Through our continuing rebuilding efforts, AEP Ohio has
restored power to approximately 88 percent of the approximately 660,000 customers affected by the catastrophic storm that moved through the state June 29 and the additional customers who lost power in subsequent storms July 4 and 5.

As of 5:00 p.m. today, power has been restored to approximately 581,000 of the customers affected by these storms. Approximately 79,000 AEP Ohio customers remain without power this afternoon.

Restoration continues to proceed well, and we anticipate 90 to 95
percent of our customers affected by last Friday's storm will have their
service restored by 11:59 p.m. Saturday.

The majority of the customers still without power are located in the
central and southeastern Ohio Columbus, Newark and Athens service areas.

These areas include Athens, Fairfield, Franklin, Guernsey, Hocking, Jackson, Knox, Licking, Meigs, Muskingum, Perry and Washington counties.

In central Ohio, approximately 15,000 remain without power in Franklin County and 12,000 in Licking County. At the peak, approximately 45 percent of AEP Ohio's 1.4 million customers were without power.

Approximately 683 transmission poles were damaged across Ohio, including 443 wood poles that were downed between Van Wert and Ottawa in western Ohio. An additional 35 poles had to be replaced across the state. All are being replaced with steel poles.

These structures are the base support for the transmission line circuits that traverse the state. At the peak of the storms, approximately 128 transmissions circuits -- primarily 69-kV and high-voltage 138-kV lines -- were knocked out of service due to trees, downed lines and equipment and extensive damage to structures. Approximately 9 remain out of service.

These transmission lines feed power to substations that provide power to
communities and neighborhoods. Service to approximately 306 substations was interrupted by these line outages. Tonight, service has been restored to all but three co-op stations in northwest Ohio.