A household earning under 150% of the federal poverty line, which is $23,914 for one person and $49,500 for a family of four, would get 20% off its electric bill under a new discount Ameren Missouri has put on the table. Other qualifying customers could get 10%.
The discount comes bundled with a rate increase. Ameren Missouri asked state regulators to raise rates by about 10%, or $13 a month on the average residential bill, starting in mid-2027. That would bring in an additional $343 million. The company says the money pays for investments it has already made in the grid.
Where the money would go
Repairs top the list: distribution lines damaged by the May 2025 tornado in north St. Louis and southeast Missouri. Ameren also plans to swap other lines and poles for versions built to take severe weather, and to add “smart technology” that finds and fixes outages faster. Many of the new poles use stronger composite materials. The utility is also upgrading the Labadie Energy Center and the Audrain Energy Center, the latter so it can run on two fuels in extreme weather.
Aaron Melda, chairman and president of Ameren Missouri, said the storm-resistant equipment and smart technology helped prevent more than 260,000 customer outages during major storms from January 2025 through May 2026. Residential rates today sit about 27% below Midwest and national averages, the company says, and the lowest among Missouri’s investor-owned utilities.
“There’s never a good time to ask to adjust electric rates, but it’s necessary to maintain the grid,” said Rob Dixon, the company’s vice president of regulatory and legislative affairs.
A history customers remember
This is not the first increase in recent years. Ameren raised rates 12% in June 2025, which brought in $355 million, after first asking for 15%. An earlier increase in 2023 added $140 million. A 2024 study found that between 2020 and 2023, the company’s infrastructure spending, not fuel costs, drove an average bill increase of nearly 20% for residential customers in summer and 21% in winter. The utility earned $76 million in the first quarter of this year, against $42 million a year earlier.
Ed Bryant, executive director of the Consumers Council of Missouri, which has opposed some past rate hikes, said his group is still studying the proposal. It is watching the discount plan closely. “We always want to make sure that the voice of consumers is actually heard,” he said.
Dixon had a message for anyone worried about paying. Rates will not change for nearly a year, he said, and in the meantime Ameren works with community action agencies and can connect people to help.
Rate increases need the approval of the Public Service Commission, whose five members are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. Its 11-month review includes chances for the public to weigh in.
Sources
- Ameren Missouri customers’ bills could go up by $13 a month in 2027
- Missouri rate case could add $13 to power bills as data center demand keeps climbing
- Storm hardening, electric grid upgrades and new generation underpin request to update electric rates in mid-2027
