Roanoke, Va., June 1, 2010 –Appalachian Power recently started contacting some Virginia customers who used extraordinary amounts of electricity this winter, offering to meet with them to help them identify potential problems that could be driving their higher than average electric usage.
 
The company sent letters to more than 400 customers in the Patrick, Henry, Franklin, Floyd, Carroll and Grayson counties. Most customers in these areas who heat with electricity used 7,100 to 8,100 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity between January and April. The letters were mailed to customers who used in excess of 20,000 kWh of electricity during the same time.
 
"Sometimes when customers use two-to-three times more electricity than their neighbor in a similar house there's a heating problem or a problem with how the customer is using the electricity," said David Nance, customer services manager. "Our hope is that we can teach customers how to save money by increasing their awareness of how and when they're using electricity."
 
Nance stressed that the company is initially offering the service only to customers in the selected counties with this usage history gauge the level of interest in the service. For customers who want to do their own home audit, Appalachian has posted an on-line home audit checklist. This and other energy saving information is available at www.AppalachianPower.com.
 
Appalachian Power provides electricity to 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with 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.         
 
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