Blog

BY CAROL ARNETT

Mayor Robert Lowery had harsh words for Ameren after the last storm and power outage. In an interview after Monday’s city council meeting, Lowery said he was “very, very upset with Ameren.” He said he has been in contact with the chairman of the board and three vice presidents at Ameren about the problems Florissant has had.

“They have failed to maintain with due diligence as far as their systems are concerned,” Lowery said. “They are at least three years behind in maintaining trees.” Lowery added that the city has older, bigger trees than many other areas in the metropolitan area, and Ameren may have to spend more time here trimming them.

In addition, Lowery said, Ameren needs to update equipment. “The equipment on the lines is old as verified by city engineers,” he said.

“I want trimming of trees and bushes done immediately,” Lowery said.

“I will oppose any chance of a rate increase and I have expressed my opinion to the governor and to the Public Service Commission.”

Lowery said that he realized this was a bad storm, but said that July’s storm should have made Ameren aware of conditions. “Between July and now, they’ve done nothing,” he said. “If they had done the job then, there would not have been as many outages with this storm.”

Lowery said he would continue to talk with Ameren. “I’m going to stay after them.”
.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us