CHARLESTON, W.Va., February 17, 2012 – Appalachian Power is moving workers from Virginia and Tennessee into the company’s service area in West Virginia in anticipation of a winter storm that has the potential to cause major power outages. The workers will assist locally-based Appalachian Power employees should the storm cause widespread damage to electrical facilities.

            The latest weather information suggests that on Sunday as much as eight inches of heavy, wet snow may fall across the Charleston, Huntington, Beckley and Bluefield regions including the coalfield areas of southern West Virginia.

            “We do expect outages associated with this storm, so in advance of the storm we are placing resources in the areas most likely to be affected,” said Phil Wright, Appalachian Power’s vice president of distribution operations. "We believe it is unlikely that this storm will bring snowfall totals or power outages near the levels of the unprecedented December 2009 storm."

            Damage assessment specialists along with contract line workers are moving into position Saturday evening and will be immediately ready to assist with service restoration. The workers will locate in the Charleston, Beckley, Huntington, Logan and Princeton areas of West Virginia. Beyond that, contractor resources located outside the immediate Appalachian service area have been notified that additional assistance may be needed.

            Appalachian Power has almost 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, which delivers 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.