SAN ANGELO, Texas, May 20, 2026, 06:13 CDT
- AEP Texas’ outage map showed fewer than five customers still without power in Tom Green County early Wednesday. Local reports said a substation equipment failure hit service in San Angelo.
- Parent American Electric Power is under investor scrutiny with Texas power demand rising quickly and a $78 billion capital plan in play. The interruption follows that.
AEP Texas mostly got power back on in Tom Green County by early Wednesday, after equipment failed at a south San Angelo substation and knocked out electricity, local reports and the company’s outage map said. Concho Valley Homepage said about 7,800 AEP Texas customers lost power in parts of San Angelo and Tom Green County on Tuesday.
A substation outage in West Texas is getting attention since substations move and switch electricity ahead of delivery to homes and businesses. Fox West Texas said a separate outage overnight in Tom Green County hit hundreds of San Angelo customers, with service coming back for some areas later.
AEP Texas’ online outage map showed under five customers without power in Tom Green County early Wednesday, out of 52,143 tracked. PowerOutage.us, which gathers data from utilities, showed five outages in the county and just one AEP Texas customer out soon after.
AEP Texas first thought a line was the issue, according to local reports. But crews later found equipment at the substation was behind the disruption. Fox West Texas said a breaker at the substation went out entirely as workers tried to get power back, which led them to the source.
AEP’s timing isn’t great. The utility, based in Columbus, Ohio, told investors this month that growth in AEP Texas represents 41 gigawatts of new load commitments. AEP said it’s committed to building transmission and distribution infrastructure in Texas, but said the schedule depends in part on when others bring new generation online.
AEP’s Chairman and CEO Bill Fehrman said in the first-quarter report that the utility is seeing “substantial demand growth” and is maintaining “an intense focus on affordability.” Fehrman added that AEP remains focused on delivering “reliability and long-term value” for both customers and stakeholders. AEP
AEP is boosting its five-year capital plan to $78 billion, up from $72 billion. The company points to strong demand from data centers and other big customers. Reuters said almost 90% of AEP’s expected 63 gigawatts of new contracted load by 2030 is tied to data centers and hyperscalers, with about 41 gigawatts of that in Texas.
San Angelo’s outage isn’t a big hit to AEP’s network, but outages like this are what customers deal with. AEP reports its companies supply electricity to 5.6 million customers across 11 states, running 40,000 miles of transmission lines and over 252,000 miles of distribution lines.
AEP Texas is one of several transmission and distribution utilities in Texas that handle poles, wires and substations, but do not sell power directly to consumers. The Public Utility Commission of Texas shows CenterPoint Energy, Oncor, TNMP and AEP Texas as investor-owned businesses running these local power systems.
Wall Street is still mostly positive on AEP. According to MarketBeat, 22 brokerages cover the company, and on average rate it as a “Moderate Buy.” The breakdown: nine analysts have a hold, 12 say buy, one calls it a strong buy. Their mean 12-month price target comes in at roughly $141.57. MarketBeat
AEP shares traded at $128.92 early Wednesday, rising about 1% from the last close, based on market data. MarketBeat reported AEP’s first-quarter operating earnings came in at $1.64 per share and revenue hit $6.02 billion. Both numbers topped expectations. The company gave 2026 GAAP earnings guidance of $6.12 to $6.42 per share, according to .
Follow-through remains the main concern. The public updates did not include how much repairs will cost or a timeline for full substation fixes. An outage map that lists service as restored doesn’t confirm if more testing, equipment swaps, or brief planned outages are off the table. AEP Texas tells customers to check outage tools for real-time updates and to report problems.
