Regulators in West Virginia and Virginia Make Decisions on Procedural Schedules to Review PATH Project
Allegheny, AEP affiliates to file new application in Maryland before year-end
Greensburg and Columbus, November 25, 2009 - Allegheny Energy, Inc. (NYSE: AYE) and American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) announced on November 25 that regulatory commissions in West Virginia and Virginia issued rulings on procedural schedules for the review of the proposed Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline (PATH).
In Virginia, the Hearing Examiner for the State Corporation Commission affirmed the original procedural schedule, with evidentiary hearings set to begin in Richmond in January. In West Virginia, the Public Service Commission established a new schedule that calls for evidentiary hearings in October-November 2010, and for a commission decision no later than February 24, 2011.
Yesterday’s decisions address the various motions filed in recent weeks by Commission staffs, the PATH companies and other parties in West Virginia and Virginia. Before the end of the year, The Potomac Edison Company, an Allegheny Energy affiliate, will submit a new application to the Maryland Public Service Commission seeking authorization to construct the Maryland portions of the PATH project.
Allegheny Energy and American Electric Power, partners in the joint venture to build the 280-mile, multi-state transmission line, remain committed to the PATH project. According to the most recent analysis by regional grid operator PJM Interconnection, PATH is needed by June 2014 to resolve reliability concerns on the existing system.
For more information on the project, including maps and the complete state applications, please visit the project Web site at www.pathtransmission.com.
Allegheny Energy
Headquartered in Greensburg, Pa., Allegheny Energy is an investor-owned electric utility with total annual revenues of over $3 billion and more than 4,000 employees. The company owns and operates generating facilities and delivers low-cost, reliable electric service to 1.6 million customers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia. For more information, visit our Web site at www.alleghenyenergy.com.
American Electric Power
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 more than 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. More information is available at www.aep.com.
For More Information Contact
Doug Colafella
Allegheny Energy
Phone: (724) 838-6387
dcolafe@alleghenyenergy.com
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Jeri Matheney
American Electric Power
Phone: (304) 348-4130
jhmatheney@aep.com
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