Ameren to reorganize Illinois utilities

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI - Ameren Corporation announced that it plans to reorganize its three Illinois electric and gas utilities — AmerenCIPS, AmerenCILCO and AmerenIP — into a single public utility that would do business as "Ameren Illinois."

As the first step in accomplishing this reorganization, Ameren and its subsidiaries will file an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and notices with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). The Ameren Illinois utilities intend to complete the reorganization by October 1.

The legal name for the combined utility would be Ameren Illinois Company; it would be a direct subsidiary of Ameren. The reorganization would not affect current rates customers pay or levels of service.

"The merger of AmerenCIPS, AmerenCILCO and AmerenIP into one utility is the logical next step in the evolution of our business in Illinois," said Thomas R. Voss, president and chief executive officer of Ameren Corporation. "For the last several years, we have been moving toward operating our Illinois utilities as one company in order to reduce the cost of operations and gain efficiencies for our customers."

Customers will not see any immediate effect of this change on their service or rates. Eventually, the reorganization and related synergies will enable enhanced conveniences for customers, such as a single 800 number for use in reporting outages or getting account information. The reorganization is also expected to reduce customer confusion for those customers who currently receive bills from two of the utilities, increase operating efficiencies and reduce administrative work associated with maintaining three utilities.

"The reorganization will enable us to pursue customer enhancement opportunities and eventually achieve additional economies of scale," said Scott A. Cisel, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Ameren's Illinois utilities. "Because electric and certain gas customers can shop for energy in the competitive market, our sole focus is to efficiently deliver energy safely, reliably and cost-effectively. We will continue to make prudent, timely investments in the equipment and infrastructure it takes to move that energy across thousands of miles of wire and pipeline to our customers' homes and businesses, as well as to quickly restore service following unanticipated events, such as storms and floods."

As a single public utility, Ameren Illinois will:

• Establish its headquarters in Peoria, Illinois;

• Serve all or part of 85 of Illinois' 102 counties;

• Rank as the second largest Illinois electricity delivery operation in total number of customers (1.2 million);

• Rank as the third largest Illinois natural gas distribution operation in total number of customers (813,000);

• Operate 45,000 miles of electric distribution lines; and

• Operate 18,000 miles of natural gas distribution and transmission mains.

"Stakeholders throughout the state have expressed strong preference for uniformity among our three utilities," said Cisel. "The filing and notices with the FERC and the ICC are important steps toward achieving this goal. This reorganization will enhance our ability to continue to deliver safe, reliable service to the electric and gas customers we serve in downstate Illinois."

Further details on the reorganization will be provided in a Form 8-K report to be filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The three Ameren Illinois utilities have been providing safe, reliable energy delivery service for more than a century. The Ameren Illinois utilities deliver energy to 1.2 million electric and 813,000 natural gas customers in more than 1,100 communities within a 43,700-square-mile service territory throughout downstate Illinois.

With assets of $24 billion, Ameren serves approximately 2.4 million electric customers and almost one million natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois. Ameren owns a diverse mix of electric generating plants strategically located in its Midwest market with a generating capacity of 16,800 megawatts.