Ameren Illinois receives national recognition for service reliability

COLLINSVILLE, Ill., Dec. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ameren Illinois was recognized by PA Consulting as a recipient of the 2019 ReliabilityOne™ Most Improved Utility Award during a special ceremony, Nov 20, in Austin, Texas.

This award is presented to energy companies that have shown sustained progress in their efforts to keep the power on. In selecting award winners, PA Consulting identified utilities that have exhibited the highest sustained levels in reliability in both duration and frequency over the past five years.

"We are proud of the strides we have made to modernize our electric grid, reduce outages, restore power more quickly after storms, and improve customer satisfaction," said Richard J. Mark, chairman and president, Ameren Illinois. "The investments we have made in technology and physical improvements are resulting in an improved electric grid and better reliability for our customers."

Since 2012, Ameren Illinois has installed hundreds of miles of storm-resistant utility poles and power lines, along with advanced technology that detects service disruptions and immediately re-routes power from alternative sources. In addition, more than 1 million smart meters are providing customers with enhanced energy usage data and access to programs to help them save on their energy bills. These investments have contributed to a 20 percent overall increase in reliability.

All utilities operating electric delivery networks in North America were eligible for consideration for the ReliabilityOne™ Most Improved Utility Award. The selection of provisional recipients was based primarily on system reliability statistics that measure the frequency and duration of customer outages. After provisional recipients were selected, each company participated in an on-site certification process, which provided an independent review and confirmation of the policies, processes and systems used to collect, analyze and report a company's reliability results.

"Since 2000, PA Consulting's ReliabilityOne™ program has celebrated electric utilities providers that are reaching new heights of reliability," said Gregg Edeson, PA Consulting's ReliabilityOne™ Program Director. "This year we recognize a new category of top performers, the 'most improved' utilities in the US. Ameren Illinois has been on a journey to improve reliability via innovative technologies and people-led process improvement."  

About Ameren Illinois
Ameren Illinois delivers energy to 1.2 million electric and 807,000 natural gas customers throughout central and southern Illinois. Our service territory covers more than 1,200 communities and 43,700 square miles and our mission is to power the quality of life. For more information, visit AmerenIllinois.com.  Follow us on Twitter @AmerenIllinois and Facebook.

About PA Consulting
We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future in a technology-driven world. As strategies, technologies and innovation collide, we create opportunity from complexity. Our diverse teams of experts combine innovative thinking and breakthrough technologies to progress further, faster. Our clients adapt and transform, and together we achieve enduring results. An innovation and transformation consultancy, we are over 3,000 specialists in consumer, defense and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, and transport, travel and logistics. We operate globally from offices across the Americas, Europe, the Nordics and the Gulf. PA. Bringing Ingenuity to Life. For more information about PA Consulting, visit www.paconsulting.com.

PA's ReliabilityOne™ awards are presented to electric utilities providing their customers with the highest levels of reliability in the industry. PA's ReliabilityOne™ study is based on standard industry reliability statistics that measure the frequency and duration of electric power outages. ReliabilityOne™ participants on average experienced 53% fewer sustained outages, and outages were 41% shorter than the average US investor owned utility. PA has been analyzing electric utility performance since 1987. For more information about PA Consulting, visit www.paconsulting.com/energy.

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SOURCE Ameren Illinois