COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 8, 2005 – A federal judge today ruled in favor of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) in its suit against Tractebel Energy Marketing Inc. (now known as Suez Energy Marketing N.A.) regarding a contract related to a Louisiana power generating facility completed by AEP in 2004.

Federal District Court Judge Harold Baer Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, ruled that Tractebel breached the contract and awarded damages to AEP of $123 million plus pre-judgment interest. The judge also ruled that AEP did not breach the contract. The court, however, disallowed AEP´s claimed damages for lost profits.

The ruling relates to a contract between AEP and Tractebel, executed in November 2000, in which Tractebel received the right for 20 years to 800 megawatts of power from a plant built by AEP at The Dow Chemical Company´s Plaquemine, La., chemical complex. In return for the rights to the output, Tractebel was required to take 620 megawatts and pay a fixed monthly capacity payment to AEP.

"We´re pleased that the court recognized that AEP acted in good faith in its dealings with Tractebel," said Michael G. Morris, AEP´s chairman, president and chief executive officer.

"AEP would not have gone forward with the construction of the project without a buyer for the large quantities of electricity that were not needed by the chemical complex," Morris said. "Tractebel´s decision to breach the contract damaged AEP. The court obviously recognized that."

AEP holds a $50 million guaranty from Tractebel Energy Marketing´s parent company, Tractebel S.A., and has been seeking additional financial assurances from both companies. AEP has not taken steps to collect on today´s judgment, but expects that companies expanding their energy activities in North America will understand the need to meet their financial obligations, the company said.

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.

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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);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.