Your Missouri Utility Bill Bad? Next Year Will Be More Terrifying

You might want to sit down for this. Already sitting? Perhaps you should considering lying down then. If you think your Missouri utility bill is bad now, wait until you see what it will look like next year.

I saw Fox 23 Now in Cape Girardeau report that Ameren Missouri has officially filed a rate increase request with the Missouri Public Service Commission. The hearing is set for January 21, 2025 and will apparently be a public and online event. Here's what they want:

• A 15.77% rate increase for residential customers which they say would equal $17.45 per month
• The total rate increase would mean $446 million additional for them

I will admit that I was born a skeptic, but I'll be a monkey's uncle before I believe that my utility bill will only go up $17.45 per month. I don't know who they consider an "average" customer, but my bill right now is in the mid $300's so that percentage increase would equal more like $50+ for a family like mine and we don't have a big home that requires a lot of electricity either.

The story says there will be 7 public hearings in different parts of Missouri including Cape Girardeau and Jefferson City. Once again, I hate to sound like a party pooper, but I feel like these meetings are just formalities and rate increases are coming no matter how much we all complain at the top of our lungs.

Consider this a warning to brace yourself for even more brutal utility bills in 2025.