[Columbus, Ohio, March 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall] American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) has completed the sale of Mutual Energy Service Company, LLC (MESC), the customer care operation created to manage retail customer accounts in Texas, to alliance Data Systems (NYSE: ADS), a leading provider of transaction, marketing and credit services.

In the transaction, which has a cash value of $30 million, ADS purchased the customer relationship and bill management operations that AEP established in 2001 to serve retail customers in Texas as well as the remainder of a contract that AEP has to Provide back-office customer service for 810,000 retail customer accounts Centrica purchased from AEP in late December 2002. AEP will realize a gain of approximately $9 million from the sale.

"Sale of the customer care operation created to serve retail customers in the deregulated Texas market continues our exit of the retail energy business in Texas and refocuses our resources on our areas of strength -- maximizing the value of our generation assets and efficiently operating our electricity transmission and distribution systems," said Holly Koeppel, executive vice president - Energy Services.

The ADS transaction does not affect AEP's ownership of its power plants in Texas or its transmission and distribution network that delivers electricity tocustomers. AEP also will continue to serve Texas customers with electric demand greater than one megawatt.

"The transaction will be seamless for customers since nothing will change from their perspective. The wires carrying electricity to the customers will still be owned and maintained by AEP. We will continue to be responsive to our customers' needs for service connections and restoration after outages. The electricity supplier, price-to-beat rates and responsibilities also remain the same," Koeppel said. Additionally, MESC will continue to use Peace Energy(TM) software as its customer information system.

As part of the transaction, AEP has contracted with ADS to Continue providing customer care services for approximately 20,000 AEP residential customer accounts in Texas. These accounts were previously served by MESC.

American Electric Power owns and operates more than 42,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States and select international markets and is the largest electricity generator in the U.S. AEP is also one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with almost 5 million customers linked toAEP's 11-state electricity transmission and distribution grid. The company is based in Columbus, Ohio.

The comments set forth above include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including (1) statements concerning the Company's plans, objectives, expected performance and expenditures and (2) other statements that are other than statements of historical fact. These forward-looking statements reflect assumptions, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the factors that could cause actual results todiffer materially from forward-looking statements are electric load and customer growth, abnormal weather conditions, availability of generating capacity, the ability torecover net regulatory assets and other stranded costs in connection with deregulation of generation, the outcome of environmental regulation and litigation, the impact of fluctuation in commodity prices and interest rates, and other risks and unforeseen events over which the Company has no control. The reader is also directed to the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for additional factors that may impact the Company's results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, historical results may not be indicative of the Company's future performance.