Gate City, Va., March 10, 2005  – Approximately 12,000 Appalachian Power customers in the Gate City area will get new electrical meters installed over the next several weeks as the company increases the use of automated meter reading equipment.    

PowerLine Carrier (PLC) technology uses a transmitter on the electric meter to gather and monitor data. The data is carried over power lines back to a receiver in an electric substation before being transmitted to Appalachian’s customer accounting systems via telephone lines.      

 “This is an exciting technology that allows the company to read meters more efficiently with a high degree of accuracy and an increased element of safety,” said Bill Valley, Appalachian’s manager, meter revenue operations – Virginia.    

The Gate City area was selected primarily because of customer density. PLC technology is most efficient in areas where meter readers must cover long distances to read meters. In contrast, earlier this year Appalachian Power began installing more than 50,000 radio frequency meters in Roanoke. The radio frequency meters are best suited for more dense population centers.    

Approximately 200,000 AEP customers across the company’s 11-state service territory will get new automated meter reading equipment installed in 2005.     The installation of the equipment should go virtually unnoticed by customers. Neither system affects the customer’s service or readings. Customers who will have meters exchanged will be notified of the change by letter, and a door hanger will be left when the installation is complete.    

Appalachian Power provides electricity to 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee.  It is a unit of American Electric Power, the nation’s largest electricity generator.  AEP owns more than 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity and is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, with more than 5 million customers in 11 states.

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