News Releases

As a complex line of storms begins making its way through the Ameren Illinois service territory, the company activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) as of 8 p.m. today in a precautionary and monitoring role. The EOC will be staffed around-the-clock to coordinate service restoration, logistical support and communications.

“We are taking the appropriate steps to respond and safely address disruptions to the system should they occur,” said Ron Pate, senior vice president of Operations and Technical Services, Ameren Illinois. “Should outages occur, Ameren Illinois will work closely with hospitals, police and fire departments, and local emergency officials to update lists of critical facilities with outages in their communities. Restoring power to these vital community resources is a priority. Customers can rest assured that we will get to everyone as quickly and safely as possible.”

Ameren Illinois President and CEO Richard Mark added, “Customers are also reminded to take precautions to protect themselves and their families, including staying away from downed power lines and immediately reporting any downed lines to Ameren Illinois.”

Ameren Illinois is taking the following actions to keep customers and personnel safe:

• Weather conditions are being monitored for any changes that may impact service.
• All Ameren Illinois and contractor personnel have been placed on alert.
• Trucks are fueled and loaded with supplies so they are ready for immediate deployment.
• If necessary, Ameren Illinois is prepared to deploy the special Ameren Illinois Storm Trailers. These trailers are filled with materials field crews need to perform their service restoration work. The trailers can be moved to various staging sites to provide materials when outside crews come in to help with the restoration efforts and to provide a store of materials close to the area with the most damage.
   

Customer safety tips

The measures customers should take to prepare for a power outage or loss of natural gas service are similar to those needed to prepare for any emergency situation.

• Call Ameren Illinois at 1-800-755-5000 as soon as possible to report a downed line, natural gas odor, or an outage.
• Residents are reminded to stay away from downed power lines because these lines may still be energized. During an outage, individuals are asked to stay indoors after sunset because downed lines may not be visible. Stay away from brush, shrubs and fallen trees that may be hiding these lines.
• Detailed safety and outage information is available at IllinoisOutage.com. Customers with mobile devices can visit Ameren.mobi.
• Sign up for outage alerts and we will text or e-mail restoration updates after you report an outage. Learn more at Ameren.com/alerts.
• If your electric service is interrupted, be sure to unplug or protect sensitive computer and electronic equipment with a high-quality surge protector.
• When severe weather is predicted, make certain your cell phone is fully charged. Also, remember that cordless land line telephones will not function in the event of a power outage.
   

In addition to the safety and outage information available at IllinoisOutage.com, customers and media can receive timely updates on outage restoration by following the Ameren Illinois news feed at twitter.com/AmerenIllinois and Facebook.com/AmerenIllinois.

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