40 Customers Apply for $1.1 Million in Incentive Funds in First Month
 
GAHANNA, Ohio, June 30, 2009 – Businesses and government agencies who work to make their facilities more energy efficient now may be eligible to receive a financial incentive for doing so. As part of its gridSMART^SM initiative, AEP Ohio, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP), has launched three incentive programs for business and government customers who install energy efficient equipment. In less than a month, 40 customers already have applied for $1.1 million in incentive program funds.

“We spent a lot of time listening to our customers and other key stakeholders to develop programs that would be attractive to them,” said Jon Williams, manager of Energy Efficiency and Demand Response. “So far, the initial response has been very positive and we hope to have even more of our customers participate.”

The three programs business and government customers can participate in include:

1) AEP Ohio’s Lighting Program: This program rewards business customers who implement energy-efficiency lighting improvements and technologies that reduce energy consumption. AEP Ohio offers standard rebates for a variety of high efficiency lighting projects in existing buildings, as well as incentives for new construction projects.

2) The Custom Program: This program provides incentives for purchasing high efficiency equipment and implementing industrial process improvements and technologies that reduce energy consumption and summer peak demand. The incentives are provided for the installation of other types of energy efficient equipment outside of lighting.

3) The Self-Direct Program: This program allows qualifying customers to submit energy efficient projects completed since 2006 to AEP Ohio in exchange for an incentive payment or a credit against the energy efficiency/peak demand reduction surcharge on their electric bill.

Business customers interested in applying for these incentives programs can go to gridSMARTohio.com for more information and to fill out an application.

 “The energy efficiency programs AEP Ohio offers to business helps these customers offset upfront equipment costs, reduce payback time and save on their monthly electric bills,” added Williams. “In addition, the programs are environmentally smart and help AEP Ohio meet future energy needs.”

The State of Ohio is targeting to reduce electricity consumption by 22 percent by the end of 2025. AEP Ohio’s gridSMART initiative includes several energy efficiency programs for businesses and consumers to help meet this goal, as well as the implementation of advanced technologies to help further manage electricity demand.

For more information about AEP Ohio’s energy efficiency incentive programs, events and tips, go to gridSMARTohio.com.

 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. The company serves all or part of 61 counties in Ohio and two in West Virginia.

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 more than 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.