56 Comments - Kiyoshi Martinez - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:20 pm: Whoa. What else is part of Ameren’s ultimatum? Any word from ComEd? - Squideshi - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:28 pm: Maybe it’s time to dump Ameren and go with a public utility. - Wumpus - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:34 pm: Will they kill all the first born males too? I think they should get some type of rate increase being that there was a freeze for 10 YEARS! But if they are not living up to the conditions (controllable) of the bargain, then perhaps the freze extension should be seriously considered. - You can't stop the signal - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:38 pm: I think we all get it, that a utility can’t survive by billing customers less than it costs to supply the power. The difficulty is that everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die: that is, no politician has the brass to tell his or her constituents they will have to pay more, when instead they can vote for a freeze. best case, they will jive us, as they are doing right now, until the elections are over, then they will tell us the truth, hoping we’ll calm down over it by the next election cycle. Utility companies don’t elect politicians, voters do. But voters can be short-sighted and totally selfish, against the best interest of the state at large. That’s where character comes in, where stewardship comes in. If you want to trust this issue to market forces, you have to have a real competitive market; we don’t have that now. The pols let expediency rule, and now the credit card bill has come due. Instead of graduated hikes in small doses all along, we now get the whole magilla in one lump. Extending the freeze is just putting the credit card bill on another credit card. Just talking about it last week made ComEd’s stock plunge like a coaster at Great America. We have aging nuke plants that need to be modernized and kept running, and we need to start adding more capacity. We could be investing in better long-distance transmission lines that conserve more power. We could be cleaning up and improving the coal-fired plant emissions. All that takes money. Our money. What needs to happen is to get the utilities and government and business together and forge a pricing plan that takes all these things into account and puts us on a steady path to making the improvments and paying for them as we go, instead of this punctuated equilibrium that only causes chaos. I don’t expect such courage from the self-serving pols currently in charge. - reddbyrd - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:39 pm: hope the next company do a better job…wonder how much the elecco spent today - NW burbs - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:40 pm: And so maybe Ameren’s customers will forget to pay their bills, in order to cover the unemployment benefits, tree trimmings and charitable contributions. Can’t the legislature make a law to at least cover the tree trimming aspect — public good and all? This is 10x worse than the game of chicken Target and Wal*Mart played on Chicago (and won). Blackmail ain’t cool. Besides, hasn’t People’s or ComEd or somebody been contributing to Emil hand over fist? Screw the people when there are profits to be had. - NW burbs - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:42 pm: You can’t stop, if the freeze is so bad, please explain why ComEd is still raking in big profits…. Who cares about their stock price? Not all of us own ComEd stock, but all of us use the electricity. Makes big ol’ solar panels look that much better, doesn’t it? - The Ghost - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:43 pm: While we’re on the subject of this dog & pony show, let’s play a game. Count the typos in the following quote from Kurt Granberg’s latest press release. Bonus points if you can detail the layers of hypocrisy in Granberg’s statement. “I urge the Governor to think about the hard working people of Southern Illinois and throughout the state and do the right thing,” Granberg said. “As lawmakers, we work for the people, not big utility companies. Let’s get together and protect Illinois’s consumers before the power companies have a chance to gauge them of their hard earned dollars.” - Captain America - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:50 pm: I’m suspicious of the entire utility deregulation movement - particularly the artificial separation of power genration from power distribution. I think it’s a scam. Nonetheless, some reasonable increase in rates should be permitted, given that we’ve had a freeze for 10 years. When rates were frozen, Com-Ed had the highest rates in the country. I’m in favor of returning to the historical public utility model of rate regulation for electricity. Competition is a myth - consumers have no choice in selecting their electric company. , but not in favor of a total rate freeze, given that rates have been frozen for 10 years - anon - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:51 pm: How do the proposed bills that Ameren’s customers will be paying with the increase stack up next to the residents of Springfield? I believe the city of Springfield owns the utility. I think that would be a good benchmark for what bills should be. - Captain America - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:52 pm: I’m suspicious of the entire utility deregulation movement - particularly the artificial separation of power genration from power distribution. I think it’s a scam. Nonetheless, some reasonable increase in rates should be permitted, given that we’ve had a freeze for 10 years. When rates were frozen, Com-Ed had the highest rates in the country. I’m in favor of returning to the historical public utility model of rate regulation for electricity. Competition is a myth - consumers have no choice in selecting their electric company. - Anonymous - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:55 pm: Ghost- that’s awesome! Where did you get it? If Cullen were still in charge of HDems, whatever staffer wrote that release would be sorry he/she ever set foot in the Stratton Building. He could call you on the carpet like no one’s business, but it was usually well deserved, as it would be in this situation. Come to think of it, Granberg will have that staffer’s head as well. - HANKSTER - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:57 pm: Captain America: I agree with much of what you said but what of the several things that led to the crisis in California was when they deregulated power and kept regulated the distribution. I think there is a definite seperation between the two that most be looked at carefully. - wndycty - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:57 pm: Hey Ameren do you want some cheese to go with that whine? I understand about having to cover costs, but after the way Enron jobbed everyone in CA excuse if I’m leary about your (Ameren) claims. - Squideshi - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 4:58 pm: If Ameren can’t charge less than it pays for electricity, then perhaps Ameren should charge Ameren less for the electricity. Then again, why can’t Ameren charge less than it pays? I mean this is one of the most profitable utility companies in the nation, and it’s a subsidized industry. - The Ghost - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 5:11 pm: Anonymous 4:55 - that’s straight from Granberg’s campaign website. Anyone else want to play? Here’s another portion of that same release: Governor Blagojevich releases a letter to the public where he committed to go along with a plan proposed by House Speaker Mike Madigan to pass legislation extending the a freeze on Illinois’ electric rates. However, the Governor added that he would not call lawmakers back to Springfield without making sure that he had enough votes for the bill to pass. Granberg sees such legislation as vital to area power consumers after a so-called “reverse auction” help by the state’s two largest power companies resulted in rate increases of anywhere from 20%-50%. The Carlyle lawmaker believes the auction was a sham aimed at lining big utility companies’ pockets at the expense of working families. - cermak_rd - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 5:15 pm: 25% less headcount? If they can provide the same service with that many fewer then so be it–that’s the way things are supposed to work. No free tree-trimming? They’re the ones who are going to be having to send crews out to fix the power lines when they break due to tree branches falling or tree growth. They can try to charge the property owners but with a lot of them, good luck with collecting plus now they’ll need a team to keep track of payments due for trimming and such but don’t forget the 25% cut in employees. Less charitable contributions? Isn’t reasonable electric rates a better deal than beggaring people with exhorbitantly high rates and then giving them charity? Mind you, I think ComEd deserves a decent rate hike if they are willing to undergo reregulation as they had before. If not, then we may be forced to pay out for now–but should immediately put out bids to subsidize a competitor to come in and become a regulated and preferred power provider. - Power Broker - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 5:31 pm: Higher rates would spur creativity, as in solar, wind, chicken s**t, etc. Nothing like high rates to get the creative minds working. If necessity is the mother of invention, then we should see some great energy solutions if rates are increased. Just as they say if they don’t get the increase (cry babies) they will cut 25% of their work force, curtail tree trimming, and stop donations, how about they tell us what they will do to encourage the acceptance of the rate increases…other than improve an already profit-heavy bottom line!! - tough guy - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 5:34 pm: Sounds like they are going to take their football and go home. I have been an Ameren’s customer for years and find their service fair at best. Numerous outages and they’ve cut my cable line in the past. If their service got any worse we would be better off with a generator. - BBrook - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 5:49 pm: This whole move is a political stunt by Madigan to rally support in the south because they are facing up to 40% increases. The fact is our rates are 1995 prices. I don’t of any other company that has a 20% reduction and freezing of rates and can survive. So let’s put it off for another 3 years with our head in the sand. Unless your moving out of IL in 3 years then you’ll have to deal with it then instead of now. Sounds like a typical Democrat to me. - BBrook - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 6:02 pm: Let me clarify. This reeks of partisan politics before an election. Kind of like something else going on in DC. Rate freezes are not the answer. It only delays the inevitable. Madigan is using this to prey on the elderly and the poor. State offices are getting calling centers from AARP calling voicing support for the freeze. Yes, electricity is expensive. We need other resources. But it is still a capitalist society. Why not rate freezes on gasoline or natural gas? Why not rates freeze on groceries? Why isn’t anyone talking about more nuclear power? It’s cheaper. Could it be the coal unions in the south? I have no problem with debate and holding utilities to the fire but this timing is evident of a political stunt. ComEd has a lot of employees and we’re screwing around with that. - IP Anon - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 6:09 pm: I am a former Illinois Power employee. Thanks Dynegy. I would say those jobs are already gone. Look at the agreements Ameren made when they bought Cilco and IP. They have not lived up to them. The staffs in Peroia and Decatur are ghosts of what they once were. The jobs they are talking about are duplicate support services and are only still around to be used as a ploy when they need some juice with the General Assembly or local leaders. I guess it is time for them to use that chip. - Carl Nyberg - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 6:16 pm: The headcount claim sounds like bull. If a corporation could reduce employees by 25% it would have done it already. They ain’t in the business of make-work programs, right? - Carl Nyberg - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 6:19 pm: Competition without multiple choices is better known as “monopoly” and “collusion”. If the utility companies can’t deliver competition then the freeze will continue. The utilities got deregulation as a quid pro quo. Only the utility companies don’t want to live up to their end of the bargain. - IP Anon - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 6:26 pm: The whole problem with electricity degregulation is that they used the deregulation of natural gas as the model nation wide. The difference is gas is a fungible comoddity while electricity is not. You can’t store electricity. Hence no third party marketers want to deal with residential and small commercial consumers or rate payers. - respectful - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 6:38 pm: Carl, how can you force other companies into the delivery business? Is it fair to blame ComEd & Ameren for the lack of competition? You certainly don’t give prospective competition any incentive with a rate freeze, right? - Disgusted - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 7:03 pm: This is what we get when the production and distribution are in the hands of parent (Exelon) and child (Com Ed) companies. And when you have a senior (or several senior) member(s) of the state government who fill their coffers at the Exelon well. Our disgust may be a moot point however, because people will quit spending unnecessarily to pay their enormous bills - such as no exorbitant Christmas displays & shopping boycotts which will mean that business will suffer in general. And since, in this state, there is a law that prohibits shutting off peoples’ power supplies in winter, the power companies will have to supply them anyway. - Marie - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 7:07 pm: Re stopping the tree trimming, Some kid climbs a tree on Ameren’s easement and grabs onto a power line. Zap. I can’t imagine Ameren’s lawyers giving the okay sign on that. - Truth - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 7:45 pm: Proven bad strategy: Trying to gain an advantage on an issue with the Speaker by throwing out ultimatums that you can’t reasonably back up. Good Luck, boys. - Carl Nyberg - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 7:51 pm: respectful, let’s turn the question around. If you don’t demand competition, it’s not likely the utilities are going to turn down a monopoly, right? If the utilities don’t give us competition what’s wrong with starving the beast until the state takes over the utility? If it’s a question of me getting screwed or Exelon share holders, why the frick would I support screwing me? - Anon - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 7:56 pm: Has anyone seen a comparison of how the current and proposed rates compare to what other areas around the country pay? Currrently I believe that Illinois consumers pay very low rates for electricity but will the new higher rates put us at the top end of the range? - annon in the stykes - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 8:44 pm: Does that mean they’ll have to let employee Bob Flider go as well ????? I bet he’s nervous….oh wait !!…he’s still {at least till Jan. 07} a 60,000.00 State Legislator too !!! Always good to have something to fall back on. Wonder how he’ll be voting now ???? - Elder - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 8:44 pm: When I was in college some joker ran for Class President leading his cat around on a leash. His campaign promise: “Vote for me or I’ll kill the cat!” Sounds like the electric company likes that approach! - SangamoGOP - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 9:09 pm: The real bombshell was the “chairman’s rule” that the chairman of the committee put in place to only allow “strong” proponents and opponents into today’s hearing. The House Dems have a funny interpretation of “open meetings” and democracy… - 40-year-friend - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 9:57 pm: But if rates go up up that much, I won’t be able to give Annie and/or Amy the $1,500 X-mas check as planned. - MTWT-O - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 10:05 pm: “If Ameren can’t charge less than it pays for electricity, then perhaps Ameren should charge Ameren less for the electricity.” Can’t do that - There are existing FERC rules on what is called “Affiliate Abuse” (Refer to ER04-673 and ER04-711). FERC looks at Power Purchase Agreements (PPA’s) to determine if such “Affiliate Abuse” exists. If Ameren did what is indicated above, it might very well meet the trigger of being “Affiliate Abuse”, and the PPA’s would be ruled invalid by FERC. And then it’s up to the distribution entity to either renegotiate a new, fair PPA agreement, or find a different power provider. - MTWT-O - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 10:29 pm: “Currrently I believe that Illinois consumers pay very low rates for electricity but will the new higher rates put us at the top end of the range?” Re: Dow Jones Electricity Indexes. Looked up the California-Oregon Border (COB) hub for last week (10.04 thru 10.07.2006) and for “On-Peak”/”Firm” (which would be = to normal business hours), they are running in the $43.00 (10.04) to $44.49 (10.07) per Mw. Hour. Source: WSJ, Weekend Edition; 10.07-08.2006; Page B12) The rate freeze currently in effect here in IL is running a little bit above $37.00 per Mw. hour. Top end of the range? - No. That won’t happen for several reasons, one of which is that we have both excess generating capacity for our IL electric power markets, and sufficient transmission capacity here within IL. Those two factors by themselves are going to keep us out of the top tier electrical rates (except maybe for Chicago, and for several different reasons in their case). Now, if the West Coast and the East Coast get really out of balance on electric supply vrs. demand, then there’s the potential for problems that could affect us. - aidanquinn - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 10:35 pm: And Ameren wonders why their employees are not lining the halls of the Capitol to help defeat this rate freeze! Without looking closely into it I bet the hourly employees at the Ameren subsidiaries are not overly keen about their treatment since the Missouri Company purchased CIPS, CILCO, and IP. I am sure statements like this will help that relationship. Last time I checked since the 97 legislation there has been about a 30-35% cut (layoffs, attrition, early retirements all that soft landing BS)in Illinois employees at the 3 subsidiaries. So more of the same. Protect the Ameren corporate bottom line and damn everything else. Do the same customer service with less employees. - aidanquinn - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 10:39 pm: MTWT-O, I thought the winning auction price for Ameren was $65 per mw/hr? - MTWT-O - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 10:59 pm: “…winning auction price for Ameren was $65 per mw/hr?” Don’t know. I saw the estimated ComEd increases, and those appeared to be in line with current rates per Mw. hour. Part of the issue is that (as I remember) some percentage of Chicago’s electric power has to be generated through “Green” sources (wind farms, etc.), and that’s much more expensive power. I’m not saying that’s the issue here, but requiring part of the power provided to be “Green” does increase the overall costs. Also, under Dereg, Excelon Nuclear can only provide a minority percentage of the electric power required to ComEd. The next-in-line supplier after Excelon Nuclear may have higher prices, because they have higher power generation costs. If so, the total overall power acquisition costs increase. - Killian - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 11:01 pm: Lets not pretend like electricity is a free market anymore- Who set the grid up? Who built the first power plants- yep that was tax-payer money. If you want a free market go build your own power plants. The fact that I see ComEd commercials at Wrigley and on TV tells me they have too much cash on hand. Just give us electricity and spare us the marketing. - Walking Wounded - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 11:37 pm: Being a monopoly means never having to say you’re sorry. - dupage progressive - Monday, Oct 9, 06 @ 11:49 pm: Any way to find out just how much they spend on advertising, lobbying and the oh-so-obvious buying out of ministers and community groups?????? - Little Egypt - Tuesday, Oct 10, 06 @ 12:03 am: Hmmmm. Ameren is in real bad financial condition. However, they had the money to come into Illinois and buy Illinois Power, CIPS and CILCO. As for tree trimming, my opinion of that is if you plant a tree under a power line, the power company ought to have the right to take a chain saw to the base of it before the sappling becomes a bigger tree with bigger problems for the power lines. I never felt it should be the responsibility of the power company to trim trees. However, I do feel that they should drive by their lines, assess whatever trees are potential problems, and put the owners on notice that they will pay to have power lines restrung and power restored should there be a need. I know there are exceptions to this but if they put the burden on homeowners, it would sure make for less of a job for them. As for 25% less employees, I hope they start at the top and work down. - Rattlehead - Tuesday, Oct 10, 06 @ 12:19 am: BBrook, you’re suspect of the timing? When would you prefer this to be dealt with? After the increases take effect and people on fixed incomes can’t pay their bills? The big utilities are begging for a shoulder to cry on. I’m not buying it. Not only have the utilities survived after a 20% reduction and rate freeze, they have thrived. You can’t report record profits then threaten bankruptcy and layoffs in the same breath. - Tessa - Tuesday, Oct 10, 06 @ 6:07 am: My dad used to work for Cilco back when it was a good company. He retired pre-buyout by Ameren. Let’s just say he doesn’t have a good thing to say about them. He’s glad he got out when he did because of how they treat their employees. I think the staff cut they stated was a ploy since they’ve already cut staff. How much money, given the increases they would get if the freeze doesn’t go through, would go to the people in charge, and how much would go towards running the company or paying employees? - Jeff Trigg - Tuesday, Oct 10, 06 @ 7:43 am: I’ll believe Democrats care about our electricity bills when they cut the taxes on them. The state adds on 5% and the city of Chicago adds on 13% for a total tax bill of 18%. Yes, 18%!!! And that doesn’t include corporate taxes the electricity companies pay. I bet 25% of our electricity bills go to taxes in Chicago. ComEd rates in Chicago are suppose to go up 22%. Cut the 18% tax gouging Democrats are doing to us and the increase is only 4%. Duh! The tax rate absolutely proves this has a lot more to do with politics than it does Democrats who care about our electricity bills. And the state has brought in $20 million more than last year in electricity taxes, a 15% increase. They should give us that money back they gouged from us also. Did ComEd or Ameren’s “profits” increase $20 million like the states did? How much more did Chicago gouge us for in taxes? - AmerenCilco Customer - Tuesday, Oct 10, 06 @ 9:55 am: Ameren paid a half a billion dollars back to their stock holders in dividends each of the past two years. If the freeze remains, they can cut the dividend to their stockholders and use the half a billion to trim trees and remain adequately staffed. - DOWNSTATE - Tuesday, Oct 10, 06 @ 10:16 am: I watched 2 Ameren guys remove an old gas line and I almost threw up.One drove a truck and brought the backhole out.Then he left and came back with the operator then they took a break. It took two and a half days to do about 6 hours work.Maybe the union and Ameren can sit down and get a contract that allows 1 man to do different jobs.Eliminating 1 man working and 1 or more watching.Then any rate increase would be small. - aidanquinn - Tuesday, Oct 10, 06 @ 11:18 am: Downstate, if they loafed that is wrong and should be dealt with by their employer in some fashion. As for working gas jobs with 1 person, generally speaking, safety is the reason for 2 employees on a job, especially in cases of pressurized gas work. Also if the work is in a trench 2 or more employees are usually required. But in most cases 2 employees are assigned to the type of job you described. That does not justify poor work ethics by anyone. The only job on gas where 1 employee is used are “trouble” calls to determine why a customer has a problem. If 1 employee can safely remedy the problem they will but if not other employees are sent to he job A general concern is are customers of electric and gas service ready to accept more downsizing to find out how far the employers can cut but still maintain acceptable service? They have already cut 30-35% of the jobs and some say service has suffered. - common_cents - Tuesday, Oct 10, 06 @ 11:45 am: Ameren’s core earnings per share, according to S&P are 3.32 for 2005 vs 3.12 for 2004. Five years ago, in 2001 they were 2.81. The numbers show that Ameren continues to increase its profits based upon the current rate structure that is in place. - Study then post - Tuesday, Oct 10, 06 @ 12:31 pm: This is in response to MTWT-O’s comment at 10:59pm - Please take a couple of hours and plow through the auction results before posting information that’s not true. The site for all auction information is http://www.illinois-auction.com/ You can also find everything you need to know about the auction and the rate cases at the ICC’s web site, specifically this link: http://eweb.icc.state.il.us/e-docket/ The case number is 05-0159. The auction yielded a cost of power that’s made up of two parts: 1. the around the clock price of power (the electrons) and 2. “other costs” which include: ancillary services, load shape, congestion, capacity, and my favorite…risk premium. The price of power resulting from the auction in ComEd’s service territory is $63.76/MWh. Of that, approx. $48/MWh is the electrons and $15/MWh is the other costs. In Ameren’s territory, the price is $65 with the proportions about the same as in ComEd’s territory. By comparison, today’s rates include an electron price of about $30/MWh and about $7/MWh for other costs (no risk premium is included in the existing contracts). Please notice that there is NO green power in this mix. Please don’t try to blame any of this on renewable energy since, at this time, renewable energy generated in Illinois is actually cheaper than the auction price (approx. $55/MWh all in). The funny thing is, of course, that on December 31, Exelon and Ameren are happy to operate a profitable business model which collects $37/MWh from their customers but on Jan 1, they say they won’t stand for a penny less than $63 (or $65). In fact, they add, unless they get the higher rate, they’ll go bankrupt. Its a ballsy argument that unfortunately, they’re going to win. - DOWNSTATE - Tuesday, Oct 10, 06 @ 1:18 pm: Just to add I saw a lot of things that a supervisor should of saw and the line had been capped off for about 10 years so there was no danger.They actually worked the first day about 3 hours in what should have been an 8 hour day.Sorry but you guys make more than you deserve so taken a cut in the big wage or pension plan shouldn’t hurt you a bit.I watched as they sat in the truck checking thier watch to time it out to leave. - decatur boy - Tuesday, Oct 10, 06 @ 6:40 pm: I still can not believe that Bob Flider stay on the IP/AMeren payroll while he was state representative. Talk about the foxes watching the chicken coop. Now, he trying everything to look good against the auction plan he helped push through with the help of Duane Noalnd , a former general assembly member turned electric co-op head. It is interesting how these two friends sort of switched jobs. Well, Bob even switched parties and jumped in bed with Chicago Democrats. Poor Bob. Amy Stockwell in 2008 . She is a real Macon County Democrat. - aidanquinn - Wednesday, Oct 11, 06 @ 12:03 am: Downstate, ah now it comes out these workers make too much and have too good of a pension. So they should help poor mouth Ameren out and give up some wages and their pension benefits. I wonder if the Ameren execs would give up part of their bonuses, wages, golden parachutes, and pensions. They would leave the company like it was a sinking ship. Like I said earlier if they weren’t doing their job they were wrong. Do you know what the Company dispatchers told them to do after they finished the job? They have GPS systems in their trucks maybe their lack of movement earned them a reprimand, who knows. By the way, what do you do for work and what are your wages and what type of pension plan/benefits do you have? The next time these same guys are working a live gas leak or working in a muddy ditch trying to restore service in the dead of winter, or checking someones home for a gas leak remember you beleive they make too much money and have excessive pension plans. - Stephen Lampert - Tuesday, Jan 23, 07 @ 8:03 am: 40% or MORE increase is WRONG ( ROBBERY ) is wrong !! a 3-4 % increase would be MORE than enough! Since they are making a PROFIT already , RIGHT ?? Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.