AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER CO INC (AEP)

American Electric Power (AEP), incorporated in New York in 1906 and reorganized in 1925, is a public utility holding company that owns the common stock of multiple regulated electric utility subsidiaries operating across 11 states: Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. These subsidiaries—including AEP Texas, AEPTCo, APCo, I&M, KGPCo, KPCo, OPCo, PSO, SWEPCo, and WPCo—provide integrated electric generation, transmission, and distribution services, though restructuring laws in Michigan, Ohio, and ERCOT Texas have led to unbundling of rates in those regions. AEP's subsidiaries collectively served approximately 5.67 million retail customers and employed 17,581 people as of December 31, 2025, with an additional 6,994 employees at AEP Service Corporation (AEPSC), which provides centralized administrative, engineering, financial, legal, and other services at cost to AEP subsidiaries.

AEP's operations are organized into four reportable segments: Vertically Integrated Utilities, Transmission and Distribution Utilities, AEP Transmission Holdco, and Generation & Marketing, with the remainder classified as Corporate and Other. The Vertically Integrated Utilities segment, which owned approximately 25,400 MWs of generation as of year-end 2025, serves diverse industrial customers including petroleum, chemical, oil and gas, primary metals, and data processing/cryptocurrency operations, and also supplies wholesale power to other utilities, cooperatives, and municipalities. The generation fuel mix for this segment in 2025 was approximately 43% coal/lignite, 22% natural gas, 19% nuclear, and 16% renewables, with coal costs decreasing about 11.6% per ton from 2024 while natural gas costs rose due to increased consumption, partly from the newly acquired Green Country Power Plant.

I&M's Cook Nuclear Plant represents a significant long-term decommissioning obligation, with a 2024 study estimating decommissioning and low-level waste disposal costs at $2.4 billion (undiscounted 2024 dollars), against a trust fund balance of approximately $4.5 billion as of December 31, 2025; license extensions are being pursued to extend operations from 2034/2037 to 2054/2057 for Units 1 and 2, respectively. AEP relies on short-term debt (commercial paper, term loans) for working capital and long-term debt, securitizations, leasing, and equity for capital needs, and remained in compliance with its debt covenants as of year-end 2025. The company emphasizes safety and human capital management, reporting improved 2025 safety metrics (DART rate of 0.436, TRIR of 0.755) despite one workplace fatality, and maintains various employee training, compensation, and engagement programs, with about 24% of its workforce unionized.

AEP continues to monitor and adapt to evolving environmental regulations affecting air quality, water quality, and waste disposal across its operations.