Akins discusses AEP quarterly results, company strategy on CNBC’s Closing Bell

Nick Akins, AEP chairman, president and chief executive officer, discussed AEP’s quarterly financial results, upcoming EPA emissions rules, shale gas activities and more Oct. 23 during a segment on CNBC’s Closing Bell program.

View the Closing Bell segment.

AEP CEO Nick Akins discusses the company’s quarterly earnings results on CNBC’s Closing Bell program.

Akins said AEP logged a “great quarter” despite cooler than normal temperatures throughout most of the company’s service territory and the fact that AEP “purposely advanced” some operations and maintenance (O&M) expenses from future years into 2014 to lessen the impact of capacity prices on the company in 2016.

“It was a great quarter because we came in at $1.01 (earnings per share), which was consensus, and at the same time we had the sixth coldest summer in the last 30 years and the coldest July since 1979,” he said. “Obviously, we want to see continued progress. For our investors who depend on the dividend and earnings growth, we want to make sure that happens consistently from quarter to quarter. We’ve paid a dividend now for over 400 consecutive quarters.”

Turning to the upcoming EPA (111(d)) emissions rules, which could greatly impact coal-fired generation across the country, Akins said, “I think there’s no question that we need to rebalance our portfolio so we can have a cleaner energy economy, but we can’t forget the investments and the technology moving forward on every front. We need all of our resources, whether it’s coal, nuclear, energy efficiency or renewables, across the board to meet the energy demands of this country in the future.”

Akins also called the shale gas revolution a “game-changer for our industry,” but he said the infrastructure needs continue to lag behind.

“We need the pipeline infrastructure to be in place to support continued investment in new generation across the country,” he said. “These shale gas plays popped up pretty much out of nowhere just a couple of years ago, and it brings new resources to us that we didn’t have before.”