COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 8, 2011 – AEP Ohio, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), posted updated data on its AEPOhio.com website (https://www.aepohio.com/service/choice/cres/) that details the amount of its generating capacity available to competitive suppliers in 2012 at a discounted rate agreed upon by multiple parties under the terms of a plan pending before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). 

           The new posting shows that nearly 1.8 million megawatt-hours (MWh) remains available for residential customers at the lower priced level of a two-tiered discount structure designed to foster competition in AEP Ohio's service territory by making all of AEP Ohio's generation resources available to competitive suppliers below AEP Ohio's cost.  This amount of capacity is equivalent to the usage of approximately 150,000 homes, and is available to all AEP Ohio residential customers, including customers participating in governmental aggregation programs, who enter an agreement with a registered competitive retail electric supplier (CRES). 

           On Nov. 8, approximately 40 communities in AEP Ohio’s service territory asked voters to decide whether to approve opt-out governmental aggregation initiatives. The information posted shows that the availability of lower priced discounted generating capacity available for residential customers in 2012 exceeds the total usage of the residents of those communities that approved opt-out governmental aggregation initiatives. Those communities can utilize the lower priced capacity regardless of whether they implement opt-out aggregation, which can take longer to implement and may not be completed before January 2012, or opt-in aggregation, which is more likely to be completed before January 2012. January 2012 is when the amount of capacity set aside for the residential customer class reverts to being used by shopping customers for any customer class. Voters in some of these communities did not approve opt-out aggregation, though those communities can still consider opt-in aggregation, which would also be eligible for the discounts through a registered CRES.

           AEP Ohio's settlement agreement, supported by more than 20 competitive suppliers, and numerous customer and environmental advocacy groups, provides for a host of economic development incentives and other benefits during the term of the plan, which runs through mid-2016.  AEP Ohio's agreement to provide increasing portions of its discounted generation resources for competitive suppliers each year will be in place during a short transition period.  During this transition, AEP Ohio will separate its power generation business from its transmission and distribution (wires) business and ultimately procure generation supply for customers through competitive bidding processes.
                                                                                                      

           AEP Ohio provides electricity to nearly 1.5 million customers of major AEP subsidiaries Columbus Southern Power Company and Ohio Power Company in Ohio, and Wheeling Power Company in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. AEP Ohio is based in Gahanna, Ohio, and is a unit of American Electric Power. News and information about AEP Ohio can be found at aepohio.com.

           American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP’s transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. 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.

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