COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 11, 2006 – American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) and its Indiana Michigan Power utility subsidiary were honored today by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) for their assistance and response relating to weather-related disasters in 2005. EEI is the association of shareholder-owned electric utility companies.

AEP received EEI’s Emergency Assistance Award for aiding four Gulf Coast utilities hit by Hurricane Katrina late last summer. AEP provided 382 company employees and 1,310 contractor employees to the power restoration effort.

EEI presented Indiana Michigan Power with its Emergency Response Award, recognizing the operating company’s fast and effective response to a severe ice storm last January that cut power to more than 128,000 of its customers. Some 1,800 line employees worked to replace or repair poles and restring electric lines. Indiana Michigan Power is based in Fort Wayne, Ind.

“We’re tremendously proud to accept these awards, and tremendously proud of the people who worked so diligently and safely to restore electric service to other utilities’ customers as well as our own,” said Carl L. English, president of AEP Utilities.

“Many who assisted in the hurricane-ravaged areas were away from their families for weeks at a time. This sacrifice cannot be overstated. AEP also deferred non-emergency projects of our own to provide assistance,” English said. “Other utilities have helped us when we have needed it, and we are pleased to reciprocate.”

American Electric Power owns more than 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States and is the nation’s largest electricity generator. AEP is also one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with more than 5 million customers linked to AEP’s 11-state electricity transmission and distribution grid. The company is based in Columbus, Ohio.