Gahanna, Ohio (Sept. 17, 2008) – Line restoration assistance efforts from as far as Ontario and Quebec, Canada, are joining forces as part of AEP Ohio´s massive work to restore power to customers throughout the company´s Ohio service territory.
More than 3,000 field resources, including AEP Ohio line employees, contract line personnel and tree trimmers, are in AEP Ohio´s service territory to restore power to customers affected by Sunday´s wind storm. At the storm´s peak, more than 650,000 customers across its service territory lost power. As of 4 p.m. today, nearly 330,000 customers have been restored.
AEP Ohio is working hard to restore power as quickly and safely as possible and understand customers´ concerns over when their power will be restored. The company appreciates the patience of its customers.
Please note that restoration times provided on the company’s website (aepohio.com) are subject to change. AEP Ohio maps showing affected areas and projected restoration times (PDF) in central Ohio do not represent a complete area without power. In many instances, areas shown have been restored. However, areas color coded represent the end of day AEP Ohio anticipates 90 percent of the outages known in that area to be restored. The maps do not represent complete restoration to an area. Outages affecting individual customers may remain.
Customer Information
AEP Ohio cannot connect power to any home or business where there is damage to the service entrance. The service entrance is the area located 1) at the meter, 2) between the meter and the home’s electrical panel, or 3) the location where AEP Ohio’s cable connects to the home/business owner’s cable. Customers need to have a qualified electrician repair this damage before power can be restored to the home or business.
Customers are reminded that during storm restoration situations, AEP Ohio tree crews clear rights of way of trees and move on to the next location. AEP Ohio does not return to remove the cut trees. Property owners are responsible for brush removal.
AEP Ohio provides electricity to nearly 1.5 million customers of major AEP subsidiaries Columbus Southern Power Company and Ohio Power Company in Ohio, and Wheeling Power Company in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. AEP Ohio is based in Gahanna, Ohio. The company serves all or part of 61 counties in Ohio and two in West Virginia.
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 nearly 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.