COLLINSVILLE, Ill. — Ameren Illinois residential customers will pay less for electric delivery service in 2021.
Under the plan, customers will save about $12 per year on the delivery portion of their electric bill beginning in January, according to a news release.
The $48.7 million overall reduction in revenue represents the third consecutive rate decrease for Ameren Illinois customers and the seventh overall rate decrease since the Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act (EIMA) was passed in 2011.
Customers who receive their energy supply from Ameren Illinois will pay 2.4% less each month for energy next year than they did 10 years ago. The Ameren Illinois residential rate is 21% lower than the national average, Ameren said in the release.
"Under performance-based ratemaking, Ameren Illinois is constructing a smarter electric infrastructure, reducing the number and duration of outages and keeping customer rates stable," said Richard Mark, chairman and president of Ameren Illinois. "As the electric grid continues to evolve, we must continue to make strategic investments to strengthen our system. Having a transparent and fair cost-recovery mechanism in place is allowing us to do just that while providing real and tangible benefits to our customers and the communities we serve."
Since the company began its modernization plan, 1.2 million smart meters have been installed, power poles and wires have been strengthened and more delivery infrastructure is being placed underground.
Those improvements, along with new outage detection technology, have resulted in a 20% improvement in system reliability, according to the release.
"Today's residential energy customer wants affordable, reliable energy. They also want to know that we're looking to the future and working on providing them with cleaner energy options," said Mark. "In the last few years, we have developed and tested systems needed to produce and store renewable energy. Our customer satisfaction results show that these efforts, along with our daily work modernizing the energy grid, do matter."
