AEP offering incentives for biz

Business First of Columbus - by Matt Burns

AEP Ohio has rolled out a new financial incentive program for business and government customers looking to trim electricity usage.

Gahanna-based AEP Ohio, a division of Columbus-based American Electric Power Company Inc. (NYSE:AEP), on Tuesday detailed a set of three incentive programs tied to a gridSmart program that the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved earlier this year. Spokeswoman Shelly Haugh said the company has been privately promoting the incentives to commercial customers since the beginning of June and has signed on 40 customers seeking $1.1 million in breaks.

The company hasn’t set a limit of incentives it plans to give out over the course of the two-year program, Haugh said.

“We intend at this point to honor all incentives at some level,” she said.

The programs range from a rebate for high-efficiency lighting projects to incentives on purchasing equipment that cuts down on electricity demand. And through the company’s Self-Direct Program, AEP is allowing qualifying companies who have finished energy-efficiency projects since 2006 to apply for an incentive payment or credit against an electric bill surcharge.

The company is taking applications for the incentives at gridsmartohio.com.

The programs tie into a larger effort to cut the state’s electricity consumption by 22 percent by the end of 2025. Through a comprehensive energy bill passed last year, AEP must cut its usage by 0.3 percent this year and 0.5 percent in 2010. A key piece of AEP’s gridSmart program is a plan to install meters at customers’ homes and in businesses that allow greater control over usage.

American Electric (NYSE:AEP) delivers electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states, including about 1.5 million Ohio customers. The company last year earned $1.38 billion on $14.6 billion in revenue.