COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 7, 2004 - American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) has signed a three-year wholesale power supply agreement with Rayburn Country Electric Cooperative Inc. (Rayburn Electric).

According to the terms of the contract, AEP will supply Rayburn’s load in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) beginning in June 2005. AEP already supplies Rayburn’s load in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) through a pre-existing wholesale power supply contract. Rayburn Electric has a peak load in excess of 700 megawatts. AEP was selected through a competitive bid process to serve Rayburn’s ERCOT load. Pricing details are not being announced for competitive reasons.

"We´re extremely pleased to be selected to supply additional wholesale power to Rayburn Electric, one of the largest electric cooperatives operating in ERCOT,” said Michael G. Morris, AEP´s chairman, president and chief executive officer. "In addition to providing reliable, affordable electricity to our own customers, providing wholesale service to municipals and cooperatives is a key component of AEP´s utility business.”

AEP is one of the nation’s largest wholesale suppliers of generation to municipal utilities and cooperatives. Including the new agreement announced today, AEP will provide approximately 3,150 megawatts of load to 52 municipal utilities and 25 electric cooperatives in the United States.

Rayburn Country Electric Cooperative, Inc., based in Rockwall, Texas, is a rural electric generation and transmission cooperative that supplies the wholesale power requirements for five rural electric distribution cooperatives. These cooperatives provide electric service in sixteen counties in North Central and Northeast Texas.

American Electric Power owns more than 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States and is the nation´s largest electricity generator. AEP is also one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with more than 5 million customers linked to AEP’s 11-state electricity transmission and distribution grid. The company is based in Columbus, Ohio.

This report made by AEP and certain of its subsidiaries contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although AEP and each of its registrant subsidiaries believe that their expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, any such statements may be influenced by factors that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those projected. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are: electric load and customer growth; weather conditions, including storms; available sources and costs of, and transportation for, fuels and the creditworthiness of fuel suppliers and transporters; availability of generating capacity and the performance of AEP’s generating plants; the ability to recover regulatory assets and stranded costs in connection with deregulation; the ability to recover increases in fuel and other energy costs through regulated or competitive electric rates; new legislation, litigation and government regulation including requirements for reduced emissions of sulfur, nitrogen, mercury, carbon and other substances; resolution of pending and future rate cases, negotiations and other regulatory decisions (including rate or other recovery for new investments and environmental compliance); oversight and/or investigation of the energy sector or its participants; resolution of litigation (including pending Clean Air Act enforcement actions and disputes arising from the bankruptcy of Enron Corp.); AEP´s ability to constrain its operation and maintenance costs; the success of disposing of investments that no longer match AEP´s business model; AEP´s ability to sell assets at acceptable prices and on other acceptable terms; international and country-specific developments affecting foreign investments including the disposition of any foreign investments; the economic climate and growth in AEP´s service territory and changes in market demand and demographic patterns; inflationary trends; AEP´s ability to develop and execute a strategy based on a view regarding prices of electricity, natural gas, and other energy-related commodities; changes in the creditworthiness and number of participants in the energy trading market; changes in the financial markets, particularly those affecting the availability of capital and AEP´s ability to refinance existing debt at attractive rates; actions of rating agencies, including changes in the ratings of debt and preferred stock; volatility and changes in markets for electricity, natural gas, and other energy-related commodities; changes in utility regulation, including membership and integration in a regional transmission structure; accounting pronouncements periodically issued by accounting standard-setting bodies; the performance of AEP´s pension and other postretirement benefit plans; prices for power that AEP generates and sells at wholesale; changes in technology and other risks and unforeseen events, including wars, the effects of terrorism (including increased security costs), embargoes and other catastrophic events.