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Power restoration nears completion
Ameren Illinois crews have restored more than 132,000 outages in the last 60 hours

Working around the clock since massive storms blew through Illinois and the Midwest on Wednesday, Ameren Illinois crews are nearing completion of power restoration work in the Metro East, including in the hard-hit communities of Belleville, Centralia, East St. Louis, Maryville and Sparta. Less than 900 Ameren Illinois customers remain without power as of Saturday morning. Crews are expected to have power restored to those customers today. 

"My hat goes off to the field personnel and support staff for the tremendous work they have performed under challenging conditions,” said Richard J. Mark, president of Ameren Illinois. “Our work is never easy, but the number of downed lines and poles that had to be cleared prior to restoration further complicated this situation. I want to thank our customers for their patience as we work through the remaining hurdles in getting these outages resolved."

At the peak of the outage, more than 100,000 customers were without power throughout the Ameren Illinois service area. The storm began working its way through the Ameren Illinois territory at about 5 p.m. Wednesday, causing hundreds of poles and wires to come down. Ameren Illinois engaged more than 2,100 resources to assist with restoration – a majority of those concentrated in the Metro East – including almost 900 contract workers and personnel from other state utilities including Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.

About Ameren Illinois

Ameren Illinois delivers energy to 1.2 million electric and 816,000 natural gas customers throughout central and southern Illinois. Our service territory covers more than 1,200 communities and 43,700 square miles and our mission is to power the quality of life.  For more information, visit AmerenIllinois.com. Follow us on Twitter @AmerenIllinois and Facebook.

 

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