American Electric Power is a regulated electric utility serving customers across 11 states, primarily in the Midwest and parts of the South, generating and delivering electricity under rates approved by state utility regulators. As a regulated utility, its profitability is tied to a rate of return approved by regulators on the capital it invests in power plants, transmission lines and grid infrastructure, giving it predictable earnings in exchange for limits on what it can charge customers. AEP owns and operates one of the largest electric transmission systems in the country, the high-voltage lines that move power over long distances, a business that has grown as more renewable generation gets built in locations that need new transmission capacity to reach customers. Rising electricity demand from data centers and industrial customers in its service territory has become an increasingly important growth driver layered on top of the utility's traditionally slow, population-tied demand growth.