Ameren Missouri submits five-year plan to invest in infrastructure, improve grid
Ameren Missouri filed a $12.4 billion, five-year investment plan with the Missouri Public Service Commission to modernize infrastructure and enhance grid reliability and flexibility.
This is the updated version of the company’s Smart Energy Plan, which will invest in smart technology, stronger poles, upgraded power lines, and other infrastructure to replace aging equipment. The goals are to reduce outages, respond faster when they do occur, and develop the infrastructure needed to support more clean, renewable energy generation.
“The Smart Energy Plan is working as designed to create a more resilient and reliable grid,” Mark Birk, chairman and president of Ameren Missouri, said. “For example, our investments in a smarter, stronger system prevented outages for an estimated 66,000 customers during 2023 when automated smart switches were able to reroute and restore power. Thanks to the expansion and extension of the landmark legislation enabling this plan, additional modernization projects are poised to deliver increased value and reliability to our Missouri customers.”
Last year, Ameren Missouri made a lot of progress on this plan, as the company made a number of improvements. Among them, they installed 1,500 additional smart switches on the system to reduce outages from hours to minutes and even seconds; built 97 new or upgraded substations; upgraded 200 miles of power lines; and installed 1.1 million smart meters to provide two-way communication and deliver more precise energy use information to customers.
Smart meter installations are a full year ahead of schedule and most customers will have an upgraded meter by early 2025.
“Projects such as our new substation in Foristell highlight the true economic impact of the Smart Energy Plan in communities throughout Missouri,” Birk said. “Whether it’s construction, engineering or planning, every Smart Energy Plan upgrade using in-state suppliers is a reinvestment in the local economy.”
Ameren Missouri, a subsidiary of Ameren, serves 1.2 million electric and 135,000 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.
