Currently, approximately 132,000 customers are without power in Ameren's service territory. Virtually all of these outages are AmerenUE customers in the state of Missouri, with well under 1,000 customers remaining out of service in Illinois.
While Sunday continued to pose challenges to the restoration effort, today's warmer weather decreased the amount of ice on trees and power lines. In addition, the company currently has about 3,000 linemen and 1,300 tree- removal/vegetation management personnel in the field working to restore power, with 600 more linemen and 100 more tree trimmers expected to arrive in the next 24-36 hours.
With the better weather and additional crews either arriving or already at work, Ameren is now able to offer estimated restoration dates. However, the company notes that these estimates are subject to change should another major weather event strike the region.
Following is a breakdown of outages and estimated restoration times for Ameren's Missouri and Illinois customers. Again, assuming current conditions hold, some customers will be restored before these dates, but all customers should be restored by the late evening of each date:
Power Restored End of Day Monday, Jan. 15
• South St. Louis County
• Jefferson County
• All remaining Illinois customers
Power Restored End of Day Tuesday, Jan. 16
• St. Charles County/Wentzville
• Franklin County
Power Restored End of Day Wednesday, Jan. 17
• West St. Louis County
• North St. Louis County
Ameren continues to remind its customers of the following safety tips:
• Customers should stay away from downed lines and report them to their Ameren utility company.
• For customers who are without power in the cold and unable to get to a warm location, Ameren recommends staying in one room, wearing layers of clothing and wrapping up in blankets.
• Customers using an alternate heat source must be sure to follow all instructions, use fire safeguards and ensure proper ventilation.
• Customers using generators must follow all safety precautions listed in the owner's manual and only use them in well-ventilated areas.
Other tips for customer safety and for coping with winter power outages can be found on www.ameren.com.
Ameren, through its subsidiaries, serves 2.4 million electric customers and one million natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.