COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 19, 2016 – American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) has been named to Fortune magazine’s World’s Most Admired Companies list in the electric and gas utilities sector for the third year in a row. The survey measures nine attributes related to financial performance and corporate reputation.

“This honor reflects the work of our employees to produce and deliver the safe, affordable, reliable and cleaner electricity that our customers expect while rewarding our shareholders and giving back to our communities,” said Nicholas K. Akins, AEP’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “It is gratifying that the strength of our balance sheet and our wise use of corporate assets are being recognized. To ensure that we can continue our success, we’re building upon AEP’s 110-year-old culture of innovation to develop new solutions to enhance service for our customers and use energy resources in more effective, efficient and environmentally protective ways.”

Each year, Fortune surveys top executives, directors and financial analysts about the companies in their industry based upon nine criteria: financial soundness, use of corporate assets, long-term investment value, quality of management, quality of products and services, people management, innovation, social responsibility, and global competitiveness. A total of 652 companies from 30 countries were surveyed to arrive at this year’s list.

American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to nearly 5.4 million customers through 223,000 miles of distribution lines in 11 states. AEP owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a more than 40,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP also ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning approximately 32,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio