I’ve been telling subscribers lately that Ameren’s gigantic electric rate increase last month is causing political heartburn all over downstate Illinois.

This is a typical story…

After paying an average bill of $223 a month for the past two years, Huckelberry still is having a hard time believing his latest Ameren electric bill after the rate freeze was lifted was for $870 - a hike of nearly 300 percent.

Yesterday, a group of legislative Republicans held a press conference, but didn’t propose any solutions….

Convinced that Illinois is in the midst of an “electric rate crisis,” a group of Republican state lawmakers on Wednesday said Gov. Rod Blagojevich ought to schedule a summit to help consumers with their dramatically higher power bills.

Some electricity bills - especially for all-electric households - have more than doubled since a 10-year rate freeze expired at the beginning of 2007.

At a state Capitol news conference with more than a dozen fellow Republicans, Rep. Bill Black of Danville accused the Democratic governor of failing to show leadership on the electricity issue.

Black said the proposed “electric rate relief summit” should include Blagojevich, the four legislative leaders and the chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission, which is the state’s utility regulator.

That’s the usual Springfield game. Punt the hot potato to someone else.

Meanwhile, down in Carbondale, the Southern Illinoisan has been hot and heavy on the rate hike beat, with columnist Jim Muir penning three columns in the past ten days or so about the issue. His latest takes Senate President Emil Jones to task…

A few days after the Nov. 7, 2006, election the Illinois House passed a measure to extend the rate freeze but Senate President Emil Jones refused to call the legislation for a vote. The Senate then passed some bogus legislation calling for a 42 percent rate hike scattered over three years. The legislation passed by the Senate looked like it was written by Ameren and ComEd and it was never called for a vote in the House. In the end, as we all found out when we received our electric bill this month, the General Assembly did nothing and the freeze was lifted.

As I was poring over the various campaign contributions I found it interesting that during a three-week period before Senate President Jones sat on his hands and did nothing to help Illinois residents, Ameren contributed $25,000 to “Citizens for Emil Jones” and another $10,000 to the “Illinois Senate Democrat Fund.”

Am I saying that Jones took a kickback? Certainly not. But, I am saying that those contributions combined with a do-nothing General Assembly created an appearance of impropriety. I challenge anybody, including Sen. Jones, to debate me that it didn’t. In my view this single issue has exposed Illinois politics for what it is - a land where “pay-to-play” has taken precedence over common sense, logic, decency and simply doing the right thing.

[Emphasis added]

One of the hottest spots of opposition to Ameren’s rate hikes is the St. Louis Metro East area. Ameren is beginning to respond to the crisis by hiring a longtime St. Louis TV anchor as its VP for public relations. That won’t be enough, however.

The Citizens Utility Board is doing its level best to fan the fires…

As if being hit with skyrocketing utility prices was not enough, more than 20,000 Illinois residents may also become unemployed due to electric rate hikes by Ameren and ComEd, says a study released Monday by the Citizens Utility Board.

Even municipalities are feeling a pinch…

But individual households aren’t the only ones suffering electric bill sticker shock. Illinois’ 93rd District Rep. Jil Tracy says that a number of communities in her district got big bills.

“Likewise I’ve heard from many municipalities–towns, very small towns, which have very small budgets. And they certainly did not anticipate these kinds of increases,'’ said Tracy. “I mean, some of them are looking at more than 300 percent increases for the streets lights and the like. And it’s an ongoing expense that’s vital to public safety.”

Right now, this is the biggest story in Downstate, and it’s political dynamite for all state legislators.