Ameren

Increased competition in the utility industry has brought challenges as well as opportunities. Ameren has successfully met these challenges while remaining faithful to our history of core business growth, cost control, fair returns to stockholders, and excellent service to customers. Ameren Corporation provides a variety of energy services to over 2.2 million customers in Missouri and Illinois with a generating capacity of approximately 14,500 megawatts. The company's major subsidiaries include AmerenCILCO, responsible for providing electricity and natural gas to customers in Illinois; Ameren CIPS, which oversees electric and natural gas services to over 323,000 retail customers; and AmerenUE, the largest electric utility in Missouri. Nearly 95 percent of Ameren's revenues stem from its electric sales, with natural gas sales shoring up the remainder. Ameren was born out of the 1997 merger of Union Electric Company and CIPSCO Inc. and operates as one of the leading energy services firms in the United States. Union Electric was incorporated in Missouri in 1922 as Union Electric Light and Power Company, a successor to a company of the same name incorporated in May 1902 as a result of the merger of Imperial Electric Light, Heat, and Power Company; Citizens Electric Lighting and Power Company; and Missouri Edison Electric Company. An early task for Union Electric Light and Power was providing power for the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. Through its Ashley Street Plant, the company controlled 12 megawatts of power, enough to light the fair and make clear that electricity was readily available. As more individuals and businesses began to rely on electricity, Union Electric Light and Power sought out additional generating sources. In 1913, the company began buying power from the Keokuk dam, 150 miles north of St. Louis. Union Electric later bought the dam, providing power carried over a longer distance than had ever been achieved before. During World War I, the company expanded to serve rural areas. With the addition of a plant in Cahokia, Illinois, Union Electric Light and Power progressed through the 1920s, acquiring smaller light and power companies in Missouri and Illinois. In the early 1930s, the Great Depression notwithstanding, Union Electric Light and Power completed construction of Bagnell dam in Missouri's Ozark mountains and organized Lakeside Light & Power Company in 1931 for residents in the surrounding area. In 1937, the company changed its name to Union Electric Company of Missouri. Its Illinois operations became a subsidiary, Union Electric Company of Illinois, with subsidiaries in Iowa renamed Iowa Union Electric Company. In 1940, the company proceeded with further corporate simplification, merging several Missouri subsidiaries into the parent. By 1945, surrounding Illinois and Iowa properties were merged into one subsidiary, Union Electric Power Company. In March 1945, Union Electric made the significant acquisition of Laclede Power & Light Company, a former competitor controlling 15 percent of the electric business in St. Louis. With some delay in construction due to World War II, the company completed a new plant in Venice, Illinois, in 1950, bringing the total company capacity to 1,000 megawatts. Acquisitions continued. The company acquired Missouri Power & Light Company in 1950, following up with the 1954 addition of Missouri Edison Company to its roster. In February 1955, the company absorbed its holding company, North American Company, and in August 1955 purchased all properties and on-going businesses in Illinois and Iowa of the subsidiary Union Electric Power Company. Following this consolidation, Union Electric Company of Missouri became simply Union Electric Company in 1956. The company made one more electric company acquisition in southeastern Iowa in 1958. Reacting to such growth, Union Electric recognized the need to organize the generation and storage of power at its various plants. In a program