Customer Experience

At AEP, understanding the needs and preferences of our customers is critical to our ability to deliver safe, clean, reliable and affordable energy. We are working to meet and engage with customers through their channel of choice while expanding programs, digital capabilities and clean energy offerings that are inclusive and accessible to all customers. This includes personalized engagements and enhanced self-service options that deliver a modern, convenient and customer-friendly experience. We are also being mindful that our clean energy transition doesn’t leave our customers behind. It’s important to put mechanisms in place to avoid creating energy inequality and provide our customers equal access to clean and modern energy options.

We continue working with our state regulators to offer creative solutions that help customers manage their energy use as well as pay their bills. This includes providing flexible payment options to help them maintain electric service without building up large past-due balances that they would have to pay all at once. We have been communicating with customers facing disconnection using different methods, including email, letters, texts, voice mail messages, social media and door hangers, encouraging them to contact us if they need help paying their bills. Previous standards for payment plan arrangements and extensions have been adjusted, including self-service options, so more customers can get the help they need. Disconnecting customers is always our last resort, and customers who work with us on a payment plan will not be disconnected.

Energy Affordability & Assistance

It is our responsibility to deliver electric service to every customer within our service territory. We understand financial hardships can make it difficult for some of our customers to pay their energy bills, especially within our geographic footprint where 96% of our customers live in counties where the median income is below the national average. At AEP, we are committed to keeping our customers connected and providing access to additional assistance if needed. In addition to payment assistance, we offer flexible payment options, including pre-pay and basing required customer payments on their previous year’s energy use to help customers better manage their energy bills.

As the COVID-19 pandemic headed into its second year, its impact continued to be felt by our customers. In 2021, we received more than 31,000 pledges totaling more than $15 million in energy assistance from our self-serve agency websites. The funding available to support our energy assistance programs comes from a variety of sources, including the government, social service agencies and voluntary customer contributions. Income guidelines determine eligibility. In addition, government-sponsored energy assistance programs provided approximately $135 million in federal and private energy assistance to our customers across our service territory in 2021 – a 47% increase compared to 2020.

Throughout our service territory, we help customers gain access to energy assistance. Our success rests on building strong partnerships with community action agencies, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations and food banks. For example, through Home Energy Aid Month, Public Service Company of Oklahoma teams up with The Salvation Army, City of Tulsa and other local utilities to raise awareness and support for area residents who need temporary assistance to pay their home heating or cooling bill. This annual event helps thousands of qualified customers across Oklahoma facing financial hardships to pay for their energy bills, which is administered through the Salvation Army.

Learn more about AEP’s customer assistance programs:

• Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
• Appalachian Power: Neighbor to Neighbor Fund, Lighting Utility Voucher
• AEP Ohio: Emergency Rental Assistance Program, Neighbor to Neighbor Program, Ohio PIPP Plus
• Kentucky Power: Home Energy Assistance in Reduce Temperatures program, Temporary Heating Assistance in Winter program
• Indiana Michigan Power: Neighbor to Neighbor Fund, Energy Share
• Public Service Company of Oklahoma: Light A Life Fund, Lighting Utility Voucher
• Southwestern Electric Power Company: Neighbor to Neighbor Fund

We believe customers should be empowered to make decisions on how to optimize their energy experience. This is why we help customers better understand and manage their energy usage through energy efficiency programs and offerings. Today, AEP provides our customers with access to a variety of energy management tools to help them accomplish these goals. These tools keep our customers informed through proactive energy usage alerts and provide personalized energy efficiency tips and programs. This includes bill comparisons, home and business energy analysis, account information and preferences, and high-bill alerts, empowering customers to make changes in their energy use during the current billing period to keep their monthly electric bill affordable.

Our continued investments in grid modernization, such as smart meter technology, further enhance our ability to provide customers with energy management tools and programs. Smart meters use secure, two-way wireless communication to measure and record electricity usage and send the information from a customer’s meter to AEP. This information gives us the ability to develop and deliver highly personalized solutions, such as high bill alerts.

As of January 2022, AEP has deployed smart meter technology to 63% of our customers. Several of our operating companies, including Indiana Michigan Power, plan to have their smart meters fully deployed by year-end.

In addition, AEP offers our customers a robust set of energy efficiency programs to help them manage their energy usage. These programs include a wide variety of home weatherization, lighting, HVAC, and commercial and industrial equipment upgrades and process improvements to get the most value out of their energy usage.

AEP’s energy efficiency programs and efforts have been recognized among some of the best in the industry for several years. In 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year awards for businesses and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency achievements. AEP Texas, Public Service Company of Oklahoma and Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO – Arkansas) were named ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence winners. SWEPCO (Louisiana and Texas) was recognized for the ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Energy Efficiency Program Delivery award, and Appalachian Power received the Award for Excellence in ENERGY STAR Marketing.

AEP is also committed to doing our part to operate more efficiently while reducing our carbon footprint through ongoing reduction of energy consumption within our operations. In 2021, we reduced our kilowatt-hour (kWh) usage, normalized for weather, by approximately 38%, compared with the 2007 baseline, in nearly 215 buildings. This resulted in approximately $7.9 million in cost savings. Energy consumption reductions are mostly achieved through equipment investments, such as new lighting, heating and cooling systems, control systems installations, and employee education. More recently, however, the shift to remote work and a decrease in the number of AEP facilities also contributed to the reduction in energy usage at some of our facilities.

Today, we have 18 LEED-certified company facilities across our service territory, demonstrating our commitment to reducing carbon emissions, improving efficiency, saving money and creating healthy workspaces for our employees. In addition, since 2016, we have installed a total of 275 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at several of our facilities across our service territory, making charging easy and efficient for our employees.