SPRINGFIELD - Chicago-area electric company ComEd filed a request to raise power rates Wednesday, and Ameren could do the same by the end of the year.

The ComEd request for an average of $6 more per month on a $75 bill comes only months after utilities reached a settlement with lawmakers to pay out $1 billion in refunds to power customers across Illinois.

The company said they'd ask to raise rates during those settlement talks, but some consumer advocates think they're asking for too much.

"We've seen no evidence that ComEd deserves a big rate increase from consumers," said David Kolata, spokesman for the Citizens Utility Board, a watchdog group.

Ameren also said during settlement talks that they planned to ask for more money. Spokesman Shelley Epstein said Wednesday that the company hasn't changed its plans.

"We're moving in that direction," he said.

Epstein said Ameren's goal was to increase bills less than 10 percent.

ComEd and Ameren say most of the money from the Jan. 1 electric rate increase went to the companies that generate the electricity that ComEd and Ameren buy and deliver to consumers. This new increase would cover the rising delivery costs, the utilities say.

That Jan. 1 increase caused outcries from Ameren and ComEd customers across the state.

Central and Southern Illinois Ameren customers who heat their homes with electricity were the hardest hit. For some, power bills doubled.

That led to more than half a year of wrangling between lawmakers and the utility companies. The $1 billion settlement was the result, with Ameren customers getting refund checks within the past several weeks and ComEd customers getting credits on future bills.

Before either Ameren or ComEd could get another increase, the rate change would have to be approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission. The commission often doesn't give companies the full amount they ask for, and the process of implementing the increase could take a year.

That means the price change ComEd asked for Wednesday isn't imminent, and an Ameren one would likely be even further off.

State Rep. David Miller, D-Calumet City, said he didn't know if the costs ComEd requested were justified but hoped the Illinois Commerce Commission studies it closely.

"I hope they would hold the line on this," he said.