Ameren Illinois Utilities Complete First Phase of Rate Relief Program
October 15 2007 - 11:58AM
PR Newswire (US)
PEORIA, Ill., SPRINGFIELD, Ill. and DECATUR, Ill., Oct. 15
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- More than $152 million in rate relief
rebates have been provided to electricity customers by the Ameren
Illinois utilities in the first phase of their rate relief program.
"The rate relief has been welcomed news to our customers," said
Stan Ogden, vice president of Customer Service and Public Relations
for the Ameren Illinois utilities. "We have provided
across-the-board rebates to all of our residential electricity
customers, while providing much needed energy assistance relief to
those residential electricity customers hardest hit by last
winter's rate increases that resulted from the higher cost of
electric supply." All Ameren Illinois utility electricity customers
have been issued rebates in the form of checks or bill credits.
Customers with past due amounts of less than 60 days were issued a
check by mail. Customers with past due amounts of more than 60 days
had a credit applied to their account. The Ameren Illinois
utilities have issued 930,272 checks valued at more than $130
million and 182,863 credits valued at more than $22 million. The
last checks were mailed on Oct. 4 and the final credits were
applied to bills on Oct. 5. About 80 percent of Ameren Illinois
utility residential electricity customers will realize a cut of 40
percent or more from the expected increase in their 2007 electric
bill. Even residential customers using small amounts of electricity
will get at least a $100 rebate this year. A typical residential
electric customer who doesn't use electric heat will get a rebate
of about $130 in 2007. Typical residential customers who heat their
homes with electricity should get a credit of about $400 this year.
And residential customers who use large amounts of electricity
during the winter will get more than $1,000 returned to them this
year. The $480 billion four-year rate relief program for Ameren
Illinois utility electricity customers is part of the $1-billion
statewide rate relief program funded by contributions of
approximately $150 million from Ameren affiliated companies and
approximately $800 million from Exelon affiliated companies and
certain electricity generator companies in the state. For the
remainder of 2007 and throughout 2008 and 2009, credits will be
applied to customer accounts to lessen the impact of the higher
electric prices in effect. However, the credits will be smaller
than the initial credit as the initial credit covered a nine-month,
retroactive billing period. Customers who believe they should have
received a check but have not yet received one are asked to contact
their Ameren Illinois utility (AmerenCILCO -- 888.672.5252;
AmerenCIPS -- 888.789.2477; AmerenIP -- 800.755.5000). Complete
information about the Ameren Illinois utilities' rate relief
program is available on the Ameren Web site
(http://www.ameren.com/). Go to "Customer News" and select "IL
General Assembly Rate Relief Programs" under "Illinois Customers -
Rate Relief." The Ameren Illinois utilities serve 1.2 million
electric and more than 800,000 natural gas customers in a
43,700-square-mile area of Central and Southern Illinois.
DATASOURCE: Ameren CONTACT: Erica Abbett, +1-314-206-0646, or
Natalie Hemmer, +1-217-424-7541, or Neal Johnson, +1-309-677-5284,
or Leigh Morris, +1-217-535-5228, all of Ameren Web site:
http://www.ameren.com/
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