COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 17, 2001 - Datapult, LP announced today it will provide utility allocation and data mining services with analysis from Datapult’s Energy Analysts for two properties managed by Steiner + Associates, a leading developer and property management firm.

The multi-year contract, the second agreement of similar nature between Datapult and Steiner + Associates, is valued at approximately $1.2 million.

Datapult will monitor and track utility consumption for two Steiner + Associates properties - the Easton Town Center Fashion District located in the Easton area of Columbus and Newport on the Levee located in Newport, Ky., across the Ohio River from Cincinnati - allowing both properties to save time and money by reducing energy, maintenance and administrative costs. Both developments are leisure time, retail and shopping districts featuring entertainment venues and assorted specialty stores.

“We are very pleased to extend our relationship with Steiner + Associates,” said William A. Randle, managing director of Datapult. “Both of these unique retail developments are innovative entertainment retail concepts, just as Datapult is an innovator in the energy information services market.”

Yaromir Steiner, president of Steiner + Associates and co-developer of Easton Town Center, expressed his desire to continue to expand the Datapult service.

“Easton Town Center Fashion District and Newport on the Levee are both cutting edge retail / entertainment projects that depend on the combined success of each and every tenant,” said Steiner. “Datapult has demonstrated its ability to lower the energy costs and improve the bottom lines of our valued tenants. We are very pleased to expand our commitment with Datapult and look forward to the opening of both of these projects.”

Under the terms of the contract, Datapult will:

• Provide monitoring of electrical usage in 15-minute increments for all tenants in both complexes

• Provide water use monitoring

• Allocate actual energy consumption to tenants

• Generate and send allocated electric and water billing statements to tenants

• Provide analysis of energy use with energy management recommendations

• Interface with the energy management systems that may be utilized for each overall complex

Datapult currently provides these same services for Easton Town Center. The addition of the Fashion District will almost double the total number of tenants. Easton Town Center Fashion District is scheduled to open in late summer of 2001.

In addition to the newly constructed Newport Aquarium, Newport on the Levee will house a megaplex theater, an interactive gaming venue and 30 to 40 retail and restaurant tenants. The opening is planned for the fall of 2001.

Steiner + Associates develops and manages leisure time destinations. These projects combine entertainment, dining and shopping experiences. Steiner + Associates has offices in Columbus, Ohio, Miami and Tampa, Fla. and Newport, Ky.

Datapult is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Electric Power Company (NYSE: AEP) and is organized under AEP Communications. As an energy information, data collection and processing company, Datapult, LP markets under the Datapult name. Datapult’s portfolio of products and services deliver meaningful, accurate information about energy use to commercial, industrial and energy supply customers throughout North America helping them save time and money by reducing energy, maintenance and administrative costs and assisting them to make energy purchasing decisions. Datapult services are available directly through Datapult or through one of its Value Added Resellers. Datapult is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with a regional and operations center in Austin, Texas, and a product development center in Roanoke, Va.

American Electric Power is a multinational energy company based in Columbus, Ohio. AEP owns and operates more than 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity, making it one of America’s largest generators of electricity. The company is also a leading wholesale energy marketer and trader, ranking second in the U.S. in electricity volume. AEP provides retail electricity to more than 7 million customers worldwide and has more than $55 billion in assets, primarily in the U.S. with holdings in select international markets. Wholly owned subsidiaries are involved in power engineering and construction services, energy management and telecommunications.