While Public Service Company of Oklahoma was winning approval from Oklahoma Corporation Commissioners for a rate hike on Wednesday, the company’s parent firm, AEP, was among eight U.S. utilities getting $22.4 billion total in loans from the Biden administration for transmission line expansion projects.
PSO is among the subsidiaries of AEP, the American Electric Power Company and AEP’s $1.6 billion conditional loan was considered to be the last probable act for an Inflation Reduction Act program.
The conditional loans, according to the Energy Department’s announcement, were aimed at cutting carbon emissions and energy bills by helping build and retrofit power plants and bolster the grid. Those projects include building or retrofitting hundreds of miles of new high-voltage transmission lines, repairing fossil gas pipelines, and deploying new renewable energy, battery storage, and customer-sited energy assets.
AEP’s loan guarantee would help the transmission utility finance reconductoring or rebuilding of almost 5,000 miles of transmission lines in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. The transmission upgrades would increase overall transmission capacity by approximately 70%. Upgrading transmission lines would provide cost savings to utility customers and improve service reliability.
The initial projects funded by the proposed loan guarantee involve upgrading approximately 100 miles of transmission across Ohio and Oklahoma. LPO estimates these initial projects, as well as future projects to be funded by the loan guarantee, would avoid greenhouse gas emissions by reducing line losses associated with electricity transmission. Additionally, AEP’s projects would contribute to emissions reductions by supporting existing and new clean generation by expanding transmission capacity in the regions in which they operate.
LPO’s January 16, 2025 Announcement: Conditional Commitments for Loan Guarantees to Utility Borrowers | |||
PROJECT | DOLLARS | STATES | # OF CUSTOMERS BENEFITTING |
PacificCorp Western Interconnected Renewable Energy | $3.52B | California, Idaho, Oregon, and Utah | 2.1 million |
DTE Gas Clean Energy | $1.64B | Michigan | 1.3 million |
DTE Electric Clean Energy | $7.17B | Michigan | 2.3 million |
Interstate Power and Light Clean Energy Blueprint Projects | $1.43B | Iowa | 500,000 |
Wisconsin Power and Light Clean Energy Blueprint Projects | $1.62B | Wisconsin | 500,000 |
Consumers Energy Clean Energy | $5.23B | Michigan | 3.1 million |
Jersey Central Power & Light Transmission Projects | $0.71B | New Jersey | 1.2 million |
AEP Transmission Projects | $1.60B | Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia | 3.78 million |
TOTAL: | $ 22.92 B | 12 states | 14.78 million |