Scott City wrestles with power outages

AmerenUE thought it had Scott City's flickering power problem fixed, but a brief flicker sometime in the morning hours Thursday showed that's not the case.

For several months Scott City has experienced periods of flickering power. Electric service is interrupted for a brief period, sometimes a split second, only to come back on again. The situation has caused an inconvenience for local businesses and costly production delays for Mid-South Wire.

City leaders and business management personnel have been in contact with the power company about the problem. Ameren recently repaired a lightning arrester on the Scott City grid, hoping it would fix the problem. The utility company says it's looking into the problem again after Thursday morning's incident.

Andy Talbot, general manager of the Mid-South Wire plant, says Ameren is making a good effort to address the problem.

"They're doing everything they can to help us," said Talbot.

Mid-South received a $150,000 economic development grant from Ameren to start its Scott City operation earlier this year.

Check back at semissourian.com or read Friday's Southeast Missourian for more details.