Ameren
reviews and complaints

Issue 1 - I've been a levelized billing client for years with Ameren UE. Pay has been set up as autopay of $49, so never late, as I paid on the 1st with my bill due on the 7th. Several times, I was charged a "LATE FEE", when that could NOT have been possible as I paid 6 days early every month. Issue 2 - As the Amount due changed from time to time, I'd pay that amount. I have NOT received a "level up" bill, and never received a letter of changes to my levelized billing amount. Last month I received at bill for $232.23, and without notice my levelized billing went from $49 to $80. I have called on multiple occasions and spoke with customer service. Both times, the agent agreed they didn't understand how my bill got so out of hand when my actual usage monthly was so low. I have a 1800 sq ft home and only use gas for water heater and furnace. 10/17/23 at 8:50 after much conversation with the agent and no assistance, I requested to be removed from levelized billing and terminate my email billing and send all bills via USPS. The agent confirmed that there are no records of any notification of any communication regarding "level up billing" or any communications regarding changes to my levelized billing. Her response "Oh my gosh, your right it appears we have made a terrible mistake with communication here. I don't see that you have received any of those". At that time, I demanded an audit and for a supervisor to call me. I never received a call. I called again 11/2/23. No audit has been done, and their records show a note in the file that a supervisor "called and left a message" however, I never received a call back, and my call log on my phone proves such. I asked to have myself removed from levelized billing, and Teresa said she took care of that - interesting since the last agent said they had done that. I asked the agent to send me the notes from the "phone message", but she said her computer wouldn't let her do that. I asked to speak to a supervisor. She tried to forward my call twice. Both times she came back and said, "they aren't answering". I asked her to try again. She said she can only try twice. I asked what my options were. She said Well you can call back again. Unfortunately, each time the wait has been no less than 15 minutes. I've called back again, this time spoke with Eli, asked directly to speak with a manager at 9:34 am on 11/2/23. Again, asked to speak with a manager. Again told, no one is available. This time Eli put me on a list for a call back. I asked when I could expect the call back. He said within the day, but they have up to 48 hours to respond. I am still waiting for a response to speak with a manager. There is no possibility that my usage has gone up every month over last years as the billing shows, since we are no longer a household of 3, as our son moved out in August. Our home only uses gas for the water heater, and the furnace. So increased usage during the exceptionally hot months this year, is not reasonable, or possible. I suggest that Ameren is improperly inflating usage, neglecting to communicate with clients to appropriately manage and level up their levelized billing, improperly applying "late fees" even when their own accounting on bills show the payment was received prior to the due date. Ameren is padding their invoices with additional fees, such as the "Weather Adjustment Rider", in my billing statement for example and additional charge of .31 cents added in August - when excessive heat would have obviously reduced gas usage as no furnace was in use and the water heater was not being used any more often. This fee fluctuates from .24 up to $1.24. I also submit that the PGA charge "Purchase Gas Adjustment" is being used to price gouge as those cost have fluctuated from $6.27 to $68.18 in a single months charges. As a long term customer, it is apparent that Ameren is excessively over billing, not communicating properly with clients, and in their monopoly position, not choosing to offer customer service, review accounts or respond to requests for audit or complains

Wright tree company service was doing work on my street Golden Valley Drive today 31 July 2023. Evidently Ameren contracted them out to trim trees on the street. Power was off approximately an hour. Understandable since they were working around power lines. Had know idea they were on my property until I heard them trimming neighbors tree. All branches and debris fell in my yard hitting kids swimming pool. Ameren arrived to inspect area and let tree company know everything looked fine around power lines. Tree company left all debris on my property and left. Don’t understand why such contractors are used. This one isn’t even BBB accredited. I’m sure they were cheap however. I’m sure they would not leave property of the Ameren personnel who authorized the work. Unprofessional and pathetic. This Incident was at 536 Golden Valley Drive Saint Louis Mo. 63129

This utility company is absolutely the worst. I have lived in China, Laos, Thailand, and other countries and have NEVER seen this many power outages in such a short period of time, lasting for this long. Since I moved to St. Louis in June, the power has gone out five times, for a total of EIGHT WHOLE DAYS with no power. What in H is wrong with these people. If the wind blows a little or a dozen raindrops fall the power goes out. I will join a class action lawsuit with anyone willing. I've lost work because of this, suffered stress because of this, lost $500 worth of food because of this, was forced to buy over $100 worth of batteries and camping lights because of this, spent $30 in cellular internet fees because of this, and I'M READY TO SUE. Who's with us?

My residential address is 2345 Prairie Hollow Rd. Imperial, MO 63052

I am a single mom with a 19 year old at home. I work 6 days a week and we use little energy as not home alot. My bill was 935.00 this month. I called and was told that I did not select a different plan and therefore I am paying premium energy costs...OH HELL NO. I am on a fixed income and this is fraud in the finest. Please assist. Your operators are smug and not friendly at all. They should be fired. In todays times people are struggling. I work a full time job and a part time job to survive. I am not able to pay such OUTLANDISH charges for [censored] fees. just shy of 100.00 in tax rackets... are you kidding me.

I need a phone call from someone asap before I go public with this information.

636.375.9480

Shame on you for scamming consumers. How dare you.

Michele Milchak (Hannelore)

I have a petition going requesting The Missouri Public Service Commission allow Missouri residents to have the option of an alternative electric company besides Ameren. A majority of other states allow consumers the opportunity of multiple utility providers. Missouri should not be a monopoly of one provider that continuously scams consumers, with poor customer service. Please sign my petition in the link below to put a stop to Amerens unfair practices.

https://chng.it/TvmNCpfZ

I have lived at my address since 1993 and I have never had such a high bill. In fact I have asked around and there is no one in Georgetown that has such a high bill. My bill in Jan., Feb.,March, and April is running 850.00 a month. Something is wrong! We are on budget billing and we were behind 2000.00. We are still paying that off. I am a retired teacher and I take care of my 88 year old Mother. We are both on a fixed income. We both have health problems. We would like our energy counter changed, but before that we would like you to check the accuracy of the counter. There is something wrong if you check back on my bills they never went over 375.00.

We had an unusual issue as I have been a guardian of my nephew the last ten years. We recently agreed he could get his rights restored and we went to court. He was successful and I am now helping him arrange to pay his own bills, etc.

We called Ameren to change name and address and the representative would only talk with him. I had to interject a couple of times because this is new for my nephew. I believe the more assistance he receives, the more success he will have.

I felt the representative could get his permission but he insisted the call would not be on speaker, etc. Later he said if we called at another time he could give permission.

It was unnecessary for the customer service rep to scold me as he did as if this is very top secret. I have been in charge of his affairs for over a decade!

On March 14, 2023 I made a payment of 158.81 through Ameren online payment system. The initial payment provided an error message that payment was not processed. Since this payment did not go through. I made another payment in which I received confirmation. I checked my account today, Ameren posted the payment twice. I called to request a refund. Devontae was rude and implied that it was my fault the payment posted twice. Devontae also stated that if I can get a refund Ameren would post some of my funds to the next bill that I did not authorize. The state of Missouri should have multiple options for utility service similar to the state of Texas. Since Ameren is our only option for utility service, customer service is not a high priority. Due to Ameren’s faulty payment system, I have to fight to get a refund. This is unacceptable.

Ameren is a cold, uncaring, shameful utility company... I asked for a mere 7 DAY extension to pay bill... they outright denied it even though I explained we are in hardship situation... we only have social security to depend on... They didn't care about situations, how it affects people, more hardships -- food, medicine, transportation -- and we're the ones left out in the cold because of their greedy, ruthless, money-bottom grabbing, vulture policies. Their game is disconnect your service, then hit you with some absorbent deposit that adds even more to your bill and you never see money ever again... they are despicable and should be held accountable and be under much higher federal government level consumer protection scrutiny.

Install of an streetlight in my back yard without any approval from me. I am handicap and a 3 times cancer survivor and require certain needs to live, one is sleep. And having my bedroom and house lite up every night is going to cause grave health issues. I have not sleep since its install on 11/7/22. This light is less than 50 ft from my bedroom windows.

Pole # 5941 (pole address 5941 loughborough ave. St louis MO 63109)

Your install # Z118331

This light has also jeopardized my safety, as I have to sleep with windows open on certain times, now every criminal can see when windows are open. Read what a neck breather is as humidity and temperature are life alerting.

Why ameren has installed this light has to be for money only as it is now (3) three poles in a row. 24/7 day light. I could not find any permits on record for this nor any city neighbor input. I personally did not approve and would not have.

As a past resident of Chicago and past customer of Com Ed I am accustomed to stable power supply even through heavy storms. Since moving to Normandy MO Ameren is by far the worst power company I’ve ever used. Each and every time a breeze comes through our power goes out. They don’t have the brains to move lines underground. Worst company ever!

Invest in better infrastructure like you do in the rich community.

We were disconnected (our fault completely) and told we couldn't be connected for another day after taking care of our bill. This was a major inconvenience due to several big events. So we arranged to take showers and wash some clothes at different friends' houses the next day. My daughter was just leaving about 30 minutes after we hung up with the Ameren operator when there was a knock at the door and CHRIS was there from Ameren! Complete shock that he was there to reconnect our gas! It was such a relief to call our friends and cancel the showers and laundry. But what fabulous customer service that CHRIS arrived to turn our gas on so quickly! Talk about professional and efficient! Amazing and so awesome! I couldn't find a place to thank Chris so that Ameren would know so thought this would do. Sorry if it is the wrong place. But thank you for hiring such wonderfully empathetic and compassionate individuals like CHRIS! He ROCKS!

Approximately around 06/07/2022 ameren missouri in st francois county give me to do list before any hook up could happen I call him back for another inspection told me in two days took him 4 to show I was at work he gave my wife a few things needing to be improved told her he would be back on 6/21/22 or 6/22/22 had to call him on 6/23/22 told me he could be here 6/24/22 and not returning my phone calls for final inspection I understand I'm not only one with a electric problem but don't give return dates and not show my wife is stuck home in the heat I work in it and come home to it I've done all I know too getting no help any help is appreciated

I'm trying to figure out how a trailer that hasn't ran it's heat in over a month due to already ridiculous bills has a 250$ bill. I'm legit freezing to death just so I don't have to pay these ridiculous bills but behold another 250$ electric bill when we literally run 1 tv and 1 computer maybe 12 hours a day, tops. We know what peak times are to wash clothes and we also unplug anything that is not being used in our trailer on top of not running our heat and somehow, we still have a 250$ electric bill. I have lived in 4 different states in a lot bigger homes and have never had to pay over 180$ for electric. For some reason Illinois loves to screw over their citizens and make an already outrageously taxed state overpay on utilities. But here is the kicker. The company can't be blamed for this because unlike most electric companies they don't actually supply you your electric. You have to pay extra to a supplier to have electricity in the year 2022. So, on top of having to go through a middleman to get a basic utility but you have to call two different companies to get any answers to why your bill is so ridiculously expensive. Amren electric is literally no different than any other electric company so I'm not sure what we are paying extra for? I mean does your electric have plutonium coursing through its current. Is this the premium of all electric because out of the 5 years I have lived here it doesn't seem to special to me. In fact, I would call it subpar at best.

They charge over $40 per month on "Taxes and other Fees" that they, telephone reps and their managers or leads, cannot explain and actually are just the cost of doing business that they put on the customers instead of paying for their own cost of being in operation.

I called twice and they cannot fully explain what these charges are for. They have their own "definitions" of what these line items are in "their own" dictionary provided by Ameren per the telephone rep's own explanation.

Several weeks during 2021, Agents of Ameren UE did knowingly and willfully destroy my private property. Said agents promised to repair the damage. The damage was not repaired. Another agent of Ameren stated that the damage was "insignificant" and would not be repaired. I had an estimate done on what it will take to correct the damage, which won't even cover the crop loss. You will be receiving a bill.
While I may have to have an easement on my land I DO NOT have to allow the abuse of the easement. Agents of Ameren UE we told not to drive through the middle of a crop field. The knowingly and willfully did so, destroying crops. Agents of Ameren came and went at will, in as noisy and disruptive as manner as possible, with complete disregard for the sleep schedule of the land owner. Agents of Ameren UE parked their broke equipment on the property for over 2 weeks. Agents of Ameren UE were asked to fix the damage with the land moving equipment as they left. They promised to do so, but did not. I, thankfully, am not a customer of Ameren UE, but Ameren UE has endangered our livestock by leaving gates open. They have cut down trees, promised to clean them up; which was a bald lie because that never happened. Ameren UE drives through the middle of fields knocking down crops, with no recompense.
Ameren UE blatantly abuses and destroys my property.

I have had five outages in short secession but have huge electric bills also. It takes more energy to reheat your home then to maintain heat and I have four children under the age of seven in my home and I cannot even light the stove or oven. It looks like they don't know how to fix the problem or they are just patching it instead of actually fixing it.

My name is Julie Schmidt. I am filing a complaint against Ameren Missouri. My account number is [protected]. On November 12, 13, and 14 2021 my electricity was suddenly shut off. I never received a letter that my electricity was going to be shut off. I have been an Ameren MO customer for approximately 18 years and this is the first time I have had issues with Ameren MO. When I came home from work on November 12, 2021 I did not have electricity. I live in an apartment and I called the emergency maintenance number. Once the maintenance man came out he told me that the circuit breaker was fine, but the meter for Ameren MO was not working. Once he left I called Ameren MO and the representative told me that I have not been paying my bill for the past three months. I told him that was incorrect because I have proof. Then I wanted to know where my money was going to? He didn't respond. Then I ask him how much I owed and he replied zero. Then the representative told me that my electricity will not be turned on until Monday, November 14, 2021. Then I replied that I will have to throw all of my food away in the refrigerator. I was upset because I am on a budget. Then I called Ameren MO a second time. I told the representative what had happened and she told me that when I requested to start my service at the Webster Groves area the request did not go through. I also mentioned about that I have to throw all of my food out of my refrigerator. I feel like that since Ameren MO made a mistake they need to reimburse me for the loss of food.

Thank You,
Julie Schmidt

Ameren Illinois will not answer questions about outages and purposefully tries to hide their outage times. Checking the Ameren Outage map and they have changed our "Outage Time" FOUR times to make it appear as though they only have 30 minutes of down time rather than 4 HOURS, with no response on any possible repair time. Terrible company, would switch if they didn't hold a monopoly on the region.