GAHANNA, Ohio, April 17, 2013 — AEP Ohio honored 25 businesses, organizations and educators from throughout the state at its first Energy Efficiency Champion Awards event held today at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus. The award recognizes AEP Ohio’s business customers and partners that have demonstrated a strong commitment to energy efficiency. Awards were presented to winners in 15 categories (See list of winners and categories below).

Special recognition was given to the Ohio Hospital Association (OHA), which was honored with the Energy Efficiency Leadership Award for its participation in AEP Ohio incentive programs and for making energy efficiency a part of the association’s culture.

“Each of today’s award winners have made outstanding contributions to increasing energy efficiency within their organizations,” said Pablo Vegas, AEP Ohio president and chief operating officer. “Their efforts have helped them reduce their energy usage and environmental impact, while saving money. We hope their efforts will inspire other businesses to partner with AEP Ohio and take advantage of our energy efficiency programs.”

AEP Ohio offers a variety of energy efficiency programs and discounts to help residential and business customers to stop wasting energy and start saving money. For more information, visit AEPOhio.com/Rebates (residential) or AEPOhio.com/Incentives (business).

2012 AEP Ohio Energy Efficiency Champion Award Winners:
Business Customers
·    Ford Motor Company (Lima — Manufacturing)
·    Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Columbus — Commercial/Large)
·    Rodhes IGA Marketplace (Millersburg — Commercial/Large)
·    South-Western City School District (Grove City — Commercial/Medium)
·    Wayne County Commissioners (Wooster — Commercial/Medium)
·    Tom Ahl Chrysler (Lima — Small Business)
·    Big Lots (National Accounts)
·    Walgreens (National Accounts)

Business Partners
·    Air Technologies (Columbus — Solution Partners)
·    Limbach (Columbus — Solution Partners)
·    Fenton Brothers Electric (New Philadelphia — Distributors)
·    Loeb Electric (Columbus — Distributors)
·    Superior Energy Solutions (Ottawa — Contractors/Small Business)

Residential Partners
·    Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development (COAD) (Athens — Community Action Agencies)
·    Walmart (Large Retailers)
·    The Andersons Inc. (Columbus — Independent Retailers)
·    Tracy’s Appliances, Inc. (Lima — Independent Retailers)
·    Habitat for Humanity MidOhio (Builders)
·    M/I Homes (Central Ohio — Builders)
·    P & D Builders (Central Ohio — Builders)
·    Lazarus on the Rise (Ohio — Home Auditors)
·    Atlas Butler (Columbus — Contractors)
·    Jennifer Messerly — Bexley High School (Teacher)
·    Scott Logsdon — Bexley High School (Teacher)

Investor-owned utilities in Ohio are required to meet specific energy reduction targets. AEP Ohio’s overall energy efficiency and peak demand response efforts were established to meet the State of Ohio target of reducing electricity consumption 22 percent by the end of 2025.  For more information about AEP Ohio’s energy efficiency consumer programs, events and tips, visit AEPOhio.com/Rebates.

AEP Ohio provides electricity to nearly 1.5 million customers of major AEP subsidiaries Ohio Power Company in Ohio and Wheeling Power Company in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. AEP Ohio is based in Gahanna, Ohio, and is a unit of American Electric Power. News and information about AEP Ohio can be found at AEPOhio.com.  

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 and north Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio. News releases and other information about AEP can be found at aep.com.