Ameren Announces First Quarter 2007 Earnings

Ameren Announces First Quarter 2007 Earnings

Ameren Corporation today announced first quarter 2007 net income of $123 million, or 59 cents per share, compared to first quarter 2006 net income of $70 million, or 34 cents per share.

Ameren’s Missouri regulated business segment, which includes AmerenUE’s electric and gas utility operations, contributed $23 million to Ameren’s net income in the first quarter of 2007, or $12 million less than the year-ago period. The Illinois regulated business segment, which includes the electric and gas distribution utility businesses of AmerenCIPS, AmerenCILCO

and AmerenIP, contributed $29 million to Ameren’s net income in the first quarter of 2007, compared to $9 million in the year-ago period. The company’s non-rate-regulated electric generation segment contributed $70 million to Ameren’s net income in the first quarter of 2007, or $43 million more than the year-ago period.

“Our financial results in the first quarter of this year, excluding storm costs, were consistent with the expectations embedded in our full year 2007 earnings guidance,” said Gary L. Rainwater, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Ameren Corporation. “More noteworthy is our continued focus on developing a constructive solution for our customers in Illinois to help them adjust to higher electric rates resulting from the end of a decade-long rate freeze and expiration of power supply contracts. Such a solution would be far superior to legislation proposed in the Illinois General Assembly this year to roll back rates to 2006 levels, freeze rates and provide refunds that, if enacted, would render the Ameren Illinois utilities financially insolvent and bankrupt unless the courts promptly intervened. Among other things, a rate rollback would mean that reliability would suffer and our customers would face even higher electric bills in the long run, as was the case in California a few years ago. Notably, if rate rollback legislation had been in place on Jan. 1, 2007, the Ameren Illinois utilities would have collected approximately $100 million less in revenues in the first quarter of 2007. This shortfall would likely increase over time as commercial and industrial customers that chose alternative energy suppliers return to the utility to take advantage of below-market electric rates.”