St. Louis and its electric company have been belted by Mother Nature twice this year with tens of thousands of people going without electricity for days. An official of the Public Service Commission has assessed the latest situation. The PSC put out its report less than three weeks ago assessing Ameren-UE’s response to the summer storms and subsequent power outages. The report encouraged the company to become more aggressive in its tree and brush trimming program to avoid more power outages because of fallen limbs. The report also warned of what could happen with a winter ice storm….and lo and behold, the scenario has become an actuality. But the commission’s Warren Wood says, however, that the scenario was played out elsewhere just four years ago. He recalls a major storm hit the Kansas City area, knocking out power to about two-thirds to three-fourths of KCP&L’s customers and Aquila’s customers for as long as 12 days. Wood does not expect reconnections to take that long in the latest St. Louis storm. He says Ameren’s rate of power-restoration is faster than the average rates in 44 other major recent outages in the United States–although he admits that’s not much comfort to customers who are still in the cold and dark. Wood says the Public Service Commission plans to conduct similar assessments in other parts of Missouri of the dangers trees and brush pose to power lines during storms…
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