By Chris OrletRecord Managing EditorAbout 9,000 local utility customers will ring in the new year without a rate increase.For the fifth consecutive year, Cuivre River Electric Cooperative customers will see their rates unchanged. Cuivre River serves about 9,000 homes and businesses in Warren County, according to Mary Jane Clark, a spokesperson for the co-op.In contrast, Ameren Missouri customers — the majority of Warren County residents — saw a 10 percent, $260.2 million rate increase in 2013.For Ameren users, average utility bills went up about $10 a month (based on average usage of 1,100 kilowatt-hours a month). It was the fifth electric rate increase for Ameren Missouri since May 2007.The effects of that increase — which went into effect Jan. 2, 2013 — are just now being felt for some customers.Donna Sandegren, coordinator of the North East Community Action Corporation’s Warren County service center, said she is beginning to see much higher energy bills from county residents who come to her office seeking energy assistance.Sandegren said the number of those seeking assistance is up too. “Last year from Oct. 1 to March 1 we had 849 people seeking assistance. Already this year we have had 487 people seeking assistance,” Sandegren said. Those numbers, she said, do not include residents who apply directly to NECAC’s main office in Bowling Green.A spokesman for Ameren Missouri said the company did not request a rate increase for 2014. However, the utility anticipates asking for a rate increase in late 2014. If approved, the proposed increase would go into effect in 2015.According to Cuivre CEO Dan Brown, a key reason for holding steady on rates were stable wholesale power rates for the coming year. “Wholesale costs account for 70 percent of our overall expenses,” said Brown. “They are a critical component of stable retail rates for families and businesses as our local economy recovers.”Brown said the cooperative continues working to manage the remaining 30 percent of its operating costs to distribute energy to Cuivre River member-owners in St. Charles, Lincoln, Warren, southern Pike and eastern Montgomery counties. “We know that slow-growing family wages and business revenues face rising costs on many fronts,” Brown said. “We want to make certain our members receive great value from every penny they spend for electricity.”At an average residential energy rate of 8 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), Cuivre River’s rates remain among the lowest in Missouri and throughout the country. Brown credits cooperative-owned power suppliers for their roles in keeping energy affordable, and credits employee efforts to strive for maximum efficiencies in day-to-day operations.Cuivre customers, however, should enjoy the rate freeze while they can. Cuivre River officials predict a 1 to 9 percent wholesale cost increase in 2015 as the co-op anticipates higher costs for fuel in the coming year.“Each year our suppliers share their long-range rate forecasts and set their rates to us in late November for the coming year,” Clark said. “They anticipate that upward pressures on the costs for coal and natural gas, as well as rail transportation could make a modest increase necessary in 2015.”Clark added that in coming years regulatory and environmental uncertainties will loom large and will have an impact on Cuivre River’s power suppliers’ long-range financial forecasts.“Environmental uncertainties, like the proposed EPA rulings on carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants in mid-to-late 2014, and the proposed rulings on CO2 emissions from existing power plants fueled by coal and natural gas in 2015, are a serious concern. As the rulings are only pending, it’s uncertain what the impact may be,” she said.Eighty-one percent of Cuivre’s energy is produced by coal, 10 percent by wind, 6 percent by hydropower and 3 percent by natural gas.Utility: No increase for 2014