COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- American
Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) and its unregulated subsidiary AEP
Retail Energy has completed the acquisition of BlueStar Energy
Holdings Inc. and its independent retail electric supplier BlueStar
Energy Solutions.
BlueStar, based in Chicago,
provides electric supply for retail customers in Ohio, Illinois and other deregulated electricity
markets. The company also provides energy solutions, including
demand response and energy efficiency services, nationwide.
BlueStar has been in operation since 2002 and has more than 23,000
customer accounts.
BlueStar's operations will continue to be based in Chicago and will remain focused on providing
retail electric service for residential, commercial and industrial
customers in deregulated states, as well as demand response and
energy efficiency services nationwide. BlueStar currently employs
219.
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 www.aep.com.
SOURCE American Electric Power