By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – Ameren officials testified on Wednesday at a Missouri Public Service Commission hearing which was convened to investigate the eastern Missouri power outages caused by July storms.
The hearing had been set before the ice-and-snow-storm again left thousands of Ameren customers in the St. Louis area without power four weeks ago.
Among other suggestions the PSC's staff released a report in early November that recommended Ameren step up its tree-trimming schedule.
Ameren says it wants to cooperate with the Missouri Public Service Commission in avoiding long power outages the next time high winds or ice hit the state, but caution that there isn't one all-encompassing solution.
"There's no silver bullet, these are extraordinary storms things are not the way they used to be...and we can't be the way we used to be," says Ron Zdellar, Ameren's Vice President of Energy Delivery.
Zdellar told commissioners in Jefferson City that the storms that struck Missouri in July and November were some of the most extreme the company has ever dealt with but Ameren looks forward to an open dialogue with the commission to address areas of improvement.
Ameren is preparing documentation to respond to the Public Service Commission, which they claim should be ready by July 4th of 2008.