COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 16, 2000 – American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) and merger partner Central and South West Corp. (NYSE: CSR) ranked among the top electric utilities in the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index announced this week.

AEP and CSW tied for second among electric utilities in the index, which ranked 20 individual utilities and included a category for all others in the industry.

"AEP employees work exceptionally hard to meet the needs of our customers," said E. Linn Draper Jr., AEP chairman, president and chief executive officer. "It´s obvious that CSW employees are equally committed to providing quality service to customers. This effort, reflected in our high rankings in the customer satisfaction index, will continue after the completion of our merger this spring."

Both AEP and CSW have been ranked among the best in the industry in customer satisfaction each year since 1994, the first year for the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index was developed by the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan Business School and is conducted in partnership with CFI Group and the American Society for Quality. The index is an economic indicator that measures customer satisfaction and is based on modeling of customer evaluations of the quality of goods and services. Researchers survey customers of 185 companies in a variety of industries and 30 government agencies. Details about the index can be found at http://acsi.asq.org/

The Southern Company was ranked first among electric utilities with a score of 80. AEP, CSW and Duke Energy tied for second at 79. The overall index, representing scores for all companies and government agencies in the survey, was 72.5.

AEP, a global energy company, is one of the United States´ largest investor-owned utilities, providing energy to 3 million customers in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. AEP has holdings in the United States, the United Kingdom, China and Australia. Wholly owned subsidiaries provide power engineering, energy consulting and energy management services around the world. The company is based in Columbus, Ohio. On Dec. 22, 1997, AEP announced a definitive merger agreement for a tax-free, stock-for-stock transaction with Central and South West Corp., a public utility holding company based in Dallas.