Citing soaring natural gas prices, AmerenUE, the Missouri utility company of Ameren Corp., has filed a request with the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) for an increase in the purchased gas adjustment (PGA) on customer bills that would add an extra $11 per month to most residential customers’ bills.

The new PGA would, on average, increase residential customers’ bills by 13.9 percent, or $11 per month. If approved by the PSC, the increase would become effective June 1 for AmerenUE’s 127,000 gas customers.

However, not all AmerenUE customers would see their bills increase. AmerenUE said its customers in Rolla, Salem and Owensville, Mo., would actually see a decrease of about $2.59 per month due to a lower transportation surcharge for one of the pipelines that supplies gas to those areas.

AmerenUE warned that more increases are likely in the future as the booming price of oil helps drive up the cost of natural gas.

Electric rates would not be affected by the new proposal. In April, AmerenUE filed a request for a 12.1 percent electric rate increase with the PSC. The commission has scheduled hearings for November in the rate case.

If approved, that request would provide a total of $251 million per year in additional revenue to Ameren that would allow the company to continue systemwide reliability improvements for its customers and cover increases in its costs for fuel, transportation and materials essential to generating and delivering electricity, Ameren said.

The requested electric rate increase would mean less than $9 more per month for the average household.

AmerenUE, a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ameren Corp. (NYSE: AEE), serves 1.2 million electric customers and 127,000 natural gas customers in a 24,000-square-mile area of north, central and eastern Missouri.

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