American Electric Power (AEP) is having a moment. The Ohio-based utility reported first-quarter earnings that beat expectations, and it's betting big on the insatiable energy appetite of AI and data centers. Shares jumped 3.3% to a new 52-week high of $139.10 on Tuesday.
Adjusted earnings came in at $1.64 per share, up from $1.54 a year ago and ahead of the Street's $1.57 estimate. Revenue hit $6.02 billion, topping the $5.68 billion analysts were looking for. Not bad for a utility.
The growth story is really about demand. AEP signed 7 gigawatts of new load agreements in the quarter, mostly in Ohio and Texas. That's a lot of power. The company now expects incremental load growth of 63 GW by 2030, driven by industrial customers, hyperscalers, and data center developers. AI doesn't run on air, and utilities are the ones plugging it in.
Segment performance was solid. The Vertically Integrated Utilities segment saw operating earnings rise to $464 million from $350 million a year ago. Transmission & Distribution Utilities climbed to $237 million from $192 million. Generation and Marketing posted $90 million, up from $76 million. Transmission Holdco was the only laggard, slipping to $209 million from $235 million.
To meet all that demand, AEP is opening its wallet. The company raised its five-year capital plan to $78 billion, up from $72 billion. The money is going into transmission investments in the PJM and SPP grids, plus new gas-fired generation in Indiana expected later this decade. The payoff: roughly 11% annual rate base growth and over 9% earnings compound annual growth through 2030.
And there's more. Beyond the base plan, AEP sees over $10 billion in additional opportunities. That includes the Piketon transmission project in Ohio, fuel cell deployment in Wyoming, and more generation projects across its footprint. It's a pipeline that keeps growing.
But AEP isn't forgetting about residential customers. The company says it expects about $16 billion in customer cost offsets over the life of its large load contracts, helping keep power affordable even as demand surges.
For 2026, AEP reiterated its operating earnings guidance of $6.15 to $6.45 per share, right around the consensus estimate of $6.34. The stock is trading at a new 52-week high, and with AI demand showing no signs of slowing, AEP looks like it's just getting started.
