COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 20, 2006 – Columbus Southern Power Company (CSP) and Ohio Power Company (OP), collectively AEP Ohio, operating companies of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), have agreed to supply electrical service to Ormet Primary Aluminum Corp.’s (Ormet) Hannibal, Ohio, facilities, as part of an agreement signed by AEP Ohio, Ormet and several other parties. The agreement requires approval by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO).

Under the terms of the agreement, AEP Ohio will supply generation, transmission and distribution service to meet Ormet’s 520 megawatt (MW) load at its Hannibal facilities.

“We are very pleased to reach an agreement that will allow Ormet to resume operations at its Hannibal facilities, which significantly benefits Monroe County, the region and the State of Ohio,” said AEP Ohio President and Chief Operating Officer Kevin E. Walker.

Ohio Power served Ormet through the end of 1999, at which time Ormet, at its request, became a customer of South Central Power. In 2005, Ormet filed a complaint at the PUCO claiming that South Central was not providing physically adequate service and requesting to be taken back as an OP customer.

The settlement agreement provides for the reallocation of the service territories of CSP, OP and South Central so that Ormet’s Hannibal facilities are located in a joint CSP/OP certified territory effective January 1, 2007.

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 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, West Virginia and 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.