SHREVEPORT, Louisiana, May 1, 2006 – AEP Texas North Company, Mutual Energy SWEPCO dba Mutual Energy SPP (ME SPP), and Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO), all units of American Electric Power, have filed for approval by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) to transfer approximately 7,000 retail electric customers in the Texas Panhandle from AEP Texas to SWEPCO.  Currently, AEP Texas delivers electricity to the area and ME SPP provides retail customer service.

The customers affected are located in portions of Childress, Collingsworth, Donley, Hall and Wheeler counties.

The change is being made because the 7,000 AEP Texas customers and all of SWEPCO’s other 168,000 retail customers in East Texas are located in a regional electricity grid known as the Southwest Power Pool (SPP). The rest of the territory served by AEP Texas is located in a different electricity grid known as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). While ERCOT offers retail choice, other areas of Texas outside of ERCOT, including SPP, have not initiated retail competition. It is more appropriate for a company already operating in the SPP to handle other SPP areas of Texas. SWEPCO will provide reliable, bundled electric service to these customers, just as it does to its existing customers.

The change will bring lower prices to the area, with estimated annual savings of approximately 15 to 20 percent depending on customer usage level and classification (residential, commercial, industrial and others).

Nick Akins, SWEPCO president and chief operating officer, said, “SWEPCO looks forward to serving these customers in the Texas Panhandle along with our other Texas customers in East Texas, and providing the same level of service with some of the lowest rates in the state.”

Keith Honey, SWEPCO external affairs manager in Longview, Texas, said, “Customers will continue to be served by local service employees, the same Customer Solutions Center and billing operations, but under the name of SWEPCO.”

SWEPCO expects to implement the changes in approximately four months, following approval by the required regulatory agencies and completion of the customer account conversion process.

SWEPCO is a sister company of AEP Texas that has been serving customers in Texas for more than 80 years with affordable electricity prices and reliable service. SWEPCO serves a total of 452,000 customers, including 168,000 in East Texas, 173,000 in northwest Louisiana and 111,000 in western Arkansas. The company is headquartered in Shreveport, La.

SWEPCO is an operating unit of American Electric Power, an energy company based in Columbus, Ohio.  American Electric Power owns more than 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States and is the nation’s largest electricity generator.  AEP is also one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with more than 5 million customers linked to AEP’s 11-state electricity transmission and distribution grid.