By AP/KWMU
St. Louis – Senator Jim Talent says state and federal authorities should investigate Ameren Corporation after 500-thousand homes and businesses lost power because of a massive storm last week.
Talent says no investigation should begin before Ameren has restored power to all of its customers in St. Louis. The company says that should happen by Wednesday.
Talent says authorities should investigate whether Ameren's electricity grid meets federal guidelines for reliability. He also says Ameren's crisis-management plans and its tree-trimming program should be looked at.
Ameren officials say last week's massive storm arrived with no warning and the company is working around the clock to restore power.
Other leaders haven't been as quick to offer such harsh criticism of the utility. Mayor Francis Slay and Gov. Matt Blunt say all the lights should be back on before looking into the outage.
"No response is perfect," said Blunt on Monday. "But I feel they have a good response and they've been responding to the public and political pressure that's been applied."