ROANOKE, Va., Jan. 15, 2009 – Appalachian Power is offering Virginia retail customers an opportunity to support the renewable generation of energy by voluntarily participating in a new green pricing option.

Green energy is electricity that is generated by using renewable resources such as wind, moving water (hydro), solar and biomass. Virginia customers can now purchase blocks of green energy which will be acquired from hydro generated sources. Each block is equivalent to 100 kilowatt-hours of renewable energy.

Customers may participate by establishing an automatic monthly purchase agreement with the company at a cost of $1.50 per block. They will be able to purchase one or more blocks for each billing period and have the option to purchase an amount equal to the total amount of electricity they use monthly.

For example, a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in a month would match that usage with 10 blocks of green energy at an additional cost of $15.00 on the month’s bill.

The cost to purchase green energy blocks is in addition to a customer’s regular monthly electric bill, and will be reflected as a separate line item on the bill.

"This is a great opportunity to support renewable energy, and we are pleased to make the green pricing option available to our customers in Virginia," said Dana Waldo, Appalachian Power president and chief operating officer.

The green pricing option allows customers to support the value of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). A REC represents the environmental attributes that are created when electricity is generated using renewable resources. Participating customers essentially pay for the value of the RECs and the company retires them from future use.

Appalachian Power does not benefit financially from this pricing program. The additional payments from participating customers will be credited to the company’s fuel factor in Virginia driving down that cost for all customers.
The green pricing option is available to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

To enroll in the program customers may visit the company’s website at www.appalachianpower.com Customers who do not have on-line access may call the Customer Solutions Center at 1-800-956-4237.

Appalachian Power provides electricity to one million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with more than five 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.
 
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