US Utility Threatens to Quit Power Grids on Data Center Rift (1)

American Electric Power Co., one of the largest US utilities, is threatening to remove itself from two of the country’s biggest electricity grids over the length of time it takes to connect new AI data centers.

“We have to solve the speed to market issue,” Chief Executive Officer Bill Fehrman said in a Tuesday earnings call. “This is an area that clearly has to get fixed.”

AEP is in the early stages of evaluating membership in PJM Interconnection LLC, the largest regional grid in the US, as well as Southwest Power Pool Inc., Fehrman said. The move ...