AEP promotes Michael Heyeck to senior vice president-Transmission

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 30, 2006 – Michael Heyeck has been promoted to senior vice president-Transmission for American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), the company announced today.

In his new position, Heyeck will remain responsible for AEP’s 11-state transmission system, including engineering, construction and maintenance services, operations, asset management, and business services. Heyeck is also responsible for AEP’s plans to add new transmission assets, including the proposed 550-mile, 765-kilovolt transmission project from West Virginia to New Jersey that was announced in January and a planned joint venture announced earlier this month to fund and own new electric transmission assets in Texas.

Heyeck, who previously was vice president-Transmission, will continue to report to Carl English, president of AEP Utilities.

“Transmission is an integral part of AEP’s utility business and is now being recognized nationally as a critical component for electricity reliability and economic growth,” said Michael G. Morris, AEP’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “The care and operation of AEP’s existing transmission grid, the largest in the nation, is an immense responsibility. The proposed projects to expand our transmission holdings are fundamental to our growth plans. Mike’s promotion reflects the importance we place on these activities and the confidence we have in his abilities to lead our transmission organization.”

Heyeck was previously vice president-Transmission Asset Management. Prior to that, he held a leadership position in Corporate Planning and Budgeting for corporate budgeting and economic forecasting and has held various engineering and leadership positions in Transmission Planning and Transmission Operations. He joined AEP in 1976.

Heyeck earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He earned a master’s in business administration at the University of Dayton. He also is a graduate of the Executive Program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School and the AEP Management Development Program at The Ohio State University. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Ohio.

Heyeck has been elected as a Westerville City Council member since 1993, and has served as Chairman (2001-2003) and Mayor (2003-2005). In 2004, he was appointed to a three-year term on the board of trustees for the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), representing Westerville, Worthington and Gahanna. He previously served COTA from 1995 to 1998.

He and his wife Fernanda have three children and reside in Westerville, Ohio.

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 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). American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2006.