Monopoly utilities lobby for higher rates

I do not envy the duties of the Public Service Commission, the public regulatory body tasked with balancing the needs of consumers with the requests of Missouri utilities. It seems that every year, the state's largest investor-owned utilities keep proposing ever more elaborate ways to undermine the PSC's authority to keep electric rates at reasonable levels. When the PSC understandably refuses to give them carte blanche, the utilities then come to the legislature with a bill and promises of increased economic development if they could just have the ability to raise rates on their customers even more, and all too frequently the legislature actually entertains these ludicrous requests.

For this most recent effort on Senate Bill 190, investor-owned utilities have retained more than three dozen lobbyists to stalk the Capitol halls and drum up support for the legislation. It is of vital importance for customers who do not want out-of-control rate increases to call lawmakers and let them know that an army of lobbyists must not outweigh consumer concerns.

Utilities are trying to hide the purpose of these bills by telling lawmakers they will "promote investment" in our utility infrastructure. In reality, the massive rate hikes that would take place under SB190 would merely help pump up utilities' stock prices, putting more strain on family budgets across Missouri just to ensure utility stockholders receive higher dividends.

SB190 seeks to implement several changes that have previously been rejected by the Public Service Commission -- the state agency empowered to prevent consumers from being unduly burdened by utility monopolies -- and make it easier for utilities to seek price increases for unnecessary facilities or developments that are not the most cost-effective option. Perhaps most tellingly, both bills also include provisions making it harder to lodge complaints against utilities, specifying that only items the PSC has direct authority over can be reported to the agency.

These measures are not meant to improve service; they are just concerned with getting more money into utilities' pockets. Utility rates under Ameren, one of the investor-owned utilities pushing this legislation, have already increased by 49 percent. Adopting SB190 could allow them to rise by another 38 percent or more.

Utilities are already thriving in Missouri; they wouldn't be able to afford a veritable armada of lobbyists if they weren't. Ameren's stock price increased by 65 percent over the past five years, and they've been able to raise dividends to shareholders three times since September 2014. They are also ranked the most reliable utility in the Midwest, which casts doubt upon their claims about the dire need for more investments in utility infrastructure.

Allowing utility companies to undermine regulatory authorities in a quest for higher short-term profits risks upsetting the delicate balance that the PSC strikes between consumer concerns and utility interests.

Rates are already high enough and are severely taxing on the elderly and working families. Utility executives have no business asking ratepayers to shoulder even more of a burden just to make them even richer.

David Woodsmall represents the Midwest Energy Consumers' Group, an entity created to represent large commercial and industrial interests before the Public Service Commission and in the Capital.