WSP Global Inc. said Thursday its U.S. subsidiary, WSP USA Inc., was selected to support American Electric Power’s regulated transmission portfolio in four states amid the utility’s $100 billion investment plan.
WSP said the appointment covers AEP’s West region, which extends across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. The company did not name projects, disclose a value or duration for the arrangement, or specify which services WSP USA will provide.
AEP set its five-year investment budget at $100 billion through 2031. About $37 billion of that amount is planned for transmission assets; the plan also includes $36 billion for generation and roughly $22 billion for distribution. The utility said the broader spending program responds to rising electricity demand and reliability needs and is meant to modernize its grid.
Demand commitments are another part of AEP’s outlook. The utility reported agreements covering 15 gigawatts of additional load in the third quarter of 2026 and projects incremental contracted load will total 84 gigawatts by 2031.
AEP Chairman, President and CEO Bill Fehrman said the company is committed to making new large-load customers responsible for the extra system costs their demand creates and for funding the investments needed to serve them.
For existing residential customers in AEP’s vertically integrated states, the utility forecasts fixed-cost offsets of as much as $21 billion across the life of fully executed electric service contracts governed by take-or-pay terms.
Michael Case, WSP’s Power and Energy business line executive for the U.S., said the appointment supports AEP’s work to reinforce the grid and serve growing energy needs. WSP described a wider range of energy services, including planning, environmental reviews, permitting, engineering and program management, but did not identify any of them as part of the AEP assignment.
