2010.10.19
Surprise! AEP profits are skyrocketing!
Is any rate-payer from this region REALLY surprised?
American Electric Power Co. Inc. said today its third quarter earnings increased by 25 percent as sizzling summer weather helped to boost electricity sales.
AEP said it had net income of $555 million, or $1.16 a share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a profit of $443 million, or 93 cents a share, in same period a year ago. Revenue rose to $4.1 billion from $3.5 billion.
Michael G. Morris, chairman and CEO, said in a statement that demand from hotter-than-normal weather offset the continued slow economic recovery. AEP is the corporate parent of Appalachian Power Co., which sells electricity to much of Southwest Virginia. Appalachian Power’s third-quarter earnings will be reported in a corporate filing expected later in the fall.
Deep down in the story, we get this:
Besides the weather, rate changes also worked in AEP’s favor during the second quarter, the company said.
“Every year we go in with a stack of rate case increases that we expect to receive, and each and every year we have not only been there but somewhat above it,” Morris told analysts during a meeting in New York that followed the earnings release.
Ya think?
Note: Profits from AEP’s Apco subsidiary, which include the company’s business in our region, will be reported later.
Great I bet local folks who own AEP stock will be so pleased. Wish I owned some
Comment by Michael A. Howdyshell — October 19, 2010 @ 1:33 pm
This is what we get from a letting them have a monopoly – the way things are going, we will have one power company, one phone company and one bank!
Comment by Ken — October 19, 2010 @ 1:45 pm
Mike Howdyshell
Yep.I bet those 1000 local folks who own a few shares of AEP will be mightily pleased while the rest of the million or so people in the
Swva service area who depend on them for power get screwed. That free
enterprise is a wonderful thing for all of us in the 98%.
Comment by dave — October 19, 2010 @ 4:24 pm
#3
Ken: “… the way things are going, we will have one power company, one phone company and one bank!”
And if that’s the way the capitalism and free-market cookies crumble, then that’s the way it should be! Ain’t that right, conservatives? Wouldn’t that just make America even greater?
Comment by AF — October 19, 2010 @ 5:25 pm
Dan, I see you filed this story appropriately under “Outrageous”
Morris is probably hoping for a winter just like he got last year. Folks need to wake up to the fact that with industrial use down over 15% in the past 3 years, APCO is determined the residential user must make up the profit lose with outrageous increases the company has been able to get through the complicit Virginia Govenment and Regulatory board.
Go get ‘em Ward.
Comment by Cold n P — October 19, 2010 @ 8:40 pm
Getting old is a wonderful thing. Puts things into such wonderful perspectives. For example, I remember when people couldn’t be more pleased when the feds stepped in to bust up “Ma Bell,” aka the telephone company, simply because it was a (dramatic music here) “monopoly”. Funny thing how it’s different with both AEP and Roanoke Gas. But yes, by all means, let’s keep worshipping the sacred cow of “corporate profits” and soon we can all live in cardboard boxes. Simply put: To hell with AEP.
Comment by Randy Vaughan — October 19, 2010 @ 9:14 pm
I attended a tail gate party prior to the Notre Dame-Western Michigan football game last Saturday. Two of my fellow attendees were executives with AEP from Columbus, Ohio. This article gives me an indication why they had such big smiles on their faces. If I’d known how good their profits had been the prior quarter I would have asked them for a larger contribution to my not for profit. Damn!!
Comment by Ron — October 19, 2010 @ 10:00 pm
More petty bitching. Turn off your computers. That may save a few dollars. Buy into the solar panel and green initiative. Do something other than bitch, or if you choose otherwise then pay your bills and shut up.
Comment by Big Momma — October 19, 2010 @ 11:48 pm