COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 22, 2006 – AEP Ohio, an operating unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), filed its plan today with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to create a competitive-bid power supply option that could be selected by customers as an alternative to the current prices under AEP Ohio’s rate stabilization plan.
The filing addresses the issue raised by the Ohio Supreme Court in a July 5 ruling remanding the company’s rate stabilization plan to the PUCO for further proceedings.
According to the plan, AEP Ohio will survey its customers to determine at what price level they would participate in a standard power option or a “green” power option, providing customers the opportunity to commit up-front to participate in a specific option at a specific price.
An independent monitor, to be approved by the PUCO, will tabulate customer responses and provide a price summary to be included in a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking wholesale bids from qualified power suppliers. Bids will be sought for the options that have customer interest.
Once bids are analyzed by the independent monitor, customers committing in advance to a specific option will be notified of the successful bid and will be placed in the program. All other AEP Ohio customers will be notified of the new power supply options and will have 21 days to “opt-in” during this final enrollment period.
Rates in these options will be in effect for the remainder of the rate stabilization plan period, which ends Dec. 31, 2008. Customers who choose not to participate will continue paying current prices under AEP Ohio’s rate stabilization plan or can purchase power directly from alternative retail suppliers as allowed under Ohio’s deregulation law.
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.
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 36,000 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 utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2006.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Doug Flowers
AEP Ohio Corporate Communications
(614) 883-6675