Ohio's High-Stakes Race for Affordable Energy

Ohio is winning major investments from advanced manufacturing and AI-driven data centers, plus the industries that support them. But behind every new job announcement is an urgent question: Will Ohio have enough reliable, affordable electricity to keep growing – without squeezing consumers?

The state’s power system was built for a different era. Now, utilities and grid operators have to plan for a surge in demand while aging plants retire, transmission projects take years to build, and customers worry about what this will mean for their bills.

The need for more power is substantial. The current peak demand for power from AEP Ohio customers ranges between 8,000 and 10,500 megawatts of electricity (one megawatt can power about 800 homes). New data center projects expected to come online by 2035 will need nearly 18,000 megawatts in new power from AEP Ohio, or about double today’s peak demand.

For Ohio, electricity is no longer just a utility issue. It’s an economic-development issue, a household-affordability issue, and a question of statewide competitiveness. Should Ohio build more natural gas generation? Invest more aggressively in nuclear, renewables, storage, and new grid technology? Should the largest new users of power pay more of the cost of the infrastructure they need? And how can the state move quickly enough to compete without sacrificing reliability and affordability?

CMC brings together leaders from energy, policy, and consumer advocacy to ask what it will take to power Ohio’s next era of growth, who should decide what that future looks like, and who will pay for it.

Featuring Kenny McDonald, Economic Development Fellow, The Ohio Chamber Foundation; Marc Reitter, President and Chief Operating Officer, AEP Ohio, with moderator Doug Buchanan, Editor in Chief, Columbus Business First.