COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 25, 2000 -- American Electric Power Company (NYSE:AEP) today reported net income for the first quarter of $104 million, or 53 cents per share, compared with $151 million, or 79 cents per share in 1999.

For the 12 months ended March 31, earnings were $473 million, or $2.44 per share, compared with $537 million, or $2.81 per share, for the comparable prior year period.

“The expensing of the full cost to prepare the Cook Nuclear Plant for restart caused the decline in first quarter earnings when compared to the same period last year,” said E. Linn Draper Jr., AEP chairman, president and chief executive officer. “In the first quarter of 1999, some of these expenses had been deferred under an agreement with Indiana.”

The Cook Nuclear Plant began an extended outage in September 1997 when both generating units were shut down because of questions regarding the operability of certain safety systems. Progress to restart the units continues. The refueling of Unit 2, the first unit scheduled for return to service, was completed on April 14. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s final Unit 2 pre-restart inspection will begin on May 8, which coincides with the scheduled reactor heat-up of Unit 2 and return to operational service of common plant systems.

American Electric Power, a global energy company, is one of the United States´ largest investor-owned utilities, providing energy to 3 million customers in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. AEP has holdings in the United States, the United Kingdom, China and Australia. Wholly owned subsidiaries provide power engineering, energy consulting and energy management services around the world. The company is based in Columbus, Ohio. On Dec. 22, 1997, AEP announced a definitive merger agreement for a tax-free, stock-for-stock transaction with Central and South West Corp., a public utility holding company based in Dallas.

AEP will host a live Internet broadcast of its earnings conference call at 10:30 a.m. EDT today. The broadcast is available at http://www.videonewswire.com/AMERICAN/042500/ .

The call will also be archived and available for delayed replay on AEP´s web site, http://www.aep.com . To access the replay, click on "Investor Relations." Once in "Investor Relations," go to the pull down menu and click on "Conference Call Webcast."

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