As Hurricane Sandy moves toward the East Coast and more is learned about its potential severity, Ameren Corporation announced today it is committing an additional 150 linemen and field support personnel and releasing 50 more contractors to the region.

More than 100 Ameren employees and 100 contractors are already staged in Somerset, N.J. The first group arrived Sunday afternoon and is ready to assist power restoration efforts after Hurricane Sandy makes landfall.

Ameren Missouri Safety Supervisor Tom French said employees have met with Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) officials to discuss workers’ safety and have stocked Ameren trucks with equipment to restore electricity.

“PSE&G is very well organized. They have line and tree trimming crews all staged around town,” French said. “When you arrive early to an event of this magnitude, you have to wait for the hurricane to arrive, wait for it to be over and wait for the work to be organized. We have to follow the same policies and procedures and carefully plan our work to do it safely.”

"Our crews are stationed about a half-mile from PSE&G's staging area so we will be ready to mobilize quickly once we're given the go ahead," said Robert Collison, superintendent of Electric Operations, who is leading the Ameren Illinois team. "As we wait to deploy, we are using the time to continuously reinforce our safety principles. We're eager to work, but we won't begin until we're sure it is safe."

Ameren.com will feature updates on Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois crews assisting the restoration efforts.

To learn about how the electric industry’s Mutual Assistant Network and the power restoration process works, visit EEI.org.

About Ameren
With assets of $23 billion, St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation owns a diverse mix of electric energy centers strategically located in our Midwest market, with a generating capacity of 15,900 megawatts. Through our Missouri and Illinois subsidiaries, we serve 2.4 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area. Our mission is to meet our customers' energy needs in a safe, reliable, efficient and environmentally-responsible manner. For more information, visit Ameren.com.

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CONTACT: Corporate - Brian Bretsch, 314.554.4135, bbretsch@ameren.com; Missouri - Kent Martin, 314.554.2182, missouricommunications@ameren.com; Illinois - Leigh Morris, 217.535.5228, lmorris@ameren.com