American Electric Power

American Electric Power (AEP), founded in 1906, served electric utilities in various parts of the United States for over 100 years. The company was originally formed from a utility holding company in 1899, but began its electric utility service business in Albany, New York, on December 20, 1906, as American Gas and Electric (AG&E), acquiring its first utility properties on January 2, 1907. In 1917, AG&E operated the first super power plant on the Ohio River at Wheeling, Ohio, and named it the Windsor Plant. It was the first major steam plant built at the mouth of a coal mine, eliminating the need to haul coal over long distances. It provided a significant amount of power over the nation's first long-distance, 138,000-volt transmission line. AG&E made the greatest expansion in its history from 1922 to 1927. It acquired a number of major properties such as Indiana Michigan Electric, American Electric Power Company in Philadelphia, and Appalachian Power Company in Virginia.

With the increasing demand for electricity in the 1920s, AG&E constructed three large generating stations: the Twin Branch plant in northern Indiana, the Philo plant in southeastern Ohio, and the Stanton plant in northeastern Pennsylvania. Even during the Great Depression, the company persevered and maintained its financial integrity through the stock market crash in 1929.

AG&E constructed 36 new generating units at 14 locations in five states from 1941 to 1961, with a total generating capacity of 6 million kilowatts (kW). At that time, many AG&E plants occupied the top of the list of America's most efficient electricity generating stations. After that, it added 11 new generating units for 2 million kilowatts capacity. It also managed a 390 mi. (628 km), 345,000-volt transmission system for the Ohio Valley Electric Cooperative (OVEC), which had been formed to supply electrical power to the federal government's uranium enrichment plant at Piketon, Ohio. In 1958, AG&E changed its name to American Electric Power (AEP). AEP continued to grow from 1961 to 1975, adding 21 new generating units to bring the total system's generating capacity to 17.6 million kW.

In 1967, AEP announced that it would build a nuclear generating station on the shores of Lake Michigan. The 1,020,000 kW Unit 1 of the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant went into commercial operation in 1975, and the 1,090,000 kW Unit 2 was completed in 1978.

New York City was AEP's headquarters for nearly three-quarters of a century, but it began moving its corporate offices to Columbus, Ohio, in 1980, and completed the move in 1983, with the completion of a new 31-story office facility at One Riverside Plaza. During 1996, AEP's sales of electricity to retail customers reached a record 100 billion kW hours. On December 22, 1997, AEP announced a definitive merger with Central and South West Corp. of Dallas, Texas. The merger was completed on June 15, 2000, and created a combined electricity sales amount of 200 million megawatt hours. In 2007, AEP had more than 5 million U.S. customers and served parts of 11 states, including Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. It was one of the largest investor-owned utilities in United States.

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