Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 29, 1993 TAG: 9304290106
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
AEP expects to spend $40 million by 1996 for demand-side management - helping customers use electricity more efficiently - Richard E. Disbrow told AEP shareholders at their annual meeting in Ashland, Ky., on Wednesday. That's a 135 percent increase over the $17 million the utility holding company will spend on conservation and efficiency this year.
As the move toward conservation increases, Disbrow said, that will slow AEP's need for new generating capacity.
Also, AEP directors elected E. Linn Draper Jr., 51, to follow Disbrow May 1 as chairman of AEP and chief executive of American Electric Power Service Corp., AEP's management and technology arm. Draper, a nuclear engineer, has been president of AEP and will continue to hold that title as well.
AEP has delayed from 1997 to 1999 the operation of two new combustion turbines as a result of its demand-side initiatives, Disbrow said. In the next 20 years, he expects these programs to cut 850 megawatts from the system's winter peak use of electricity.
Efficiency measures in lighting and motors are promising sources of energy savings, he said. Lighting, a prime target for energy efficiency programs, uses an estimated 25 percent of the nation's electric power, according to Disbrow.
A new E-lamp technology, combining fluorescence and solid state electronics, is expected to be a focal point in AEP's demand-side management when it is presented to customers, probably late this year, the company said.
Prototypes of the new lamp have produced three or four times as much light per watt as incandescent lights.
Disbrow said AEP is proposing high-efficiency programs for industrial customers, too. AEP employees or contractors would audit and analyze motors, recommend upgrading and offer financial incentives to encourage high-efficiency upgrading, he said.
AEP said it has reduced the number of jobs by about 500 through attrition, continuing a hiring freeze and lowering retirement age to 55.
Disbrow said the holding company is reviewing eventual merger of operations for cost savings at its Ohio Power and Columbus Southern Power companies and the AEP Service Corp. at Columbus. Both Ohio Power and Columbus Southern will operate as independent utilities, but a merger eventually could occur, he said.
AEP has merged its Michigan Power and Indiana Michigan Power subsidiaries, combined local transmission dispatching centers and started a transmission and distribution productivity program that could cut 500 contract and company personnel by the end of 1993, the chairman said.
by CNB