Missouri Public Service Commission
Governor Office Building
200 Madison Street
PO Box 360
Jefferson City, Mo. 65102-0360
Contact: Kevin Kelly — 573-751-9300
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JEFFERSON CITY—The Missouri Public Service Commission has determined that a complaint filed by Noranda Aluminum, Inc. and 37 individual customers (Complainants) against Ameren Missouri should be denied and the case dismissed because the Complainants failed to meet their burden of proving that Ameren Missouri’s current electric rates are no longer just and reasonable. The Commission’s vote was 5-0.
In a complaint filed on February 12, 2014, the Complainants alleged that Ameren Missouri is earning in excess of its authorized return on equity. The complaint asked the Commission to review Ameren Missouri’s rates and to revise those rates to just and reasonable levels.
The Complainants claimed that this overearning is demonstrated by the quarterly surveillance reports filed by Ameren Missouri. “But those raw, unadjusted, surveillance reports alone,” said the Commission, “do not provide a complete or accurate picture of Ameren Missouri’s earnings sufficient to reset the utility’s rates.”
In its case, the Complainants made various adjustments to September 2013 and December 2013 Ameren Missouri surveillance reports. The Commission noted in its decision that the Complainants did not take into account the additional costs Ameren Missouri had already incurred in 2014 for ongoing capital projects and payment of solar rebates.
“Rate making is supposed to be forward-looking, with a goal of setting rates that will allow the utility to recover its costs and earn a reasonable return on its investment while those rates are in effect,” said the Commission. “That system assumes a utility’s revenues, expenses and profits will fluctuate from month to month, and year to year, but will even out over time.”
The Commission also noted that Ameren Missouri’s current forward-looking rates went into effect at the start of 2013. “The Complainants want to reset those rates based on earnings information that ends with the end of 2013. The Commission concludes that adjusting rates in this case without taking into account known ongoing and future costs would be contrary to sound ratemaking principles,” said the Commission.
Ameren Missouri serves approximately 1.2 million electric customers in Missouri.
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Case No. EC-2014-0223
