Ameren Missouri Storm Restoration Update, 1:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 6, 2025
Ameren Missouri has restored more than 28,000 customers since Sunday, Jan. 5, as Winter Storm Blair moved through the service territory. Outages were throughout the state, with southeast Missouri the most impacted due to tree damage from lightning, sleet and freezing rain. Ameren crews are also dealing with sometimes treacherous road conditions in areas requiring restoration.
- Today, Ameren Missouri crews have come from around the state to support our customers in southeast Missouri.
- We have over 700 resources on the ground working, including line workers and vegetation management, to restore power to remaining customers, who are located mostly in Potosi, St. Francois and Cape Girardeau.
- We expect to restore the majority of customers in southeast Missouri by midnight tonight, but some work is expected to continue into Tuesday afternoon. Additional outages are possible until the weight of the ice is no longer a threat. Updated restoration times will be added to the outage map as they become available: www.ameren.com/outagemap.
- Roads and travel conditions for crews remain difficult, and we are watching the weather closely, including a drop in temperatures and increase in wind anticipated for later today.
- Staying Warm: With colder weather expected to hit Missouri tonight, Missourians can find warming centers from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. United Way also has a list of community warming centers.
- When prioritizing restoration work, Ameren Missouri works to restore power to equipment that serves the greatest number of customers and to critical facilities.
YEAR-ROUND PREPARATION FOR COLD WEATHER
- Ameren Missouri works year-round to plan and prepare for potential impacts from winter weather as part of our Smart Energy Plan. Our approach includes:
- Investing in stronger infrastructure and smart technology capable of automatically detecting outages and quickly rerouting and restoring power to customers.
- An aggressive tree trimming program to prune or remove trees that have the potential to threaten power lines.
- Training for our linemen and other field workers so they are prepared to respond and safely restore power in any weather conditions.
- In areas with a history of wind and ice issues, Ameren Missouri has installed air-flow spoilers on overhead infrastructure to help prevent damage from galloping lines.
- Freezing rain and ice are two of the biggest threats during a winter storm. The weight of the ice itself can snap power lines, utility poles or nearby trees and branches.
- Our energy infrastructure is built to withstand a half inch of ice and wind speeds of 40 miles per hour.
- Ameren Missouri relies on a diverse mix of generation resources to reliably provide the power our customers need, when they need it most, so we have enough capacity to serve our customers, even on the coldest days.
INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS THAT CONTINUE TO BENEFIT CUSTOMERS DURING EXTREME WEATHER
- Ameren Missouri is storm-hardening our infrastructure by replacing aging wood poles and adding composite poles, which are twice as strong as traditional poles and can help prevent cascading pole failures.
- Outages have been significantly reduced on the 240 miles of overhead lines with storm-hardening upgrades.
- We have installed more than 1,500 smart switch devices across the service territory through the Smart Energy Plan. These devices can automatically detect outages and quickly restore power.
- Smart switches have helped prevent more than 50,000 customer outages during major storms in 2024.
