A Note about Hourly Electricity Prices

A guiding principal behind the Power Smart Pricing (PSP) program is that information empowers people to make smarter decisions about their energy usage. When you have information about what the price of electricity will be throughout the day, you can plan accordingly and save. In the same spirit, starting June 1,  2015, the hourly pricing information provided to PSP participants will include BOTH the hourly electricity price and the RTP Supplier Charge rate. We believe this will allow participants to better understand their costs on the program and how the hourly rate compares to the Ameren Illinois standard fixed rate. Keep in mind that this is not a new charge. You are already paying the RTP Supplier Charge as a separate line item on your bill. The change is that it will be included in the hourly pricing information provided to you in the Power Smart Pricing tools. We explain further below.

The Power Smart Pricing program gives residential customers direct access to hourly electricity prices that are based on wholesale market prices set by MISO – the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.  Each evening after 5 p.m., hourly prices for the following day are made available to participants online, by phone, and on the Power Smart Pricing mobile app. Prices are posted to help participants better manage their electricity costs with the hourly rate.

Effective June 1, 2015, the RTP Supplier Charge rate will be included in the hourly price of electricity that is displayed to Power Smart Pricing participants. This charge covers the costs of the additional supply services required for providing electricity. In the past, the prices displayed to participants have only shown the day-ahead price of electricity that is set by MISO. However, due to a recent increase in the RTP Supplier Charge rate, we felt it was important to add this charge to the hourly, day-ahead price of electricity that is displayed online, by phone, on the mobile app, and through the PSP twitter feed.

The RTP Supplier Charge rate has increased from 0.178 cents per kWh to 1.636 cents per kWh for the June 2015 through May 2016 period, based on MISO’s Planning Resource Auction results.  The RTP Supplier Charge could be as large as 50 percent of the Day Ahead Energy Charge for PSP customers. The charge rate is a cents per kWh value and is set for a 12 month period. It is the same during the summer and the non-summer months. (Note that your individual “RTP Supplier Charge” line item on your bill is based on the Supplier Charge rate per kWh and your total kWh usage during the billing period.) For the Ameren Illinois standard fixed rate, this charge is factored into the Energy Supply Charge, so the effect on PSP savings should be minimal. You can reduce the impact of the RTP Supplier Charge by using electricity efficiently throughout the year.

By adding the RTP Supplier Charge rate to the hourly pricing information, we hope participants will be able to better understand their costs on the program and how the hourly rate compares to the Ameren Illinois standard fixed rate. Please contact the Power Smart Pricing team at 1-877-655-6028 or info@powersmartpricing.org if you have any questions about hourly prices or your participation in the program.