Senator Mike Bernskoetter

6th Senatorial District

For Immediate Release: 

Feb. 28, 2025

Capitol Building, Room 416

Jefferson City, MO 65101

Contact Kenny Ross: 

 573-751-2076

Improving Missouri’s Utility Infrastructure

This week the Missouri Senate worked on the passage of Senate Bill 4. This legislation will positively impact Missouri’s economy and the future of our state by ensuring a reliable supply of electricity.

As our population grows, and our economy and society continue to evolve, electrical usage increases. This is especially true as Missouri continues to actively attract new and expand existing industrial facilities. Consumers use a fair amount of electricity, but the factories that power our industrial base use a lot more. 

What SB 4 does is change the way that utility companies calculate their expenses. When going before the Public Service Commission (PSC), which is the regulatory body that determines utility rates in the state of Missouri, companies would be allowed to include current construction work on improvements to the grid infrastructure and for power generation in their calculations. This change would make it easier for utility companies to more confidently invest in Missouri’s energy generation and transmission infrastructure as we continue to grow.

This change to utility law is necessary to ensure Missouri continues to attract industrial producers, and that when the regular citizens of Missouri go to flip on their lights they turn on.

In addition, this bill creates new provisions which ensure that during extreme cold or hot weather utility companies cannot turn off power due to delinquent payments. Living in Missouri, extreme changes in temperature and weather are the norm. In the dead of winter it can be dangerous to live in a house without heat. On the flipside, it is downright miserable to have no air conditioning when in the dog days of summer. I believe people should pay their bills, but turning off power in extreme weather can be a matter of life and death.

This legislation also contains other pro-consumer provisions such as increasing funding for the office of Public Counsel at the PSC. It also provides policies relating to natural gas, solar, water utilities and meters.

This legislation passed the Senate this week, and I am hopeful for its passage in the House. At times, one of the largest struggles in this role is governing with an eye towards the future. This is the type of bill that is preventing a problem in the future. One that would exist in ten or twenty years if we did nothing today. It takes a long time to construct and improve the utility infrastructure of this state. The time to make the necessary changes is now.

Please feel free to contact my office at 573-751-2076. For information about my committee assignments or sponsored legislation, please visit my official Missouri Senate website at senate.mo.gov/Bernskoetter.