Exhibit 99.3
CSW
Central and South West Corporation
News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



                  PUCT Grants Tentative Approval of Settlement
                      Regarding CPL Securitization Request


Dallas,  Texas (Feb. 11, 2000) -- The Public Utility  Commission of Texas (PUCT)
on Thursday  tentatively  approved a  settlement  which will permit  Central and
South West  Corporation's  (NYSE:  CSR) Central  Power and Light  Company  (CPL)
subsidiary to securitize  approximately  $764 million of regulatory  assets. CPL
expects the PUCT to issue a final order by Feb. 28. The action is in  accordance
with  the   implementation   of  Texas   Senate  Bill  7  on  Electric   Utility
Restructuring.

In October  1999,  CPL  originally  filed a request with the PUCT to  securitize
approximately $1.27 billion of its retail generation-related  regulatory assets.
Since then, CPL has negotiated  with various parties to the case in an effort to
reach a settlement on the appropriate securitization amount.

The settlement with the PUCT staff,  the Office of Public Utility  Counsel,  the
Texas  Industrial  Energy  Consumers,  and the  State of Texas  calls for CPL to
reduce the amount to be securitized from the $1.27 billion originally  requested
to  approximately  $764 million of regulatory  assets plus other qualified costs
currently  estimated  to be $28  million.  The  settlement  also  calls for $290
million of the regulatory assets  originally  requested to be securitized in the
October 1999 filing to be included in the calculation of stranded costs in CPL's
April 2000 transmission and distribution cost filing. This filing will establish
stranded  costs of which 75 percent  can be  securitized  and 25 percent  can be
recovered through a competitive transition charge.

The  securitization  amount was reduced by an additional $186 million to reflect
the present value customer benefits associated with accumulated  deferred income
taxes. CPL previously had proposed to flow these benefits back to customers over
a 14-year transition period.



"This  settlement  relating  to the  amount  of  stranded  costs  that  CPL  can
securitize  is an important  step in bringing  lower rates to customers  through
competition,"  said CPL President and General  Manager  Gonzalo  Sandoval.  "The
settlement will help create a robust  competitive market when retail competition
is implemented and customers can choose their electricity provider."

Texas Senate Bill 7 on Electric Utility  Restructuring  provides a mechanism for
the  recovery  of  costs  left  stranded  as a  result  of  implementing  retail
competition.  This mechanism is the securitization or the subsequent refinancing
of the debt and equity associated with facilities built under a regulated market
structure.  Over the long-term,  securitization will result in recovery of CPL's
regulatory assets over a shorter period of time. These costs currently are being
collected  from customers in rates.  Securitization  allows the costs to be paid
off  sooner,  resulting  in lower  customer  prices  in the  future  than  would
otherwise be possible.

CPL could issue the transition bonds as early as March or April 2000,  depending
on timing of receipt of a financing  order from the PUCT and depending on market
conditions.  A second phase of securitization  should occur later in 2000. CPL's
stranded costs are subject to a final determination by the PUCT in 2004.

CPL  customers  will not see any  change  in  current  rates as a result  of the
securitization. Senate Bill 7 freezes existing base rates until Jan. 1, 2002. At
that point, residential and small commercial customers (those having an electric
load of less than 1 megawatt) who remain customers of the CPL's affiliate retail
electric  provider  will see an overall  price  reduction  of 6 percent from the
price  levels  charged on Jan.  1, 1999.  The  investor-owned  utility's  retail
electric  provider must continue to offer this "price to beat" for five years or
until 40 percent of the customers in that rate class switch electric providers.

Central and South West  Corporation  is a Dallas-based  public  utility  holding
company  that owns four U.S.  electric  utility  subsidiaries  with 1.7  million
customers,  a regional  electricity  company serving 2 million  customers in the
United  Kingdom,  and  non-utility   subsidiaries   involved  in  energy-related
investments  as well  as  subsidiaries  that  offer  telecommunications,  energy
efficiency  and  financial  transactions.  On Dec.  22,  1997,  CSW  announced a
definitive  merger  agreement for a tax-free,  stock-for-stock  transaction with
Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power Company, Inc. On Dec. 16, 1999, AEP
and CSW amended the  agreement  to extend the date after which  either party may
terminate the merger agreement to June 30, 2000.


                                           ###

Media contact:  Larry Jones,  communications project coordinator for Central and
South West Corporation, 214 777-1276.

Financial  community  contact:  Becky Hall,  director of investor  relations for
Central and South West Corporation, 214 777-1277.