Ameren Illinois Utilities Assign More Than 1,100 Workers to Restore Service Following Significant Ice Storm in Central Illinois
December 19 2008 - 11:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
Ameren Illinois Utilities Urge Residents to Avoid Downed Power
Lines, Use Generators Safely PEORIA, Ill., Dec. 19
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- More than 1,100 Ameren Illinois Utility
workers and outside contractor personnel from across Illinois are
working to restore power to about 42,000 customers in Central
Illinois. Ice damage has resulted in downed power lines in some
areas. The Ameren Illinois Utilities warn all residents to stay
away from downed power lines, which may still be energized.
Residents should stay away from brush and downed trees which may
hide downed wires. Up to three-quarters of an inch of ice
accumulated on power lines, causing the highest number of outages
in an area stretching from Macomb through Peoria, Bloomington,
Lincoln and east through Champaign. If weather conditions do not
deteriorate, Ameren Illinois Utilities officials have set a goal of
restoring nearly all customers service by tomorrow evening. The
utilities estimate a significant number of customers will have
their service restored by midnight tonight. However, strong winds
could set back the service restoration effort. Strong winds can
cause damage to ice covered power lines and cause ice covered tree
limbs to break and fall into power lines. Thick ice and falling
tree limbs have caused outage numbers to fluctuate. The Ameren
Illinois Utilities began experiencing significant outages at about
11:00 p.m. Thursday. Outage numbers continued to climb until dawn.
"Our priority is to safely restore service to all of our customers
just as soon as possible," said Bill Prebil, Ameren Illinois
Utilities vice president of Regional Operations. "Our linemen and
other coworkers will continue to work under these difficult
conditions until every customer has service restored." Ameren
Illinois Utilities officials are reaching out to communities and
any critical care facilities that are impacted and a direct number
is being provided to help answer any questions. If residents see
downed wires, they should immediately call 1-888-672-5252 for
AmerenCILCO, 1-888-789-2477 for AmerenCIPS and 1-800-755-7000 for
AmerenIP Prebil also warns customers installing generators about
safety issues related to their installation. Anyone using a
portable generator should follow strict safety requirements to
prevent injury or death both to themselves and to the utility field
crews attempting to restore power. Customers planning to install a
temporary generator must first open the main breaker or remove the
main fuses before connecting the generator to the electrical
systems. Failure to do this could seriously injure utility crews
working on outside power lines, and/or it could cause damage to a
neighbor's property or the customer's own equipment. Customers
should never use a portable generator indoors, including in a home,
garage, basement, shed or partially-enclosed area - even with
ventilation. Opening doors and windows or using fans will not
prevent the carbon monoxide exhaust from building up in the home.
Only use a portable generator outdoors in a dry area, away from
doors, windows and vents. Customers should also exercise extreme
caution when handling fuel for portable generators, especially when
re-fueling hot generators. Information regarding permanently
installed generators, a full description of the Ameren Illinois
Utilities' power restoration process, along with advice on how
customers can cope with outages is available under "Storm Center"
on the Ameren Web site: http://www.ameren.com/. The Ameren Illinois
utilities serve 1.2 million electric and more than 840,000 natural
gas customers in a 43,700-square-mile area of Illinois. DATASOURCE:
Ameren Illinois Utilities CONTACT: Leigh E. Morris,
+1-217-416-9609, or Victoria Busch, +1-618-614-3032, or Neal
Johnson, +1-309-677-5284, all of Ameren Illinois Utilities, or
after 5:00 p.m. & weekends, +1-217-424-6400 Web Site:
http://www.ameren.com/
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