Ameren Illinois Has Safely Restored Nearly 90,000 Customers Affected By Massive Storm

 

[June 30, 2023] 

Ameren Illinois crews have restored nearly 90,000 outages caused by the June 29 Derecho that impacted the mid-section of the company's service territory. Presently, more than 2,500 workers are on the ground and in the field repairing damaged infrastructure.

Ameren Illinois continues to reach out to additional utility companies and tree trimming companies to pour additional resources into the area to get the power restored as safely and quickly as possible. Several out-of-state utilities have sent crews who arrived this morning and are engaged in restoration efforts.

Situation

We understand that there is never a good time to lose power and it can be frustrating. The intensity of this storm and the widespread damage it caused makes restoration more time consuming than is customary. We ask for patience and understanding as crews navigate intense heat and challenging terrain to get their work completed.

We understand that customers are looking for information about the status of their individual outages. Due to the hard work of crews in assessing damage and sourcing materials needed for repairs, we are providing estimated restoration times for customers who have reported their outages or signed up for alerts.

With forecast for additional severe weather and high temperatures this weekend, Ameren Illinois is encouraging customers to check on friends and neighbors and individuals with special needs. Information on cooling centers can be found by contacting your local county officials.

How Ameren Illinois safely restores power

Priority one is to communicate with key stakeholders and respond to life-threatening emergencies, such as downed-wires, and to handle all problems impacting critical infrastructure such as hospitals and other emergency response facilities – police and fire.

Once power is restored to critical infrastructure, crews focus on getting the most customers restored in the quickest and most efficient manner. Crews begin with main lines – those that can restore power to perhaps thousands of people – and then move to lines that affect hundreds, dozens and individual homes.

This is why homes in the same neighborhoods may be restored at different times, as well as why businesses are sometimes restored first – because of their general location along primary power lines.

Customer safety tips

Call Ameren Illinois at 1-800-755-5000 as soon as possible to report a downed line, natural gas odor, or an outage.

Residents are reminded to stay away from downed power lines because these lines may still be energized. Stay away from brush, shrubs and fallen trees that may be hiding these lines.

Real-time outage details and safety information are available at Ameren.com/outage.

[Brian Bretsch, Ameren]