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Page 1: A Note About Hourly Electricity Prices - Power Smart Pricing

9/8/2015 A Note about Hourly Electricity Prices ­ Power Smart Pricing

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A Note about Hourly Electricity PricesJUNE 1, 2015A guiding principal behind the Power Smart Pricing (PSP) program is thatinformation empowers people to make smarter decisions about their energy usage.When you have information about what the price of electricity will be throughout theday, 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 thehourly electricity price and the RTP Supplier Charge rate. We believe this will allowparticipants to better understand their costs on the program and how the hourly ratecompares to the Ameren Illinois standard fixed rate. Keep in mind that this is not anew charge. You are already paying the RTP Supplier Charge as a separate lineitem on your bill. The change is that it will be included in the hourly pricinginformation provided to you in the Power Smart Pricing tools. We explain furtherbelow.

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

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

The RTP Supplier Charge rate has increased from 0.178 cents per kWh to 1.636cents per kWh for the June 2015 through May 2016 period, based on MISO’sPlanning Resource Auction results. The RTP Supplier Charge could be as large as50 percent of the Day Ahead Energy Charge for PSP customers. The charge rate isa cents per kWh value and is set for a 12 month period. It is the same during the

Page 2: A Note About Hourly Electricity Prices - Power Smart Pricing

9/8/2015 A Note about Hourly Electricity Prices ­ Power Smart Pricing

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summer and the non­summer months. (Note that your individual “RTP SupplierCharge” line item on your bill is based on the Supplier Charge rate per kWh and yourtotal 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 savingsshould be minimal. You can reduce the impact of the RTP Supplier Charge by using electricityefficiently throughout the year.

By adding the RTP Supplier Charge rate to the hourly pricing information, we hopeparticipants will be able to better understand their costs on the program and how thehourly rate compares to the Ameren Illinois standard fixed rate. Please contact thePower Smart Pricing team at 1­877­655­6028 [email protected] if you haveany questions about hourly prices or your participation in the program.


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