Downstate Republican lawmakers are expressing outrage at the projected sharp increases in Amerens utility rates this summer.
Republican legislators sat through a nearly four-hour hearing in Springfield and afterward said rate increases are being caused by an energy bill Democrats pushed through the legislature last year.
Ameren told lawmakers their rates will go up starting in June. The typical customer will be pinched with a bill going up on average by $52 a month, or more. The annual increase will be around $626.
According to our news partners at WAND-TV Ameren is pointing to supply and demand issues along with the closure of coal-fired power stations.