Monday, January 29, 2018

Columbus, OH-Based American Electric Power (AEP) Reported 4Q 2017 Net Income of $401 Million, Up 8% From Their 4Q 2016 Net Income of $373 Mil. ....................................................................................... Excluded From Their 4Q 2017 Earnings Was a Huge Amount of Tax Debt Forgiveness Granted By the Trump Tax Bill, and Completely Funded By US Taxpayers, To AEP. US Non-Utility Corps and Non-Regulated Utility Corps Have Properly Included Their Tax Debt Forgiveness Granted To Them as an Increase In Their 4Q 2017 Earnings. ....................................................................................... Logically and Fairly, Regulated Utilities Like AEP Should Be Passing on all of Their Tax Debt Forgiveness To Their Utility Customers and Not in the Future But Currently, Just Like Large US Non-Utility Corps Are Getting This Same Tax Benefit Reflected in Their Earnings Currently. This Economic Gain to Utility Customers Has Absolutely Nothing To Do With Future Utility Customers and Everything To Do With the Regulated Utility Getting the Tax Benefit of These Past Huge Tax Writeoffs and Sharing None of Them With Past Utility Customers. With the Tax Windfall From The Tax Debt Forgiveness, the Regulated Utility Should Do Its Best To Refund These Overpaid Utility Bills Paid By Past Utility Customers. ....................................................................................... Especially With the Financial Pressure of Their High Monthly Utility Bills on Their Personal Budgets, If They Don’t Get This Tax Benefit Passed On To Them Currently, Utility Customers Will Get Very Upset. Especially the Very Sick and Very Elderly Who Will Be Dying in Several Years Get Absolutely Shafted Here.