American Electric Power said April 30 that 10.5% growth year over year in data centers and other commercial load within its 11-state footprint can be attributed to prior investments in transmission infrastructure.
“I like to say here at AEP that we’re really wired for growth,” interim CEO Ben Fowke told financial analysts during the company’s first-quarter earnings call. “We’ve been making significant transmission investments over the years, and that’s going to allow us to accommodate this first wave of growth we’re seeing from data centers.”
Fowke said additional infrastructure and “perhaps even generation” will be needed before the decade is up. The company plans to invest $27 billion in transmission and distribution infrastructure over the next five years to meet service requests that could add an additional 10 to 15 GW of load by 2030.
“We’ve done a lot of groundwork to put ourselves in this position, and you’re also seeing data center load ramp up at the same time. That’s a natural trend,” he said. “The good news is we believe that the load growth coming on will be fair to all customers and, in fact, will help us keep our rates affordable across all our jurisdictions. That load growth benefits all customers.”
At the same time, a voluntary severance program announced this month will save about $100 million in labor costs and “mitigate impacts from inflationary pressures and interest rates,” Fowke said.
AEP told hometown newspaper The Columbus Dispatch that about 7,400 of its 16,800 employees are eligible for the program.
The Ohio-based company reported earnings of $1.003 billion ($1.91/share) for the first quarter, compared to $397 million ($0.77/share) for the same quarter a year ago.
Fowke replaced Julie Sloat as CEO in January when she was forced out after 14 months on the job. (See Interim CEO Fowke Explains AEP Leadership Change.) He said the search for a permanent CEO is “well underway” but will take six to 12 months.
“We will take the time necessary to find the best candidate,” Fowke said. “Based on the talent pool that we’re looking at, we will find the right person to lead AEP.”
