The parent company to the DC Cook Plant’s Indiana Michigan Power Company says first quarter results were on track despite milder than usual weather conditions.
American Electric Power today reported first-quarter 2017 earnings, prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, of $592 million or $1.20 per share, compared with $501 million or $1.02 per share in first-quarter 2016. Operating earnings for first-quarter 2017 were $474 million or $0.96 per share, compared with first-quarter 2016 operating earnings of $501 million or $1.02 per share.
The difference between first-quarter 2017 GAAP earnings and operating earnings was largely due to a gain on the sale of competitive generation assets. AEP recorded a $127 million gain in first-quarter 2017 from the January 30th sale of the Lawrenceburg, Waterford, Darby and Gavin plants to Lightstone Generation LLC.
Nicholas Akins is Chairman, President & CEO at AEP. He says, “Our strategic investments in our regulated businesses – including transmission infrastructure and advanced distribution equipment and technology to enhance service for our customers – supported our solid earnings performance for the first quarter, despite much warmer than normal winter weather. The ongoing benefits of those investments, combined with positive economic indicators, give us confidence that we will achieve our operating earnings guidance range of $3.55 to $3.75 per share for the year.”
Akins notes that the company’s Transmission Holding Company segment contributed 14 centers per share to earning for the quarter, representing an increase of 5 cents per share over the same period last year. He adds, “Net plant for that business grew by more than $1 billion, up 32-percent from March 2016. We made significant progress on our efforts to exit the competitive generation business, including completing the sale of four competitive power plants sooner than we had anticipated. We also reached agreements to simplify the ownership of two additional competitive plants. We expect to complete the strategic review for all of our remaining competitive generation assets this year.”
Akins says today, “Overall, we are pleased with our performance in the quarter, despite the impact of the warm winter weather. Higher energy prices are driving increased drilling activity in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, and we are seeing some economic improvement in several of our eastern states.”
AEP is the parent to Indiana Michigan Electric Company which operates the DC Cook Nuclear Power Plant at Bridgman.
American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity and custom energy solutions to nearly 5.4 million customers in 11 states. AEP owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a more than 40,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP also operates 224,000 miles of distribution lines. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning approximately 26,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S.
