COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 10, 2006 – Michael G. Morris, chairman, president and chief executive officer of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), is representing AEP and electric utilities operating in the United States at the first Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate ministerial meeting in Sydney, Australia today and Wednesday.

The Asia-Pacific Partnership, formed in July 2005 by the United States, Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea, will focus on strategies to accelerate clean development opportunities, including approaches for creating new investment opportunities, building local capacity and removing barriers to the introduction of clean, more efficient technologies. Governmental officials from participating countries are joined in Sydney by representatives of carbon-intensive industries to discuss methods for improving energy security, reducing pollution and addressing the long-term challenge of climate change.

AEP represents U.S. electric utilities at the request of the U.S. government. Other industries represented include oil, steel, aluminum, cement and coal.

“This is an important initiative,” Morris said. “The approach to address climate change taken in the Kyoto Protocol is flawed because it excludes rapidly industrializing nations like China and India, whose increase in greenhouse gas emissions will likely more than offset decreases made by participants in the Kyoto agreement.

“China and India are at the table in Sydney and recognize the importance of clean energy and clean industry to support growing economies and improve the quality of life,” Morris said. “These are also issues of importance to AEP. We generate more electricity and consume more coal than any other U.S. power generator, and we continuously seek ways to improve the efficiency and environmental performance of our power plants. Our role in this meeting is to share with representatives from the participating nations our proposals for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by improving the efficiency of those plants.”

Morris is attending the meeting in a dual role. He represents AEP, but he also represents U.S. utilities as chairman of the Edison Electric Institute, the trade association for investor-owned utilities. Accompanying Morris in Sydney are Robert Powers, AEP’s executive vice president – power generation, and Dennis Welch, AEP’s senior vice president – environment & safety.

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.