Ameren
Encyclopedia
Ameren Corporation was created December 31, 1997 by the merger of Missouri's Union Electric Company
Union Electric Company
The Union Electric Company of Missouri was an electric power utility first organized in 1902. As one of the S&P 500 largest companies in the United States, in 1997 its holding company merged with a smaller neighboring utility, Central Illinois Public Service Company through its holding company,...

(formerly NYSE: UEP) and the neighboring Central Illinois Public Service Company
Central Illinois Public Service Company
The Central Illinois Public Service Company was an electric streetcar holding company and power utility first organized in 1902. Under its later quarter billion dollar holding company, CIPSCO Inc. , it merged in 1997 with the larger neighboring Union Electric Company of Missouri to form Ameren...

(CIPSCO Inc. holding, formerly NYSE: CIP). It is now a holding company
Holding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...

 for several power companies
Electric company
Electric company can mean:*Electrical power industry*Electric Company *The Electric Company *The Electric Company...

 and energy companies. The company is based in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, serving 2.4 million electric, and 900,000 natural gas customers across 64,000 sq. mi.

Ameren is the holding company for the following:
  • Ameren Missouri, Union Electric Company, 1997
  • Ameren Illinois, was Ameren CIPS, acquired company was Central Illinois Public Service Company, 1997
  • Ameren Illinois, was AmerenCILCO, acquired company was Central Illinois Light Company, 2003
  • Ameren Illinois, was AmerenIP, acquired company was Illinois Power Company, 2004
  • Ameren Energy Resources, holding company, 2000
    • Ameren Energy Marketing
    • Ameren Energy Generating


The Ameren Missouri subsidiary owns Bagnell Dam
Bagnell Dam
Bagnell Dam impounds the Osage River in the U.S. state of Missouri, creating the Lake of the Ozarks. The 148-foot tall concrete gravity dam was built by the Union Electric Company for the purpose of hydroelectric power generation as its Osage Powerplant. It is long, including a long spillway...

 on the Osage River
Osage River
The Osage River is a tributary of the Missouri River in central Missouri in the United States. The Osage River is one of the larger rivers in Missouri. The river drains a mostly rural area of . The watershed includes an area of east-central Kansas and a large portion of west-central and central...

, which forms the Lake of the Ozarks
Lake of the Ozarks
The Lake of the Ozarks is a large reservoir created by impounding the Osage River in the northern part of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Extents of three smaller tributaries to the Osage, the Niangua River, Grandglaize Creek, and Gravois Creek, are included in the impoundment...

. Ameren Missouri is responsible for managing water levels on the lake according to federal regulations.

Origins

Prior to the formation of Ameren, the first major development in the history of its constituent parts occurred in 1929, when the Bagnell Dam was completed on the Osage River and generated almost 175 megawatts of hydroelectricity for Missouri's Union Electric Company. The dam also created the Lake of the Ozarks with 1400 miles (2,253.1 km) of shoreline.

In 1931, Union Electric Light and Power sought additional generating sources (interurbans being one need) and the company began buying power from the Keokuk, IA dam
Lock and Dam No. 19
Lock and Dam No. 19 is a lock and dam located on the Upper Mississippi River near Keokuk, Iowa. In 2004, the facility was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as Lock and Dam No. 19 Historic District, #04000179 covering , 7 buildings, 12 structures, 1 object. The lock is owned and...

, 150 miles (241.4 km) north of St. Louis. Union Electric later bought the dam, providing 134 megawatts of hydroelectricity carried over a longer distance than had ever been achieved before.

By the 1950s Union Electric owned gas operations in and around Alton, Illinois
Alton, Illinois
Alton is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, United States, about north of St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 27,865 at the 2010 census. It is a part of the Metro-East region of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area in Southern Illinois...

, and acquired other utilities to become the third largest distributor of natural gas in Missouri.

In 1952, Ameren's second major constituent, the Central Illinois Public Service Company, became a major pooled energy power distributor with its future Ameren mate, Union Electric Company. The arrangement formed the Midwest Power Pool system. The CIPS Meredosia, Illinois
Meredosia, Illinois
Meredosia is a village in Morgan County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,041 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jacksonville Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Meredosia is located at ....

 Power Station became a key contributor to the pool, which also included the later Ameren subsidiary Illinois Power Company.

In 1963 Union Electric completed construction of one of the largest pumped storage plants at that time, the then-350-megawatt Taum Sauk Plant, in Reynolds County, Missouri
Reynolds County, Missouri
Reynolds County is a county located in the northwestern portion of the Ozark Foothills Region in Southeast Missouri in the United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the county's population was 6,689. A 2008 estimate, however, showed the population to be 6,388. Its county seat is Centerville...

.

In 1984 Union Electric added nuclear energy to the mix, when the Callaway Nuclear Generating Station
Callaway Nuclear Generating Station
The Callaway Plant is a nuclear power plant located on a 5,228-acre site in Callaway County, Missouri, near Fulton, Missouri. It began operating on December 19, 1984. The plant, which is the state's only commercial nuclear unit, has one 1,190-megawatt Westinghouse four-loop pressurized water...

 began providing 1,143 megawatts of power from Callaway County, Missouri
Callaway County, Missouri
Callaway County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is part of the Jefferson City, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 44,332. Its county seat is Fulton. The county was organized in 1820. It was named for Capt. James Callaway, a grandson of...

.

Ameren history

In 1995 shareholders of both CIPSCO Inc. and of its neighboring utility of twice its size, the S&P 500
S&P 500
The S&P 500 is a free-float capitalization-weighted index published since 1957 of the prices of 500 large-cap common stocks actively traded in the United States. The stocks included in the S&P 500 are those of large publicly held companies that trade on either of the two largest American stock...

-listed Union Electric Company, approved the merger of the two companies, which were to then be combined as Ameren Corporation. Both of those former utilities had traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange, under ticker symbol CIP and UEP, respectively. At the time of the merger, Union Electric had assets of nearly US$600 million, but still carried nearly US$1.8 billion in long-term debt, although down from US$2.5 billion which it had accumulated by the 1980s. CIPSCO had assets of about US$210 million, but still carried nearly half of US$1 billion in long-term debt, which it had also accumulated by the 1980s.

The merger was completed on December 31, 1997, when the two public companies became one, as Ameren Corporation, which then began to trade publicly on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol AEE.

The former CIPSCO Inc. utility, Central Illinois Public Services Company, is now a subsidiary of the Ameren Corporation holding company, known as AmerenCIPS.

Following the merger, Union Electric began doing business as AmerenUE, now known as Ameren Missouri. Today, with nine power plants Ameren Missouri serves 1.2 million power customers and 110,000 gas customers, primarily in Missouri, where more than half of its customers reside in the St. Louis metropolitan area. It also serves adjoining parts of Illinois, and formerly served Iowa as well through the mid-1990s.

In 2000, Ameren formed the holding company, AmerenEnergy Resources. It contained two further subsidiaries, AmerenEnergy Marketing, and AmerenEnergy Generating.

In 2003, Ameren acquired the Central Illinois Light Company. That utility's holding company, CILCORP, Inc., had traded on the NYSE with ticker symbol CER, and by the mid-1990s had become a member of the S&P Small Cap 600 index. CILCORP had been another pioneer utility in the region, which had paid a dividend since 1921. By 1996, it had grown to over US$150 million in assets, and carried US$330 million in long-term debt. Following the 2003 Ameren acquisition, that utility then became the subsidiary, AmerenCILCO.

In 2004, Ameren acquired (from Dynegy
Dynegy
Dynegy Inc. , based in Houston, Texas, United States, is a large owner and operator of power plants and a player in the natural gas liquids and coal business...

 Inc.) its third partner from the 1952 Midwest Power Pool system, Illinois Power Company. That utility had traded publicly on the NYSE under the ticker symbol IPC through the 1980s, and paid dividends since 1947. As of the late 1980s, the company generated electricity and natural gas, almost entirely from coal plants, with less than 1% fueled from oil and gas. By then, with about $360 million in assets, it carried long-term debt of over US$2 billion. In 1991, Illinois Power became the subsidiary of holding company Illinova Corp., which traded on the NYSE with ticker symbol ILN. Illinova had grown to an S&P Midcap 400 stock by 1996, with over US$415 million in assets, and had brought the IP utility's debt down to US$1.8 billion by then. In a merger completed February 1, 2000, Illinova Corp. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Dynegy Inc. , in which Chevron Corporation
Chevron Corporation
Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...

 also took a 28% stake. Dynegy in turn had been created in June 1998, from the merger of Chevron's natural gas and natural gas liquids businesses with Dynegy's predecessor, NGC Corp. (former ticker NGL). NGC had been an integrated natural gas services company around since 1994. Following the 2004 Ameren acquisition of the IP utility, that subsidiary became AmerenIP. In 2010, all Illinois utilities merged to become Ameren Illinois Company.

In 2009, AmerenUE signed an agreement to purchase 102 megawatts (MW) of wind power from phase II of Horizon Wind Energy’s Pioneer Prairie Wind Farm in Iowa. That's enough to power 26,000 households. The power AmerenUE is purchasing will tie into the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) transmission grid, of which the company is a member, fulfilling AmerenUE's commitment to add 100 megawatts of renewable capacity to serve its Missouri customers by 2010.

Taum Sauk pumped storage plant

Ameren Missouri owns the Taum Sauk pumped storage plant
Taum Sauk pumped storage plant
The Taum Sauk pumped storage plant is located in the St. Francois mountain region of the Missouri Ozarks approximately south of St. Louis near Lesterville, Missouri in Reynolds County. The pumped-storage hydroelectric plant, operated by the AmerenUE electric company, was designed to help...

, which failed on December 14, 2005, causing extensive damage to the east fork of the Black River and to Johnson Shut-ins State Park. Consequently, FERC fined Ameren $15 million. The State of Missouri has sued Ameren for actual and punitive damages, alleging Ameren recklessly operated the plant and put financial considerations from sale of power to other companies over safety, maintenance and engineering. The plant was operated by remote control with no one onsite during pumping operations.
Rebuilding the upper reservoir of the
AmerenUE Taum Sauk pumped-storage hydroelectric plant, cost $450 million and added 635 new jobs to the state's economy, while raising state income by $48 million, according to a study conducted by the Center for
Economic & Business Research at Southeast Missouri State University shows. The upper reservoir was constructed with roller compacted concrete (RCC); and online in 2010, this 54.5 acres (220,553.9 m²) reservoir is the largest RCC dam in North America.

The 440-megawatt Taum Sauk pumped storage hydroelectric plant began generating electricity again on April 21, 2010.

Environmental issues

Ameren Missouri sponsors the Adopt-the-Shoreline program, which enables people to “adopt” portions of the shoreline for litter control. They also control other shoreline activities in the Lake of the Ozarks
Lake of the Ozarks
The Lake of the Ozarks is a large reservoir created by impounding the Osage River in the northern part of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Extents of three smaller tributaries to the Osage, the Niangua River, Grandglaize Creek, and Gravois Creek, are included in the impoundment...

 such as the regulation of boat docks, seawalls and other structures within the Osage Project boundary on the lake and downstream from Bagnell Dam
Bagnell Dam
Bagnell Dam impounds the Osage River in the U.S. state of Missouri, creating the Lake of the Ozarks. The 148-foot tall concrete gravity dam was built by the Union Electric Company for the purpose of hydroelectric power generation as its Osage Powerplant. It is long, including a long spillway...

The company maintains the Lake and Shoreline Protection Hotline that anyone who wishes to do so can use to report neglected docks or other concerns they may have about the lake.

Taum Sauk

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