AMEREN CORP
For the period ended Dec 31, 2024. Filed Feb 18, 2025.
View on SEC.govAbout this filing
A company's yearly report to the SEC, with audited financial statements. It is the fullest account a company gives of its business, its finances and the risks it sees.
FY2024 · Filed Feb 18, 2025
Extracted filing text, with the paragraph anchors used by the comparison.
See the whole filing, with its images and exhibitsContents
Rates and Regulation
Rates
The rates that Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois, and ATXI are allowed to charge for their utility services significantly influence the results of operations, financial position, and liquidity of these companies and Ameren. The electric and natural gas utility industry is highly regulated. The utility rates charged to customers are determined by governmental entities, including the MoPSC, the ICC, and the FERC. Decisions by these entities are influenced by many factors, including the cost of providing service, the prudency of expenditures, the quality of service, regulatory staff knowledge and experience, customer intervention, and economic conditions, as well as social and political views. Decisions made by these governmental entities regarding customer rates are largely outside of our control. These decisions, as well as the regulatory lag involved in the process of obtaining approval for new customer rates, could have a material adverse effect on the results of operations, financial position, and liquidity of the Ameren Companies. The extent of the regulatory lag varies for each of Ameren’s electric and natural gas jurisdictions, with the Ameren Transmission business experiencing the least amount of regulatory lag. Depending on the jurisdiction, the effects of regulatory lag are mitigated by various means, including annual revenue requirement reconciliations, the decoupling of revenues from sales volumes to ensure revenues approved in a regulatory rate review are not affected by changes in sales volumes, the recovery of certain capital investments between traditional regulatory rate reviews, the level and timing of expenditures, the use of future test years to establish customer rates, and the use of trackers and riders.
The MoPSC regulates rates and other matters for Ameren Missouri. The ICC regulates rates and other matters for Ameren Illinois. The MoPSC and the ICC regulate non-rate utility matters for ATXI. ATXI does not have retail distribution customers; therefore, the MoPSC and the ICC do not have authority to regulate ATXI’s rates. The FERC regulates Ameren Missouri’s, Ameren Illinois’, and ATXI’s cost-based rates for the wholesale transmission and distribution of energy in interstate commerce and various other matters discussed below under General Regulatory Matters.
The following table summarizes the key terms of the rate orders in effect for customer billings for each of Ameren’s utilities as of January 1, 2025, except as noted:
| Rate Regulator | EffectiveRate OrderIssued In | Rates Effective | AllowedROE | Percent ofCommon Equity | Rate Base(in billions) | Portion of Ameren’s 2024 Operating Revenues(a) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ameren Missouri | |||||||
| Electric service(b) | MoPSC | June 2023 | July 2023 | (c) | (c) | (c) | 50% |
| Natural gas delivery service | MoPSC | December 2021 | February 2022 | (d) | (d) | $0.3 | 2% |
| Ameren Illinois | |||||||
| Electric distribution delivery service(e) | ICC | December 2024 | (e) | 8.72% | 50.00%(e) | 27% | |
| Natural gas delivery service(f) | ICC | November 2023 | November 2023 | 9.44% | 50.00% | $2.8 | 12% |
| Electric transmission service(g) | FERC | (g) | January 2025 | 10.48% | 54.91% | $4.4 | 6% |
| ATXI | |||||||
| Electric transmission service(g) | FERC | (g) | January 2025 | 10.48% | 60.08% | $1.6 | 3% |
(a)Includes pass-through costs recovered from customers, such as purchased power for electric distribution delivery service and natural gas purchased for resale for natural gas delivery service, and intercompany eliminations.
(b)Ameren Missouri’s electric generation, transmission, and delivery service rates are bundled together and charged to retail customers under a combined electric service rate. Because the bundled rates charged to MoPSC retail customers include the revenue requirement associated with Ameren Missouri's FERC-regulated transmission services, the table above does not separately reflect a FERC-authorized rate base or allowed ROE.
(c)This rate order did not specify an ROE, capital structure, or rate base.
(d)This rate order did not specify an ROE or a capital structure.
(e)In December 2024, the ICC issued an order in Ameren Illinois’ MYRP proceeding. The order approved an average annual rate base for 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027 of $4.2 billion, $4.4 billion, $4.6 billion, and $4.8 billion, respectively. Rate changes consistent with the December 2024 order became effective in late December 2024. Under an MYRP, Ameren Illinois will reconcile its actual revenue requirement, as adjusted for certain cost variations, to ICC-approved electric distribution service rates on an annual basis, subject to a reconciliation cap. The reconciliation cap limits the annual adjustment to 105% of the annual revenue requirement approved by the ICC.
(f)This rate order was based on a 2024 future test year.
(g)Transmission rates are updated annually and become effective each January. They are determined by a company-specific, forward-looking formula ratemaking framework based on each year’s forecasted information. The 10.48% return, which includes a 50-basis-point incentive adder for participation in an RTO, is based on the FERC’s October 2024 order.
For additional information on Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois, and ATXI rate matters, see Results of Operations and Outlook in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations under Part II, Item 7, Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk under Part II, Item 7A, and Note 2 – Rate and Regulatory Matters under Part II, Item 8, of this report.
General Regulatory Matters
Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois, and ATXI must receive FERC approval to enter into various transactions, such as issuing short-term debt securities and conducting certain acquisitions, mergers, and consolidations. In addition, Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois, and ATXI must receive authorization from the applicable state public utility regulatory agency to issue stock and long-term debt securities and to conduct mergers, affiliate transactions, and various other activities.
Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois, and ATXI are also subject to mandatory reliability standards, including cybersecurity standards adopted by the FERC, to ensure the reliability of the bulk electric power system. These standards are developed and enforced by the NERC, pursuant to authority delegated to it by the FERC. Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois, and ATXI are members of the SERC. The SERC is one of six regional entities and represents all or portions of 16 central and southeastern states under authority from the NERC for the purpose of implementing and enforcing reliability standards approved by the FERC. Ameren Missouri is also a member of the MRO, which is also one of the six regional entities and represents all or portions of 16 central, southern, and midwestern states, as well as two Canadian provinces, under authority from the NERC. The regional entities of the NERC work to safeguard the reliability of the bulk power systems throughout North America. If any of Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois, or ATXI is found not to be in compliance with these mandatory reliability standards, it could incur substantial monetary penalties and other sanctions.
Under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 2005, the FERC and the state public utility regulatory agencies in each state Ameren and its subsidiaries operate in may access books and records of Ameren and its subsidiaries that are found to be relevant to costs incurred by Ameren’s rate-regulated subsidiaries that may affect jurisdictional rates. The act also permits the MoPSC and the ICC to request that the FERC review cost allocations by Ameren Services to other Ameren subsidiaries.
Operation of Ameren Missouri’s Callaway Energy Center is subject to regulation by the NRC. The license for the Callaway Energy Center expires in 2044. Ameren Missouri’s hydroelectric Osage Energy Center and pumped-storage hydroelectric Taum Sauk Energy Center, as licensed projects under the Federal Power Act, are subject to FERC regulations affecting, among other aspects, the general operation and maintenance of the projects. The licenses for the Osage Energy Center and the Taum Sauk Energy Center expire in 2047 and 2044, respectively. Ameren Missouri’s Keokuk Energy Center and its dam on the Mississippi River between Hamilton, Illinois, and Keokuk, Iowa, are operated under authority granted by an Act of Congress in 1905. The Keokuk Energy Center dam safety program is regulated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
For additional information on regulatory matters, see Note 2 – Rate and Regulatory Matters, Note 9 – Callaway Energy Center, and Note 14 – Commitments and Contingencies under Part II, Item 8, of this report.
Our electric generation, transmission, and distribution and natural gas distribution and storage operations must comply with a variety of statutes and regulations relating to the protection of the environment and human health and safety. These environmental statutes and regulations are comprehensive and include the storage, handling, and disposal of waste materials and hazardous substances, emergency planning and response requirements, limitations and standards applicable to discharges from our facilities into the air or water that are enforced through permitting requirements, and natural resource protection laws, including those related to endangered species. Federal and state authorities periodically review and modify existing regulations and adopt new regulations, which may impact our planning process and the ultimate implementation of these or other new or revised regulations. Recent and potential new executive orders issued by the current federal administration as well as local and state land use requirements can also impact our planning activities.
For discussion of environmental matters, including NOx and SO 2 emission reduction requirements, regulation of CO 2 emissions, wastewater discharge standards, remediation efforts, and CCR management regulations, and a discussion of litigation against Ameren Missouri with respect to NSR, the Clean Air Act, and Missouri law in connection with projects at Ameren Missouri’s Rush Island Energy Center, see Note 14 – Commitments and Contingencies under Part II, Item 8, of this report.
The text of this filing, as the company filed it with the SEC, without its images or exhibits. This is not investment advice.