MEDIA CONTACT:
Tracy Warner
Indiana Michigan Power Communications
(260) 408-3420
tkwarner@aep.com
July 19, 2013
IURC APPROVES COOK PLANT PROJECT
FORT WAYNE – Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), a subsidiary of American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP), received approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission for the Life Cycle Management Project (LCM) at Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman, Michigan. The project will enable the plant to continue to reliably and safely operate for the 20-year extension of its operating licenses.
The two units at the Cook Plant generate over 2,100 megawatts – enough energy to power approximately 1.5 million homes – and account for 40 percent of the company’s power generation portfolio. The operating license for Cook Unit 1 was issued in 1974, with the license for Cook Unit 2 issued in 1977. I&M received license extensions from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2005 that will allow the units to run until 2034 and 2037 respectively – an additional 20 years beyond their original operating licenses.
The regulatory commission found I&M’s Life Cycle Management Project to be reasonable and necessary, and that timely recovery of costs associated with the work is appropriate. The LCM consists of a group of projects scheduled to span six years, with the majority of work to be performed during regularly scheduled refueling outages.
The cost was initially expected to be nearly $2 billion, but after an extensive analysis, I&M was able to reduce the estimated cost to $1.169 billion. The IURC approved $1.146 billion of I&M's request, which will be recovered in a separate rider over the life of the project. Customers will see a small increase in their monthly bills if the commission approves the rider request that I&M will file soon.
“I&M is pleased that the IURC has recognized the value that Cook provides to our customers and has approved the plans that will enable Cook to continue to be a source of reliable, emission-free power,” said Paul Chodak III, President and Chief Operating Officer for I&M. “We look forward to moving ahead with the LCM so that the Cook Plant will be available to meet the needs of our customers."
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Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) is headquartered in Fort Wayne, and its 2,500 employees serve more than 582,000 customers. It operates 3,595 MW of coal-fired generation in Indiana, 2,110 MW of nuclear generation in Michigan and 22 MW of hydro generation in both states. The company also provides its customers 250 MW of purchased wind generation.
I&M is a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 39,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP’s transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.
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News releases and other information about I&M is available at IndianaMichiganPower.com