St Louis Residents-CALL TODAY: Your Electric Bill Could Be Debated On Monday

Donate Now   Become A Member   Volunteer    Forward  to a Friend    Follow us on:       Like Us on Facebook          Follow Us  on Twitter       Call Today: OPPOSE SB 207 and Significant Electric Bill Increases Please Call Key Legislators Today!!! Please Forward!!!    The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial Board hit the nail on the head regarding legislation that will significantly increase electric rates for Ameren Missouri, Kansas City P&L, and Empire Electric customers.     Senate Bill 207 and House Bill 398 represent the latest attempt by Ameren Missouri and its allies to make it easier for monopoly electric utilities to collect money from its captive customers. SB 207 was originally sold as the mechanism to fund an expensive "small" nuclear reactor by its sponsor. Even the Office of Public Council, the office that defends electric customers in electric rate cases, opposes SB 207 and HB 398.     MCE's Safe Energy Director, Ed Smith, has been to Jefferson City several times this year to testify against these bills and now it's up to you!     Senate Bill 207 could be debated in the Senate this Monday (3/11/2013). House Bill 398 will be voted on in the House Utilities Committee this Wednesday. Call your state senator today, tomorrow, and all this week. Leave a message asking your senator to VOTE NO on SB 207. Get your family, friends, and neighbors to call too!     Find your state senator with the legislator look-up tool here.      Please call members of the House Utilities Committee today and ask they VOTE NO on HB 398!   Rep. Doug Funderburk: (573) 751-2176  St. Charles County  Rep. Dave Shatz: (573) 751-6668  Gasconade, Franklin, Osage Counties  Rep. Ira Anders: (573 751-5701  Jackson County  Rep. Mike Bernskoetter: (573) 751-0665  Miller and Cole Counties   Rep. Mike Cierpiot: (573) 751-0907  Kansas City and Jackson Counties Rep. Charlie Davis: (573) 751-7082   Jasper and Newton Counties  Rep. Tony Dugger: (573) 751-2205  Webster and Wright Counties   Rep. Keith English: (573) 751-9628  St. Louis County  Rep. Lyndall Fraker: (573) 751-3819  Webster and Greene Counties  Rep. Chuck Gatschenberger: (573) 751-3572  St. Charles County  Rep. Don Gosen: (573) 751-1247  St. Louis County  Rep. Ron Hicks: (573) 751-1470  St. Charles County  Rep. Bart Korman: (573) 751-2689  Warren, Montgomery, St. Charles Counties  Rep. Margo McNeil: (573) 751-5365 St. Louis County  Rep. Rocky Miller: (573) 751-3604  Miller and Camden Counties  Rep. Charlie Norr: (573) 751-3795  Greene County   Rep. Sharon Pace: (573) 751-4726  St. Louis County  Rep. Holly Rehder: (573) 751-5471  Scott and Mississippi Counties  Rep. Tim Remole: (573) 751-6566  Macon, Randolph, Linn Counties  Rep. Todd Richardson: (573) 751-4039  Butler and Dunklin Counties  Rep. Jeff Roorda: (573) 751-2504  Jefferson County  Rep. Clem Smith: (573) 751-4468  St. Louis County  Rep. Steve Webb: (573) 751-2135  St. Louis County    Thank you and please let us know what responses you get from legislators, or if you have questions!

Missouri Coalition for the Environment | 6267 Delmar Blvd., Ste. 2E | St. Louis | MO | 63130

Get the Facts-SB 207:

 Unprecedented Overreach by Missouri Electric Utilities

Learn the Issues, Get the Facts

SB 207: Unprecedented Overreach by Missouri Electric Utilities 

Missouri electric utilities including Ameren are working to pass legislation to charge a brand new rate increase fee  to every business and resident electric bill. Despite the fact that Missouri electric rates have gone up 46% since 2007, costing Missourians a total of $5.7 billion, Ameren, Kansas City Power & Light and Empire want to change the rules so they can raise your rates without hearing your opinion about it.

The bill, SB 207, is allowing a monopoly utility company to take more money from Missouri businesses and citizens. No other state allows anything like this requested surcharge. SB 207 will kill Missouri jobs by operating as a massive rate increase on Missouri employers and consumers. In addition, SB 207 's massive automatic rate increases will drive up the cost of doing business in Missouri and cause jobs to move to other states.

Despite Missouri's struggling economy, Missouri electric companies are using profits extracted from Missouri ratepayers to prop up losses from its unregulated affiliates in other states.

We need your help to make sure the legislature knows that SB 207 is an unprecedented overreach and would hurt consumers. Take action! Contact your legislator here. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper here.

Local Public Hearings for Ameren Missouri

Ameren Missouri filed a request with the Missouri Public Service Commission to increase revenues by approximately $376 million or 14%. Over the next month, the Public Service Commission will be holding public hearings all over the state to provide an opportunity for ratepayers to ask questions about the pending rate cases. Ratepayers like you can give testimony at the hearing, which will be transcribed as part of the official case record.

If you would like to attend a hearing, please RSVP to the event you will be attending on our Facebook page, so we will know whom to expect.  Also, we will be giving out a free coozie to anyone who testifies at the hearing. If you don't RSVP, you can still show up and testify so please share this message with your friends today.

A History of Ameren Rate Hikes

Ameren has increased rates by 36% in just four years.  Below is a history of Ameren's excessive requested base rate hikes.

• August 2007                                $360,709,000
• March 2009                                 $250,806,000
• February 2011                              $401,500,000
• August 2011                                  $263,000,000
• February 2012 (Proposed)        $376.000,000

HB 1316: The $115 Million Ameren Bailout

Ameren is asking Missouri businesses and residents to bail them out for costs they have already incurred and plan to incur in the future which do nothing to produce energy or provide any service to consumers now or in the future.

• Ameren has already spent at least $25 million towards pursuing an early site permit.  Ameren willingly spent its own money and as with any other business, Ameren ought to be spending its own money on this speculative venture, rather than seeking a bailout through HB 1316.
• HB 1316 does not guarantee customers will be paid back their money in the case that a new electric plant is never built.
• HB 1316 will cost Missouri businesses and residents $45 million plus interest and Ameren earnings for 20 years totaling an increase of $115 million.
• HB 1316 will produce ZERO watts of electricity. This legislation will not result in a new electric power plant.
• HB 1316 will create ZERO jobs. This legislation has nothing to do with building a new electric power plant that would actually create jobs.

A Plan with Consumer Protections: Senate Bill 406

• Ameren says it needs this legislation to maintain the option of seeking an Early Site Permit toward building a second nuclear power plant. At the same time the bill protects Missouri employers, businesses and residential ratepayers if Ameren proceeds as it has indicated it would.
• The bill also protects business and residential ratepayers if Ameren is wrong and holds Ameren accountable.
• The bill represents a compromise that gives Ameren everything it says is needed to obtain an Early Site Permit and that protects businesses and residential consumers who are being asked to pay for the Early Site Permit.
• This bill allows Ameren to recover from ratepayers financing costs on $40 Million of expenditures to obtain an Early Site Permit.
• Consumer protections include the same three requests that were made by consumer groups this past November:
• 
  
  • A hard cap on expenses to ensure Ameren doesn't charge consumers for cost overruns.
  • 
    
    • This is important to avoid the mistakes and huge overruns that have historically plagued the building of nuclear plants.
    • Consumers must be protected from cost overruns at all stages of the process.
  • A rebate to ensure consumers are refunded their money if energy is never produced or the Early Site Permit is never obtained.
  • 
    
    • Ameren has already spent $25 million dollars towards obtaining an Early Site Permit. A rebate is necessary to keep Ameren from shifting the gamble and all of the risk on getting the permit to consumers.
  • Assessment funding for the Office of Public Counsel
  • 
    
    • This takes the Governor's proposal and makes sure legislative intent for funding the OPC is established and better secures the funding beyond FY 2012, which is the only year the Governor's proposal ensures.
    • 
      
    • Consumers need an adequately funded independent OPC to ensure consumers are protected through the entire process of building the nuclear plant.

"Ameren Demands $263 Million Rate Hike"

With an unemployment rate of nearly 10%, Missouri families and employers are struggling. Rather than tightening their belts like Missouri's working families, Ameren is asking the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC), the regulatory body responsible for policing the monopoly, to allow another Ameren rate hike which will:

• Raise electricity rates on Missouri's working families and employers by $263 million.
• Drive up the cost of doing business in Missouri Ameren's rate hike plan comes at a time of crisis for Missouri's economy. Missourians are losing their jobs. Missouri businesses are being forced to downsize in order to stay afloat.  Missouri's employers and small businesses are already struggling to prevent layoffs of even more workers.
• Drive up the cost of living for already struggling Missouri families Ameren's $263 million rate hike demand before the PSC comes at a time when Missouri's employers and small businesses are hurting and at a time when Missouri families are hurting even more. In this fragile economy, thousands of families live on the brink of financial disaster.

Ameren has been awarded over $577 million in rate increases, a 26% hike, at the expense of Missouri ratepayers in less than two years.  It's time to ask Ameren to do the same, just like Missouri's working families.

"The Nuclear Option"

It seems like common sense: the market should make decisions on whether a second power plant is financially viable, not the whims of politicians.  In the midst of a recession and with unemployment at record levels, now is not the time to ask taxpayers and ratepayers to pay more money for energy investment. But that hasn't stopped the big utilities from trying to push their financial gamble on us.  Senate Bill 50 was crafted by the utility companies to create an exception in long-standing state law.  It would allow large Missouri utilities to charge YOU for the costs associated with Early Site Permit (ESP), the first step in construction of a nuclear power plant.

The Situation

• The fact that Ameren is seeking money from ratepayers and cannot get private backing means that there is substantial financial risk in building a second nuclear power plant.

• Missouri's other nuclear power plant was built without a rate-hike in advance of the plant.

• Ameren made over $600 million last year and is still seeking to raise rates on consumers.

• Ameren has already raised energy rates several times in the past few years, and is now looking to raise them again.

• Other states have allowed energy companies to pass on development costs to ratepayers, and consumers in those states have seen their electric bills skyrocket.

• The development of a new power plant is financially risky, which is why Ameren wants to raise energy rates to cover the costs, instead of using their own money.

• Ameren is seeking to transfer the financial cost of energy development to their consumers in order to appease their shareholders.

The Solution

Any proposal that were to meet General Assembly approval must have strong consumer protections. FERAF encourages you to express your support for consumers by insisting on pro-consumer provisions including:

• Robust Office of Public Counsel (OPC). Over the years funding for consumer protection has been greatly reduced impairing the ability of OPC and PSC to conduct adequate reviews of rate case filings. Legislation must include funding OPC that allows them to conduct thorough audits of rate cases filed with the Public Service Commission.

• Responsible Cap. Should the Legislature consider the utility's proposed legislation allowing them to recover costs of construction while in progress, they must include a reasonable and fair cap on rate increases to keep energy costs from spiraling out of control. To ensure consumers money is well spent, each step of the construction process should be monitored and controlled.
• Rebate. If ratepayers pay tens of millions of dollars in rate increases and a plant is never built or the permit is sold at a profit, Missouri ratepayers deserve to be refunded in full. We believe these consumer protections to be essential for the health of Missouri's energy future, and therefore, Missouri economy.

TAKE ACTION TODAY.

The "Bad Debt Surcharge" is Unfair to Consumers

Big gas companies have pushed the Missouri legislature to create a surcharge so they could raise our bills without going before the Public Service Commission, which currently sets utility rates in Missouri. This new surcharge would have allowed them to charge you immediately when other people don't pay their utility bills. If this new practice had become law, what motivation would the gas companies have to track down customers skipping out on their bills when they could just stick you with their debt?

• Two bills before the legislature in 2010 (SB 705 and HB 1610) would have allowed increases on natural gas bills to pay the utility for the bad debts of its non-paying natural gas customers, overriding the current consumer protection against such single-issue ratemaking.
• This legislation would have allowed energy rates to increase, even at times when Laclede Gas Company or Missouri Gas Energy's overall cost of doing business was not going up!
• Bad debts are already included in rates. When a utility needs to adjust rates, including for bad debt, it may initiate a rate case. The Bad Debt Surcharge would allow accelerated increases without the protections of a full rate case audit.
• This Bad Debt Surcharge would have increased the volatility of natural gas bills, due to the correlation between wholesale gas rates and uncollectible accounts.
• The Bad Debt Surcharge would have been a hidden surcharge.  By cleverly attempting to redefine certain bad debts as "gas costs", it would have been disguised in the Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA), instead of being identified separately on gas bills.
• The legal purpose of the PGA is solely for recovering the wholesale cost of natural gas—not to compensate the utility for bad debt.  In 2009, the Missouri PSC ruled unanimously that bad debt is not a "gas cost" [Case No. GT-2009-0026].
• This legislation would have decreased the utility's incentive to effectively manage its bad debt accounts and increased the incentive to write off accounts early and pass those costs through the PGA.  However, writing off accounts as "uncollectible" does not stop the utility from continuing to attempt collection from the customer who owes the debt.
• The Bad Debt Surcharge also reduces the utilities' risk, and therefore increases their profits. These companies are already compensated for this risk through the return on equity (ROE) component of rates.  Laclede and MGE are already permitted double-digit ROEs.  In other states, it has been estimated that such surcharges would enhance earnings by 0.75% to 0.95%.

Single Issue Ratemaking

Single issue ratemaking is an unfair utility proposal whereby Missouri's public utilities are allowed to increase electric rates on Missouri consumers through rate increase surcharges outside of the normal ratemaking process. As fuel charges have increased on Ameren as on all other consumers, for instance, Ameren has raised electrical rates via fuel surcharge increases. Often, Ameren has imposed these fuel surcharges even when their revenues are increase from other means such as off system sales. The result is that, while all Missourians struggle at times with increased fuel charges, only Ameren is able to pass those increased costs on to hard working families. FERAF opposes single-issue ratemaking for exactly these reasons.

Ameren Demands 18% Rate Increase

Missouri's families and employers are struggling with a state unemployment rate of nearly 10%. In the face of this struggle, rather than tighten their belts like Missouri's working families, Ameren  demanded that the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC), the regulatory body responsible for policing the Ameren monopoly, allow another Ameren rate hike.  Thanks to the efforts of concerned Missourians and FERAF the rate hike was cut nearly in half.

• Raise electricity rates on Missouri's working families and employers by 18%.
• Resulted in an immediate rate hike on Missouri's electricity users. If Ameren has their way, Missouri's families and employers would have had their electricity rates raised immediately, during one of the most difficult economic downturns we've seen in decades.
• Ameren's original request would have allowed them to raise rates more frequently.Despite the fact that they enjoy a monopoly, Ameren isn't content with its profits. Buried in the fine print of of its 18% rate hike request was a plan to allow it to raise rates on struggling Missouri families more often through rate increase surcharges on customers' electric bills. If Ameren had their way, Missourians would need to be prepared for more frequent rate increases!
• Cause Missouri job losses. Missourians are losing their jobs. Missouri businesses are being forced to downsize in order to stay afloat. Hiking rates on Missouri's employers and small businesses when they're already struggling will force many to lay off even more workers.
• Push already struggling Missouri families into poverty. Rate increases will hurt Missouri's employers and small businesses but it will hurt Missouri families even more. In this fragile economy, thousands of families live on the brink of financial disaster. Electric rate increases will cause the number of Missouri families living in poverty to increase.

TAKE ACTION TODAY

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Re: Ameren asks for more of your money while profits and executive compensation soar

Ratepayer Bill of Rights

FERAF's 2011 Ratepayer Bill of Rights focuses on pro-consumer initiatives in three broad areas:

1.   Improving the rate-making process
2.   Strengthening the consumers' role in that rate-making process
3.   Preventing utilities from levying automatic rate increases on Missourians through surcharges

Improving the Ratemaking Process

The current rate-making process has ensured that Missouri has some of the lowest utility rates in the Midwest. FERAF is committed to strengthening that process by ensuring that ratepayers do not pay the high costs generated when utility companies seek rate increases, strengthening the voice of consumer advocates, and opposing utility company attempts shorten the amount of time allowed to consider rate increase requests, thereby allowing utility companies to raise rates more frequently.

1.Shareholders, not ratepayers, should pay for the cost of seeking rate hikes.[+]

Did you know that right now you pay the cost for the very lawyers and consultants who go before government regulators seeking to raise your utility rates? That's right, utility companies spend millions every year in an effort to raise your rates, and you pay the tab. And because you are paying the tab, the utilities have no incentive to keep those costs low. FERAF believes utility company shareholders should bear the cost of efforts to raise rates, not the consumers who have to pay those higher rates. FERAF supports legislation that would impose the cost of seeking rate increases on the shareholders who benefit from them, not the consumers who have to pay them.

2.Utilities should be required to share rate increase information when filing a rate increase request.[+]

Utility companies often point to cost increases when requesting a rate increase.  To have an effective voice in the rate process, consumers must have access to data regarding the cost increases utilities claim are causing the need for rate hikes. Without this data, regulators and consumers are in the dark about whether the increase is actually needed.

Missouri statutes should strengthen the rate process by requiring utilities to be more transparent. Utilities should be statutorily required to provide consumers and regulators a full package of data supporting any rate increase request, including workpapers, schedules and financial models. If they fail to provide this information at the time of the rate increase filing, they should be required to go back to the drawing board, withdraw their rate case and file a new case and restart the clock. Moreover, utilities should be penalized if they fail to respond to reasonable information requests. FERAF supports legislation requiring utilities to provide regulators and consumers full transparency at the time a rate increase request is filed.

3.Utilities should be prevented from requesting rate increases more frequently.[+]

The utility companies will be back in the next legislative session with a proposal to allow them to raise utility rates more frequently. They support legislation to shorten the rate case period, which reduces the amount of time that consumer advocates have to present evidence against a rate increase, makes it more difficult for the PSC to review all relevant factors, and in effect, allows utility companies to raise rates more easily and more frequently. FERAF opposes proposals to shorten the rate case process.

Strengthening Consumers' Voices in the Ratemaking Process

The Office of the Public Counsel (OPC) serves as the only official voice of consumers in utility rate issues. The OPC represents consumers in rate case proceedings before the Public Service Commission (PSC). FERAF believes that strengthening the OPC strengthens the power of consumers and helps keep utility rates fair and affordable.

4.Missouri's consumer advocate for utility issues should receive steady funding.[+]

The PSC Staff and the OPC have had their resources slashed making it impossible to effectively audit the ever-increasing number of utility rate requests. Missouri statutes must be strengthened to ensure the PSC regulatory staff and the OPC have adequate resources to scrutinize utility rate hike filings. Efforts to block the utility watchdogs through budget cuts must be reversed so utility rate cases can be effectively scrutinized and challenged.

Transparency of utility rates requires that Missouri statutes provide fool-proof mechanisms to ensure the OPC and PSC Staff are fully funded and have adequate employees to deal with the constant barrage of Missouri utility rate increase filings. FERAF supports increased funding for the OPC and PSC staffs.

5.The Office of Public Counsel needs long-term, stable funding to protect consumers.[+]

One way to ensure that Missouri's utility consumers have a strong voice is to ensure that the OPC has the resources and staff it needs to properly represent the interests of consumers. In these tough budget times, too often utility company lobbyists are successful in weakening consumer power by convincing the Missouri legislature to cut funding for the OPC.

FERAF believes that the OPC should be funded the same way the PSC is funded – through utility rates.  Assessment funding guarantees a steady revenue source for the OPC outside of the politically charged budget process. Additionally, only those consumers who benefit from the actions of the OPC pay the assessment. FERAF supports strengthening the OPC by passing legislation creating an assessment funding mechanism for the OPC.

6.The OPC should have the ability to seek refunds for Missouri consumers when a court finds utility rates to be unfair.[+]

Currently, when the OPC appeals a PSC rate decision and requests a court to overturn a rate case decision, the OPC must post a bond in order to seek a refund of funds the utility has already collected from consumers. However, the OPC currently doesn't have the ability or revenue to post a bond. In effect, the OPC cannot seek refunds for consumers even when rate decisions are overturned by the court. FERAF supports eliminating the bond requirement in order to allow the OPC to seek refunds for Missouri consumers when a court finds an increased rate is unlawful.

Preventing Automatic Rate Increases through Surcharges

FERAF is fighting to repeal unfair surcharges on your electric bill.  A surcharge is a way for Missouri's public utilities to automatically increase utility rates on Missouri consumers outside of the normal ratemaking process.  Surcharges are a form of single issue ratemaking.  FERAF opposes single-issue ratemaking, which leads to automatic rate increases for exactly these reasons.  Surcharges reduce the incentive for utility companies to reduce costs and operate efficiently.

7.Utility companies should not be allowed to pass on the cost of complying with environmental regulations to consumers without going through the rate case process.[+]

The ECRM allows utility companies to pass on costs of complying with environmental regulations directly to consumers, outside of the normal rate case process. No one knows how much this could raise consumer rates. FERAF believes that the costs of complying with environmental regulations should be considered along with all others as part of the rate case process, and not as a surcharge. FERAF supports repealing the Environmental Cost Recovery Mechanism.

8.Utility companies should not be allowed to forgo the normal rate-making process to charge consumers for increased fuel charges.[+]

As fuel charges have increased on Ameren, as on all of us, Ameren has raised electrical rates via a fuel adjustment surcharge. Often, Ameren has imposed these fuel surcharges even when their revenues are increasing. The result is that, while all Missourians struggle with increased fuel charges, only Ameren is able to pass those increased costs on to hard working families. Increased fuel costs should be considered by the PSC as part of a comprehensive review of a utility's finances, not as a stand-alone cost. FERAF supports repealing the Fuel Adjustment Clause.

9.Utility companies should not be allowed to pass on infrastructure costs to consumers without going through the rate case process.[+]

Electricity companies are seeking a new surcharge that would allow them to pass along the cost of new infrastructure investments – such as poles and lines – directly to consumers. FERAF believes these costs should be considered as part of the normal rate-making process. FERAF strongly opposes the creation of an Infrastructure System Replacement surcharge.

10.Utility companies should not be allowed to charge ratepayers more for using less energy.[+]

The utility companies are actually seeking a surcharge to allow them to offset lost revenue that results when consumers use less energy. In other words, they charge you more when you use less. FERAF believes that when you use less energy, your utility bill should reflect that.  FERAF opposes the "Save More, Pay More" surcharge.

11.Utility consumers should not be charged for the bad debt of others.[+]

Gas companies will probably be back again trying to create a surcharge that would allow them to charge you immediately when other people don't pay their utility bills. Even worse, they wouldn't even have to justify these rate increases to the Public Service Commission before they go into effect. If this new practice were to become law, what motivation would the gas companies have to track down customers skipping out on their bills when they could just shift that debt to other customers? FERAF opposes the Bad Debt Surcharge.

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Dear Scotts,   Can you believe it? In 2012, Ameren Missouri profited around $70 million more from electric customers than regulators authorized. On top of that, Ameren's CEO received $6.2 million in compensation in 2012, a 9% increase from 2011. This was the same year that Ameren raised your rates AGAIN, up 43% since 2007 costing customers a total of $2.8 billion by the end of the year.   In 2012, the Missouri Public Service Commission authorized Ameren to collect a generous 10.2% profit margin but financial data shows that the company actually received around an 11.48% profit from Missouri customers for the year. In addition, Ameren Corp.'s chairman, president and CEO received a 9% increase in total compensation in 2012, totaling $6.2 million.   Ameren continues to raise rates and attempts to add surcharges to your bill, all the while making more profits off of your money than ever and paying their executives more than ever. Ameren is currently pushing legislation in Missouri that would allow it and other investor-owned utilities to add a new and expensive surcharge on Missourians' electric bills. Learn more about this bill and urge your legislator to vote no on this egregious overreach.   Sincerely,   The FERAF Team Fair Energy Rate Action Fund • PO Box 1153 • Jefferson City, MO 65102 Paid for by the Fair Energy Rate Action Fund. www.fairenergyrates.org

<a href="http://www.fairelectricityrates.org/petition"><img src="http://www.fairelectricityrates.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/banner3.jpg" alt="Fair Electricity Rate Action Fund"></a>

Re: Ameren asks for more of your money while profits and executive compensation soar

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Dear St Louis Renewable Energy Readers, Can you believe it? In 2012, Ameren Missouri profited around $70 million more from electric customers than regulators authorized. On top of that, Ameren's CEO received $6.2 million in compensation in 2012, a 9% increase from 2011. This was the same year that Ameren raised your rates AGAIN, up 43% since 2007 costing customers a total of $2.8 billion by the end of the year. In 2012, the Missouri Public Service Commission authorized Ameren to collect a generous 10.2% profit margin but financial data shows that the company actually received around an 11.48% profit from Missouri customers for the year. In addition, Ameren Corp.'s chairman, president and CEO received a 9% increase in total compensation in 2012, totaling $6.2 million. Ameren continues to raise rates and attempts to add surcharges to your bill, all the while making more profits off of your money than ever and paying their executives more than ever. Ameren is currently pushing legislation in Missouri that would allow it and other investor-owned utilities to add a new and expensive surcharge on Missourians' electric bills. Learn more about this bill and urge your legislator to vote no on this egregious overreach. Sincerely, The FERAF Team Fair Energy Rate Action Fund • PO Box 1153 • Jefferson City, MO 65102 Paid for by the Fair Energy Rate Action Fund. www.fairenergyrates.org