By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The state of Missouri will look into Ameren's reponse to storms that knocked out power to more than 200,000 customers. Some customers went without power for a few days July 5th.
St. Louis-based Ameren says it poured in resources to get power restored, adding that 80% of affected customers had it back within 24 hours. It took four days to completely restore power.
The state's Public Service Commission says such reviews are routine after storms involving widespread outages.
Some customers complained about the slow response. Electrical Workers Union Local 1439 chief Leo Beishir says staff reductions have combined with a growing service area to mean that it takes longer to recover from storm damage.
But Ameren vice-president David Whiteley says the company's response was more than adequate. Whiteley notes the company's telephone automated response often gave out poor information, and he adds that will be resolved for the next big storm.
The PSC investigation is expected to conclude by the end of August.