AmerenUE through careful management has been able to keep electricity prices for our customers almost 40 percent below the national average. In fact, UE customers currently enjoy among the lowest electric rates in the country—lower than Indianapolis and Denver, as well as Kansas City and Springfield, Mo. Through UE’s cost efforts, customers are paying lower electric rates today than they were 20 years ago. Coal is one area where UE is working hard to manage costs. Coal fuels more than 75 percent of our power plants, so we purchase coal well in advance to off-set future price increases; we have purchased a fleet of 4,500 rail cars, made investments in unloading facilities at our plants and transported coal by barge when it is cost-justified.    UE’s Labadie Plant is the site of a facility that recycles fly ash, a coal-fueled plant by-product, for use in cement. This facility saves disposal costs—and helps the environment!    UE has developed partnerships with suppliers to provide high quality, competitively priced products, while reducing our inventory and warehousing costs.    We constantly review and improve our internal systems, processes and procedures to serve our customers more efficiently.    As responsible stewards of our business, UE will continue to make the best use of every asset so that we can provide our customers with the reliable, clean energy they need at a price they can afford.