On June 8, Ameren Illinois president and chief executive officer Scott Cisel, met with the editorial boards of area newspapers explaining the need for a $226 million hike in delivery fees.
Cisel said the rate increase is needed to ensure the utility has the necessary resources to provide reliable and safe delivery of electricity and natural gas.
The request now sits before the Illinois Commerce Commission.
The utility is asking the ICC to approve the rate increase effective May 2010.
Cisel said maintaining a 46,000 mile electric distribution system and 18,000 mile natural gas distribution system for Ameren’s Illinois utility companies is an expensive proposition.
No one really gives that any thought while paying a utility bill.
Seventy-seven percent — more than $173 million — of the $226 million rate increase request, Cisel said, would be spent on construction, operation and maintenance of the energy distribution system.
On June 8 Cisel said storm-related costs have played havoc with the company’s bottom line.
In ‘08, Cisel said, the company collected $9 million from customers to be used on storm-related costs.
The expenditures approached $40 million.
In ‘09, he said, the company has already paid out $30 million.
Cisel’s timing was impeccable.
With the wind that hit the area June 18, Mother Nature helped Cisel make his case. 
The storm left more than 43,000 people in the dark, many in the Peoria area.
It was a power outage that required more than 1,400 field personnel and two days of around the clock work for AmerenCILCO to fix.
AmerenCILCO dispatched 535 linemen to restore the power to North Peoria.
Despite the manpower 81 households in Rolling Acres waited about 36 hours to see their power restored.
Temperatures hovered in the mid-80s.
Food spoiled in refrigerators.
No one wants to swelter without power in the heat we have experienced lately.
At the same time, no one wants to pay a higher AmerenCILCO bill. That is certainly understandable.
We all want reliable service and can agree on that fact.
Everyone wants fans, air conditioners and refrigerators to work uninterrupted.
Everyone has to concede reliability comes with a price tag.
For an AmerenCILCO residential customer using 10,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, the proposed increase would amount to a $64.31 more annually for electricity.
The expected annual increase in natural gas costs would be $37.84.
All the evidence is not yet in, which is why all need to keep an open mind about this proposed price hike.
Central Illinois will pay a price one way or the other. It can be in dollars or beads of sweat.