COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 27, 1999 -- American Electric Power Company (NYSE:AEP) today reported net income for the second quarter of 1999 of $87.8 million, or 46 cents per share, compared with $118.1 million, or 62 cents a share in 1998.

Earnings for the year-to-date period were $239 million, or $1.24 per share, compared with $268.7 million, or $1.41 per share, for 1998.

For the 12 months ended June 30, net income increased to $506.5 million, or $2.64 a share, compared with $485.9 million, or $2.56 a share, for the same period a year earlier after a 1997 extraordinary item. Net income for the 12 months ended June 30, 1998 before the extraordinary item was from $595.4 million, or $3.14 a share.

The extraordinary item recorded in the third quarter of 1997 was the United Kingdom´s one-time windfall tax on privatized utilities, which reduced AEP´s share of Yorkshire Electricity Group´s earnings for the 12 months ended June 30, 1998 by $109.4 million. The windfall tax was based on a retroactive revaluation of the original privatization price.

"The outage of our Cook Nuclear Plant negatively affected our results of operations for the second quarter," said E. Linn Draper, Jr. AEP chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Earnings were also negatively impacted by mild weather during the second quarter."

The extended outage of the Cook Nuclear Plant, located in Bridgman, Mich., began in September 1997 when both generating units were shut down because of questions regarding the operability of certain safety systems. On June 25, 1999 the company announced that a comprehensive plan to restart the Cook Nuclear Plant was approved by the board of directors. Unit 2 is scheduled to return to service in April 2000 and Unit 1 is to return to service in September 2000.

Earnings per share were reduced by 10 cents for the quarter from the Cook restart efforts net of deferrals under an Indiana settlement agreement. The weather contributed eight cents to the second quarter earnings decline.

On July 6, 1999 the governor of Ohio signed a bill that restructured the electric utility industry in Ohio affecting two of the company’s major electric operating subsidiaries: Ohio Power Co. and Columbus Southern Power Co. Under the law, customer choice in electric energy supply is to begin on Jan. 1, 2001, with a transition period to end by December 31, 2005. The law provides Ohio electric utilities the opportunity to recover regulatory assets and other potential stranded costs. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio will address recovery of stranded costs and other issues based on each utility’s transition plan to be filed by year end. Until the results of the regulatory process are known, the company will continue to account for its generation business under Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No. 71, "Accounting for the Effects of Certain Types of Regulation."

AEP, a global energy company, is one of the United States´ largest investor-owned utilities, providing energy to 3 million customers in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. AEP has holdings in the United States, the United Kingdom, China and Australia. Wholly owned subsidiaries provide power engineering, energy consulting and energy management services around the world. The company is based in Columbus, Ohio. On Dec. 22, 1997, AEP announced a definitive merger agreement for a tax-free, stock-for-stock transaction with Central and South West Corp., a public utility holding company based in Dallas.

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