As part of its annual “Be Cool” Air Conditioner Program, AmerenUE today will donate 400 window unit air conditioners to the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, the Urban League of St. Louis County and other agencies around Missouri. The air conditioners are all ENERGY STAR®-qualified units that meet the strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.
Other agencies receiving air conditioners this year are Sts. Joachim and Ann of St. Charles, the Jefferson County Health Department, the Samaritan Center in Jefferson City and the Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging. These agencies have each received 50 air conditioners.
Eligible recipients, who have already been selected, are UE low income and low income elderly customers. Participating agencies use poverty guidelines and other circumstances to qualify air conditioner recipients.
“The annual ‘Be Cool’ air conditioner program is essential to keeping our most vulnerable customers safe during the hot summer months,” said UE Manager of Business and Community Relations Brian Leonard. “However, Be Cool isn’t just about giving away air conditioners, but encouraging people who have air conditioners to use them in extremely hot weather. On average, it costs about $1.50 a day to run a window-unit air conditioner during the summer. Yet every year, people become needlessly sick or even die because of hot weather—even people who have air conditioners.”
This is the fourth consecutive year that UE has offered the Be Cool program. Since 2006, nearly 1,500 air conditioners have been given away to eligible low-income and low-income elderly customers.
With residential electric retail rates that are about 38 percent below the national average, UE provides electricity and natural gas to 1.2 million customers in Missouri. UE’s parent, Ameren Corporation, through its affiliates, serves 2.4 million electric and nearly 1 million natural gas customers across 64,000 square miles of Missouri and Illinois.
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CONTACT: Lori Light, 314.554.2681, or Tim Fox, 314.554.4335, both of AmerenUE