Utica Shale Electric Use Is Having Big Impacts On Firstenergy, American Electric Power

It takes a lot of electricity to run plants to process natural gas and separate liquids from the Utica shale.And that’s good financial news for Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. and its subsidiaries.Another utility that stands to benefit from Ohio’s Utica shale boom is Columbus-based American Electric Power.FirstEnergy has seen its shale-related electric use jump by 70 megawatts from July 2011 to July 2014.It is also planning to boost electric production to the shale-drilling industry in a big way in coming years.The shale-related projects from 2015 to 2019 will account for 1,100 new megawatts of electric load growth in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, said Charles E.