SPRINGFIELD - As lawmakers mull a new tax to help people pay higher power bills, an Ameren spokesman said Monday the company could be ready to use more of its own money for the same purpose.

House Democrats have met behind closed doors to consider placing a tax on electricity generation companies in hopes of handing some of the new money out to customers paying higher bills than last year.

The tax would not be levied on the Ameren Illinois utilities and ComEd, which don't generate power but just deliver the power to customers.

That's because the utility companies have argued for months that a move by lawmakers to lower their electric rates would force them into bankruptcy court. Therefore, lawmakers say a tax on the generators, such as ComEd parent Exelon Corp., wouldn't hurt the utilities.

"It's a concept, and we have to make sure that it's workable," said state Rep. Bob Flider, D-Mount Zion. How much money the move could generate remains an open question because details of the concept haven't yet been worked out.

Relief plan talks continue

In the meantime, corporate officials and lawmakers continue to bargain over a voluntary payment to customers hit by higher power bills.

"At this point, there's no deal," said Ameren spokesman Shelley Epstein.

Before, Ameren had offered to pay $73 million to customers hit the hardest, but lawmakers said that wasn't enough.

But Monday, Epstein said the number has increased, but he declined to say by how much. He said he wasn't sure if a tax on generators would affect the utilities.

But echoing groups that have pushed hard against Gov. Rod Blagojevich's tax plan on businesses, Epstein suggested any increased cost to the companies could end up raising customers' prices, not lowering them.

"We'd be obligated to pass that along to the customers," he said.