AEP shifts focus to more-manageable infrastructure projects, CEO says

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Jeffry Konczal

AEP CEO Nick Akins

Tom Knox

Reporter- Columbus Business First

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As the CEO of American Electric Power Company Inc. enters his fourth year at the helm, one thing is clear: AEP has changed a lot since he took over, and more is to come.

" AEP is at a very different time today than it was five years ago," Nick Akins said Thursday at an Edison Electric Institute meeting.

Wednesday marked the third full year since Akins, a longtime AEP employee, took over. Then, AEP spent a lot of money on high-capital environmental projects like power plant scrubbers to limit pollution. It has since shifted toward spending on more nimble transmission projects across its 11-state territory, including Ohio. AEP will spend at least $4.8 billion on its transmission system in the next three years.

"We've managed to reduce our environmental spending dramatically," Aikins said.

AEP wants to avoid the large central station facilities that cost hundreds of millions to build. Today, it's more-manageable infrastructure projects that can start or stop depending on credit-related issues. If the Columbus company does spend big, it'll be natural-gas fired plants in regulated areas. But for now the focus is on upgrading its infrastructure so AEP has to minimize those huge, singular investments.

AEP is adding solar, wind power and battery technology, Akins said.

"It's really around rebalancing," Akins told the Dallas crowd. "And that is a business case to be made, not being forced from an environmental standpoint."

American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP) still gets most of its power from coal, followed by natural gas. The company – and Ohio energy watchers – are awaiting a decision by state regulators on an AEP price-guarantee proposal for its Ohio coal plants.

Its transmission system is the largest in the country, spanning 40,000 miles.