SHREVEPORT, La., August 29, 2005 - Extreme summer temperatures of 100 degrees and above and high humidity across Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas last week sent usage of electricity by customers of AEP Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) to an all-time high level. A new peak customer demand was established Tuesday, August 23, 2005, with a record 4,734,000 kilowatt (kw) load on the SWEPCO system.
            The record 4.734 million kilowatt record load was set at 5:00 p.m. when the Shreveport temperature was 102 degrees.  Including Tuesday’s peak load, the company’s previous summer all time-record high had been topped six times since August 18. SWEPCO’s all-time record peak load prior to this summer’s new mark had been set on August 31, 2000, with a 4.625 million kilowatt load on the system when temperatures in Shreveport reached 108 degrees.  SWEPCO’s peak load for 2004 was only 4.477 million kw on July 15. A kilowatt (kw) is the amount of electricity required to burn 10 100-watt light bulbs. SWEPCO is a member of the Southwest Power Pool, a regional reliability council with over 40 million kilowatts of electric generation available to serve four million customers in eight states.
     Many SWEPCO customers will see higher electric bills because of the hot weather, increased electricity usage in July and August, and high natural gas costs. Company representatives will work on an individual basis with customers experiencing difficulty paying an electric bill.    
Customers may want to take advantage of SWEPCO’s Average Monthly Payment (AMP) plan, which allows residential customers to pay approximately the same amount each month for their electric service. Also, the company’s Neighbor To Neighbor energy assistance program helps families pay their electric bills during times of special need, such as extreme hot temperatures or financial emergencies.
            SWEPCO provides ongoing support by contributing annually to the program during the summer months: $170,000 has been added to Neighbor To Neighbor from SWEPCO in 2005. Since the program began in 1993, over $1.4 million dollars in funds generated from SWEPCO and over 10,000 of its customers have helped some 13,000 families in SWEPCO’s service area. Contact SWEPCO 24 hours a day toll-free at 1-888-216-3523 for details on these programs.
            SWEPCO’s utilizes Wyoming low-sulfur coal and locally-mined lignite at four of its nine power plants in its three-state service territory for over 80 percent of its power generation, with the remainder of its energy needs coming from natural gas.
            SWEPCO has 1,536 employees serving 443,000 customers in western Arkansas, Northwest Louisiana and East Texas within a 25,000 square-mile service area. SWEPCO serves 169,000 customers in Louisiana, 166,000 in Texas and 108,000 in Arkansas.