SHREVEPORT, La., May 24, 2007 – American Electric Power’s (AEP) Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) has named Carl Handley as plant manager for the Arsenal Hill Power Plant in Shreveport. Handley had been serving as maintenance superintendent at the company’s Flint Creek Power Plant in Gentry, Arkansas since 2002.

Handley will be responsible for the daily operating activities of Arsenal Hill and the new J. Lamar Stall unit scheduled to begin construction at the site in the first quarter of 2008. Arsenal Hill had previously been under joint management with the Lieberman Power Plant in Mooringsport, La.

Handley has held a variety of engineering, power plant operations and maintenance positions since joining AEP in 1985. In addition to Flint Creek, he served at AEP’s General James M. Gavin Plant, Cheshire, Ohio and as production coordinator in Dallas, Texas, and Columbus, Ohio.

“Handley’s experience at plants located in both AEP’s eastern and western areas, combined with his experience as production coordinator, provides him with valuable insight into the plant’s role within the newly created Southwest Power Pool market,” said Paul Franklin, region director, fossil and hydro generation for AEP. “Handley’s focus on safe plant operations has prepared him well for this leadership role of operating Arsenal Hill and starting up the Stall unit.”

Arsenal Hill Unit 5 is a 110-megawatt (MW) simple cycle gas unit that went on line in 1960. The 480-MW J. Lamar Stall unit will be SWEPCO´s first combined cycle gas unit, scheduled for commercial operation in 2010.

A native of Hurricane, WV, Handley holds a bachelor´s degree in electrical engineering from West Virginia Institute of Technology and has completed the AEP Leadership Development Program at The Ohio State University in Columbus. He and his wife Sandy are active members of Elmdale Baptist Church in Springdale, Ark.

News releases and other information about SWEPCO can be found at www.swepco.com.

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American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. 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 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 states 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.