AEP is Receiving Mutual Aid for Storm Restoration

When events occur that result in significant widespread outages, electric utilities often call upon peer companies to help restore service. It is a decades-old practice to address potential social, economic and humanitarian impacts from extended outages. With experienced AEP staff working in established industry networks, we assist each other with workers and equipment to help secure a rapid response and to restore service safely and efficiently.

On June 29, 2012, a major storm hit AEP's service territory leaving more than 1.4 million customers in Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky without power. The storm, which left millions without power from the Midwest to the East Coast, tore a destructive path that took down thousands of AEP's distribution and transmission poles and wires. At the peak of the storm, approximately 45 percent of AEP Ohio's customers lost power. This storm was a larger event for the AEP system than Hurricane Ike in September 2008. Confirmed wind speeds on June 29, 2012 ranged from 55 miles per hour (mph) to 84 mph across the state of Ohio. When such a disaster strikes, the electric utility industry is well-prepared with a mutual aid program that brings in support from other unaffected areas to assist with restoration.

For example, AEP Ohio is receiving assistance from Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and Connecticut, among many others.  Appalachian Power has secured help from Texas, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Missouri, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi and Georgia to join the restoration effort and will continue to bring in additional resources as they become available.

To learn more about mutual aide, visit our www.aepsustainability.com.

AEP - American Electric Power
AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 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, West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas).