GAHANNA, OH, October 3, 2011 - Today, gridSMART^® from AEP Ohio unveiled the Online Energy Checkup, an interactive tool that provides its residential customers with information about their home’s energy use to help them better manage costs.

With the Online Energy Checkup, developed by Atlanta-based APOGEE Interactive, customers can evaluate how they use energy and ways they can save. Customers can estimate their energy use based on their own inputs and billing data. They receive printable reports with useful details about their home’s estimated energy consumption, seasonal factors, efficiency tips and approximate savings realized from making suggested improvements. Customers can take the Online Energy Checkup at AEPOhio.com/go/checkup.

“Most people want to be more energy efficient, but aren’t sure where to start,” said Jon Williams, manager energy efficiency and peak demand response. “The Online Energy Checkup makes it easy for the average homeowner to pinpoint energy efficiency opportunities and better understand their energy costs right from their own computer.”

Investor-owned utilities in Ohio are required to meet specific energy reduction targets. The Online Energy Checkup is part of AEP Ohio’s overall energy efficiency and peak demand response efforts to meet the State of Ohio target of reducing electricity consumption 22 percent by the end of 2025.  For more information about AEP Ohio’s energy efficiency consumer 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, and is a unit of American Electric Power. News and information about AEP Ohio can be found at aepohio.com.   

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 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 and north Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio. News releases and other information about AEP can be found at aep.com.

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