Attempt to reduce length of rate cases bad for consumers
Posted on Oct 01, 2011 in News
By the Editorial Board
Shortly after he took over as the chairman of the powerful Missouri Public Service Commission, Kevin Gunn told us that he saw his role as a consensus builder between the consumer groups and investor-owned utilities who fight over electric rates.
His first attempt at fulfilling that role is way off the mark.
Over the last few months, outside of the public eye, Mr. Gunn has been working on a plan to give the utilities something they have been seeking unsuccessfully from the Legislature for several years: shorter rate cases.
Since 2007, the average Ameren Missouri customer has seen a 31 percent rate hike. Four years. Four rate increases. Isn’t that fast enough?
Consumer groups understandably are upset with Mr. Gunn, both for the very idea of reducing the length of rate cases and for how he’s gone about it. The PSC is a quasi-judicial body that sits in judgment between the utilities and their customers.
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