Summary
Missouri is being asked to subsidize special rates and huge infrastructure for big data centers. The Ameren data center plan Missouri shifts costs onto everyday ratepayers—raising bills while corporations benefit.
By Ricky Dana, Candidate for U.S. House – Missouri’s 4th District
Ameren Data Center Plan Missouri Sticks Families with the Bill
Ameren data center plan Missouri is being sold as “economic development,” but the fine print tells a different story: special rates for massive data centers and the risk of higher bills for everyday Missourians. State regulatory staff have already warned that these deals could push millions in extra costs onto regular customers while the biggest power users and shareholders reap the rewards.
What’s Really Going On?
Ameren is proposing discounted rates for enormous electricity loads tied to new data centers. Serving that demand requires new generation and major grid upgrades. Those costs don’t disappear—if the plan shifts them to the general rate base, you pay. That’s the core problem with the Ameren data center plan Missouri: it separates benefits from costs, letting private deals ride on public bills.
Who Benefits—and Who Gets Stuck?
Proponents tout jobs and new investment, but the math matters. Data centers operate 24/7 and demand huge, steady power. Utilities earn a return by building more infrastructure. If the rates and contracts don’t fully assign those costs and risks to the data center customer, the difference lands on households, small businesses, and farmers. Meanwhile, Ameren’s shareholders and the data centers capture most of the upside. That’s not growth—that’s corporate welfare.
The Big Questions Regulators Must Answer
- Cost assignment: Will the data center pay the full, fair cost of the new capacity and grid work it triggers?
- Risk protection: If a large user downsizes or leaves, who covers stranded costs—Missourians or the corporation?
- Transparency: Can ratepayers see what is being built, what it costs, and how each dollar is allocated?
- No free rides: Will the Public Service Commission block any tariff that shifts speculative or excess costs to families?
This Is About Fairness—Not Being Anti-Growth
Missourians want jobs and modern industry. But growth must be fair. The Ameren data center plan Missouri should require big power users to pay for what they drive—up front and without shoving risk onto everyone else. We can welcome new investment and protect families from bill shock. That means strong guardrails: firm contracts, longer notice periods, make-whole provisions, and transparent, independent auditing of cost and need.
Why Are Missourians Being Asked to Foot the Bill?
Because it’s easier to shift costs quietly than to negotiate tough, consumer-first terms. That’s wrong. The Ameren data center plan Missouri must not become another back-door subsidy where profits are privatized and costs are socialized. If infrastructure primarily serves a private user, the private user should pay for it.
What I’ll Fight For
When I’m elected as your congressman, I’ll press for consumer-protection standards and transparency so Missourians aren’t trapped in unfair utility schemes. I’ll support state and federal policies that:
- Require large users to cover the full incremental costs they cause, including risk premiums.
- Ban cost shifting to residential and small-business customers for private deals.
- Mandate clear public reporting of project costs, assumptions, and who pays.
- Enforce make-whole and exit provisions so families aren’t left with stranded costs.
Bottom line: The Ameren data center plan Missouri should not raise your bill so a handful of corporations get sweetheart power. Fair rates. Full accountability. No more corporate freebies on the backs of Missouri families.
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