Greenwood Plan would Return Money to Ameren Users, Combat Higher Bills and Inflation

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – State Rep. LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis, has put her support behind a new measure to deliver $170 in relief to Ameren residential and small commercial energy customers.

“High prices of utilities are hurting working families and it’s essential that they get relief,” Greenwood said. “This measure will award an immediate rebate to qualifying customers without a time-consuming application process or unnecessary paperwork.”

Greenwood’s House Bill 5799 creates the Power Price Mitigation Rebate Act, which is focused on helping Ameren region residential and small commercial energy customers with monthly rebates for the months of August through December 2022. The $200 million rebate program would provide customers with a total fixed rebate of around $170 over multiple months.

If passed into law, customers would automatically have the rebate deducted from their bill. In the event that a rebate credit is greater than a customer’s bill, the excess credit will apply to the following billing period.

“Reining in the impact of price spikes for everyday essentials is a priority for me,” Greenwood said. “Illinois’ most recent budget, which provided tax relief on gas and groceries, greatly extended the property tax rebate for low-income households and expanded the earned income tax credit, put a focus on this as well. I will continue to fight for inflation relief for low-income families until prices have dropped.”