American Electric Power Company, Inc. (AEP) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

The meeting will now come to order. I'm Sara Martinez Tucker, Chairman of the Board of American Electric Power Company. Welcome to the company's 118th Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The Board is delighted that you're able to attend our virtual annual meeting today. I want to thank you all for joining us, and I hope you and your families are healthy and well. With that, we'll move to the official portion of this meeting. This annual meeting will be conducted according to the formal agenda outlined in the proxy statement dated March 13, 2025. We are here to conduct that business on that agenda and to consider any other matters that may properly be brought before the meeting by the shareholders. With me starting at my left are Mr. Bill Fehrman, President and Chief Executive Officer, a Director of the company and a director nominee; Ms. Christen Blend, Corporate Secretary and Associate General Counsel; and Ms. Darcy Reese, Vice President of Investor Relations. Ms. Blend and Ms. Reese will be assisting me in the conduct of this meeting. We are joined today by the company's other directors and director nominees who will now take a moment to identify. First, Mr. Ben Fowke of Tonka Bay, Minnesota, is the former Interim President and CEO of AEP and the retired Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Xcel Energy; Mr. Art A. Gaia of Southwest Ranches, Florida is the retired Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Ryder Systems; Mr. Hunter C. Gary of Golden Beach, Florida is a former Senior Managing Director of Icahn Enterprises; Ms. Sandra Beach Lin of Flower Mound, Texas is the retired Chief Executive Officer of Calisolar; Mr. Henry P. Linginfelter of St Simons Island, Georgia, is the retired Executive Vice President of Southern Company Gas; Ms. Margaret McCarthy of Orlando, Florida is the retired Executive Vice President Technology Integration of CVS Health Corporation; Mr. Daryl Roberts of Wilmington, Delaware is the Senior Vice President and Chief Operations and Engineering Officer of DuPont de Nemours; Mr. Joseph J. Savage of New York, New York is the retired Vice Chairman and Chairman of Global Power Utilities and Renewables of Citi Group; Mr. Daniel G. Stoddard of Richmond, Virginia is the owner and principal of Stoddard Consulting Services, LLC and the retired Senior Vice President, Chief Nuclear Officer and President of Contracted Assets at Dominion Energy; and Mr. Mr. Lewis Von Thaer of Columbus, Ohio is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Battelle Memorial Institute. Additionally, I want to thank Ms. Donna A. James, who recently retired from our Board for her nearly 3 years of serve. We appreciate Donna's contributions to the Board. Representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the independent registered public accounting firm that audited the company's 2024 financial statements are attending the meeting virtually and will provide written responses to any appropriate questions after the meeting. The Audit Committee approved PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2025. Let's now proceed with the meeting. Notice of this annual meeting was mailed on March 13, 2025 to all shareholders of record on March 4, 2025. This was the record date fixed by the Board of Directors for determining shareholders entitled to notice of and to vote at this meeting. The Board of Directors of the company has appointed Ms. Amelia Reagan and Ms. Adela Forsyth of Computershare to act as inspectors of election at this meeting. The inspectors have advised me that there are present online or represented by proxy the holders of over 86% of the shares entitled to vote. This is a sufficient number of shares to constitute a quorum. Since holders of a majority of the shares of common stock of the company entitled to vote are present online or represented by proxy at this meeting, there is a quorum present for the transaction of business. I declare that the 118th Annual Meeting of Shareholders is officially convened. I know that some of you may have questions or matters that you may want to discuss. We will have time to answer questions submitted during the meeting after we complete action on the matters set forth in the proxy statement and on any other matters that may be properly come before the meeting. The first order of business is the election of 12 directors to hold office for 1 year and until their successors are elected and have been qualified. The Board of Directors recommends the following 12 directors: Bill Fehrman; Ben Fowke; Art A. Garcia; Hunter C. Gary; Sandra Beach Lin; Henry P. Linginfelter; Margaret M. McCarthy; Daryl Roberts; Joseph J. Savage; Daniel G. Stoddard; Sara Martinez Tucker and Lewis Von Thaer for election as directors of the company. I note for the record that no nomination for director has been properly made in advance of this meeting by any shareholder. Accordingly, all nominations are closed. I declare the polls open for shareholders to submit their ballots for the election of directors. [Voting]

The next business to come before the meeting is to consider and take action on the proposal to ratify the appointment by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for the company for the year 2025. The Audit Committee of the Board of Directors approved Pricewaterhouse (sic) [ PricewaterhouseCoopers ] LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2025 as indicated in the proxy statement. The Audit Committee considers PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP to be qualified to perform this important function. The Board of Directors recommends the shareholders ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's auditors. We ask for shareholders at this time to submit their ballots with respect to the proposal. [Voting]

The next business to come before the meeting is to consider and take action on the proposal to approve the compensation of the company's named executive officers as described in the proxy statement. This proposal is a nonbinding shareholder advisory board. The Board of Directors recommends that shareholders approve the compensation of the company's executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement. We ask for shareholders at this time to submit their ballots with respect to this proposal. [Voting]

I hereby declare the polls closed. This concludes the business segment of the meeting for matters presented by the company's Board of Directors. Since there's no other formal business to come before this meeting, will the inspectors of election please tally the ballots and prepare their report. While the inspectors are tabulating the ballots cast, I'll turn the meeting over to Mr. Fehrman, who will make some comments about 2024 and our future.

Thank you, Sara. Good morning, and it's great to have all of you with us. This is my first Annual Shareholders' Meeting as President and CEO of AEP, and I appreciate the opportunity to share more of our story with our valued investors. This is an exciting time for AEP as we build an energy system to support the growing needs of our customers while focusing on execution, accountability and operational excellence. I'd like to make some comments about last year's performance as well as our work to advance our mission to put the customer-first and our long-term vision to improve our customers' lives with reliable, affordable power. Last year, we delivered solid financial results with full year 2024 operating earnings of $5.62 per share, building upon more than a decade of meeting or exceeding our earnings per share guidance. We also increased the quarterly dividend by $0.05 to $0.93 per share. We will create more value for our shareholders this year with an operating earnings guidance range of $5.75 to $5.95 per share and a long-term operating earnings growth rate of 6% to 8%, combined with the dividend to provide a potential total shareholder return of 10% to 12%. Our historic 5-year $54 billion capital plan is the key to unlocking long-term value for our shareholders, customers and communities. We plan to invest more than $34 billion in our transmission and distribution infrastructure to create a resilient grid that can support record growth in our service territory. Our capital plan also outlines $14 billion to add new diverse generation resources that balance reliability and affordability while meeting the needs of our states. We saw commercial load growth increased 10.6% last year as data centers, reshoring of manufacturing and other economic development projects brought their operations to our states. We expect this interest to continue, thanks to our industry-leading transmission system and attractive service territory. This demand could require an additional investment of up to $10 billion in our transmission, distribution and generation infrastructure, not included in our current capital plan. Last year, we worked diligently to develop creative energy solutions that keep our customers' needs top of mind. We're working with regulators and large customers to ensure infrastructure costs to support increased demand are allocated fairly and provide benefits to all customers as we prepare for more than 20 gigawatts of new load by the end of the decade. I want to take a moment to thank our team for their commitment to serving our customers and communities. AEP is full of talented, thoughtful employees who are passionate about their work and eager to make a difference at our company and in our service territories. This energy makes me excited about the company's future and the potential to achieve great things that benefit our customers. To our shareholders, thank you for your continued investment in our company. We are very grateful for your support. AEP has a reputation as a leader in our industry. With a nod to our past, I believe AEP has a bright future. I look forward to working with our team to deliver on our promises to our investors, our customers and our communities. In closing, here's a video that showcases our role as an industry trailblazer and our proud history of service and innovation. [Presentation]

Thank you, Bill. We'll now respond to questions submitted by the shareholders. Darcy, could you please report on any questions received?

I've been monitoring incoming questions. As we have not received any questions at this time from shareholders, I'll turn it now back to you, Sara.

Thank you, Darcy. The inspectors of election have provided preliminary voting results. The final voting results will be reported in the Form 8-K that will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the next few days. Ms. Blend, would you please inform the meeting as to the voting results.

Madam Chair, the inspectors have tabulated the votes cast for the election of directors, and they have reported that the shareholders present online or represented by proxy at the meeting have elected the following 12 persons directors of this company. Bill Fehrman, Ben Fowke. Art A. Garcia, Hunter C. Gary, Sandra Beach Lin, Henry P. Linginfelter, Margaret M. McCarthy; Daryl Roberts; Joseph J. Savage, Daniel G. Stoddard, Sara Martinez Tucker and Lewis Von Thaer.

You've heard the inspectors' report. I hereby declare that the persons named by the Secretary have been duly elected directors of this company. Ms. Blend, will you please provide the other voting results?

Madam Chair, the inspectors also have tabulated the votes cast for the other proposals presented to the meeting as follows: On Proposal 2, the proposal to ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm of the company. Shares representing approximately 99% of the votes cast during this meeting voted in favor of this proposal, so this proposal pass. On Proposal 3, the proposal to approve the company's compensation of the named executive officers as described in the proxy statement. Shares representing approximately 96% of the votes cast during this meeting voted in favor of this proposal. So this proposal also passed.

Is there any other business to come before this meeting? If there's no further business to come before this meeting, I declare this meeting adjourned. Thank you all for attending.