Through the agreements, Kentucky Power will provide wholesale electricity to the Vanceburg Electric Plant Board and the City of Olive Hill. Under the terms of the agreements, Kentucky Power will provide 100 percent of both municipal utilities´ retail electricity requirement for the 20-year terms of the contracts. Pricing information is not being released for competitive reasons.
"Kentucky Power´s wholesale relationship with Vanceburg dates back to the late 1920s and to at least the 1960s for Olive Hill," said Timothy Mosher, president and COO of Kentucky Power. "We are pleased that we will continue to provide these communities with affordable, reliable wholesale power for many years to come."
"AEP is one of the largest providers of wholesale energy to municipals and cooperatives, and it is gratifying to continue these wholesale relationships with Vanceburg and Olive Hill," said Brian Tierney, AEP senior vice president, commercial operations. In 2006, AEP will provide approximately 3,500 megawatts of power to 55 municipal utilities and 25 electric cooperatives in the United States.
The Vanceburg Electric Plant Board and Vanceburg City Council both voted unanimously Dec. 13 to approve the contract with American Electric Power Service Corporation as an agent for Kentucky Power. The Olive Hill City Council approved its agreement unanimously Dec. 20, 2005.
"We are happy to have a long term agreement in place with Kentucky Power and AEP," said Vanceburg Mayor William T. Cooper. "We have had a long standing relationship with them, one which has provided our customers with reliable power at reasonable rates. This contract will continue that relationship well into the future."
Kentucky Power provides electricity to approximately 175,000 customers in all or parts of 20 Eastern Kentucky counties. It is a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP), the nation´s largest electricity generator. AEP owns more than 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity and is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, with more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP is based in Columbus, Ohio.
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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; timing and resolution of pending and future rate cases, negotiations and other regulatory decisions (including rate or other recovery for new investments, transmission service and environmental compliance);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; AEP´s ability to sell assets at acceptable prices and on other acceptable terms, including rights to share in earnings derived from the assets subsequent to their sale; 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; volatility and changes in markets for electricity, natural gas, and other energy-related commodities; changes in utility regulation, including membership in regional transmission structures; 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.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Ronn Robinson
Corporate Communications
502.696.7003
Ronn Robinson
Corporate Communications
502.696.7003