The final decision could come as early as 9:30 a.m. Wednesday when the Missouri Public Service Commission holds its next agenda meeting.
But the five-member commission tentatively voted last Wednesday to give Noranda Aluminum Co. another break in the rates it pays for the electricity to operate its aluminum smelter in the Missouri Bootheel.
Noranda is Ameren Missouri's single largest customer, with a demand for steady power generation that consumes about 10 percent of all electricity Ameren can provide. It already is in a separate customer rate class and pays less for each megawatt hour (mWh) of power it receives than any other Ameren customer.
Last summer, commissioners rejected Noranda's request to drop its rate ruther and to exempt it from Ameren's fuel-adjustment clause (FAC) which allows the utility to change rates based on the fluctuating costs of the fuel it buys to produce electricity, and to limit its future rate increases to no more than 2 percent any time Ameren is granted higher rates.
The commissioners said Noranda had not proved its need for a lower rate nor that Ameren was "overearning" on rates the PSC that became effective in January 2014.
The PSC said any rate adjustments should be part of the regular rate-making process.
After commissioners rejected two Noranda requests, Gov. Jay Nixon noted in an April 14 statement: "Noranda announced plans to reduce its workforce and put $75 million in capital projects on hold due to the failure to gain rate certainty from the PSC."
Nixon announced his support for a compromise offered by the state's Office of Public Counsel, which helps consumers in their dealings with regulated utility rates.
"Noranda is a vitally important employer that supports the livelihoods of hundreds of Missouri families and anchors the region's overall economy," Nixon said. "This proposal by the Office of Public Counsel and consumers is a workable path forward that would protect ratepayers and I hope that the PSC gives it serious consideration."
State Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, objected in an April 17 letter to the governor that Nixon was interfering the PSC process "on behalf of one special interest company. ... Just before Missouri regulators were set to deliberate, you issued a press release supporting a filing that would provide nearly half-billion dollar bailout for one corporate entity: Noranda Aluminum.
"The costs for this bailout will be paid for by all of the other electric customers on Ameren Missouri's system."
Freshman Sen. Jeanie Riddle, R-Mokane, added in a separate letter sent Nixon last week - and co-signed by Kehoe, Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard, R-Joplin, and three others: "The rate decrease being considered by the Public Service Commission would lower Noranda's electric bill by more than $25 million per year.
"That decrease would be transferred to all other customers of Ameren Missouri who would pay more so that Noranda could pay less."
State Rep. Genise Montecillo, D-St. Louis County, told the commissioners in a separate letter: "This rate shift is unfair to my constituents, many of whom are on a fixed monthly income. My neighbors are veterans, disabled individuals and the elderly, who simply cannot afford to pick up the tab for a single company."
Montecillo and Kehoe both reminded Nixon that economic bailouts should be approved by the Legislature and paid for by all Missourians.
Last Monday, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder reminded Nixon that, when Kinder still was in the state Senate, he "drafted and passed the bill that deregulated the purchase of electricity by Noranda Aluminum and saved the jobs of more than 1,000 employees who worked there. ... Nobody has to tell me how important those jobs are to all of Southeast Missouri. However, they are NOT more important than the hundreds of thousands of senior citizens who will be forced to subsidize Noranda's electric bill and, ultimately, their shareholders."
But several commissioners said last week they were concerned that, if Noranda closed its plant and stopped buying Ameren Missouri's electricity, it would have a greater impact on the rest of the customers than the proposed rate changes.
In last week's discussion, all five commissioners agreed Noranda should pay $36/mWh, should have to pay up to $2 of any fuel adjustment clause increases - and should be held to commitments it made last summer to protect jobs and investments in its New Madrid operations.