Monty, this should prove a winning proposition for the city and its residents.  From what I understand, Carbondale, along with Marion, West Frankfort and other communities, selected Select Energy Partners  to negotiate an price for electricity with a supplier.  Once a contract is negotiated, Carbondale will have to purchase from that supplier but could choose a different plan than other communities, i.e. Marion could select a plan that draws 10% of its electricity from green sources while Carbondale could choose one that drew 25%.  Carbondale residents will have the option to opt out, on an individual basis, of the negotiated contract and remain with their current (or another) provider.  This passed unaimously.

Finally, council voted to join the Southern Illinois Municipal Planning Organization, which includes all communities from Carbondale eastward to Marion.  The organization will focus on analyzing transportation needs for the area and federal law, dating back to the 1960s, mandates that municipalities must form one once the region's population exceeds 50,000 or forgo federal transportation dollars. Since we don't want to forgo federal transportation dollars, we join, unanimously.

Since it was now 11:30, I decide to skip citizen and council comments, though I did notice council candidates Jessica Bradshaw and Carolin Harvey still in the audience with Pepper Holder approaching the microphone as I left.