St. Louis Today: Ameren challenges Noranda rate cut, moves to end service to smelter
Ameren Missouri could be headed toward a breakup with Noranda Aluminum and a long court battle with Missouri after regulators decided to cut rates for the utility’s largest customer.
St. Louis-based Ameren filed notice Tuesday it would challenge the Missouri Public Service Commission’s April order that granted the utility a rate increase while allowing Noranda Aluminum to pay less for electricity.
Also Tuesday, Noranda disclosed that Ameren intends to let its contract with the New Madrid aluminum smelter expire in 2020, giving the smelter five years to find a new supplier or renegotiate with Ameren.
Ameren said it had been planning to file the notice, sent to Noranda last week, for several years and the timing had nothing to do with Noranda’s rate cut. If the utility hadn’t filed the notice before the end of May, its contract with Noranda would have been automatically renewed and couldn’t be renegotiated, said Warren Wood, Ameren Missouri’s vice president of external communication.
“You’re putting in a placeholder for the opportunity to have a discussion,” he said.
But Noranda contends that Ameren’s contract is governed by the PSC and can’t be terminated without regulatory approval.
“Our view is that the contract is really superseded by the fact that we’re in Ameren’s service territory,” Noranda spokesman John Parker said.
