Mid-Missouri Electric Rates Keep Climbing: Ameren, Evergy & Columbia Water & Light (2025–2027)

If your electric bill feels heavier than it did two years ago, you're not imagining it. Here is what the utilities serving Central Missouri have done since 2024, with sources.

The rate roundup

| Utility | What happened | Effective | |---|---|---| | Ameren Missouri (electric) | PSC approved a $355M increase, about 12% for typical residential customers (about $12/mo) | June 1, 2025 | | Ameren Missouri (new case) | Requested about $343M (about 10.4%), about $13/mo for a typical 1,011 kWh home. Pending at the PSC. | Proposed mid-2027 | | Ameren Missouri (gas) | About 12% (about $13/mo) | Fall 2025 | | Evergy Missouri West | Residential +7.5% (about $8/mo) | Jan 1, 2025 | | Columbia Water & Light | +2% (customer charge $22 → $22.44) | Oct 1, 2025 | | Columbia Water & Light | +6% on usage charges, approved 4–2 by council | Oct 2026 | | Boone Electric Cooperative | Average residential rate about 13.4¢ → 13.6¢/kWh (2024 → 2025, third-party data); co-op cites rising wholesale power costs | 2025 |

Columbia Water & Light customers now pay up to 16.10¢ per kWh in the top summer tier. The more you use in July and August, the more each additional kWh costs.

Why rates keep rising

The utilities cite grid upgrades, storm hardening, new generation, and higher wholesale power and financing costs. None of those pressures are going away soon.

What you can control

You can't vote on a rate case, but you can shrink the number of kWh you buy:

1. Cut the load. Air sealing and insulation are the cheapest kWh you'll ever "buy."
2. Upgrade heating and cooling. DOE says geothermal heat pumps can cut heating and cooling energy use by 30–60%.
3. Make your own power. Every kWh your solar array produces is one you don't buy at tomorrow's rate.
4. Store it. Batteries let you ride through outages, and on some rate structures they let you avoid buying expensive power.

[PROJECT PHOTO]

A straight answer on tax credits

The federal 30% residential clean energy credit (Section 25D) ended for systems completed after December 31, 2025. Any solar quote you get in 2026 should be based on bill savings and resilience, not an expired credit. We'll show you the math with your own utility bills.

Get a real number

Send us 12 months of bills, and Solar Sam (Columbia, MO) will show you what a system would offset at your utility's current rates. Call (573) 819-9623.

Sources: Missouri PSC (ER-2024-0319, ER-2026-0291), Ameren Missouri, Evergy, City of Columbia, KOMU 8, Fox 2, electricrates.org. Figures are as of October 2026; we'll update this post as cases are decided.