GASCONADE COUNTY, MO — “A study commissioned by Ohio Citizen Action reports energy costs from the Prairie State Energy Campus (PSEC) in southern Illinois are far higher than what members of eight state electric associations were expecting to pay.
Owensville officials on Tuesday noted how fortunate city residents and business owners were to be out of the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission MJMEUC) — one of those eight state associations which bought into the PSEC project, initially developed by Peabody Energy. Owensville was a member of the Missouri Public Energy Pool (MoPEP) before managing to reach an assignment agreement for its long-term obligations with the city of Waynesville and exit the pool as of March 2012.’The Prairie State Coal Plant: The Reality vs. the Promise’ is a 31-page report on ‘cost overruns and broken promises to 217 municipalities and 17 electric membership cooperatives in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia,’ its authors note. The report, compiled by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), says members will pay costs first-year costs ’40 to 100 percent higher than promised by Peabody Energy.’ Owensville Mayor Dixon Somerville said Tuesday that city resident could have been paying up to 20 cents per kilowatt hour had the city not got out of MoPEP. Ward 2 Alderman John Kamler questioned how Missouri politicians allowed its municipalities to get involved with such a speculative power purchasing venture like MoPEP.”
— Dave Marner, Gasconade County Republican
