05/30/2026
With the new Ameren prices starting June 1, 2026, we are seeing many comments about the new rates and what some municipalities rates will be.
We represented The City of East Peoria, The Village of Germantown Hills, and the City of Eureka on their municipal aggregation programs. These municipalities aggregations ended with the May 2026 meter read this year. We recommended to all these municipalities, to return to Ameren starting with the May 2026 meter reads. The rates that we were seeing for a May 2026 start was around $0.12174 per kWh for a May 2026 through May 2027 period. We felt these prices were going to be too high and no guarantee that would be better than Ameren rates starting in June.
With all the residential and small commercial accounts back with Ameren, we now had sixty days to find an option, or all customers would be back with Ameren for another ten months. Options for a June start came in around $0.13006 per kWh for a June 2026 though May 2027.
With Ameren rates known in early May 2026 for the June 2026 through May 2027, we had our base line. Summer rates for residential accounts came in at $0.11038 per kWh and small business under 15,000 kWh annually at $0.12888 per kWh. Non-summer rates for residential accounts came in at $0.09912 per kWh and small businesses under 15,000 kWh annually at $0.10754 per kWh. The average combined rate per kWh for a residential customer account is around $0.1045 per kWh and small businesses under 15,000 kWh annually around $0.1173 per kWh.
The last pricing we received for The City of East Peoria, Village of Germantown Hills and City of Eureka came in anywhere from $0.10367 to $0.10859 per kWh. The rates for two came in higher than we needed to beat the Ameren average rate and one came in slightly lower than Ameren average. For the two municipalities that came in higher, it was going to cost the residential customers per account an extra $43.50 annually. The one municipality that was slightly lower was only going to save the average residential customer $2.00 annually. All three municipalities decided it was best to stay with Ameren for another ten months and look at this again next year.
We have seen posts from other municipalities that are part of the City of Peoria aggregation that are all $0.1329 per kWh from May 2026 through June 2027. On some of these posts we feel that the posts are a little misleading. All these municipalities that have this rate of $0.1329 per kWh are going to cost their residential customers per account around $260 annually over what Ameren would have charged. The average small business customer under 15,000 kWh annually will be around $100 annually more than what Ameren would have charged.
According to Plug Into Illinois website, https://plugin.illinois.gov/municipal-aggregation/municipal-aggregation-list.html, this is the municipalities and or counties that have rates at the $0.1329 per kWh for the May 2026 through June 2027 period. Bartonville, Bradford, Brimfield, Chillicothe, Creve Coeur, Delevan, Henry, Lacon, Mackinaw, Marquette Heights, Marshall County, Morton, North Pekin, Peoria County, Peoria Heights, Peoria, Roanoke, San Jose, Stanford, Stark County, Tazewell County, Toulon, Washburn, Washington, West Peoria.
There are other municipalities and counties that are also higher than Ameren rates. We encourage everyone to visit Plug Into Illinois website and look up where you live.
The municipal aggregation programs in most of Illinois are all under water and costing the average resident and small business owner. With capacity changing every year and not being known until end of April of every year, it is a lot harder to make sure the aggregation programs are beating the utility rates. Supply prices keep going up on top of the capacity rates. Until we add more reliable power to the grids the cost of electricity will continue to be high and higher every year.
We also want to publicly acknowledge The City of East Peoria, The Village of Germantown Hills, and The City of Eureka for doing what is best for their residents. Not only did they make the right choice and keeping their residents and small businesses with Ameren for another ten months, but they also decided not to take the civic fee the most municipalities take on these programs. This is another source of revenue the that average resident does not know about. All the information on what your local municipality or county did with the aggregation program can be asked for or FOIA upon request.
