Feb 12 (Reuters) - American Electric Power ( AEP ) is

expanding its five-year capital expenditure plan beyond $72

billion as the major U.S. electric utility doubles its signed

power ​deals with data centers, executives with the ‌company said

on Thursday.

U.S. electricity demand is rising at an unprecedented pace,

with utilities ramping up investments to ⁠address growing demand

for power capacity from Big Tech as they set up ⁠data centers to

support complex AI-related tasks.

AEP says 80% of ‌its growth is driven ‌by large hyperscalers

including Alphabet's Google, Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and

Meta.

AEP's shares surged to a record high and were ​last up 3.4%

in morning trade at $127.38 a ‌share.

AEP said it now has 56 gigawatts in agreements to supply

power to data centers, a doubling since October, with an

additional ​180 gigawatts requested by data centers.

While ​not all ‌of that demand is expected to materialize,

that combined capacity is enough to power all of the homes in

the U.S.

As demand rises, the company ⁠said it has identified $5

billion to $8 billion in additional transmission and generation

projects ⁠beyond its current $72 billion capital investment plan.

While utilities beef up spending on power plants, cables and

other electrical infrastructure to meet rising demand, concerns

are growing about rising customer power bills.

"Through federal loans, state grants, innovative rate

designs and direct ⁠bill ‌assistance, we are working to limit bill

impacts while continuing ‌to invest in the system," AEP CEO Bill

Fehrman said.

"While this is good progress, ⁠additional measures must be

taken to ensure that the infrastructure required to serve large

loads is paid for by the customers who drive those needs,"

Fehrman said.

AEP said it would partner with ERCOT, an independent system

operator in Texas, to build the necessary transmission and

distribution infrastructure and "bring these large loads online

in a timely manner and within the regulatory ​construct".

The Ohio-based company posted operating earnings of $1.19

per share for the three months ended December 31, compared with

analysts' average estimate of $1.15 per share, according to data

compiled by ​LSEG.