ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — State Rep. Brad Christ (R-St. Louis County) today filed comments with the Missouri Public Service Commission opposing Ameren Missouri’s request for an approximately 10% electric rate increase, which would add about $13 a month, or $156 a year, to the average residential customer’s bill.
Ameren is seeking approximately $343 million in additional annual revenue in File No. ER-2026-0291. The request follows a 12% increase that took effect in June 2025 and would be the utility’s third rate increase in five years.
“I get the same bill my neighbors do,” Christ said. “Ameren says these investments are necessary to strengthen the grid and meet growing demand, and some of that work is real. But families in Crestwood, Fenton and across St. Louis County should not absorb another double-digit increase without the Commission going through every line of this request. Ameren can ask for whatever it wants. The Commission decides what it gets, and I’m asking the Commission to use every consumer protection available under the law.”
When it filed the request in June, Ameren said the increase was not motivated by data center demand. Ameren’s own testimony in the case, however, acknowledges approximately $2.8 million in costs associated with large-load customers. Ameren is relying on approximately $13.4 million in projected annual revenue from those customers to cover those costs and reduce the amount other customers would otherwise pay. If Ameren’s projections are correct, large-load customers would provide approximately $10.6 million more in annual revenue than the costs attributed to serving them, of which Ameren estimates residential customers would receive approximately $5.2 million a year. (Steven M. Wills, Direct Testimony, ER-2026-0291, pp. 13, 18, 23-24, filed June 26, 2026.)
Christ is asking the Commission to independently verify those projections before approving any increase.
“Ameren acknowledges that $2.8 million in large-load costs are included in this case and is relying on $13.4 million in projected large-load revenues to more than offset them,” Christ said. “That means Ameren is telling the Commission these customers will provide a $10.6 million annual net benefit instead of increasing bills for everybody else. I voted for SB 4 precisely to make sure families never subsidize these enormous new users. Now I want the Commission to verify Ameren’s assumptions, its cost allocations and every dollar of those projected revenues.”
Christ voted for Senate Bill 4 in 2025, which established new consumer protections as Missouri faces unprecedented growth in electricity demand. The law limits annual growth in an electric utility’s average overall rates to 2.25%, makes certain charges for plants under construction subject to refund if the plant is not completed, increases funding for the Office of Public Counsel, and requires utilities to pass federal tax savings on to customers.
SB 4 also established protections designed to prevent existing customers from subsidizing the electricity demands of data centers and other large-load users. Under the Commission’s large-load rules, those customers must pay their representative share of the costs of serving their new loads, pay directly for their interconnection and for any interim capacity purchased to serve them, enter 12-year contracts, meet minimum bills, and post collateral and exit fees intended to shield existing ratepayers.
“This is exactly why we passed SB 4,” Christ said. “Missouri is seeing electricity demand on a scale we have never dealt with before. We needed rules in place before these enormous new loads came online so the cost of serving them would not simply get spread across everybody else’s electric bill. Homeowners should not be asked to finance the infrastructure needed for a massive new data center.”
Ameren projects electricity sales could increase by more than 60% over five years, driven overwhelmingly by new large-load customers, and that by the end of 2029 those new users are expected to consume more than half as much electricity as all of Ameren’s other customers combined. (Wills Direct, p. 5.) Ameren has acknowledged that growth on that scale will require new or accelerated power generation and potentially major transmission investment. In his filing, Christ asked the Commission to directly assign the cost of generation built or accelerated to serve large loads to the large-load class, a position the Office of Public Counsel advanced in the original large-load proceeding.
“Data centers can bring investment and jobs to Missouri, but the families already living here shouldn’t get stuck with their electric bill,” Christ said. “SB 4 put protections in place so the people creating these massive new demands on the electric system pay their share. The Office of Public Counsel asked the Commission to put the cost of new power plants built for data centers directly on the data centers. Ameren argued against it. I’m with the Public Counsel, and I’m asking the Commission to settle that question now, before the plants are built, not after.”
Christ’s filing asks the Commission to closely examine Ameren’s proposed increase, independently verify its large-load revenue and cost assumptions, and fully enforce the consumer protections enacted under SB 4 before any additional costs are passed on to residential customers. Members of the public may comment on the case at efis.psc.mo.gov/PublicComment/EmailForm, referencing File No. ER-2026-0291.