WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Alliance Regional Transmission Organization (Alliance RTO), a group of five eastern and midwestern electric utility companies, today submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) a proposal to form an independent, regional transmission organization (RTO). If approved, the RTO would become one of the largest independent RTOs in the world.

"This filing is the result of more than one-and-a-half years of comprehensive analysis by the utilities," said Stan Szwed, chairman of the Alliance RTO steering committee and FirstEnergy vice president -- Transmission. "It was built on the successful foundation of the regional transmission organizations that came before us, and we believe it is the next natural step in creating a truly independent business model that promotes fair and effective competition."

The companies announced their intent to file with FERC last week. The companies in the Alliance are American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) of Columbus, Ohio; Consumers Energy (NYSE: CMS) of Jackson, Mich.; FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) of Akron, Ohio; Detroit Edison (NYSE: DTE) of Detroit, Mich.; and Virginia Power (NYSE: D) of Richmond, Va.

These five companies own 43,000 miles of transmission lines and serve 26 million people within 124,000 square miles in nine states. Information about the Alliance RTO can be found at http://www.alliancerto.com.