Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Company bond certificate 1970's

Great electric utility company bond with a nice vignette of Mercury seated atop a hill with city scenes in the background.  Issued and cancelled. Dated 1970's.

American Electric Power (AEP) is a major investor-owner electric utility 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 765 kilovolt ultra-high voltage transmission lines, more 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 Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the transmission system that covers much of Texas.

AEP's utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP's headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio. American Electric Power was the first utility to utilize 345 kV transmission lines which took place in 1953.

AEP has come under criticism in many of the states they operate in for attacking rooftop solar. They have specifically attempted to halt distributed solar in Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio.

Subsidiaries - The company is divided into seven major geographic local operating companies:

AEP Ohio
It is made up of the former Ohio Power and Columbus Southern Power. Wheeling Electric Power (serving Wheeling, West Virginia) is operated as a de facto part of AEP Ohio.

AEP Texas
AEP Texas was formed from a merger of various predecessor utilities, and joined AEP as part of its acquisition of Central and South West Corporation in 1997. It consists of AEP Texas North Company (formerly West Texas Utilities), which operates in west Texas, and AEP Texas Central Company (formerly Central Power and Light), which operates in south Texas.

Appalachian Power
It is based in Charleston, West Virginia and owns the naming rights to Appalachian Power Park in Charleston. AP serves about 1 million customers in its territory, includes parts of central and Southern West Virginia, Southwest Virginia and parts of Northeast Tennessee, specifically Kingsport. Appalachian's Tennessee operations are technically and legally considered to be that of the Kingsport Power Company. The Kingsport Power name is rarely used anymore and is more for just regulatory formality, as AEP considers Appalachian Power to be the operating company in Tennessee

Indiana Michigan Power
Indiana Michigan Power serves northeastern and east central Indiana, including Muncie and Fort Wayne; and parts of north central Indiana and southwest Michigan, including South Bend, St. Joseph, Benton Harbor and Three Rivers.

Kentucky Power
Kentucky Power serves most of Eastern Kentucky, the area abutting the Appalachian Power service area, including communities of Pikeville, Hazard and Ashland. It is headquartered in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Public Service Company of Oklahoma
PSO was one of the four CSW Operating Companies when CSW merged with AEP. Incorporated in 1913, PSO serves approximately 540,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma. Its headquarters are in Tulsa. PSO has 4,269 megawatts of generating capacity and provides electricity to 232 cities and towns across a service area encompassing 30,000 square miles.

Southwestern Electric Power Company
Often called SWEPCO, the Southwestern Electric Power Company serves Arkansas, Louisiana, and eastern Texas. Like PSO, it was one of the four CSW Operating Companies.

Other subsidiaries:
AEP also bought much of the town of Cheshire, Ohio, where the Gavin Power Plant is located, due to pollution issues. In 2004, AEP announced their plans to build one, or more, integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) coal-fired power plant which is expected to reduce emissions while providing additional electricity capacity to the customers served by AEP. The company also operates its own inland barge line, AEP River Operations (formerly MEMCO Barge Line), and owns major tracts of land throughout its service areas. In August 2008, AEP has formed a joint venture company with Duke Energy to build and own new electric transmission assets. It is the largest shareholder in the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC). OVEC is an associate company of AEP, not a subsidiary, because AEP owns less than half of it.