Our success as an investor-owned electric utility includes a track record of 100 years of paying dividends to our shareholders and is grounded in our ability to continue delivering reliable, reasonably priced electricity. Approximately 70 percent of our outstanding shares are owned by investors who have an investment horizon of greater than two years. Because of this, we hope that these investors understand our commitment to being a sustainable company is also in their long-term financial interest. Our challenge remains that many investors and analysts still focus on quarterly earnings rather than long-term performance related to sustainability. Analysts are beginning to pay attention to sustainability issues, particularly environmental issues. However, generally they are not factoring them into their recommendations with any regularity, unlike SRIs.

We continue to explain our sustainability agenda with traditional investors while also meeting the social objectives of SRIs. We make an effort to increase AEP's inclusion in various sustainability focuses market indexes. In January 2010, we learned that AEP was included in the Maplecroft Climate Innovation Index (CII) Leaders, which includes the top 100 performers in the Maplecroft CII. This index evaluates and rates company performance in climate-related innovation and carbon management.

Investor outreach is one of the cornerstones of any successful investor relations (IR) function. It provides an opportunity for management to explain the company's strategy and the objectives to achieve that strategy, as well as access to management, which is critical for many investors when they are purchasing and holding a stock.

Our IR team participated in 29 conferences and in-person forums, hosted seven investor visits to Columbus and met face-to-face with approximately 400 financial investors in two countries in 2009. We also met with more than 100 investors over two days during our equity offering, which helped us to recalibrate our engagement with investors. Our focus this year is on concerns about legislative and regulatory uncertainties in our states, the impact of the recession on earnings, our ability to maintain fiscal discipline and match capital expenditures with operating cash flows, our vision for an interstate transmission grid and the anticipated opportunities, challenges and financial implications of environmental and legislative policy changes around climate change, and other issues.

AEP has a track record of 100 years of paying dividends to our shareholders.