American Electric Power Company, Inc. ($AEP)

Good morning, fellow shareholders and guests. I'm Bill Furman, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board of Directors of American Electric Power Company. Welcome to the company's 119th Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The Board is delighted that you can 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. At this time, I call the meeting to order. I will act as Chair of the meeting. With me are Sara Martinez Tucker, Lead Director of the Board of Directors; Rob Berntsen, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary; and Darcy Reese, Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Bernston will serve as Secretary of the meeting, and Ms. Reese will facilitate the Q&A session. In addition, all current members of our Board of Directors who are standing for reelection are attending this meeting virtually today. Representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the independent registered public accounting firm that audited the company's 2025 financial statements are also attending the meeting virtually. We will be making forward-looking statements during today's presentation. These statements are based on management's current expectations, and actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement we make today. Factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially are discussed in the company's most recent SEC filings. Please refer to our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, for a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures we may use when discussing our financial results. Before turning to the formal business of the meeting, it is my pleasure to invite our Lead Director, Ms. Tucker, to share with you the Board's perspective on where the company stands and where we are headed.

Thank you, Bill. Good morning, everyone. Although AEP has changed significantly over time, our purpose remains the same: to deliver reliable, affordable power across our 11-state regulated footprint. Our industry is experiencing unprecedented growth, and AEP is leaning into that opportunity to deliver for customers by prioritizing structure, strategy and culture. Under Bill's leadership, the company has been organized around the customer, strengthening execution, financial performance and regulatory relationships. The Board supports the company's focus on disciplined investment in our core businesses, generation, transmission and distribution under our $72 billion capital plan. At the same time, we remain on a growth trajectory that aim to limit residential rate increases to 3.5% annually. Just as important, AEP has aligned around a shared culture, our ways of working, be an owner, be customer-focused, be a team player and get stuff done to help execute effectively for customers and for our shareholders. Taken together, we believe these priorities will position AEP to deliver long-term value while continuing to serve our customers with reliable, affordable energy. Bill, now let's proceed with the meeting.

Great, Sara. Thank you. We will now begin the formal business portion of our meeting. Our Board of Directors selected March 4, 2026, as the record date for determining shareholders entitled to vote at this meeting. An affidavit has been delivered attesting to the requisite notice of Internet availability or document mailing as applicable, which were made available or mailed starting on March 18, 2026, to all shareholders of record. This affidavit will be incorporated into the minutes of this meeting. Our Board of Directors has appointed Ms. Reagan and Ms. Forsyth of Computershare to act as independent inspectors of elections at this meeting. The inspectors of elections have taken the oath of office and will file their signed oath of office with the Secretary of the meeting for inclusion in the minutes of the meeting. The inspectors of elections have advised me that there is a quorum present for the transaction of business. Accordingly, I declare the 119th Annual Meeting officially convened. This meeting will be conducted according to the formal agenda and the conduct of annual meeting rules outlined in the proxy statement dated March 18, 2026, which you are encouraged to review. You may submit questions in the designated field on the virtual meeting website at any time during the meeting. After reviewing the items on the agenda and a management presentation, we will respond to appropriate questions about those items and other matters related to the company's business as time permits. Note that only shareholders with a valid control number will be allowed to ask questions. All questions that do not pertain to the items involving votes or the company's business will be deferred, including any questions relating to first quarter 2026 earnings or our 2026 outlook. Please provide your name and your contact details when submitting questions. Rob, please describe the matters to be voted on at today's meeting.

Thank you, Bill. The first item of business is the election of directors. There are 10 nominees who have been nominated for election to the Board and who, if elected, will constitute the entire Board of Directors. Each elected director will serve until the 2027 Annual Meeting or until his or her successor is elected and qualified. Information concerning the nominees is included in the proxy statement. The nominees for election to the Board of Directors are Bill Furman, Ben Fok, Art Garcia, Sandra Beachlin, Margaret McCarthy, Daryl Roberts, Joseph Savage, Daniel Stoddard, Sara Martinez Tucker and Lewis Fonair. Our Board of Directors recommends that shareholders vote for each of the nominees. No other nomination for director has been properly made in advance of this meeting. Accordingly, all nominations are closed. The second item of business to come before the meeting is ratification of our Audit Committee's appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm of the company for the year 2026. Our Board of Directors recommends that shareholders vote for ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's registered independent public accounting firm for fiscal year 2026. The third item of business to come before the meeting is approval of an amendment to the company's restated certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock from $600 million to $900 million. Our Board of Directors recommends that shareholders vote for approval of the amendment to the company's restated certificate of incorporation. The fourth item of business to come before the meeting is approval of the AEP Employee Stock Purchase Plan. Our Board of Directors recommends that shareholders vote for approval of the AEP Employee Stock Purchase Plan. The fifth item of business to come before the meeting is approval on an advisory basis of the company's named executive officer compensation as described further in the proxy statement. Our Board of Directors recommends that shareholders vote for the advisory approval of the company's named executive compensation program. At this time, the polls for voting on all matters are open. Any shareholder who hasn't yet voted or wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. Shareholders who have sent in proxies or voted via telephone or the Internet and do not want to change vote do not need to take any further action. Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, I declare that the polls are now closed, and the inspectors of elections will tally the ballots. We will then report the preliminary voting results. While the inspectors are tabulating the votes cast, Bill will comment on the past year and AEP's outlook for the future.

Thank you, Rob, and thank you to our valued shareholders for joining us today on this call. We appreciate your continued investment in our company. I would like to briefly talk about our progress and growth last year and our vision for the future. Last year, our team translated strategy into results. We invested in critical infrastructure to meet unprecedented demand, enhance the customer experience and delivered strong financial performance, all while focusing on our most important operational and customer priorities: safety, reliability and affordability. In 2025, we delivered operating earnings of $5.97, outperforming our full year guidance. AEP's share price also increased 25% in 2025 with a corresponding total shareholder return of 29%. We also reinforced our confidence in AEP's premium 7% to 9% long-term growth rate. A balanced approach of supporting growth whilst maintaining affordability is central to our long-term value proposition and our commitment to serving our customers. As we look ahead, we believe 2026 and beyond will be transformational for our company and service territory. We remain focused on executing our capital plan efficiently, maintaining affordability for customers, partnering closely with policymakers and regulators and making targeted investments that deliver value and empower growth. To our shareholders, thank you for your continued support of our work. We appreciate your investment in our vision to deliver safe, reliable and affordable energy to our customers. While the inspectors continue to tabulate votes, I would like to share a video that highlights this work to seize the exciting opportunities ahead. -- we'll now respond to questions submitted by our shareholders. Please note that any questions not pertinent to the 5 voting items or that do not adhere to the conduct of annual meeting rules will not be addressed at this time. Darcy, would you please report on any questions received?

Thank you, Bill. We have not received any pertinent questions related to the business of the meeting or the company's business activities. You may proceed with the remainder of the meeting.

The inspectors of elections have provided preliminary voting results. Rob, will you please inform us of the results?

Yes. Thank you, Bill. The preliminary results show that on the first item, the 10 director nominees have been duly elected. On the second item, the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's registered independent public accounting firm for fiscal year 2026 has been ratified. On the third item, the amendment to the company's restated certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock has been approved. On the fourth item, the employee stock purchase plan has been approved. On the fifth item, the compensation of named executive officers has been approved by advisory vote. We will file the final report of the inspectors of elections with the records of this meeting. We will also report the final results of the voting on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This concludes the business for the meeting, and I declare that the 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders is adjourned. Thank you all so much for attending.