Did your power go out in last week's Missouri/Illinois Ice Storm?

[Sherman A1]

If so, is it now not time to fill the in boxes of our governmental officials with complaints? We all know that this is the second time in just 6 months that Ameren UE (MO) or IP (Illinois) has left us literally in the dark for days. I am working on my letter of complaint and will be sending it on to every state official and agency that might even remotely have some jurisdiction. Yesterday sent off 3 LTTE's to various newspapers in the St. Louis area regarding Ameren's dismal preparation's. I believe it is far beyond the time that this absurd situation be addressed. :nuke:

[Brazenly Liberal]

1. We were an island

We're Ameren CIPS customers (Illinois) and our lights stayed on, but people south, north and west of us lost power. Some of them for several days. Ameren is apparently too busy preparing for the 55% rate increase they're handing us next month to deal with a silly non-issue like providing electricity. :sarcasm:

Are you in the St. Louis metro area or in a rural area? We're in a rural area and our lights go out so often we don't bother to set the digital clocks anymore. That minor timekeeping inconvenience aside, when the power is out, we have no heat even though we have a natural gas furnace because the freaking thermostat relies on electricity. We also have no water because the well pump is electric.

I'll send a letter of complaint, too, even though we didn't lose power ourselves this time around. To be honest, I don't expect much in the way of results, but I'll try. Thanks for the reminder.

[Sherman A1]

5. I am in the metro St. Louis area

in the Northern Suburb of Florissant. Reading the paper this A.M. it seems that the predominately minority areas of North St. Louis and it's predominately minority Northern Suburbs seem to have a bit more problem getting power on. Certainly social or economic issues would never- ever play a factor. :sarcasm:

[Brazenly Liberal]

2. BTW, 13,000 people here are STILL without power and it's 12 degrees outside nt

c

[Sherman A1]

6. Yes, and that really, really sucks!

[AllegroRondo]

3. We had no power for 2 days

I guess we were lucky - our house happens to be in a "priority 1" zone, as we are right next to a fire station. We had neighbors in the area with no power until Tuesday.

It looks like the state agencies that oversee utilities are not at all happy with this, and are recommending full audits.

[deadparrot]

4. My parents are in St. Louis, and theirs was out all last weekend.

We were without it for a week after the storms this summer.

[MadHound]

7. I live in Mid Mo, and didn't have my power go out

I was really quite suprised actually, what with getting a couple of inches of ice, followed by fifteen inches of snow.

I really don't blame Ameren UE for the power going out, it was bound to. After all, the vast majority of lines are foolishly strung above ground, where they were exposed to a massive ice fall combined with a nasty wind. Something is going to snap.

And frankly, I think that Ameren is doing a fairly decent job of getting the power back on. The conditions that they're working under have been even worse than what they had to deal with during the summer, high winds, massive snow and ice, very cold temperatures. And here it is, a week later and there are only what, 13,000 homes left. A better batting record than what I've seen from many power companies up in upstate New York. Ameren will most likely have everybody powered by this weekend, whereas in a similar storm that I went through in Ithica, it took two weeks to get power back to everybody.

And frankly, the same held true this summer when the power went out in St. Louis. Ameren was pulling in people from across the country to work long grueling hours around the clock. Hell, they even had a couple of linemen killed there. But people expect that after such a massive storm, power will be back on within an hour or two, sorry, it just doesn't work that way. St. Louis doesn't get hit with large storms much, thus most people are unprepared for when the power goes out. You need to start adapting the policy that we out here in rural Missouri do, have spare water, food, a non-electric back up heating unit(kerosene works well), and best of all, if you can afford it and have the space, a backup generator. We get slammed with high wind out here all the time, and recognize the need to be prepared. Since this doesn't happen in St. Louis very much, everybody was unprepared, scared, and now are blaming Ameren because the electric wasn't on right away.

The best solution to this problem would be to bury all the wires, but I doubt that they'll do such a thing.

[AngryAmish]

8. I'm fine

It is a little cold outside today, tho.

[hedgehog]

9. Part of the problem is line maintenance.

Tree limbs don't fall across wires in an ice storm if they are trimmed back each year. It's ugly, but it has to be done. We have a feeder line running alongside our farm and we've seen how the line maintenance has deteriorated over the last twenty years. Clearing brush and small trees from beneath the line used to be an annual event. Now it's been years since the power company has come through. They did take one step toward prevention. They installed a switch on the line so it can be isolated when they need to make repairs!

[aroach]

10. Yes

Yes, we lost power.

But I have only praise for City Utilities here in Springfield. They had our power back on in about four hours. It wasn't even off long enough for the house to get cold.

I can't imagine what people in St. Louis went through. Makes me glad we have CU.

[Mugu]

11. This is one of the few times that my power didn't go out.

One of the little ventless gas heaters can be a real asset when the power goes out. Mine is a 9,000-19,000 BTU unit and it easily keeps the downstairs bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen comfortable without electricity. With that little heater and a 4,000 watt generator to run the water pump occasionally life is slightly more complicated, but still comfortable.

And if you really want to go all out add emergency lighting. I have a couple of big truck batteries downstairs and a buss that is throughout the house with LED lights. Thankfully, I have never had to find out how long it will last, but I'm sure it's a very long time.


Regards,

Mugu

[Ino]

12. I've lived in this StL house for 22 years

and the power has never gone off for more than a minute or two... until this year. Three times in the last six months -- 4 days, 1 day, 3 days. I guess Ameren's cost-cutting measures have come home to roost.

Got my power back Sunday. Got my phone/DSL back today, a full week after storm.

[Sherman A1]

13. Agreed

Unfortunately the cost cutting is coming home to roost upon us, not the highly compensated executives and management pretenders of Ameren UE (Unreliable Electric) or IP (Illinois Powerless)

[The Anti-Neo Con]

14. Ameren is a terrible company.

It's run in about the same manner as the Bush administration & that's no joke. Very incompetently!