American Electric, Inc. history

After leaving the navy in 1885, Mitchell had met Thomas Edison and started working for him in New York City.

The company was formed from a utility holding company, Electric Company of America, which was organized in 1899.

American Electric Power was founded on December 20, 1906 and is headquartered in Columbus, OH.“

Mitchell's business acumen went beyond sales promotion and rate juggling; he also restructured AG & E. By 1910 Mitchell had sold all of the gas properties included in the original acquisitions, a policy the company consistently followed in later years.

Following a period of strained neutrality, the United States entered the war in 1917, and the increased demands of wartime industries caused a 40% increase in the demand for electricity.

By 1926 AG & E had three primary electric power centers in place, one near Atlantic City, New Jersey; one in the Scranton area of Pennsylvania; and the third, known as the Central System, stretching from Virginia to Michigan.

Mitchell retired in 1933, however.

When the United States entered the war in 1941, there was a rise in power demand by wartime industries, which the utilities were able to meet.

In 1954 United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Atomic Energy Act, making possible the private development of nuclear energy in the United States.

With Sporn in charge, AG & E increased the number of kilowatt-hours provided to 23.3 billion in 1959, achieving growth through acquisitions, technological breakthroughs, and sales promotions.

As president of the company until 1961, Sporn's approach was to take risks with new equipment that was untested in the field in order to surpass competition.

Cook continued to address the problem of the national power supply when, in 1967, he told a National Power Conference in Washington, D.C., that most of the electrical systems in the United States were outmoded and inefficient.

In 1973, the year the oil embargo began, 17% of power generation nationwide depended on oil.

In 1980 AEP acquired Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Company, located in the middle of its operating system, and moved its headquarters to Columbus, then the largest city it served.