---
title: "Ameren wants nine gas plants, coal until 2042, and $13 more a month"
description: "Ameren Missouri's 20-year plan leans on data-center demand to keep the Labadie coal plant running to 2042 and add nine gas plants, while the same regulators weigh its $343 million rate increase. In AEP's Ohio and Kentucky territory, the data center pays first, in collateral, exit fees and $100 million of bill credits."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Power"
published: 2026-10-12T17:21:54.057Z
modified: 2026-10-12T17:21:54.057Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/ameren-wants-nine-gas-plants-coal-until-2042-and-13-more-a-month
language: en
keywords: "Data Centers, Utilities, Coal, Natural Gas, Regulation, Missouri"
---

# Ameren wants nine gas plants, coal until 2042, and $13 more a month

> Ameren Missouri's 20-year plan leans on data-center demand to keep the Labadie coal plant running to 2042 and add nine gas plants, while the same regulators weigh its $343 million rate increase. In AEP's Ohio and Kentucky territory, the data center pays first, in collateral, exit fees and $100 million of bill credits.

## A piñata shaped like a coal plant

Patricia Schuba took a bat to a piñata modeled on the coal plant she lives beside on Saturday, candy dyed to look like coal spilling at the feet of more than 50 marchers outside [Ameren](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/ameren) Missouri's St. Louis headquarters [1]. [The plan that drew them](https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/ameren-missouri-updates-20-energy-220000809.html) keeps all four units of Labadie burning until 2042 instead of retiring two in 2036, and adds nine natural gas plants, up from two in the 2023 plan [1][7]. Schuba says the plant has made her and her neighbors sick; Cindy McFarland, 27 years a Labadie resident, described coal dust in the gutters and a mask for yard work [2].

## Demand is signed, so the build is real

[Ameren](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001002910)'s own numbers say the driver is data centers: [2.8 gigawatts of signed large-load agreements by 2030](https://theinference.org/article/ameren-justifies-a-gas-buildout-and-missouri-coal-to-2042-with-2-8-gw-of-signed-demand), 40 prospective centers in its territory, and a plan that quietly dropped the net-zero language of the 2020 and 2023 editions [6][7]. The gas schedule alone runs 2,100 megawatts of combined-cycle capacity by 2031 and another 2,800 by 2035 [6][9]. Columbia, Missouri's whole grid peaks near 290 megawatts, and its substations are already close to capacity [3].

*Chart: **One campus can outrun a city grid: the megawatts behind the gas build** Bar chart of megawatts: Columbia Missouri citywide peak 290, TeraWulf Muskie campus 1,000, Ameren signed large-load 2,800, AEP Ohio under its 2025 tariff 5,642, AEP Ohio total through 2035 at 17,861.*

*Contracted or planned megawatts, not current consumption. Columbia is historical peak demand; Ameren is signed electric service agreements for 2030; AEP Ohio figures are binding contracts as of February 12, 2026, with collateral posted on the tariff tranche. Sources: ABC 17 News; cleveland.com; PR Newswire; Ameren release. [3][4][5][6]*

## The bill arrives before the plants

The Missouri Public Service Commission, which must approve the plan, is also weighing [Ameren's June request for $343 million a year more](https://callnewspapers.com/missouri-representative-calls-for-review-of-costs-associated-with-data-centers/), about 10 percent, roughly $13 a month on a typical residential bill and the third increase in five years [1][8]. Ameren's testimony counts about $2.8 million of annual cost to serve large loads against $13.4 million of revenue from them, and Rob Dixon, Ameren's vice president of regulatory and legislative affairs, projects $21 million in customer savings over two years [7][8]. State Representative Brad Christ has asked the commission to settle the cost question "before the plants are built, not after" [8]. The spending has started regardless: capex outran operating cash flow in 10 of the past 12 quarters [10].

*Chart: **Ameren has outspent its operating cash flow in 10 of the past 12 quarters** Line chart of Ameren quarterly capital spending versus operating cash flow, Q3 2023 to Q2 2026, in billions of dollars; capex exceeds operating cash flow in 10 of 12 quarters and peaks at 1.6 billion in Q1 2026.*

*Ameren Corporation (AEE), quarterly, US$ billions, from its SEC filings. The gap is carried on debt and equity until regulators decide who repays it. Source: Ameren SEC filings. [10]*

## Where the load pays first

Two states east the price list is public. [AEP Ohio's tariff, in force since July 2025](https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2026/10/what-we-learned-about-who-pays-if-ohio-data-center-projects-dont-materialize.html), covers data centers from 25 megawatts up, reclaims 100 percent of buildout costs on cancellation or a delay beyond 12 months, and sets an exit fee of 36 months of minimum charges; 5,642 megawatts sit under it with collateral posted, inside 17,861 megawatts contracted through 2035 [4]. In Kentucky, [TeraWulf](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/terawulf) will pay the financing costs of a 760-megawatt gas plant and fund $100 million of winter bill credits, about $25 a month for a typical household from 2029 [5]. Missouri's safeguard is thinner on paper: a 75-megawatt threshold on the large-load tariff [3], plus Senate Bill 4, the utility law Governor Mike Kehoe signed in April 2025, which requires large new customers to cover the infrastructure built to serve them [8]. Neither names a dollar figure.

|  | AEP Ohio tariff (since July 2025) | Kentucky Power and TeraWulf (2026) | Missouri: SB4 and large-load tariff |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Large-load threshold | 25 megawatts and up | The agreement covers the 1,000-megawatt Muskie campus | 75 megawatts |
| What the data center pays or posts | Collateral on 5,642 megawatts; 100 percent of buildout costs on cancellation or delay beyond 12 months; exit fee of 36 months of minimum charges | Financing costs of a 760-megawatt gas plant | No dollar figure named; SB4 requires large new customers to cover the infrastructure built to serve them |
| What other customers get | Collateral and cost recovery if a campus cancels or delays | $100 million of winter bill credits, about $25 a month for a typical household from 2029 | Ameren projects $21 million of customer savings over two years |

*What large loads pay or post, and what residents get back, under the AEP Ohio tariff, the Kentucky Power and TeraWulf agreement, and Missouri's Senate Bill 4 and large-load tariff, as described in the sources cited in this article.*

## Ameren's answer, and its gap

Chief Sustainability Officer Gwen Mizell frames running Labadie as "getting the full value from a vehicle you've already paid for," and chief growth officer Ajay Arora calls it one of the country's most affordable plants [1][2][7]. Dixon says Senate Bill 4's safeguards ensure other customers do not bear data centers' costs [7]. The gap is default: [AEP](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/american-electric-power) demands collateral because [contracted campuses do not always open](https://theinference.org/article/amazon-google-meta-and-microsoft-sign-duke-energy-s-data-center-tariff-ratepayers-keep-the-exit-risk), and one campus can exceed a city's entire peak load [3][4].

## Whether Missouri publishes dollar terms before the concrete pours

The Kentucky Public Service Commission takes [the TeraWulf amendment](https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/kentucky-power-terawulf-finalize-expanded-122200627.html) this year, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is weighing who pays for transmission built for loads that never arrive, with responses from PJM, the regional grid operator, due November 16 [4][5]. The tell for Ameren (AEE) holders is whether Missouri publishes dollar terms before concrete pours [6]. AEP's safeguards are published dollar amounts, collateral and exit fees written into contracts. Ameren's Missouri safeguard so far sets a 75-megawatt threshold and publishes no price [3].

## Takeaway

Signed data-center demand is underwriting a bigger, longer-burning Ameren Missouri, and while AEP's Ohio tariff prices the risk of a campus that never opens in dollars, Missouri regulators are still deciding who pays.

## Sources

1. [St. Louis Public Radio, Demonstrators condemn Ameren's plan to power data centers with coal and natural gas, 11 October 2026](https://www.stlpr.org/health-science-environment/2026-10-11/demonstrators-condemn-amerens-plan-to-power-data-centers-with-coal-and-natural-gas)
2. [FOX 2 Now, St. Louis protest calls on Ameren to retire coal units, 11 October 2026](https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/st-louis-protest-calls-on-ameren-to-retire-coal-units/)
3. [ABC 17 News (KMIZ), Columbia Planning and Zoning discusses electric grid needs as it considers data center rules, 8 October 2026](https://abc17news.com/news/columbia/2026/10/08/columbia-planning-and-zoning-discusses-electric-grid-needs-as-it-considers-data-center-rules/)
4. [Cleveland.com, What we learned about who pays if Ohio data-center projects don't materialize, October 2026](https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2026/10/what-we-learned-about-who-pays-if-ohio-data-center-projects-dont-materialize.html)
5. [PR Newswire via Yahoo Finance, Kentucky Power, TeraWulf Finalize Expanded Agreement Providing for $100 Million in Customer Benefits, 5 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/kentucky-power-terawulf-finalize-expanded-122200627.html)
6. [PR Newswire via Yahoo Finance, Ameren Missouri updates 20-year energy roadmap, 28 September 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/ameren-missouri-updates-20-energy-220000809.html)
7. [KBIA and St. Louis Public Radio, Data centers drive huge power plant buildout in Ameren Missouri 20-year plan, 30 September 2026](https://www.kbia.org/missouri-news/2026-09-30/data-centers-drive-huge-power-plant-buildout-in-ameren-missouri-20-year-plan)
8. [St. Louis Call Newspapers, Missouri Representative calls for review of costs associated with data centers, 29 September 2026](https://callnewspapers.com/missouri-representative-calls-for-review-of-costs-associated-with-data-centers/)
9. [Daily Energy Insider, Ameren Missouri files latest 20-year IRP with state regulators, 30 September 2026](https://dailyenergyinsider.com/news/53941-ameren-missouri-files-latest-20-year-irp-with-state-regulators/)
10. [Ameren, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 12 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001002910)


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Ameren wants nine gas plants, coal until 2042, and $13 more a month — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/ameren-wants-nine-gas-plants-coal-until-2042-and-13-more-a-month