Ameren Missouri customers benefit from cleaner energy and more reliable service with newly updated Smart Energy Plan
ST. LOUIS, Feb. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ameren Missouri, a subsidiary of Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE), filed an updated Smart Energy Plan and budget with the Missouri Public Service Commission today. The $8.4 billion plan supports grid modernization efforts over the next five years, including installation of more than one million smart meters, more renewable generation, programs to stimulate economic growth for communities across Missouri and infrastructure upgrades that bolster reliability while enabling clean energy generation.
"The Smart Energy Plan is preparing our region for the future while making energy more reliable for families and businesses today," said Marty Lyons, president of Ameren Missouri. "We have made great progress in the first two years of this plan. These upgrades provide state-of-the-art technology and support our commitment to maintaining reliability as we transition to cleaner energy, including our ambitious goal to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050."
Ameren Missouri recently completed the purchase of its first two wind facilities and is now the largest operator of wind generation in the state. The company has plans to significantly expand its wind and solar generation over the coming years.
Smarter and More Reliable Energy for Missouri Customers
As homes now double as workplaces and schools, even a short outage is critical. Currently in its third year of implementation, the Smart Energy Plan progress includes smart technology that can rapidly detect outages and restore service in seconds, as well as new storm-resilient utility poles, power lines and underground cables designed to protect customers from outages during severe weather.
These investments have already provided customers with more dependability throughout challenging conditions, such as the derecho wind storm that swept through parts of the Midwest this past summer, resulting in 78,000 Ameren Missouri customers without power in St. Louis County and other communities. Despite the extensive damage from the storm, new smart technology enabled Ameren Missouri to rapidly detect which areas faced an outage and reroute power to 50,000 customers that night.
Ameren Missouri also is installing smart electric meters for all customers. The new meters provide customers with more convenience, choice and control to choose rates that fit their lifestyles and potentially save on their energy bills. The smart meter rollout began in St. Charles County during the summer of 2020, and the company will upgrade approximately 1.2 million electric meters by 2024.
Smart Energy Plan projects are supporting Missouri's economy by creating jobs and using local suppliers. For example, in Washington, Missouri, a new state-of-the-art substation includes transformers built by local manufacturer WEG Transformers. These transformers, built in Missouri, by Missourians, for the benefit of Ameren Missouri customers, will increase energy capacity for the area, allowing more businesses to grow and have reliable power. In total, 57% of Smart Energy Plan vendors are Missouri based.
While upgrading the electric grid, Ameren Missouri has been able to keep rates stable and affordable for customers, with customer rates more than 20% below the average electric rates in the Midwest, according to the Edison Electric Institute's "Typical Bills and Average Rates Report."
Ameren Missouri's Smart Energy Plan by the Numbers
Ameren Missouri has completed thousands of projects statewide to transform the grid and bring increased benefits to customers. This included, in 2020, the installation of:
-- 200+ smart equipment switches to reduce outages from hours to minutes
and even seconds. This technology has improved reliability up to 40%.
-- 14 new or upgraded substations to better serve communities.
-- 133,000 smart meters to deliver more precise energy use information to
customers and offer flexibility to pay less when demand for energy is
lower.
Last year's investments in infrastructure will result in an estimated $10 million in increased tax revenue for local communities in 2021.
"The Smart Energy Plan is about building a better energy grid that will serve our customers for many decades," said Lyons. "It's an important step on our path to leading the way to a more sustainable energy future."
To learn more, visit AmerenMissouri.com/Plan.
Ameren Missouri has been providing electric and gas service for more than 100 years, and the company's electric rates are among the lowest in the nation. Ameren Missouri's mission is to power the quality of life for its 1.2 million electric and 132,000 natural gas customers in central and eastern Missouri. The company's service area covers 64 counties and more than 500 communities, including the greater St. Louis area. For more information, visit Ameren.com/Missouri or follow us on Twitter at @AmerenMissouri or Facebook.com/AmerenMissouri.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this release not based on historical facts are considered "forward-looking" and, accordingly, involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. Although such forward-looking statements have been made in good faith and are based on reasonable assumptions, there is no assurance that the expected results will be achieved. These statements include (without limitation) statements as to future expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, strategies, objectives, events, conditions, and financial performance. In connection with the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, we are providing this cautionary statement to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. The following factors, in addition to those discussed under Risk Factors in Ameren's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, and elsewhere in this release and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, could cause actual results to differ materially from management expectations suggested in such forward-looking statements:
-- regulatory, judicial, or legislative actions, and any changes in
regulatory policies and ratemaking determinations, that may change
regulatory recovery mechanisms;
-- the length and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its impacts on our
business continuity plans and our results of operations, financial
position, and liquidity, including but not limited to changes in
customer demand resulting in changes to sales volumes, the health and
welfare of our workforce and contractors, supplier disruptions, delays
in the completion of construction projects, which could impact our
planned capital expenditures and expected planned rate base growth,
Ameren Missouri's ability to recover any forgone customer late fee
revenues or incremental costs, our ability to meet customer
energy-efficiency program goals and earn performance incentives related
to those programs, changes in how we operate our business and increased
data security risks as a result of the transition to remote working
arrangements for a significant portion of our workforce, and our ability
to access the capital markets on reasonable terms and when needed;
-- the effect on Ameren Missouri of any customer rate caps pursuant to
Ameren Missouri's election to use the plant-in-service accounting
regulatory mechanism, including an extension of use beyond 2023, if
requested by Ameren Missouri and approved by the Missouri Public Service
Commission;
-- the effects of changes in federal, state, or local laws and other
governmental actions, including monetary, fiscal, and energy policies;
-- the effects of changes in federal, state, or local tax laws,
regulations, interpretations, or rates, and challenges to the tax
positions taken by us, if any, as well as resulting effects on customer
rates;
-- the effects on energy prices and demand for our services resulting from
technological advances, including advances in customer energy
efficiency, electric vehicles, electrification of various industries,
energy storage, and private generation sources, which generate
electricity at the site of consumption and are becoming more
cost-competitive.
-- our ability to control costs and make substantial investments in our
businesses, including our ability to recover costs, investments and our
allowed return on equities within frameworks established by our
regulators, while maintaining affordability of our services for our
customers;
-- the cost and availability of fuel, such as low-sulfur coal, natural gas,
and enriched uranium used to produce electricity; the cost and
availability of purchased power, renewable energy credits, and natural
gas for distribution; and the level and volatility of future market
prices for such commodities and credits;
-- the effectiveness of our risk management strategies and our use of
financial and derivative instruments;
-- the ability to obtain sufficient insurance, including insurance for
Ameren Missouri's nuclear and coal-fired energy centers, or, in the
absence of insurance, the ability to timely recover uninsured losses
from our customers;
-- the impact of cyberattacks on us or our suppliers, which could, among
other things, result in the loss of operational control of energy
centers and electric and natural gas transmission and distribution
systems and/or the loss of data, such as customer, employee, financial,
and operating system information;
-- business and economic conditions, which have been affected by, and will
be affected by the length and severity of, the COVID-19 pandemic,
including the impact of such conditions on interest rates;
-- disruptions of the capital markets, deterioration in our credit metrics,
or other events that may have an adverse effect on the cost or
availability of capital, including short-term credit and liquidity;
-- the actions of credit rating agencies and the effects of such actions,
including any impacts on our credit ratings that may result from the
economic conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic;
-- the inability of our counterparties to meet their obligations with
respect to contracts, credit agreements, and financial instruments,
including as it relates to the construction and acquisition of electric
and natural gas utility infrastructure and the ability of counterparties
to complete projects which is dependent upon the availability of
necessary materials and equipment, including those that are affected by
the disruptions in the global supply chain caused by the COVID-19
pandemic;
-- the impact of weather conditions and other natural phenomena on us and
our customers, including the impact of system outages and the level of
wind and solar resources;
-- the construction, installation, performance, and cost recovery of
generation, transmission, and distribution assets;
-- the effects of failures of electric generation, electric and natural gas
transmission or distribution, or natural gas storage facilities systems
and equipment, which could result in unanticipated liabilities or
unplanned outages;
-- the operation of Ameren Missouri's Callaway Energy Center, including
planned and unplanned outages, such as the current outage that began in
December 2020 related to its generator, and the ability to recover costs
associated with such outages and the impact of such outages on
off-system sales and purchased power, among other things;
-- the impact of current environmental laws and new, more stringent, or
changing requirements, including those related to the New Source Review
provisions of the Clean Air Act and carbon dioxide, other emissions and
discharges, cooling water intake structures, coal combustion residuals,
and energy efficiency, that could limit or terminate the operation of
certain of Ameren Missouri's energy centers, increase our operating
costs or investment requirements, result in an impairment of our assets,
cause us to sell our assets, reduce our customers' demand for
electricity or natural gas, or otherwise have a negative financial
effect;
-- the impact of complying with renewable energy standards in Missouri;
-- Ameren Missouri's ability to construct and/or acquire wind, solar, and
other renewable energy generation facilities, retire energy centers, and
implement new or existing customer energy efficiency programs, including
any such construction, acquisition, retirement or implementation in
connection with its Smart Energy Plan, it's 2020 Integrated Resource
Plan, or our emissions reduction goals, and to recover its cost of
investment, related return and, in the case of customer
energy-efficiency programs, any lost margins, in a timely manner, which
is affected by the ability to obtain all necessary regulatory and
project approvals, including a certificate of convenience and necessity
from the Missouri Public Service Commission or any other required
approvals for the addition of renewable resources;
-- the availability of federal production and investment tax credits
related to renewable energy and Ameren Missouri's ability to use such
credits; the cost of wind, solar, and other renewable generation and
storage technologies; and our ability to obtain timely interconnection
agreements with the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. or
other regional transmission organizations at an acceptable cost for each
facility;
-- advancements in carbon-free generation and storage technologies, and
constructive federal and state energy and economic policies with respect
to those technologies;
-- labor disputes, work force reductions, changes in future wage and
employee benefits costs, including those resulting from changes in
discount rates, mortality tables, returns on benefit plan assets, and
other assumptions;
-- the impact of negative opinions of us or our utility services that our
customers, investors, legislators, or regulators may have or develop,
which could result from a variety of factors, including failures in
system reliability, failure to implement our investment plans or to
protect sensitive customer information, increases in rates, negative
media coverage, or concerns about environmental, social, and/or
governance practices;
-- the impact of adopting new accounting guidance;
-- the effects of strategic initiatives, including mergers, acquisitions,
and divestitures;
-- legal and administrative proceedings; and
-- acts of sabotage, war, terrorism, or other intentionally disruptive
acts.
New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all of such factors, nor can it assess the impact of each such factor on the business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained or implied in any forward-looking statement. Given these uncertainties, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements. Except to the extent required by the federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information or future events.
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SOURCE Ameren Missouri
