Trees and Your Service
What Role Do Trees Play in Power Outages?
Following a major thunderstorm or ice storm, you may experience a power outage due to downed trees or tree limbs on power lines in or near your neighborhood. In some areas, removing trees and limbs from our power lines can be a major job, depending on the extent of the damage to our distribution system. Ameren follows a comprehensive storm response plan to restore power to your home as quickly as possible. These are the steps:
	Immediately following a storm, damage assessment scouts—called field checkers—evaluate the extent of the damage to our distribution system.
	Based on that evaluation, tree trimming crews, contracted by Ameren, are sent to the areas that have experienced the most extensive tree damage to begin removing tree limbs—and sometimes entire trees—from the power lines.
	Only after tree trimming crews clear the debris from the power lines can Ameren’s trouble and line crews can begin restoring power to your area. Even after limbs and trees are cleared, it may be some time before repairs can be made and power restored.
Please Note:
	When a power outage occurs, our top priority is to repair the equipment that affects the most customers first, and where possible, equipment that supplies power to hospitals and other emergency facilities.
	After that, we move on to make repairs that affect the next largest group of customers.
	Finally, we make the repairs that affect only single customers or small groups of customers.
See our Distribution System for more information.
Tree Trimming Procedures and Cycles
As part of a continual effort to improve service reliability for its customers, AmerenUE in 2008 spent more than $50 million on tree-trimming in Missouri alone. With this level of spending, UE has now attained its desired cycle length for tree-trimming—a four-year cycle on urban circuits, and a six-year cycle on rural circuits in the company’s service territory. However, even though UE is current with its tree-trimming schedules, tree-related outages can still occur in severe storm conditions. For more information, visit our Tree Trimming and Vegetation Management site.
Please Note:
	Ameren does not haul away storm debris from storm damaged trees. Contact a local tree and debris removal company for assistance.