Exhibit 24
                        POWER OF ATTORNEY

                       OHIO POWER COMPANY
      Annual Report on Form lO-K for the Fiscal Year Ended
                        December 31, 1997                 

     The undersigned directors of OHIO POWER COMPANY, an Ohio
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 Commis-
sion, 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/ E. Linn Draper, Jr.            /s/ James J. Markowsky        
E. Linn Draper, Jr.                James J. Markowsky


/s/ Henry W. Fayne                 /s/ J. H. Vipperman           
Henry W. Fayne                     J. H. Vipperman


/s/ W. J. Lhota               
Wm. J. Lhota