TULSA, Okla., Jan. 22, 2006 – Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) has completed restoration of its electric system from the damage caused by the Jan. 12-14 ice storm. PSO continues work with customers who have individual service issues that need to be resolved.  Those customers are expected to have service by the end of today.
 
“We want to express our sincere appreciation to our customers, the cities and towns we serve, and all those whose help and patience allowed us to work as quickly and safely as possible to restore service to those affected by the ice storm,” said PSO President Stuart Solomon.  “This is the costliest storm in our company’s history and we responded with an unprecedented effort.  With more than two-thousand utility workers and support personnel working to clear lines and restore power, PSO gave it our all and we’re pleased to be able to say we’ve reached the end.”

Along with PSO employees, the restoration workforce included employees and contractors from PSO affiliates AEP Texas, Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO), Kentucky Power and AEP Ohio.  Other utilities and contractors responded from Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Kansas, Kentucky and Tennessee.
 
Approximately 46-thousand PSO customers were without power on the night of Sunday, Jan. 14, at the height of the ice storm.   About 20-thousand of those customer outages were in McAlester and surrounding areas.  Other hard hit areas served by PSO included Grove, Vinita, Chouteau and those towns’ outlying communities.

PSO would like to know if there are any customers in the areas affected by the ice storm who still do not have power, and requests that they call PSO now to report their outage even if it had been previously reported.  The number to call is: 1-888-218-3919.

Also, PSO advises customers whose home or business has damaged electric service entrances of the need to hire a qualified electrician to make repairs before PSO can reconnect power.

PSO, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), is an electric utility company serving approximately 514,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma.  Based in Tulsa, PSO has more than 4,000 megawatts of generating capacity, and is the largest provider of wind energy in the state.