Senate endorses bill offering relief for local utility

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Senate on Wednesday moved to correct a "historical anomaly" by passing a bill that would exempt a customer-owned power utility in Southeast Missouri from full state regulation.

Because of a quirk in the law, Citizens Electric Corp. of Ste. Genevieve is the only not-for-profit utility in the state that has to seek the permission of the Missouri Public Service Commission in order to change its rates.

"All we are doing by this bill is treating this co-op the same as every other electric co-op in the state," said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau.

The Senate voted 31-0 to send Kinder's bill to the House of Representatives, where similar legislation is pending. Both measures are on a special fast-track for non-controversial bills.

Citizens Electric serves 26,000 customers in Cape Girardeau, Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties.

When the utility was founded in 1941, it wasn't subject to state rate regulation. That changed a few year later when it purchased a for-profit utility that was financial distressed. Citizens Electric, however, has always operated as a non-profit rural electric cooperative.

Until recently the utility, which doesn't generate its own power, rarely had to appear before the PSC as it signed long-term contracts with wholesale providers. Recent changes in the wholesale market, however, mean it can only secure contracts lasting for three to five years.

A rate adjustment Citizens Electric sought last year -- its first in two decades -- cost it $225,000 in regulatory costs. Utility officials estimate the bill would save its customers $96,000 a year in addition to the periodical costs for rate changes.

The bills are SB 255 and HB 208.

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