AEP's Fehrman was highest-paid CEO in US utilities sector in 2025

American Electric Power Co. Inc. Chairman, President and CEO William Fehrman was the highest-paid chief executive in the US utilities sector in 2025, based on a combination of cash compensation, stocks and options granted, and non-equity incentive plan compensation.

Fehrman received total adjusted compensation of $36.6 million in 2025, including $29.3 million in stock awards, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis of the 10 highest-paid US utility executives last year. Non-equity compensation typically describes cash awards unrelated to stock performance.

AEP shares grew 30% in 2025 as the Columbus, Ohio-headquartered utility expanded its contracted data center customer pipeline and unveiled a five-year, $72 billion capital plan for 2026-2030 to support it.

"Regions with concentrated data center and industrial development, including AEP's footprint, are emerging as clear winners," Fehrman said Oct. 29, 2025, during the company's third-quarter 2025 earnings conference call.

As of the end of the first quarter of 2026, AEP had "the largest disclosed" contracted data center load of Jefferies' large- and mid-cap utility coverage, at 17.9 gigawatts, according to a June 1 report.

AEP's sale of a 19.9% equity interest in AEP Indiana Michigan Transmission Co. and AEP Ohio Transmission Co. Inc. to a joint venture between KKR & Co. Inc. and Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board for $2.82 billion also impressed industry analysts. The deal was announced in January 2025 and closed in June of that year.

NextEra Energy Inc.'s John Ketchum was the second-highest-paid utility CEO in 2025, with $23.2 million in total compensation.

In October 2025, the Juno Beach, Florida-headquartered company announced the long-awaited restart of its shuttered Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa, backed by a 25-year power purchase agreement with Google LLC.

The plant is expected to start producing electricity in the first quarter of 2029, pending regulatory approvals. It was taken out of service in August 2020 after being damaged in a storm, months before its planned retirement.

NextEra in May announced a proposed acquisition of Dominion Energy Inc. for $67.4 billion, increasing the regulated segment of the company from 70% of its business mix to over 80% if the deal closes as anticipated in the second half of 2027.

Sempra's Jeffrey Martin was the third-highest-paid utility CEO in 2025, a tumultuous year for the San Diego-headquartered company that began with the lowering of its 2025 profit forecast range and ended with an agreement to divest a 45% stake in its infrastructure platform for $10 billion in cash to KKR and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

CEOs of independent power producers Constellation Energy Corp., NRG Energy Inc., Talen Energy Corp. and Vistra Corp. also made the list of highest-paid executives in 2025.

Those companies spent 2025 snatching up gas assets from private sellers in tightening markets as the cost of building new generation skyrocketed.

Vistra, NRG and Constellation also announced new gas and nuclear data center contracts in 2025, while Talen announced an expanded PPA with Amazon.com Inc. for the output of its 2,494-MW Susquehanna Nuclear power plant.

Terrestrial Energy Inc. CEO Simon Irish's compensation increased by the largest percentage in 2025 compared to the year before, 5,327%. His compensation rose to $13.1 million in 2025, from $200,000 in 2024.

The advanced nuclear developer went public in 2025 by merging with special purpose acquisition vehicle HCM II Acquisition Corp. Terrestrial Energy began trading on the Nasdaq on Oct. 29, 2025.

CEOs of NRG, Talen and UGI Corp. also led the group of executives whose compensation changed by the greatest percentage from 2024 to 2025.