CHARLESTON, W.Va., June 5, 2015 – Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power, together with the Public Service Commission (PSC) of West Virginia Staff, the PSC Consumer Advocate Division and multiple industrial customers, today filed a settlement agreement seeking the Commission’s approval in the companies’ annual Expanded Net Energy Cost (ENEC) case. The agreement provides for a $30 million or 2 percent increase in the companies’ revenues.

Update: This settlement was approved by the PSC in an order issued June 29, 2015.

The ENEC is designed to reimburse past and ongoing costs of fuel (primarily coal) and purchased power. It is a dollar-for-dollar pass through expense that includes no profit for the company and is adjusted up or down annually.

If the PSC approves the settlement agreement, rates for West Virginia residential customers will increase approximately two-tenths of a cent per kilowatt-hour (kWh) or from 10.8 to 11¢/kWh. The increase for other customer classes, like commercial or industrial customers, will vary. Even with the increase, rates for Appalachian’s customers are below the national average of 12.24¢/kWh. *

For a residential customer using 1,000 kWh per month the agreement would result in an increase of $2.05, from $107.77 to $109.82. Residential customers using 2,000 kWh per month would see an increase of $4.10, from $201.49 to $205.59.

Appalachian Power also proposed to increase spending on energy efficiency and demand response (EE/DR) programs to $10 million annually, an increase of $1.8 million. However, it asked for no change to the current EE/DR rates.

Appalachian Power has 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). Customers in Ohio and Marshall counties are served under the AEP name. It is a unit of American Electric Power, 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 32,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a 40,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.

* According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, released May 26, 2015

   http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_5_06_b

This report made by American Electric Power and its Registrant 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: the economic climate, growth or contraction within and changes in market demand and demographic patterns in AEP’s service territory; inflationary or deflationary interest rate trends; volatility in the financial markets, particularly developments affecting the availability of capital on reasonable terms and developments impairing AEP’s ability to finance new capital projects and refinance existing debt at attractive rates; the availability and cost of funds to finance working capital and capital needs, particularly during periods when the time lag between incurring costs and recovery is long and the costs are material; electric load, customer growth and the impact of retail competition, particularly in Ohio; weather conditions, including storms and drought conditions, and AEP’s ability to recover significant storm restoration costs through applicable rate mechanisms; available sources and costs of, and transportation for, fuels and the creditworthiness and performance of fuel suppliers and transporters; availability of necessary generating capacity and the performance of AEP’s generating plants; AEP’s ability to recover increases in fuel and other energy costs through regulated or competitive electric rates; AEP’s ability to build or acquire generating capacity and transmission lines and facilities (including the ability to obtain any necessary regulatory approvals and permits) when needed at acceptable prices and terms and to recover those costs (including the costs of projects that are cancelled) through applicable rate cases or competitive rates; new legislation, litigation and government regulation, including oversight of nuclear generation, energy commodity trading and new or heightened requirements for reduced emissions of sulfur, nitrogen, mercury, carbon, soot or particulate matter and other substances, or additional regulation of fly ash and similar combustion products that could impact the continued operation, cost recovery and/or profitability of AEP’s generation plants and related assets; evolving public perception of the risks associated with fuels used before, during and after the generation of electricity, including nuclear fuel; a reduction in the federal statutory tax rate that could result in an accelerated return of deferred federal income taxes to customers; timing and resolution of pending and future rate cases, negotiations and other regulatory decisions, including rate or other recovery of new investments in generation, distribution and transmission service and environmental compliance; resolution of litigation; AEP’s ability to constrain operation and maintenance costs; AEP’s ability to develop and execute a strategy based on a view regarding prices of electricity, and other energy-related commodities; prices and demand for power that AEP generates and sells at wholesale; changes in technology, particularly with respect to new, developing or alternative sources of generation; AEP’s ability to recover through rates or market prices any remaining unrecovered investment in generating units that may be retired before the end of their previously projected useful lives; volatility and changes in markets for capacity and electricity, coal, and other energy-related commodities, particularly changes in the price of natural gas; changes in utility regulation and the allocation of costs within regional transmission organizations, including PJM and SPP; the transition to market generation in Ohio, including the implementation of ESPs; AEP’s ability to successfully and profitably manage our Ohio generation assets in a startup, nonregulated merchant business; changes in the creditworthiness of the counterparties with whom AEP has contractual arrangements, including participants in the energy trading market; actions of rating agencies, including changes in the ratings of AEP debt; the impact of volatility in the capital markets on the value of the investments held by AEP’s pension, other postretirement benefit plans, captive insurance entity and nuclear decommissioning trust and the impact on future funding requirements; accounting pronouncements periodically issued by accounting standard-setting bodies; and other risks and unforeseen events, including wars, the effects of terrorism (including increased security costs), embargoes, cyber security threats and other catastrophic events.