Ameren Plans to Ask for Another Rate Hike SPRINGFIELD, IL (wsiu) - Rising costs and tougher credit are two reasons why Ameren is contemplating asking electric and gas customers for more money.

The utility that serves wide parts of central and southern Illinois expects to file a rate hike request with regulators in Illinois - a spokesman for Ameren Illinois utilities, Leigh Morris, expects it to happen by the third quarter of the year. But he says there's no decision on how large that rate hike request would be or exactly when it would happen.

Morris says Ameren is facing rising costs for everything from fuel to health care to utility poles. He also says credit is getting more expensive - and tougher to get. "At the present time we do have the credit that we need. But as we go forward it's going to become progressively more difficult for every business in this country. It's not just us, it's everybody."

Ameren won a $162 million dollar rate increase from the Illinois Commerce Commission last fall, less than it had asked for.
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