SHREVEPORT, La., December 17, 2013 — Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO), a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), and its John W. Turk, Jr. Power Plant in Hempstead County, Ark., have received several project awards in 2013. The commercial operation date for the Turk Plant was Dec. 20, 2012.

The Turk Plant won Edison Electric Institute’s (EEI) Edison Award, the electric power industry’s most prestigious honor, for the completion and commercial operation of the plant. A panel of former electric company chief executives selected the Turk plant for the 86^th annual award.

The year’s “Best Coal-fired Project” went to the Turk Plant, awarded by Power Engineering Magazine, for its cleaner, more efficient source of power generation and new technology. The plant also received the “Plant of the Year” Award from Power Magazine.

The Turk Plant was named Best Project Winner in the Energy/Industrial category and Best Safety Award winner by Engineering News Record Texas & Louisiana Magazine for its outstanding construction quality and craftsmanship, and the high-priority safety culture of site management.

The Turk Plant brings 109 permanent jobs to the area and an annual payroll of $9 million in Southwest Arkansas, with an additional $6 million in annual school and county property tax revenues.

The 600-megawatt plant uses ultra-supercritical advanced coal combustion technology, the first of its type to go into operation in the U.S. It is among the cleanest, most efficient coal plants in the country. Ultra-supercritical generation requires less coal and produces fewer emissions to generate the same amount of power as existing coal plants.

Construction of the plant began in November 2008 after the facility received an air permit from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. SWEPCO’s 73 percent share of the plant is $1.3 billion and 440 megawatts.

The plant serves SWEPCO retail customers in Louisiana and Texas. In Arkansas the plant serves SWEPCO’s wholesale customers — the cities of Hope, Bentonville and Prescott — and the 490,000 members of Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas. Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. is part-owner of the plant.

SWEPCO serves more than 524,000 customers in western Arkansas, northwest and central Louisiana, northeast Texas and the Texas Panhandle. SWEPCO’s headquarters are in Shreveport, La. News releases and other information about SWEPCO and the Turk Power Plant can be found at www.swepco.com.

American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5.3 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a 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 and north Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio. News releases and other information about AEP can be found at www.aep.com.