In the electric utility business, which measures its costs in mills and its profits in millions, the American Electric Power Co. has become the biggest producer of all by serving small-town America. Stretching from southwestern Michigan through the rich Ohio Valley to depressed Appalachia, it serves nearly 2,400 towns, only four of which have a population as high as 100,000. A.E.P. has prospered mainly because it has invested wisely in new technology, and thus has been able to drop its rates to one-sixth below the national average for private utilities. This week, in a fallout-proof red brick building at Canton,...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
