Supply Chain Research

U.S. electric utilities are starting to feel the impact from the U.S.-China trade war. Southern Company’s CFO, Andrew Evans, has stated industrial sales “were down due to global trade concerns and a strong dollar’s impact on trade”. Similarly AEP’s CFO, Brian Tierney, has said that “more restrictive trade policy (has) challenged export manufacturers within AEP’s footprint”. Industrial customers accounted for 35.6% of AEP’s sales in 2018 and 32.9% of Southern’s. The degree of impact from the trade war will also depend on the proportion of each utilities’ service areas’ exposure to China. ...