Weather in west central Illinois can be unpredictable, especially in the winter months, which also brings those frigid temperatures. Ameren Illinois, which covers over 43,000 square miles, has continued making improvements to their natural gas delivery system to prepare for increased usage by homeowners, explains Public and Media Relations Manager Brian Bretsch:
“We have spent a lot of time to strengthen our natural gas systems. We have twelve natural gas storage fields, where we in the summertime buy gas when it is much cheaper on the market, and we inject that into different locations throughout the state of Illinois. What we are able to do is when we get into the time with the polar vortex and with the snow in west central Illinois and we know our customers are at home and they are using more gas and they are expecting that gas to be there to fire up that furnace and keep it warm in the house and have the hot water heater going, we are able to extract that natural gas and put it onto the system. It really helps save our customers money in the wintertime. That is one of the things we do to be prepared for the cold weather.”
Bretsch informs Ameren Illinois has spent a lot of time in the last ten years building up their system to be more storm resilient with the installation of larger power poles and thicker power lines.
