SHREVEPORT, La., Dec. 3, 2020 – Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO), an American Electric Power (AEP: Nasdaq) company, completed a $2.7 million, two-year project in Haughton’s Dogwood Park neighborhood that has improved the reliability of the underground network serving the area.

SWEPCO replaced 60,000 feet of underground cable – the equivalent of 167 football fields – as well as 60 pad-mounted transformers.  About 200 pad-mounted transformers were leveled, straightened and cleared of debris.  To shorten power restoration times, seven switchgear cabinets were installed.

“Power quality in Dogwood South today is like night and day compared to before the project began,” said Gary Guin, SWEPCO’s director of Distribution Risk & Project Management.  “Service restoration time will be greatly reduced due to the extensive work in the area.”

To minimize disruption to residents throughout the project’s duration, SWEPCO’s business partner Volt Electric completed it in 11 phases.  Early phases of the project included the construction of a new main line for the neighborhood. 

“Dogwood South essentially has an entirely new electric system, much like new subdivisions SWEPCO serves,” said Adam Keeth, Region Support manager for SWEPCO.  “The $2.7 million investment will improve the safety and reliability of service for our Dogwood Park customers for decades to come.”

In addition to improvements completed in Dogwood Park, SWEPCO continues to strengthen the local power grid and provide support for future growth and economic growth in the Shreveport-Bossier area through infrastructure projects, including:

• Investing $46 million to rebuild aging transmission facilities and to construct new facilities.
• Replacing 5,500 electrical poles.
• Installing smart switches and other automation technologies to isolates outages and improve reliability.

To learn more about SWEPCO’s reliability projects, visit SWEPCO.com/PowerLineProjects.

About Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO)

SWEPCO, an American Electric Power (AEP: Nasdaq) company, serves more than 543,000 customers in northwest and central Louisiana, northeast Texas and the Texas Panhandle, and western Arkansas. SWEPCO’s headquarters are in Shreveport, La. News releases and other information about SWEPCO can be found at SWEPCO.com. Connect with us at Facebook.com/SWEPCO, Twitter.com/SWEPCOnews, Instagram.com/swepco, Youtube.com/SWEPCOtv, and LinkedIn.com/company/swepco.

About American Electric Power (AEP)

American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is focused on building a smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and custom energy solutions to our customers. AEP’s approximately 17,000 employees operate and maintain the nation’s largest electricity transmission system and more than 221,000 miles of distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to nearly 5.5 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation’s largest electricity producers with approximately 30,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including more than 5,300 megawatts of renewable energy. AEP’s family of companies includes utilities 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, east Texas and the Texas Panhandle). AEP also owns AEP Energy, AEP Energy Partners, AEP OnSite Partners, and AEP Renewables, which provide innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide. For more information, visit aep.com.