FORT WAYNE, Ind., August 1, 2013 – Beginning August 5, Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), an operating unit of American Electric Power, will conduct helicopter aerial inspections and routine maintenance on its high-voltage lines and towers throughout Indiana and Michigan.  

The work will begin in Madison, Indiana which is located near I&M’s Rockport Power Plant and will run up into Bridgman, Michigan near the Cook Nuclear Plant.   

The transmission lines being worked on run through the counties of:

Indiana: Jefferson, Jennings, Decatur, Shelby, Hancock, Madison, Hamilton, Tipton, Howard, Miami, Fulton, Marshall, St. Joseph, LaPorte, Kosciusko, Whitley, Huntington, Wells and Adams

Michigan: Berrien

*** Most of the transmission equipment is located within rural areas of the counties***

I&M’s contractor, Haverfield Aviation, will conduct the inspection and maintenance work using a Hughes MD500 helicopter with tail number N801SB. 

The process will require the helicopter to hover over the lines and workers will be lowered from the aircraft to replace equipment.  Flights will be completed between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Sunday from August 5 through the end of August.  Customers with questions or concerns about aerial inspections should contact I&M at 1-800-311-4634 (Indiana) or

1-800-311-6424 (Michigan).

###

Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) is headquartered in Fort Wayne, and its 2,500 employees serve more than 582,000 customers. It operates 3,595 MW of coal-fired generation in Indiana, 2,110 MW of nuclear generation in Michigan and 22 MW of hydro generation in both states.  The company also provides its customers 250 MW of purchased wind generation.

I&M is a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), 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 39,000 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.

---

News releases and other information about I&M is available at

www.IndianaMichiganPower.com