JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri's largest consumer of electricity is asking the Missouri Public Service Commission to cut its electric rate, saying Ameren Missouri is overcharging customers.
Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp. filed the request Thursday. The request seeks about a 25 percent reduction in the electric rate Ameren charges for power at Noranda's aluminum smelter in the southeast Missouri town of New Madrid.
If approved, rates for other Ameren Missouri customers could rise. Noranda says its request would be expected to increase other consumers' rates by 1.8 percent or less.
Warren Wood, Ameren Missouri's vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs, says the utility will fight the cuts. He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Noranda in effect is seeking to pass on the cost of its rate cut to other customers.