8-K

                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM 8-K

                                 CURRENT REPORT

                     PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE
                         SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

                         Date of Report: April 27, 2004
                        (Date of earliest event reported)

Commission        Registrant; State of Incorporation;          I.R.S. Employer
File Number          Address; and Telephone Number           Identification No.

     1-3525       AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY, INC.         13-4922640
                  (A New York Corporation)
                  1 Riverside Plaza
                  Columbus, Ohio 43215
                  Telephone (614) 716-1000



Item 7.     Financial Statements and Exhibits.

      The Exhibit Index on page 3 is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 9.     Regulation FD Disclosure.

      The information, including the exhibit attached hereto, in this Current
Report is being furnished and shall not be deemed "filed" for purposes of
Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise
subject to the liabilities of that section. The information in this Current
Report shall not be incorporated by reference into any registration statement or
other document pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, except as otherwise
stated in such filing.

      Attached and incorporated herein by reference as Exhibit 99 is a copy of
the press release of American Electric Power Company, Inc. dated April 27, 2004.



                                    SIGNATURE

      Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

                              AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY, INC.



                              By:    /s/ Thomas G. Berkemeyer
                                     -------------------------------
                              Name:  Thomas G. Berkemeyer
                              Title: Assistant Secretary

April 27, 2004


                                       2



                                  EXHIBIT INDEX

Exhibit No.      Description

   99            Press Release issued by American Electric Power Company, Inc.,
                 dated April 27, 2004.


                                      3

EX-99

                                                                      Exhibit 99

MEDIA CONTACT:                            ANALYSTS CONTACT:
Melissa McHenry                           Bette Jo Rozsa
Manager, Corporate Media Relations        Managing Director,Investor Relations
614/716-1120                              614/716-2840


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


AEP MOVING FORWARD WITH RENEWED FOCUS, INVESTMENT IN DOMESTIC UTILITY
BUSINESS, MORRIS TELLS SHAREHOLDERS AT ANNUAL MEETING

COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 27, 2004 - American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) spent 2003
reengineering its finances and refocusing attention on its core domestic utility
business and will continue that renewed focus with significant investments in
that business, Michael G. Morris, AEP's chairman, president and chief executive
officer, told shareholders attending the company's annual meeting today.

      "The 2003 calendar year can be viewed as a financial reengineering year in
which the company took great strides to improve its balance sheet and continued
to maintain liquidity and credit ratings that would allow us adequate access to
financial markets," Morris said. "Notwithstanding those challenges, the
shareholder return in 2003 was a robust 19 percent. At the same time, we really
began to refocus this company on our core strengths and initiated the process of
divesting assets that were not supporting that strategy or performing as we had
hoped."

      The actions the company took in 2003 enabled AEP to quickly move forward
with implementing its new strategy in 2004, according to Morris. Already this
year, AEP has made significant strides in divesting assets that no longer fit
its strategy. The company has sold or reached agreements to sell Louisiana
Intrastate Gas Pipeline Co., AEP Coal assets in Ohio and Kentucky, its interest
in a power plant in China and its share of four independent power plants in
Colorado and Florida. The company expects to complete sale of other significant
assets, including two plants in the United Kingdom and the Jefferson Island
Storage and Hub, later this year.

      To support the company's core utility business, AEP will invest more than
$3.5 billion over the next six years to improve the environmental performance of
its coal-fired generating fleet. The company already has announced the
installation of flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) systems on its Mountaineer,
Mitchell and Cardinal plants as well as installation of selective catalytic
reduction (SCR) systems on units at its Mitchell, Amos and Muskingum River
plants. FGD systems, commonly called scrubbers, reduce sulfur dioxide emissions
by up to 98 percent. SCR systems reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by up to
90 percent.



      "The significant investments we are making to improve the environmental
performance of these plants will not only add value by reducing emissions but
will keep these very low-cost plants producing economical electricity for our
customers. We will seek recovery of these investments and believe regulators
will recognize that these investments represent the best and least-expensive
option for continuing to provide some of the very lowest cost electricity in the
states where we do business while improving the environmental performance of
these facilities," Morris said.

      Additionally, Morris indicated that AEP will continue to invest
approximately $750 million per year in its energy delivery operations to enhance
the reliability of its extensive transmission and distribution system.

      Along with the significant investments in its core business, AEP is
reorganizing to provide greater accessibility for customers, regulators and
communities. "We are reinstituting the operating-company model to push the
decision making that is most relevant to customers and regulators closer to
those customers and regulators," Morris explained.

      Morris reaffirmed AEP's earnings forecast of between $2.20 to $2.40 per
share. He also reiterated the company's commitment to reduce its debt to below
60 percent by the end of 2004.

      "When I look at what we have in front of us, I see a tremendous amount of
challenge, and I see a tremendous amount of opportunity. I also see eager
employees who are more than willing to tackle these assignments and do them with
perhaps more speed than we have in a historic sense because now is the time to
get things done," Morris said.

      In business items, shareholders re-elected 11 directors to hold office
until the next annual meeting or until election of successors. Directors elected
to the board are: Morris, 57, of Columbus, Ohio; E.R. Brooks, 66, of Granbury,
Texas; Donald M. Carlton, 66, of Austin, Texas; John P. DesBarres, 64, of Park
City, Utah; Robert W. Fri, 68, of Washington, D.C.; William R. Howell, 68, of
Dallas, Texas; Lester A. Hudson Jr., 64, of Charlotte, N.C.; Leonard J. Kujawa,
71, of Altanta; Richard L. Sandor, 62, of Chicago; Donald G. Smith, 68, of
Roanoke, Va.; and Kathryn D. Sullivan, 52, of Columbus, Ohio

      A significant majority of shares voted (94 percent) ratified the firm of
Deloitte & Touche LLP as AEP's independent auditors for 2004.

      Shareholders rejected three of four shareholder proposals. Fifty-eight
percent of shareholders did vote in favor of a proposal to seek shareholder
approval of future severance agreements with senior executives that provide
benefits exceeding 2.99 times the sum of the executive's salary plus bonus. AEP
directors had recommended that shareholders reject the proposal because it would
be cumbersome and limit recruitment of executive management.



      "Although the organization originating the proposal indicated that
executive severance agreements have not been an issue at AEP, we respect the
shareholder sentiment indicated by this vote, and through the Human Resources
Committee of the Board, we will take the vote into deep consideration as we move
forward," Morris said.

      Only 28.6 percent of shares were voted in support of a shareholder
proposal to require shareholder approval for future extraordinary pension
benefits for senior executives. Only 14 percent of shares were voted in support
of a shareholder proposal to limit the company auditor to performing only audit
and audit-related work, and only 8.2 percent of shares were voted in support of
a proposal to enact term limits for the Board of Directors.

      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 more than 5 million customers
linked to AEP's 11-state electricity transmission and distribution grid. The
company is based in Columbus, Ohio.

                                     ---

These reports made by AEP and its registrant subsidiaries contain
forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934. Although AEP and its registrant subsidiaries believe that
their expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, any such statements may
be influenced by factors that could cause actual outcomes and results to be
materially different from those projected. Among the factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements
are: electric load and customer growth; weather conditions; available sources
and costs of fuels; availability of generating capacity and the performance of
AEP's generating plants; the ability to recover regulatory assets and stranded
costs in connection with deregulation; new legislation and government regulation
including requirements for reduced emissions of sulfur, nitrogen, carbon and
other substances; resolution of pending and future rate cases, negotiations and
other regulatory decisions (including rate or other recovery for environmental
compliance); oversight and/or investigation of the energy sector or its
participants; resolution of litigation (including pending Clean Air Act
enforcement actions and disputes arising from the bankruptcy of Enron Corp.);
AEP's ability to reduce its operation and maintenance costs; the success of
disposing of investments that no longer match AEP's corporate profile; AEP's
ability to sell assets at attractive prices and on other attractive terms;
international and country-specific developments affecting foreign investments
including the disposition of any current foreign investments; the economic
climate and growth in AEP's service territory and changes in market demand and
demographic patterns; inflationary trends; AEP's ability to develop and execute
on a point of view regarding prices of electricity, natural gas, and other
energy-related commodities; changes in the creditworthiness and number of
participants in the energy trading market; changes in the financial markets,
particularly those affecting the availability of capital and AEP's ability to
refinance existing debt at attractive rates; actions of rating agencies,
including changes in the ratings of debt and preferred stock; volatility and
changes in markets for electricity, natural gas, and other energy-related
commodities; changes in utility regulation, including the establishment of a
regional transmission structure; accounting pronouncements periodically issued
by accounting standard-setting bodies; the performance of AEP's pension plan;
prices for power that AEP generates and sells at wholesale; and changes in
technology and other risks and unforeseen events, including wars, the effects of
terrorism (including increased security costs), embargoes and other catastrophic
events.