Energy companies recommend conservation of electricity, natural gas; rolling blackouts not expected

Ameren Missouri is requesting customers to be more conservative when using electricity and natural gas through Thursday because of harsh winter weather, however, rolling blackouts similar to those that occurred in western and southwestern Missouri are not expected.

According to Kevin Anders, vice president of operations and technical services for Ameren Missouri, the electric grid and gas systems in the state are stable and operating well because of customers conserving energy.

“We issued a call for customers to practice conservation of energy early this morning, and there’s been a response to that. I think it’s helped our operation,” Anders said during a conference call Tuesday. “We’re using significantly less energy today (Tuesday) than we were this time yesterday, and I can say that the system is stable at this point in time. We do not anticipate having planned outages or rolling blackouts.”

Ameren published news releases Monday and Tuesday requesting customers conserve electricity and natural gas through Thursday.

The request to reduce electricity use came from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which operates the regional electric grid in the Midwest. Recommendations include setting thermostats to 68 degrees or lower, turning down thermostats even lower at night when sleeping, unplugging or turning off any non-essential appliances, avoiding the use of large appliances such as ovens and dryers and reducing temperatures on electric water heaters.

For conserving natural gas, Ameren recommends taking advantage of the sun by opening curtains on south-facing windows during the day and closing them at night, covering drafty windows, keeping fireplace dampers closed unless a fire is burning and turning gas water heater temperatures down.

In addition to reducing energy use, Ameren recommends taking basic steps to prepare for the possibility of a power outage. These steps include calling 911 and notifying the electric company of any damage to power lines or electrical equipment nearby, charging cellphones in advance if there’s a risk of severe weather or purchasing a solar- or battery-powered charger, taking precautions when burning candles for light during an outage by blowing them out when leaving the room or going to sleep, running faucets on a drip to prevent freezing pipes, turning off lights and unplugging appliances to prevent damage and overloading of circuits once power is restored and blocking cold air from entering a home by stuffing towels along windows and underneath doors.

Typically, customers in the City of Jackson, which utilizes it’s own power-generation plan, use between 18 and 20 megawatts at this time of year, however, according to Don Schuette, Jackson’s director of electric utilities, usage peaked Monday at 32 megawatts.

“We are currently utilizing all generation capability at the City of Jackson Power Plant to help increase available energy for the national power supply and are now producing electricity around the clock,” Schuette said.

According to Schuette, any changes to Jackson’s plans will be communicated to the public through all available media channels, including the city’s website, www.jacksonmo.org, and Facebook page.

For more information and updates, visit www.Ameren.com/Missouri.