Report gives AmerenUE high marks for storm response
St. Louis-based electric utility AmerenUE has taken plenty of public whippings for storm-related power outages in recent years. So it is noteworthy that the Public Service Commission staff had only good things to say about the utility’s response to the late-January ice storm in southeast Missouri that knocked out power to 35,000 customers.
The Jan. 26 storm deposited more than two inches of ice across parts of southeast Missouri, breaking more than 3,800 AmerenUE distribution and transmission poles. The utility had more than 4,000 linemen, tree trimmers and other employees and contractors working during peak restoration efforts, which took several days.
On Monday afternoon, the PSC staff, a group of auditors, engineers and lawyers who advise state utility regulators, submitted the findings of their investigation in a report ordered by the commission. Here is part of what they had to say:
AmerenUE applied the lessons it learned from previous storm restoration efforts in response tor this ice storm and brought its customers up faster than the rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities.
Not only did AmerenUE get service restored faster to its customers, the utility also helped other utilities, the report said.
I guess when they were compiling their findings, they didn’t speak to all of the widows that live on Flora that were without power for almost 3 days. They were the last ones to get power restored. These women are on fixed incomes that they receive once a month and could not afford to replace their food that was spoiled from the outage. One woman just bought her monthly groceries and can not afford to replace them until her next monthly check. I called Ameren and explained this to them. They could care less. SHAME on Ameren. Let’s hope it’s not their mother’s next time.