Missouri Measure Would Itemize Cost of Clean Power Plan on Customer Bills

As the Clean Power Plan inexorably moves forward – with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declining last week to block the new rules on power plant carbon pollution – a Missouri state senator is taking steps to ensure that local ratepayers know just how much pain the measure will inflict in out-of-pocket costs.

Senator Gary Romine (R- District 3) has introduced a bill (SB 687) that would require “electrical corporations to track costs for complying with the Clean Power Plan and itemize such costs on customer bills.”

In the Show Me State, power bills now are itemized by several categories: a base charge for generating and delivering electricity, a fuel adjustment charge to reflect changes in fuel and purchased power costs, and municipal taxes.

Effective January 2017, if this measure passes, utilities would be mandated itemize Clean Power Plan costs as a single line-item on each customer bill.

Specifically, the language of the bill dictates that, “The itemized amount shall be equal to the dollar and cent amount that is incurred by the electrical corporation, and is to be recovered by the customer, on that specific customer bill in order to comply with such regulations.”

As of January 11, the measure had gone through its second read before the Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment Committee in the Legislature, a committe on which Senator Romine serves.