Many AmerenCIPS customers in west central Illinois have just received their first bill of the new year.  And some of them got quite a shock.

But individual households aren't the only ones suffering electric bill sticker shock.  Illinois' 93rd District Rep. Jil Tracy says that a number of communities in her district got big bills.

"Likewise I've heard from many municipalities--towns, very small towns, which have very small budgets. And they certainly did not anticipate these kinds of increases,'' said Tracy. "I mean, some of them are looking at more than 300 percent increases for the streets lights and the like. And it's an ongoing expense that's vital to public safety."

Golden is one of those cities.  And with just 600 people, there's not a lot of money in the city budget to pay the bills. So when the city's street light bills doubled this month to $700, the town has been left wondering how its going to foot the bill.

"We will go over our budget for the town on street lights," Mayor Jim Taylor said.

Mayor Taylor says that the town does have some reserve funding. But because there are still three months left in this year's budget, tapping into the reserves now could make it harder to handle other unexpected expenses like water main breaks.

The city is also looking at increases in garbage pick-up costs, which dwindles the budget down even more.

"It's not just electric, but when you add it all together, it makes it a major problem for the whole community," Taylor said.

Golden businesses are also feeling the blow. The town nursing home saw its electric rates go from about $2,500 a month to about $5,000 in January.

"So with the nursing home increase there, and the slow pay by the state, it puts a real burden on them," Taylor said.

Mayor Taylor says increases in either sewer or water rates are possible. But he's reluctant to do that because it will add even more costs to local businesses and residents, some of whom are already stretched pretty thin. The city's finance committee is currently working on next year's budget and will look for solutions to keeping the lights on in Golden.

And larger cities in the Tri-States are feeling the impact of higher electric rates too.  Quincy Mayor John spring says the city has seen a 104 percent increase in its electric bills since the rate hike went into effect.  Bills for street lights alone went from about $19,000 in December to more than $39,000 in January--and the electric bills for city buildings haven't arrived yet.

"This is a sizeable increase. We'd anticipated for something in the neighborhood of 67 to 70 percent increases, and we'd worked with Ameren to get those figures. So this 104 percent jump in street lights makes us concerned for our other buildings that we pay for from our general fund," Mayor Spring said.

And Macomb's Mayor Mick Wisslead says that his city is looking at about a 76 percent jump in its rates for electric.  The city is considering water and sewer rate increases to help pay the for extra electricity costs.

How big is the impact of these increased rates statewide? According to an Illinois consumer group, higher electric rates could cost the state 20,000 jobs and drain nearly $2 billion from the state's economy.

The Citizens Utility Board (CUB), based in Chicago, issued a report Monday that's part of a renewed effort by the group and some elected officials to roll back rates.

Ameren sells electricity to 1.2 million customers in central and southern Illinois. It had warned that average rates would rise 40 to 55 percent at the start of this year, but many customers are reporting steeper increases as their bills arrive.

CUB official Robgert Kelter says businesses are feeling the impact in their own higher electric bills and because customers have less money to spend because they're paying so much more for electricity.

Ameren officials say they haven't seen the study and aren't commenting.