COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 9, 1999 -- American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP) tested several of its Year 2000 contingency plans overnight in preparation for the rollover to Jan. 1. Workers at power plants, transmission and distribution centers were asked to respond to mock emergencies using an 800 MHz radio, satellite telephones and cellular telephones as backup telecommunications. The exercise was designed to gauge how quickly workers could handle emergencies, such as outages at major power plants, and included functions involving the entire AEP bulk power system. The drill began Wednesday and continued until 2 a.m. today. All power plants and substations containing major interconnections across the AEP system participated in 10 drill scenarios. An additional 200 workers supplemented normal staffing to enable AEP to successfully complete the drill. One scenario simulated the loss of communications in the System Operation control room, which is responsible for controlling generation dispatch and monitoring the extra-high voltage transmission system. Duties normally performed by the control room were temporarily transferred to a backup control center. The backup center was required to manually record information received from power plants and distribution centers. “Overall, there were no major surprises during the drill,” said Michael H. Knapp, AEP’s manager of transmission security. “This was our dress rehearsal for the Dec. 31 rollover, and we wanted to know where we needed improvements in our emergency operating plan. “We identified minor problems and changes that need to be made prior to the rollover, such as some communications problems. Between now and Dec. 31, changes in procedures and processes will be made to eliminate any of the minor problems identified in the drill,” Knapp said. The drill was organized by the North American Electric Reliability Council to give electric utilities in North America an opportunity to test how workers would respond in emergency situations, such as an outage at a major power plant or loss of the normal communications system. NERC is an independent group requested by the U.S. Department of Energy to monitor electric utilities’ Y2K readiness. Y2K refers to disruptions that could occur if computer systems cannot distinguish between the years 1900 and 2000. In order to save space, earlier computers were programmed to read only the last two digits of a date, such as “99” for 1999. When the calendar changes to 2000, computer systems could believe it is 1900 and malfunction or even shut down. Systems critical for keeping electricity flowing to customers on Jan. 1 have been tested and are Y2K ready. Two mission-critical systems yet to be completed include a gas measurements system at Louisiana Intrastate Gas, a 2,000-mile intrastate pipeline owned by AEP; and a meteorological reporting system at Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman, Mich. Both systems are scheduled to be Y2K ready later this year. AEP, a global energy company, is one of the United States' largest investor-owned utilities, providing energy to 3 million customers in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. AEP has holdings in the United States, the United Kingdom, China and Australia. Wholly owned subsidiaries provide power engineering, energy consulting and energy management services around the world. The company is based in Columbus, Ohio. On Dec. 22, 1997, AEP announced a definitive merger agreement for a tax-free, stock-for-stock transaction with Central and South West Corp., a public utility holding company based in Dallas. This is a Year 2000 readiness disclosure. This material is provided to help you understand the Y2K issue and AEP’s response to it. It is not intended as a specific representation or warranty with respect to AEP’s Y2K readiness.