Columbus-based American Electric Power reported third-quarter operating earnings of $1.216 billion, or $2.23 per share, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, and unveiled an expanded $100 billion, five-year capital plan through 2031, according to the company’s earnings release issued through PR Newswire.
GAAP earnings for the quarter were $1.187 billion, or $2.18 per share, compared with $972 million, or $1.82 per share, in the third quarter of 2025, according to AEP’s release. The company said it now expects full-year 2026 operating earnings to be at or above the high end of its guidance range of $6.25 to $6.55 per share.
“AEP is entering our next phase of growth from a position of strength,” Bill Fehrman, AEP’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in the company’s PR Newswire release. “Our expanded capital plan and increased growth rate reflect the significant opportunities ahead and our ability to execute at scale to help meet rapidly growing energy needs while delivering long-term value to our customers, communities, shareholders and all other stakeholders.”
The $100 billion plan is expected to support a rate-base compound annual growth rate of more than 13 percent through 2031, with the company’s rate base rising to $162 billion, according to the release. AEP said it plans about $37 billion for transmission, about $36 billion for generation and about $22 billion for distribution, and introduced expected operating earnings growth of 9 to 11 percent a year from 2027 through 2031, with guidance of $6.75 to $7.05 per share for 2027 and $7.40 to $7.70 for 2028.
Driving the plan is accelerating electricity demand. AEP said it signed 15 gigawatts of new load commitments during the third quarter, bringing its expected incremental contracted load to 84 gigawatts by 2031, counting only projects backed by fully executed electric service agreements or letters of agreement, according to the release.
For residential customers, AEP said fully executed take-or-pay agreements with large customers in its vertically integrated states are now expected to generate up to $21 billion in fixed-cost offsets over the life of the contracts, up from $16 billion. “As electricity demand accelerates, AEP is committed to having new large-load customers bear the incremental system costs they create and fund the investments required to serve them,” Fehrman said in the company’s release.
AEP, headquartered in Columbus, employs nearly 18,000 people and serves 5.6 million customers in 11 states, including Ohio Power customers in Ohio, according to the release. The company discussed the results with analysts on a webcast at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, and said its expanded investment is aimed at reliability, grid modernization and the growing energy needs of the communities it serves.
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