Ohio power outage: The group that told AEP to cut power

According to NBC4i, AEP Ohio, the company that supplies power to much of central Ohio, has said the outage was planned. However, the decision to cut power in certain areas was made by operators at an organization based about 20 miles outside of Philadelphia.

AEP Ohio is part of a network of utility companies that draws electricity from a grid that covers 65 million people across 13 states and Washington, D.C. The grid is operated by a regional transmission organization, named PJM Interconnection.

“They are what I like to call the air traffic controller of the electric grid,” explained Matt Schilling, the spokesperson for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. “Just like an air traffic controller tells planes when and where to take off, they help control the flow of electricity in real-time.”

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