I worked with AEP and Columbia gas for several years now and can expand on the subject, though DJ has done very well.
AEP is a utility, with that said they have a certain way of doing business. They are slow, methodical and actually have a very real interest in their customers opinions. "You want what you can't have". Unfortunately they cannot have their profit margin, benefits and pensions and be liked by their customers running a monopoly like any utility...
AEP would like you to turn off your power between the hours stated because of the grid demand it requires to take hundreds of thousands of homes from temperatures in the 80's down to the high 60's. Too many people slam their thermostat to unreasonable temperatures to cool the home faster and often forget they did so. The demand is unreasonable. Or so they would like you to believe...
With your power off AEP then has the ability to send a tech to your house. That tech will be of the upmost professilnalism and will instantly win you over on your doorstep. In his utility belt he will have a box of free lightbulbs and in that box will be a little green minion. The minion will burrow underneath your floorboard and unlock what will later be discovered as a link between earth and hell. Thats not where it ends. This gate will need closed by a priest of your choosing. He will arrive to address the minions and will do so, however, he is an AEP insurgent and he's now in your home. He will kill you and leave you. Upon exit he will turn on every electric using device and the bill will be sent to your immediate family.