Columbus Southern gives AEP big headache. (Columbus Southern Power Co., subsidiary of American Electric Power Co.)

Richard Disbrow, chairman and chief executive officer of American Electric Power Co., said the company will likely have to take a big writeoff and forfeit dividends from subsidiary Columbus Southern Power Co. indefinitely, due to the subsidiary's financial perils.

In an article in the September employee magazine, Disbrow said AEP might have to write off $165 million in connection with its investment in CSP. AEP could also be forced to forego the approximately $80 million a year it gets in dividends from CSP as the sole owner of its common shares.

Disbrow says the company will have to take the $165 million hit unless it can get a reversal of a rate decision by the …