Ameren wants a $247 million electric and natural gas “delivery” rate hike—its third attempt to increase rates in recent years. In 2006, state regulators rejected Ameren’s attempt to jack up electric delivery rates—what it charges to deliver electricity to your home—by $100 million. (It got about half.) In 2007 Ameren used a “reverse-auction” power-pricing system to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars before being forced to abolish the system and give back a large portion in customer refunds.

And now Ameren is reaching for our pockets again. In fact, Ameren CEO Gary Rainwater recently was quoted as saying he would like “more frequent” rate hikes—“perhaps as often as every year.” Unbelievable! As it gets harder and harder for Illinois families to make a living, it’s unfair to make us pay more for a company that produces one profitable quarter after another. (The company made “only” $385 million in all of 1999, but recently recorded a nine-month profit of $510 million.)

CUB is battling Ameren’s $247 million rate-hike plan in an 11-month case before the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). Please help us fight it by signing a petition against the rate hike. We’ll make sure to deliver it to the ICC.