AEP LAUDED AS A CORPORATE NEIGHBOR TO COUNT ON IN TIME OF CRISIS Company Among National Emergency Assistance Winners

Jan. 13, 2000•News Release

Rancho Mirage, CA (January 13) – In recognition of its exemplary efforts to respond to some of the worst local storms on record, American Electric Power (AEP) today was named a winner of the Edison Electric Institute’s Emergency Assistance Award. AEP is among five electric utilities named as winners of the annual award. EEI is the association of shareholder-owned electric utilities, international affiliates, and associate members. EEI’s Emergency Assistance Awards recognize companies that swiftly provided prompt aid to electric utility natural disaster recovery efforts outside their own service territories, such as Hurricane Floyd, which battered the Mid-Atlantic in September, 1999. “AEP’s readiness to share people and equipment, to overcome natural disaster when other electric utilities and their customers need it most, is a model for corporate citizens and competitors everywhere,” said Thomas R. Kuhn, president of Edison Electric Institute. “They are to be congratulated for their sterling, voluntary response to pressing need in times of emergency.” American Electric Power was honored for emergency assistance conducted through the course of restoration efforts following Hurricane Floyd, Sept. 16-23, 1999, and following a Christmas Eve ice storm, Dec. 24, 1998-Jan. 1, 1999. AEP sent nearly 300 employees and 125 trucks to help Virginia Power, Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E) and Carolina Power & Light over a nine day period following the hurricane, and assisted in restoration of power in Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland, where nearly 1.8 million people were left without power in the three states. Eighty-seven employees (driving 44 trucks) volunteered to spend the holiday season away from family in order to restore electricity following the holiday ice storm. More than 400,000 people were without electricity after the storm hit. Following restoration work, Virginia Power ran ads in Ohio newspapers that said, “Our Best Gift This Year Didn’t Come From The North Pole, It Came From Ohio.” Other winners of EEI’s Emergency Assistance Awards are Alabama Power, Birmingham, AL; Allegheny Power, Hagerstown, MD; AmerenCIPS, Springfield, IL; and Entergy Corporation, New Orleans, LA. EEI also honored the following companies with Emergency Response Awards, which recognize companies that faced down natural events and demonstrated outstanding effort to restore service to customers: Carolina Power & Light, Raleigh, NC; Duke Power, Charlotte, NC; Florida Power & Light Company (FP&L), Juno Beach, FL; OGE Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, OK; Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco), Washington, DC; and Virginia Power, Richmond, VA.

For More Information, Contact: John Castagna Edison Electric Institute 202/508-5661

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