The cost of electricity for some small Belleville businesses is soaring with little relief available.
KMOX's Maria Keena heard from the co-owner of Copper Fire, Renae Eichholz. She said her bill from Ameren Illinois has more than tripled.
"It's gonna cost us about at least $24,000 over the three month period, probably more like $30,000," she said. "Before this, we averaged about $3,000 a month in utilities. And I had another restaurant say that her bill went up to almost $7,000 this past month."
Ameren Illinois, unlike Ameren Missouri, provides a service for electric and gas, but doesn't provide the actual energy. That comes from a third-party supplier.
Tucker Kennedy, communications director for Ameren Illinois, said that in the late 90s, Illinois deregulated and lawmakers ruled that power would be purchased by a state agency.
Hear more from business owners about energy costs, and from Ameren about why those costs are going up:
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