COLUMBUS – Today the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) issued an order directing AEP Ohio to implement measures to protect other customers from potentially being impacted from data center customers’ effects on energy prices. “Ohio is fully committed to protecting customers from added costs related to data center buildout. Today’s action builds upon the PUCO’s efforts to create separate rate classes for data center customers, and the commitments under the Ratepayer Protection Pledge.” Data center customers will be required to provide AEP Ohio with 180-day notice of their intent to return to default service, known as the Standard Service Offer (SSO). This ensures that the costs to serve the data center customer do not impact other customers also on AEP Ohio’s default rate.