Gahanna, Ohio (June 17, 2008) -- AEP Ohio, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), today announced that Mike Brello has joined the company as manager-government affairs. He reports to Dave Celona, vice-president external affairs, and will have responsibility for relationships with members and staff of the Ohio General Assembly and executive agencies.

Brello most recently served at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) as its legislative liaison. He joined the PUCO in 2003 and represented the agency to the Taft and Strickland administrations, Ohio legislature and organizations such as the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Brello graduated from the University of Toledo in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science. He and his wife, Jennifer, have two children and live in Columbus.

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.