It’s the last day for Ameren Illinois customers with new 
advanced electric meters to sign up for a no-cost program that rewards them with bill credits for delaying heavy power usage on certain days.
To sign up for Ameren’s Peak Time Rewards program, visit PeakTimeRewards.com or call 1-844-787-7874. Qualifying customers who don’t make the March 1 deadline can still sign up, but they will be put on a wait list for the next program year.
Here’s how the program works:
Beginning June 1, Ameren will notify participants of a “Peak Time Rewards event”—typically a few hours on a hot summer afternoon when electricity demand is expected to increase significantly. Participants who can reduce electricity use during that event will be rewarded with a bill credit for every kilowatt-hour (kWh) they save below a personal baseline. The baseline, which is different for each customer, is determined by reviewing a participant’s usage on similar days prior to the event.
Customers who choose not to reduce their power usage won’t be penalized. They simply won’t get a credit that day. However, they can participate in future peak-time events.
Peak Time Rewards is open to Ameren residential customers who have a new advanced electric meter. (The new meters have digital face and a yellow sticker.) Commercial customers as well as residential customers who participate in a program called “net metering” are not eligible for Peak Time Rewards. If you’re not sure of your eligibility, call a program specialist, at 1-844-787-7874.
Last year, participants were rewarded with a credit of $1.51 per kWh saved. For the upcoming program year, the credit could be anywhere between 50 cents per kWh and $2 per kWh saved.
Ameren Illinois is in the process of installing new electric meters across its service territory—1.2 million customers—by the end of 2019. The advanced meters, which automatically record energy usage, make it possible to offer new pricing programs such as Peak Time Rewards.
For more information, visit CUB’s Peak Time Rewards page.
