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American Electric Power increased its five-year capital expenditure plan to $100 billion, up 30% from its previous $78 billion plan, driven by expected generation and transmission spending, company officials said during an earnings call on Wednesday.
AEP, based in Columbus, Ohio, plans to spend $20 billion on gas-fired generation and $37 billion on transmission through 2031, up from $13 billion and $33 billion under its last investment plan, respectively, according to company presentations.
"Contracted customer demand is growing faster than the operating output of our existing fleet, creating a clear durable need for new baseload dispatchable generation," Trevor Mihalik, AEP executive vice president and CFO, said on the earnings call. AEP also expects its utilities will spend $8 billion on renewable energy projects over the next five years.
By the numbers: American Electric Power — Q3 2026
13%
Expected compound rate base growth over next five years, up from 11% under the previous spending plan.
84 GW
Contracted load through 2031, up 22% from 69 GW in the previous quarter.
14.4 GW
Active requests for generation from AEP's utilities.
During the earnings call, William Fehrman, AEP chairman, president and CEO highlighted a roughly $5 billion, 765-kV transmission project in Ohio and a $4 billion fuel cell project in Wyoming as examples of the company's investment opportunities. The projects were included in AEP's updated capital spending plan.
"Construction is well underway on the Wyoming fuel cell project , which is underpinned by a 20-year power purchase agreement with Google," Fehrman said.
AEP plans to use Bloom Energy fuel cells for the 702-MW project, which it expects to bring online in 2028.
And in Ohio, AEP expects to start building the Piketon transmission project early next year to support a 10.4-GW data center campus planned by SB Energy, Fehrman said. That data center was the biggest driver in AEP's increase in contracted load in the third quarter, according to Mihalik.
The project's three 765-kV transmission lines will each provide about 3.2 GW of capacity for the data center complex, and they have targeted in-service dates of Dec. 31, 2028, 2029 and 2030, AEP said in its quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The data center's initial 800 MW of load is expected to be served with existing transmission capacity and does not require additional regulatory approvals, AEP said.
SoftBank and its affiliates will pay for the transmission project, including an 11.35% base return on equity, which may increase to 11.99% or decrease to 10.71% depending on the final project costs and inservice dates. The transmission project requires approvals from the PJM Interconnection, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, AEP noted.
Meanwhile, AEP utilities are preparing to add about 9 GW in gas-fired generation through 2032, according to the company's presentation.
AEP is continuing to consider creating "gencos" — or generating companies — to serve large loads, Fehrman said.
"Should a genco structure emerge as a viable pathway in any given state, particularly West Virginia and Indiana, we could ultimately look to house a portion of the plan or future gas plants in that framework," he said.
AEP's total retail electric sales increased 11% in the third quarter and 8.7% in the first nine months this year, mainly driven by data center development, the company said in its SEC filing.
AEP's net income increased to $1.2 billion on $6.8 billion in revenue in the third quarter, up from $972 million and $6 billion in the year-ago period, driven by data center sales and warmer weather, according to the SEC filing.
AEP's utilities have about 5.6 million customers in Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
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