Understanding your Ameren/CIPS bill

I keep hearing all these horror stories about how Ameren/CIPS bills are suddenly double what they were in December. I too, was horrified when I received mine this month. This is the first full month of billing with the new electric rates imposed after 10-year rates freeze.

I started dissecting my bill to determine why I was told there would be a 40-percent increase in electric rates, but my bill was nearly double the last one.

First off, I subtract the gas portion. January was sixteen degrees colder than December, and the difference between thirty-nine and twenty-three was sure felt on my furnace. Without the gas charge, I am now comparing apples to apples.

Next I add up all the charges to compare the rates. Someone had showed me their bill and their total rate appeared to have gone from around 7.5 cents to over 15 cents per kWh. That is far more than 40-percent and I wanted to make sure that wasn’t the case.

At first I was concerned, as when I added my rates I got the same result. But studying it further, I realized Ameren/CIPS now charges a different rate for usage over 800 kWh. So adding the columns isn’t the correct method for figuring your total rate. As a matter of fact, your rate will differ depending on your total usage because of these varying rates.

Ameren has stated that your electricity will cost you about one dollar per day more. This does not relate to the stories I’ve heard, but when I finally worked through all the rates, taxes, and miscellaneous charges on the electric portion of my bill, the difference between the old rates and the new was $30.89 for a 31-day period. As much as I wanted to call Ameren out on this, what they said (at least in my case) was true.

This is in no way an endorsement of the Ameren or the rate increase. I understand there is some issues with Ameren previously offering incentives for homes to switch to all electric and those discounts expired without warning when the rate increase went into effect. And that sure does smell of a bait and switch scheme.

I try to keep an open mind about the rate increase and being forced to charge the same amount for ten years. That doesn’t work well with economics 101. But I also think Ameren is overplaying hand stating the continued rate freeze would force them into bankruptcy. But one thing I am certain of, Ameren told me my electricity would cost me about one dollar per day more, and at least for the first month, they were right on target.

I created a rate calculator and posted it on my website at www.savemattoon.org. You can enter you kWh usage from your CIPS bill and it will compare the new rates with the old. There are some changing variables so it is not exact, but it was within a couple of dollars on every one of my 2006 bills.

Good job on storm cleanup

After the first significant snowfall last year, I commented on how streets in Charleston and state highways were clear long before those in Mattoon. The same was true after last weeks storm. It appears Charleston salts the majority of their streets while Mattoon only salts stop intersections.

Usually, the snow pack melts off in a day or two, and the lack of salt on the streets isn’t felt for long. But a combination of ice, additional snowfall over the weekend and bitter cold temperatures for the better part of a week led to Mattoon’s streets staying snow packed.

My street was cleared good enough to drive on before I left for work. A second pass was made before 8:00 am to clear the parking lanes. The lanes were filled with vehicles as many had not left for work or stayed home due to the in climate weather. This left the majority of the parking lanes in less than desirable conditions. It was two days before they were cleared.

While I was initially annoyed at the lack of snow removal, the more I thought about it, the more I believe it was adequate. Roads were passable and if you weren't driving 40 miles per hour, not really dangerous. Why should the city clear off the parking lane? They don't clear my drive to the sidewalk.

Mattoon doesn’t have a parking ban during snowfall; so it is parker beware when a storm hits. Many cities make there own citizens clear out their own parking places. In Chicago, you save your cleaned parking space by placing a dinette chair there while your car is out. If you want a clear spot in Mattoon, don’t park in the street when snow is predicted.

I know many of you are in disbelief that I am siding with the City on this one. But simply look at the numbers and decide if it is worth it. Charleston has about 90 miles of streets they maintain and spent $41,000 for snow removal. That is about $450 per mile. Mattoon has 120 miles and spent about $30,000 on snow removal for $250 per mile.

For the extra $200 per mile, Charleston streets were clear and dry one day after the storm. Mattoon would to have spent an additional $24,000 to make the same effort. And while it was nice to drive on dry streets in Charleston shortly after the storm, I would prefer to spend my money on something that is going to last a bit longer than a week.

Both the Mattoon and Charleston Public Works directors told me they are equipped and able to provide however much snow removal they are allowed. But you get what you pay for. And for now, Charleston puts more priority in snow removal than Mattoon.

Regardless, the crews did a bang up job in both towns with the instructions they were given. Both put in overtime hours through the week and on the weekend after a few more inches fell. In addition to snow removal, crews fixed several water main breaks due to the cold. The fire and police departments often receive praise for their efforts. The public works department are in a lot ways the unsung heroes that keep the city running smoothly and deserve a thanks as well.

Here we go again

Someone asked me this week if I was going to oppose the demolition of the warehouse along 15th Street just north of the old railroad tracks. The area is to be used for parking for the YMCA. This will make the 6th building razed for YMCA parking. And the public has yet to see nary a sketch of a proposed expansion.

The building isn’t particularly historic, nor does it have intricate architecture. But it is hard to believe with all the open space around the YMCA, more must be created for additional parking.

When they proposed the demolition of the Big Four depot, I fought hard spawning my website, and my column; they tore it down anyway. When they proposed the demolition of the 1700 block of Broadway, I presented a detailed report showing why it would be better so save it; they tore it down anyway. When they proposed the demolition of Central School, I offered several possible uses to the City; my words fell on deaf ears and they tore it down anyway.

I have written countless columns on how detrimental this practice is. Pointing out vast open space contributes to the blight of downtown, not helps it. Razing building for open space achieves the opposite of the City goals for downtown. I have brought up that there are over 2200 parking places currently in downtown, yet we create more, nothing changes.

I agree that tearing down that warehouse is wrong. But with all the effort I put into saving those other structures and being completely ignored, I don't see being able to prevent it. Every time I speak of saving buildings, I see everyone's eyes glaze over and their blank stares of "there he goes again" then carry on with their business after I've spoke like I wasn't even in the room. I wonder if anyone is still reading this week’s column.

The downtown’s best chance now is to hope for some infill projects to fill in the gaps left by building demolitions. But it will be hard to convince developers to take that chance until downtown turns the corner. And turning the corner will be hard as long there are wide-open spaces. It’s a catch-22.

"Saving Mattoon" through historic preservation isn't going to happen. I hate to admit that, but it’s a sad hard fact. I will oppose the demolition, but I probably won't put much energy into saving it. I know from past experience, it can't be done.

A different approach towards economic development

I caught the last part of Matt Montgomery’s presentation to the City of Mattoon on bringing new retail to Coles County. Mr. Montgomery is from Buxton ID in Fort Worth, Texas and they specialize in community retail recruitment.

The plan is for an $85,000 study to match retail businesses with Coles County based on credit card usage, online purchases and other demographic data. The cost would be split between the communities.

The city plans to share the data for a fee with developers throughout the county to help bring business may work well in this region. Coles Together would own the actual information since they are a private entity. If the cities owned the information, someone could access it through the freedom of information act and use it without compensating.

There is an abundance of open retail space in Coles County. The old K-mart building is being renovated into a strip mall, though many spaces are full, there are still others available. There is also space available in the new strip along Lake Land Boulevard; and vacant slots in the Good Neighbor Shopping Center, not to mention the numerous available buildings downtown.

Stores already located in Mattoon are filling some of those spaces. Moving from one space to another is not exactly bringing new business to town. This step is may help fill that gap.

Charleston is not without empty retail buildings either. The former Wal-Mart building is largely vacant, as well as many store fronts in the surrounding plaza. The Walgreen’s store will leave their old location vacant. Labamba’s recently closed and Jimmy John’s moved leaving room for new retail close to campus. And there are a number of available buildings on and around the square.

I don’t know much about Buxton ID. I have seen presentations similar to this before and am never sure where the sales pitch ends and the reality begins. But I do like the idea of Mattoon and Charleston working together on economic development. The two towns are one community and their cooperation’s will benefit each other. I also like the pro-active approach towards attracting new business. If we sit and wait till companies contact us we will never move forward.

Writer’s block ramblings

Another Thursday night and my deadline loom ahead with me struggling for a topic. It doesn’t happen very often, but every now and then I just am not sure what to write about.

I could write about the Omega Funds being used by the Mattoon police department. The department received around $650,000 from the sale of confiscated property once owned by the conspirators of the scam. This money was left over after victims were given a chance to be reimbursed for their losses.

The money has some strings attached, such as must be used for law enforcement on items that are not in the regular budget. And the money is to be spent in a relatively short period of time, 2 to 3 years. The City is not to simply bank the money and spend the interest; they must draw down the principle.

The police department has used the money to buy in-car cameras, in-car and handheld radios, weapons, exercise equipment and training. The City hopes to use part of the money renovate the top floors of the police department. These funds have been great help to equipping our police department.

Or I could write about the City of Charleston’s Zoning Board voting on the Lake Island Tract leases. There were good arguments on both sides of that debate, and it was a split vote. Two members of the board were absent from the meeting.

I hope they were ‘excused’ absences and the members didn’t simply miss the meeting to avoid a controversial vote. These people are appointed to these boards to make these types of decisions. If they are not willing to do that, they should let someone else serve on the board.

I thought about commenting on attracting a full iron man this summer to Lake Mattoon. This is a full 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. But I wore myself out just thinking about it.

I did want to mention to our state legislature to get on the ball with the FutureGen legislation. I have corresponded with Chapin Rose on this several times and the legislation seems to be hung up in the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. This legislation is one of the biggest items that will improve Illinois’ chance of landing FutureGen. I would hate to see all the hard work put in at the local levels lost because the State dropped the ball.

Usually when a topic doesn’t fall into my lap, one comes to me in my ramblings to myself. This week, nothing really stands out to fill an entire column, maybe next week.