COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 30, 2004 - American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) subsidiary Texas Central Co. (formerly known as Central Power and Light) has signed an agreement to sell its 7.8 percent share of Oklaunion Power Station to Golden Spread Electric Cooperative for $42.75 million. Proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce debt.

AEP announced plans in December 2002 to sell all of the generation assets owned by AEP Texas Central Co. (TCC) to determine their market value for calculating stranded costs under Texas restructuring legislation. A competitive bidding process for the assets began in June 2003 after the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) issued a rule clarifying TCC’s ability to sell its generating assets to calculate stranded costs. The purchase agreement for the TCC share of Oklaunion is the first purchase agreement signed as part of that process. AEP is continuing to evaluate bids for the other TCC generating assets including a 632-megawatt coal-fired generating plant, TCC’s 25.2 percent ownership share in the South Texas Project nuclear plant, eight natural gas-fired plants and a small hydro facility. Credit Suisse First Boston LLC (CSFB) is AEP’s advisor for the sale.

“The purchase agreement for Oklaunion represents a positive first step in our effort to determine the market value and stranded costs for our Texas Central generation,” said Tom Shockley, AEP vice chairman and chief operating officer. “Due to the proximity of our service areas, we’ve had a good relationship with Golden Spread and are pleased they were selected to acquire Texas Central’s share of Oklaunion. We’ve been pleased with the level of interest we’ve had for the Texas Central generation, and we are moving forward to complete sale of the remaining facilities in order to file for stranded cost recovery in fall 2004.”

Oklaunion Power Station is a 692-megawatt coal-fired generating station located near the Oklahoma border in Vernon, Texas. Three AEP subsidiaries and two other companies jointly own the plant. In addition to the share of the plant owned by TCC, AEP Texas North Co. (formerly West Texas Utilities) owns 54.7 percent of the facility and AEP Public Service Company of Oklahoma owns 15.6 percent. Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority owns 11.7 percent of the facility, and the City of Brownsville, Texas, owns 10.2 percent of the facility. AEP Public Service Company of Oklahoma operates the facility.

Sale of the TCC generation assets will determine their market value for purposes of calculating stranded costs - the amount that the book value exceeds the market value of the assets. The TCC generating assets had a net book value of approximately $1.8 billion on Dec. 31, 2001. Texas Senate Bill 7 on electric restructuring provides for recovery of stranded costs as part of the transition to the competitive retail market. Once the amount of TCC’s stranded costs are approved by the PUCT, stranded costs will be recovered through TCC’s regulated transmission and distribution rates. Senate Bill 7 permits the PUCT to authorize the issuance of securitization revenue bonds to recover stranded costs. The principal and interest on those bonds would be recovered over approximately 15 years through regulated transmission and distribution rates.

Golden Spread Electric Cooperative (GSEC), based in Amarillo, Texas, is a consumer-owned generation and transmission cooperative organized in 1984 to provide low-cost, reliable electric service in rural areas of the Texas Panhandle, South Plains and Edwards Plateau regions, and in the Oklahoma Panhandle. A Golden Spread affiliate owns 50 percent of the 480-MW Mustang Station, a gas-fueled combined-cycle electric generating plant located near Denver City, Texas.

Golden Spread intends to use the capacity and associated energy that it will acquire through the transaction to serve member loads. Golden Spread recently has acquired five new member systems and has agreed to undertake responsibility to supply certain additional loads of existing member systems. Golden Spread serves nearly 1,100 MW of load, of which approximately 190 MW is located in the area controlled by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). The Oklaunion Power Station is located in ERCOT’s jurisdiction, and the energy that Golden Spread acquires through the transaction will supply a portion of the base load energy requirements of the GSEC member load in ERCOT.

American Electric Power owns and operates more than 42,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States and select international markets and is the largest electricity generator in the U.S. AEP is also one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with almost 5 million customers linked to AEP’s 11-state electricity transmission and distribution grid. The company is based in Columbus, Ohio.

The comments set forth above include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although AEP and 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; abnormal weather conditions; available sources and costs of fuels; availability of generating capacity; the speed and degree to which competition is introduced to our service territories; the ability to recover stranded costs in connection with existing and possible additional deregulation; new legislation and government regulation; oversight and/or investigation of the energy sector or its participants; our ability to successfully control costs; the success of acquiring new business ventures and disposing of existing investments that no longer match our corporate profile; international and country-specific developments affecting foreign investments including the disposition of any current foreign investments and potential additional foreign investments; the economic climate and growth in our service territory and changes in market demand and demographic patterns; inflationary trends; electricity and gas market prices; interest rates; liquidity in the banking, capital and wholesale power markets; actions of rating agencies; changes in technology, including the increased use of distributed generation within our transmission and distribution service territory; and other risks and unforeseen events, including wars, the effects of terrorism, embargoes and other catastrophic events.