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On June 22, 2026 an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued an order in response to the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association Energy Group (OMAEG) filed a motion for hearing and memorandum in support regarding AEP Ohio’s 2025 Long-Term Forecast Report.

The ALJ scheduled a public hearing to begin at 10:30 a.m., on July 21, 2026.

As background, in OMAEG’s June 8^th motion requesting to hold a public hearing regarding the long-term load forecast report filed by the Ohio Power Company (AEP Ohio) “to examine (1) AEP Ohio’s load forecast modeling and methodologies, (2) how those forecasts are used for planning and reporting purposes in various proceedings, and (3) whether AEP Ohio’s load forecasts are being overstated.”

In it memorandum in support OMAEG argues that it “has been a long-standing concern for OMAEG that electric utilities like AEP Ohio are financially incentivized to forecast high demand load, which in turn can lead to overbuilding electrical infrastructure and cause electricity bills to increase. OMAEG’s concern about inflated load forecasts has only grown in recent years given the increase in data centers locating to Ohio, and, notably, both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and PJM Interconnection (PJM) have expressed similar concerns. On September 18, 2025, FERC Chairman Rosner issued a letter to the nation’s electric system operators, including PJM, requesting additional information on how they accept forecasts of data center loads, because even small changes in load forecast amounts “can impact billions of dollars in investments and customer bills.” And in early 2026, the White House and PJM-state governors issued a Statement of Principles (Principles) and the PJM Board issued a letter that, among other things, both emphasized the importance of improving the accuracy of load forecasts and ensuring that load is not double counted.”