JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Consumer Energy Alliance is once again renewing their calls for changes to Missouri’s utility regulations and upgrading the state’s electrical grid.
In a report issued last week, the CEA outlined the benefits of a modernized grid while also explaining how the state has wound up in its current position, with a utility policy an regulatory structure created more than a century ago.
As for the state’s electrical grid, the American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure gave Missouri’s electric grid a D+ with an under-investment gap at an estimated $177 billion between the years of 2016 and 2025. Most of the current infrastructure was put in place during the 1950’s or 1960’s.
According to the CEA, Missouri’s electric rates have seen a 46.7 percent increase from 2007, while the nation’s increase has only reached 11.2 percent.
The CEA noted that legislation before the Senate this year, which explores using rate caps, could produce “tremendous savings for cash-strapped homeowners and our neighborhood stores and businesses.” They say that if a 3 percent rate cap were passed, it could mean a five-year savings of $850 for a typical family.
Check out the report below:
Benjamin Peters was a reporter for The Missouri Times and Missouri Times Magazine and also produced the #MoLeg Podcast. He joined The Missouri Times in 2016 after working as a sports editor and TV news producer in mid-Missouri. Benjamin is a graduate of Missouri State University in Springfield.