Ameren Corp. subsidiary Ameren Missouri proposed a six-year plan with rebates and incentives worth about $285 million to encourage residential, business and low-income customers to conserve energy.
The utility's latest demand-side management plan contains 26 programs such as home energy audits and upgrades to smart appliances, Ameren said in a press release. Ameren Missouri, known legally as Union Electric Co., filed the plan on June 4 with the Missouri Public Service Commission. If the PSC approves the plan, the programs will run from March 1, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2024, Ameren said in its application.
The plan, expected to cost about $550 million, offers programs for low-income customers in single- or multifamily homes, as well as social services agencies. It also includes education programs, appliance recycling and upgrades, and energy management programs. Ameren Missouri said the costs will be offset with about $920 million in net benefits, including about 2 million MWh in energy savings over the six years.
This is the third energy efficiency plan that Ameren Missouri has filed with state regulators to comply with the 2009 Missouri Energy Efficiency Investment Act. Previous plans covered only three years. Ameren Missouri lengthened the duration to help "develop longer-term energy efficiency-related relationships with customers and thereby achieve greater energy savings," the utility said in its application to the PSC.
"By expanding the program to six years, we're able to include a wider range of options, including 15 new programs," Bill Davis, Ameren Missouri's director of energy efficiency and renewables, said in a statement. "There are savings opportunities for every home and business, including specific savings for limited-income customers and social service agencies."
Included in the proposal is a Residential Demand Response program that offers incentives for homeowners to let the utility limit energy consumed during peak usage periods by appliances such heating and cooling systems, swimming pool pumps, and water heaters.
Ameren filed this plan after Missouri on June 1 adopted into law Senate bill 564, which aims to speed up the regulatory approval process for utility grid modernization projects including demand-side and energy-efficiency projects
Ameren Missouri requested that the commission issue an order by Oct. 31, 2018.
(Missouri PSC Case No. EO-2018-0211)
