COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 21, 2006 – A booming scrap metal market and the dramatic increase in wire thefts has AEP Ohio officials very concerned. AEP Ohio is asking customers and the public to report any suspicious activity near company facilities to local law enforcement officials and to notify the company as well.

“We are seeing an increase in thefts of copper, aluminum and wire conductor from facilities across our Ohio service territory,” says Kevin E. Walker, AEP Ohio president and chief operating officer. “This creates serious safety hazards and service reliability issues for our company and for our customers. We want to raise public awareness of the dangers and consequences of this activity. We also are taking action to apprehend and prosecute these thieves.”

This activity, the company says, often results in power outages for customers, exposes employees to more electrical hazards when grounding lines are stolen and can and does kill or seriously injure the thief. Some thieves are cutting into energized power lines and other equipment that serves customers. Many times, contact with energized electrical equipment results in death. Three people were electrocuted in Kentucky and Virginia this year as a result of attempted equipment theft. A British Columbia man died in May when he cut through a high voltage line trying to steal copper wire from a substation. In these instances, utility workers investigating the resulting power outage found the thieves’ burned bodies.

Not only is this type of activity extremely dangerous, it is illegal. AEP Ohio is working with law enforcement and businesses that process scrap metal across the state to identify and recover equipment stolen from its facilities. These efforts already have resulted in the recovery of some materials and the arrest of individuals suspected of committing the thefts.

The company says it also is deploying new security technology around its facilities and substations, and making procedural changes to how it stores wire and equipment not already in use.

Safety and service issues aside, stealing electrical equipment doesn’t make economic sense for the thieves or their families. Scrap copper currently sells for approximately $3 per pound. Thirty pounds worth of copper (roughly $100 dollars) can net the thief a fine of thousands of dollars when caught and prosecuted. In addition to any jail sentences, the company says the thieves will have to pay for not only that $100 worth of copper but for the costs of the replacement wire, the repairs and the time of the workers.  More importantly, such actions could cost the thief or others their lives.

AEP Ohio has a toll-free, 24/7 number dedicated to security issues. Anyone wishing to report suspected theft of or tampering with electrical equipment should call 1-866-747-5845.
 
AEP Ohio provides electricity to 1.5 million customers of major subsidiaries Columbus Southern Power Company and Ohio Power Company in Ohio, and Wheeling Power Company in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. AEP Ohio is based in Gahanna, Ohio. It is a unit of American Electric Power.

American Electric Power (AEP) is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states.  AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S.  AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.  AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas).  American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2006.