Earlier this year I wrote about AmerenUE’s pathetic response to a massive power outage in St. Louis that occurred as a direct result of storm damage and Ameren’s lack of proper tree trimming maintenance. It looks as though Ameren is not yet done atoning for those sins.

Today more than 500,000 people in the St. Louis area are once again without power. Thankfully, I am not one of them this time. Although, that is only because we moved out of our old house — which, of course, is once again powerless. The predictions of the local media are even more dour than last time — with early estimates of at least 5 days to restore power.

The last storm in July occurred during the peak of the summer heat, and several area residents died from it because they had no power to run their air conditioning. I fully expect the death toll from this outage to far exceed that, as we are in the grip of the worst snowstorm in years, and temperatures have dipped into the twenties.

The cost of repairs this time will no doubt exceed those of last time as well. Which leads one to wonder, what if Ameren had simply coughed up the few millions it takes to keep the trees trimmed? Would they have saved money in the long run? Would they still need the rate increase they had the audacity to request earlier this year?