The Missouri legislature just passed a major utility bill that makes sweeping changes to how utilities operate in Missouri. SB4 , which is now headed to Governor Mike Kehoe for a signature, contains dozens of policies. Some affect the way utilities are allowed to bill customers. Other policies increase protections for customers. Utility companies support the bill and its policy changes. They say more power plants are needed to meet expected increases in demand for energy. The bill is about reliability, affordability and “positioning Missouri to win some major economic development opportunities we now have at our doorstep that, frankly, we're competing with other states to try to bring to Missouri,” said Warren Wood, regulatory vice president for Ameren Missouri. But SB4 has many critics who say Missouri doesn’t have that demand for energy and contend the bill will significantly increase costs of utilities for customers. Environmental advocacy groups also say it disproportionately favors fossil fuels like natural gas, which is primarily made of methane, over renewable energy sources like wind and solar. “There are ways for us to have a reliable grid that do not rely on giving corporate welfare to monopoly utilities,” said Gretchen Waddell Barwick, chapter director of the Missouri Sierra Club. “We can invest in energy efficiency. We can look at battery storage.” St. Louis Public Radio asked the bill’s advocates and critics how some of the most consequential new policies will work.
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