Staff report

GALLIA COUNTY — American Electric Power (AEP) Ohio is planning an 8-hour power outage in portions of Gallia County on Sunday, Oct. 16, in order to upgrade facilities and perform maintenance on transmission lines, a substation and distribution lines in the vicinity. According to a statement released by AEP, the projects will help to improve the reliability of electric service in the area. If inclement weather takes place, AEP will reschedule the outage for the same time on Sunday, Oct. 23.

AEP Ohio projects that the outage will affect approximately 3,300 customers from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Customers affected by the outage should have received a recorded telephone message on Monday, and a follow-up call is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 14. AEP will attempt to contact affected businesses and churches by phone.

The outage will affect customers in the following general areas: North of Gallipolis on Ohio 160 to the Hanersville area; South of Gallipolis on Ohio 7 to Swan Creek Road, just north of Crown City; Several miles west of Ohio 7 to the Buckeye Rural Electric Cooperative service territory; West of Gallipolis along Ohio 141 to Raccoon Creek County Park.

Customers who have questions about the planned power outage may contact Jennifer Wilfong, customer service representative, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday at (740) 985-3210.