Guest Blog: Planning for the future
Mon, Apr 23, 2012
The editorial “The nuclear guy” (April 15) misses some important points. Even with recent rate increases, the utility has electric rates 30 percent below the national average. As a regulated utility, we are not talking about the free market. Just as costs can be recovered from ratepayers, any income the company makes is restricted to modest percentage above costs, and blunders on Ameren’s part come out of the shareholders’ pockets. There are no windfall profits. And to be honest, who are the winners? The unions, pension funds and individual families who have put money into a utility stock that offers modest, low-risk investments.
