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AmerenUE Helps Fund Building Operator Certification Training
AmerenUE today announced that the company is contributing $300,000 to initiate in Missouri the nationally recognized Building Operator Certification Training Program. Over the next two years, AmerenUE's support will also help 210 applicants attend 80 hours of classroom training and project work on building systems operations and maintenance to earn their Building Operator Certification (BOC).

This training provides an overview of preventive maintenance, energy efficiency principles and the fundamentals of building systems equipment and operations for commercial building operators. It focuses on energy conservation techniques and efficient lighting fundamentals. It also covers heating- ventilation-air conditioning systems and controls, indoor air quality and environmental health and safety regulations.

The Energy Center of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, with the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, provides BOC training at a cost of $2,300--- but qualified applicants who are working at organizations in AmerenUE's service area will pay $1,150 thanks to the AmerenUE support.

The initial BOC classes will be offered in St. Louis at AmerenUE's 1901 Chouteau Ave. Downtown St. Louis headquarters with 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. sessions set for Oct. 26, Nov. 22, Dec. 13 in 2005 and in 2006 on Jan. 17, Feb. 13, Feb. 14, March 9, and April 12. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources 1738 East Elm Street Conference Center will be the site for Jefferson City sessions set for 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 19, Nov. 17, Dec. 15 in 2005 and in 2006 on Jan. 26, Feb. 22, Feb. 23, March 16, April 13. For more information or to register online, visit www.boccentral.org. Additional class schedules in 2006 have not been set at this time.

"Our goal with this program is to help building owners and operators reduce energy use while retaining comfort levels for building occupants," says Richard Mark, AmerenUE senior vice president, Missouri Energy Delivery. "This certification offers a complete background on how building systems operate and what the best approaches to controls, systems and efficiency may be for buildings of every size and location. We want our customers to be more profitable in order to promote economic growth in Missouri."

The program was developed as part of a settlement approved in 2002 by the Missouri Public Service Commission and other parties. Through that settlement, AmerenUE Missouri electric customers with rates that are 20 percent below the national average received their eighth rate reduction since 1987 -- $110 million in phased-in electric rate reductions, in addition to other programs that help low-income customers and encourage energy efficiency.

This program was one of many endorsed by state government leaders and Ameren management who met for several months to discuss the structure and roll-out of these initiatives. Other programs that resulted from these collaborative sessions included:

 The $3 million, one-month-long AmerenUE Clean Slate Program, conducted throughout the month of May 2003 to allow needy AmerenUE Missouri electric and natural gas customers to eliminate past due bills and get a fresh start in handling their utility payments.

 A $340,000 residential lighting initiative---the Change A Light Program in 2003 and 2004---that offered electric residential customers throughout Missouri a rebate on ENERGY STAR(R) lighting products found in hardware stores across the state.

 A $400,000 grant to a newly established Residential and Commercial Energy Efficiency Fund, which offered in 2003 electric residential customers in the St. Louis area discounts for purchasing energy-efficient refrigerators and bounties for giving up old units.

 A total $4 million contribution to the Low Income Weatherization Assistance Program administered by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Energy Center. The contribution is earmarked to help low-income AmerenUE Missouri electric residential customers reduce their bills by conserving energy. This ranks as the single largest private contribution ever made to this program in Missouri.

AmerenUE is a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation. Ameren companies serve 2.2 million electric customers and 900,000 natural gas customers over a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.

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