COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 19, 2005 – American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) subsidiary AEP Texas Central Company (TCC) completed the sale of its 25.2 percent share of the South Texas Project (STP) nuclear plant to STP co-owners Texas Genco LLC and CPS Energy (formerly City Public Service of San Antonio) for approximately $314 million. AEP will use the proceeds from the sale to reduce capitalization at AEP Texas Central Company.

STP is a 2,500-megawatt nuclear plant located in Matagorda County, Texas, approximately 90 miles southwest of Houston. AEP’s 25.2 percent share of the plant was approximately 630 megawatts.

Texas Genco purchased 13.2 percent of STP for approximately $164 million and CPS Energy purchased 12 percent of STP for approximately $150 million, after adjustments. Texas Genco now owns 44 percent of STP, and CPS Energy owns 40 percent. The City of Austin continues to own 16 percent of STP. The plant is operated by STP Nuclear Operating Company.

"With the closing of the sale of AEP´s share of STP, AEP Texas enters the last stage of the transition to the competitive market envisioned by Texas lawmakers and the Governor when they enacted the industry restructuring legislation in 1999. We will file at the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) soon for the true-up of the difference between the book value and the market value of our generation, referred to as our stranded costs, as authorized by the statute," said Charles Patton, AEP Texas, president and chief operating officer.

AEP announced plans in December 2002 to sell all 4,497 MW of the generation assets owned by its TCC subsidiary to determine their market value for calculating stranded costs (the amount that the book value exceeds the market value of the assets) under Texas restructuring legislation. AEP completed sale of 3,813 MW of these generating assets, including eight natural gas plants, one coal-fired plant and one hydro plant, to a joint venture of Sempra Energy Partners and Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy and Power Fund July 1, 2004.

AEP continues to work toward completing the sale of TCC’s 7.8 percent share of Oklaunion Plant but expects to receive approval from the Public Utility Commission of Texas to proceed with its stranded costs recovery filing while the Oklaunion sale proceeds toward closing.

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.

- - -

This report made by AEP and certain of its subsidiaries contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although AEP and each of its registrant subsidiaries believe that their expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, any such statements may be influenced by factors that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those projected. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are: electric load and customer growth; weather conditions, including storms; available sources and costs of, and transportation for, fuels and the creditworthiness of fuel suppliers and transporters; availability of generating capacity and the performance of AEP’s generating plants; the ability to recover regulatory assets and stranded costs in connection with deregulation; the ability to recover increases in fuel and other energy costs through regulated or competitive electric rates; new legislation, litigation and government regulation including requirements for reduced emissions of sulfur, nitrogen, mercury, carbon and other substances; timing and resolution of pending and future rate cases, negotiations and other regulatory decisions (including rate or other recovery for new investments, transmission service and environmental compliance); oversight and/or investigation of the energy sector or its participants; resolution of litigation (including pending Clean Air Act enforcement actions and disputes arising from the bankruptcy of Enron Corp.); AEP´s ability to constrain its operation and maintenance costs; AEP´s ability to sell assets at acceptable prices and on other acceptable terms, including rights to share in earnings derived from the assets subsequent to their sale; the economic climate and growth in AEP´s service territory and changes in market demand and demographic patterns; inflationary trends; AEP´s ability to develop and execute a strategy based on a view regarding prices of electricity, natural gas, and other energy-related commodities; changes in the creditworthiness and number of participants in the energy trading market; changes in the financial markets, particularly those affecting the availability of capital and AEP´s ability to refinance existing debt at attractive rates; actions of rating agencies, including changes in the ratings of debt; volatility and changes in markets for electricity, natural gas, and other energy-related commodities; changes in utility regulation, including membership and integration into regional transmission structures; accounting pronouncements periodically issued by accounting standard-setting bodies; the performance of AEP´s pension and other postretirement benefit plans; prices for power that AEP generates and sells at wholesale; changes in technology and other risks and unforeseen events, including wars, the effects of terrorism (including increased security costs), embargoes and other catastrophic events.