PATH Seeks Delay in Transmission Line Proceeding in West Virginia

GREENSBURG, Pa. & COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Allegheny Energy, Inc. (NYSE: AYE) and American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) announced today that their affiliates have asked the Public Service Commission of West Virginia to extend the current procedural schedule for reviewing an application to build the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline (PATH) project in the state.

The request will allow the PATH companies to prepare updated testimony that reflects information from the preliminary 2011 Load Forecast Report issued today by PJM Interconnection (PJM). The draft report differs from prior PJM forecasts and could potentially have an impact on the PATH project’s in-service date. However, the draft report alone does not change the projected in-service date for PATH or any other transmission expansion project. PJM recently re-affirmed the need for the PATH project by June 1, 2015.

Today’s filing calls for the PATH companies to submit supplemental testimony by March 31, 2011, and requests an extended procedural schedule that moves the deadline for a Public Service Commission decision on the PATH project to February 2012. Similar requests will be filed in Virginia and Maryland this week to ensure a consistent review of the project across all jurisdictions.

The PATH project is a joint venture between Allegheny Energy and AEP to build a 765-kilovolt, 275-mile transmission project from Putnam County, W. Va., to Frederick County, Md. For more information on the project, visit the project Web site at www.pathtransmission.com.

Allegheny Energy
Headquartered in Greensburg, Pa., Allegheny Energy is an investor-owned electric utility with total annual revenues of over $3 billion and more than 4,000 employees. The company owns and operates generating facilities and delivers low-cost, reliable electric service to 1.6 million customers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia. For more information, visit our Web site at www.alleghenyenergy.com.

American Electric Power
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 more than 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 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 Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio. More information is available at www.aep.com.