Ameren Illinois Utilities Field Personnel Working to Complete Service Restoration Work by Friday Evening
January 29 2009 - 6:05PM
PR Newswire (US)
MARION, Ill., Jan. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- As about 600 Ameren Illinois
Utilities field personnel work into the night, the utilities
estimate that the lights will be back on for as many as another
3,200 customers by late this evening. At 4:30 p.m. today, about
4,400 customers were still without power. At the height of the
storm, 11,900 customers were without electrical service. It is
anticipated that nearly all of the remaining customers will have
service by the end of tomorrow, though a few isolated outages may
persist due to damage to individual service lines to homes and
customers who need to make repairs at their homes. The threat of
new outages remains because of the heavy ice accumulations on trees
and power lines. The outages that continue into tomorrow are
expected to be concentrated in the Brookport and Metropolis areas
where heavy ice and falling trees have caused extensive damage to
both the subtransmission and distribution systems. High voltage
subtransmission lines bring power to substations, while
distribution lines bring electricity to homes and businesses.
Customers who live outside the Brookport and Metropolis areas who
are still without power by late this evening should call the Ameren
Illinois Utilities to report their outage. The number for
AmerenCIPS is 1-888-789-2477. AmerenIP customers should call
1-800-755-7000. The Ameren Illinois Utilities note that some
customers may need the services of an electrical contractor to
reattach or repair customer-owned facilities, such as the meter
base, weatherhead or point of attachment. See
http://www.ameren.com/ for a diagram showing this arrangement. For
safety sake, residents are urged to stay away from downed power
lines and to avoid brush, shrubs and downed trees that may hide
downed lines. To report downed power lines or other problems,
customers should call the Ameren Illinois Utilities: 1-888-672-5252
(AmerenCILCO), 1-888-789-2477 (AmerenCIPS) and 1-800-755-7000
(AmerenIP) or "911." Customers planning to use a portable 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 because of the
threat of deadly carbon monoxide poisoning. 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. Editor's
Note: For current information on the restoration effort, please
visit http://www.illinoisoutage.com/ DATASOURCE: Ameren Illinois
Utilities CONTACT: Leigh E. Morris, +1-217-535-5228, or Victoria
Busch, +1-618-614-3032, or Neal Johnson, +1-309-677-5284, all of
Ameren Illinois Utilities Web site: http://www.ameren.com/
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