In what I consider to be a poor public relations decision, an Ameren IP spokesperson used the latest outages as proof of why the company must raise their rates on electricity by 55% in the coming year, presenting a scenario, where without the increase, the company would not have the funds to respond to an emergency situation like last week’s ice storm. The company claims that the rate hike is due to increased rates from their power suppliers and that since the contracts for 2007 are already in place, they would be forced to lay off up to 1,000 employees or face bankruptcy.

I can appreciate the rising costs of energy throughout the world, and in some way, it makes me happy as higher rates will force people to either conserve or find alternate, more efficient sources. However, the company has had two major outages in the past 6 months and four in the past three years that demonstrate significant problems with the power infrastructure. As a consumer and resident of the area, I believe that fixing these recurring problems must be Ameren’s first priority, above all others. Fortunately, both the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Missouri Public Service Commission seem to agree and either have launched investigations into the power outages or scheduled public hearings on the subject.

Personally, I think a couple of these gentlemen at Ameren should take a bit of a paycut until the problems are solved once and for all. He might have to tighten up his belt, but I’m sure that CEO Gary Rainwater will still be able to feed his family, even with a 50% cut to his current salary of $2,536,103.

If you want even more news regarding Ameren, please visit the Ameren News page over at Topix.net.