ATHENS, Ohio, Aug. 8, 2011 – American Electric Power, on behalf of its operating unit AEP Ohio and its subsidiary Columbus Southern Power, is proposing to construct new high voltage transmission lines to reinforce the company’s transmission system in southeastern Vinton County and northeastern Jackson County.

            AEP will host a public informational meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17, at the Vinton County Community Center, 31935 St. Rt. 93, McArthur, Ohio, to explain the proposed project. The meeting will allow local residents to offer input, ask questions and learn more about the proposal.

            AEP is proposing a new 7-mile, 138,000-volt (138 kV) transmission line along Route 50 from the Poston-Lick 138 kV line to Elk station near McArthur, and then going approximately 10.5 miles south of Elk station replacing the existing 69 kV transmission line toward Wellston.  This is being proposed to alleviate rehabilitation concerns, maintain reliability and retire approximately 40 miles of 1920s vintage 69 kV line. In conjunction with these new lines, additional improvements are planned, including revising the operating configurations and equipment upgrades at Elk, Poston, and Lick stations.

            The new lines are designed to prevent overloads of critical facilities and provide sufficient capacity for future growth and development in the area, where the demand for electricity is projected to increase more than 1.5 percent each year for the next 10 years.

            Construction on the approximately $30 million project is targeted to begin in fall 2012 and be complete in mid-2014.

            AEP’s project team is assembling information, including public feedback gathered at the upcoming Aug. 17 public information meeting, to include in its application to the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB). The OPSB, a multi-agency board led by the chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, is responsible for approving the location of major utility facilities within the state of Ohio.

            Additional information about the project is available on the company’s website at www.AEPOhio.com/go/elk.  Interested parties also may request information or comment about the project by calling AEP Ohio’s Transmission Project Information Line at 614-883-6929.        

            AEP Ohio provides electricity to nearly 1.5 million customers of major AEP 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, and is a unit of American Electric Power.

             American Electric Power 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 38,000 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 transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. 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). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.