No Thanks AEP

When American Electric Power was allowed to buy out Public Service Company of Oklahoma a few years ago I thought it meant bad news for Oklahoma and consumers. I still think that. Not only did AEP eliminate jobs in Oklahoma and move them out of state they virtually eliminated PSO's long history of involvement in promoting economic development in Oklahoma. They used to contribute a lot to the state's efforts to recruit new investment into the state - now that assistance is almost non-existent. On top of that, their service is poor - at least their online service is poor. Try to pay your bill online. You can't do it without signing up for a third-party service called Check-Free that will debit your bank account "automatically" when your bill is due. I learned long ago (in Internet years) not to give any company carte blanc to debit my bank account. You can bet that when you end your service account with that company that they WON'T notify the guy/gal that debits your bank account. You always have to go back and forth with such companies to try to straighten out the screwed up accounting.

With SWBell at least it is easy to go online any pay your bill without giving the company the right to drain your bank account as they see fit. Allowing Ohio-based AEP to take over PSO was a big mistake. Thanks Corporation Commission!