Charleston, W.Va., January 16, 2009 – Appalachian Power customers and AEP Appalachian Power customers in Kingsport, Tenn., set an unofficial all-time peak demand of 8,293 megawatts (MW) at 8 a.m. today.

Temperatures in the single digits across much of the company’s service area helped push electricity consumption past the previous record of 8,132 MW, set Feb. 6, 2007. The new company peak will be confirmed next month when additional metering information is available to verify the customer consumption.

Appalachian Power encourages customers to use energy wisely. For energy-saving tips visit www.wattwhyandhow.com or the company’s web site, www.appalachianpower.com.  

Appalachian Power provides electricity to 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with 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.
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