Exhibit 24

                        POWER OF ATTORNEY

              AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY, INC.
      Annual Report on Form lO-K for the Fiscal Year Ended
                        December 31, 1997                 


     The undersigned directors of AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER
COMPANY, INC., a New York corporation (the "Company"), do hereby
constitute and appoint E. LINN DRAPER, JR., G. P. MALONEY and
P. J. DeMARIA, and each of them, their attorneys-in-fact and
agents, to execute for them, and in their names, and in any and
all of their capacities, the Annual Report of the Company on Form
lO-K, pursuant to Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1997, and any and
all amendments thereto, and to file the same, with all exhibits
thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-
in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to
do and perform every act and thing required or necessary to be
done, as fully to all intents and purposes as the undersigned
might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all
that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or any of them, may
lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned have signed these
presents this 28th day of January, 1998.



/s/ P. J. DeMaria                  /s/ G. P. Maloney             
P. J. DeMaria                      G. P. Maloney


/s/ John P. DesBarres              /s/ Angus E. Peyton           
John P. DesBarres                  Angus E. Peyton


/s/ E. Linn Draper, Jr.            /s/ Donald G. Smith           
E. Linn Draper, Jr.                Donald G. Smith


/s/ Robert M. Duncan               /s/ Linda Gillespie Stuntz    
Robert M. Duncan                   Linda Gillespie Stuntz


/s/ Robert W. Fri                  /s/ Kathryn D. Sullivan       
Robert W. Fri                      Kathryn D. Sullivan


/s/ Lester A. Hudson, Jr.          /s/ Morris Tanenbaum          
Lester A. Hudson, Jr.              Morris Tanenbaum


/s/ Leonard J. Kujawa              
Leonard J. Kujawa