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AEP's Public Relations Charlie Foxtrot - The Empty Threat

2/29/2012

5 Comments

 
Just when I think power company corporate flacks can't get any stupider, they've managed to top themselves.

In this article in The Columbus Dispatch, AEP's Little Drummer Boy threatens to take his toys and stomp off Ohio's playground unless he gets his way.  WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, LDB, WAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

This is just the latest comedic moment in a long-running freak show that's been playing out in Ohio over the past year.  A Dispatch reporter got interested in electric rates when AEP filed a rate case in Ohio last year.  The more he found out, the worse it began to smell.  Ohio's Public Utilities Commission (PUCO) has been completely captured by the companies it regulates, and the appointed Commission is stacked with corporate lackeys.  The Governor furthered the corruption by cutting the Ohio Consumer Counsel's budget in half last fall.  The stage was set perfectly for what happened next.

When the rate case turned into a privately negotiated settlement that some parties, such as the Office of Consumer Counsel, refused to sign, The Dispatch reporter got even more curious and wrote a string of articles about the corruption at PUCO.  The Dispatch also used FOIA to access internal PUCO documents and correspondence about the rate case and settlement.  The Dispatch took what they'd won in the FOIA and consulted ratemaking experts.  Turns out that during the settlement, an inequitable share of a new distribution rider was allocated to the small business, school, church rate class that resulted in bills doubling for these customers.  Incidentally, this class of ratepayers were not represented in the settlement, however the large industrial customers who were represented came out of it with a corresponding decrease in the amount they would pay for the distribution rider.  The Dispatch published the results of their investigation, warning small businesses and others in this class that their rates would go up 30 - 40% if the settlement was approved.  They also published quotes from PUCO internal emails where staff had pointed this out early on in the process.  In fact, one PUCO staff person pretty accurately predicted the ultimate outcome.  Despite this, PUCO went ahead and approved the settlement.

When rates went into effect in January, and small businesses started getting their bills, a public relations storm erupted.  PUCO was hit with over 1,000 complaints, small businesses were facing layoffs and closures.  In response to the possibility of having the flaming bag placed on their doorstep, PUCO rescinded approval of AEP's settlement and rate increase last week.  AEP's stock tanked 5%.  PUCO pointed the finger at AEP for gouging customers without their knowledge.
Read The Columbus Dispatch's coverage of all this here.

Instead of falling gracefully on their sword, AEP pointed the finger back at PUCO and demanded that they reinstate the part of the settlement that allows them to limit the competition that's kicking their deregulated generation rear end in the state.  AEP wants this immediately, or they're going to move their headquarters out of Ohio and cause massive job loss.

Hahahahahahahahahaaa!  Hysterical!  I guess some corporate PR genius was still sniffing the fumes of their successful snow job of WV's Senate Judiciary Committee last week, where the threat of job loss was used to get their own way.  Really dumb move.  LDB looks like a pouty pre-schooler and nobody really seems to care if he stomps off, in fact they are welcoming him to do so.

Buh-bye, AEP!  Don't make threats you don't intend to carry out.  Tony the Trickster and his merry band of wanna-be corporate pirates are batting their eyelashes at PUCO, wanting to be their next darling and take your place.  Apparently, nobody's going to miss you much.
5 Comments
Reformed
2/29/2012 02:40:44 am

We could use another headquarters and some more campaign contributions. It is election season! Oh, I forgot AEP is low on cash.

Reply
Door Mat
2/29/2012 02:44:30 am

Maybe AEP can propose another transmission line and get a new headquarters in WV bought and paid for entirely by ratepayers through a FERC Formula Rate making a 14% return?

Reply
Don Corleone
2/29/2012 07:19:19 am

Is it just me or does that group of "corporate pirates" look more like extras from The Godfather?

Reply
Da Hillbilly
2/29/2012 05:52:49 pm

Hey AEP, don't let the door hitcha where the good Lord splitcha on your way out. BUH-BYE FELLAS!

Reply
Keryn
2/29/2012 09:09:39 pm

Good grief... it hurts to laugh this hard! The punches just keep coming...

http://www.abc6onyourside.com/shared/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wsyx_vid_16397.shtml

AEP's PR geniuses think it's somehow mollifying to point out that they don't actually pay any federal income taxes because the amounts they would pay are rolled into rates consumers pay. The logic is that we should all be happy that they didn't pay any federal tax because that means we pay less for electricity by not having to foot the bill for their taxes.

Someone needs to pump a little oxygen into the PR cubicle rat warren. Maybe that would help.

Reply



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    About the Author

    Keryn Newman blogs here at StopPATH WV about energy issues, transmission policy, misguided regulation, our greedy energy companies and their corporate spin.
    In 2008, AEP & Allegheny Energy's PATH joint venture used their transmission line routing etch-a-sketch to draw a 765kV line across the street from her house. Oooops! And the rest is history.

    About
    StopPATH Blog

    StopPATH Blog began as a forum for information and opinion about the PATH transmission project.  The PATH project was abandoned in 2012, however, this blog was not.

    StopPATH Blog continues to bring you energy policy news and opinion from a consumer's point of view.  If it's sometimes snarky and oftentimes irreverent, just remember that the truth isn't pretty.  People come here because they want the truth, instead of the usual dreadful lies this industry continues to tell itself.  If you keep reading, I'll keep writing.


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