The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “The only constant is change.” He could have been describing the electric utility industry and AEP in particular. We are in the midst of a fundamental transformation, including:

Our operations are increasingly integrated: Our operating company presidents are responsible for business performance across generation, transmission and distribution. Consequently, these business units are working more closely, sharing goals and accountability for overall performance at the operating company level. The company presidents are actively involved with resource planning, cash flow, balance sheets, income statements and stakeholder relationships. This business model allows the company presidents to align investment decisions with financial, regulatory and operational priorities and to manage our social and environmental performance in an integrated fashion.

Our fuel mix is changing: We are a coal-centric electric utility, but that is changing. We plan to invest in cost-effective environmental retrofits of larger, newer coal-burning units and retire older, smaller units. We eventually will increase our use of other resources and build more natural gas generation, such as the 508-megawatt (MW) J. Lamar Stall combined-cycle gas unit in Louisiana, which began operating in 2010, and the 580-MW Dresden combined-cycle gas plant under construction in Ohio. We are completing the ultra-supercritical John W. Turk, Jr., Plant in Arkansas.

Technology is changing: We continue to explore many different and new technologies that could play a pivotal role in how electricity is produced, distributed and used. Our gridSMART® projects in Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma and Indiana are giving us practical experience in smart grid technologies, from energy storage and distributed generation to smart meters and voltage control. While we are learning a lot about these technologies, customers have yet to fully understand how to take advantage of them. We will pursue the deployment of smart grid technologies where regulators are supportive.

Our culture is changing: We strive for openness, candor and trust in all areas, especially as they relate to safety and health. For example, when job conditions change, employees know they must stop and re-evaluate the risk. We have not yet achieved the level of openness we strive for, but the change in our culture has been significant and positive. Read more about this in the Stakeholder Engagement section.

Our values continue to guide us: Our values of safety, fairness, trustworthiness, responsibility, citizenship, respect and caring continue to commit us to high standards of ethics and quality. Even as our strategies and operations evolve in order to help us remain successful, our core business mission and objectives are the same as they have always been.