UPDATE 1-American Electric Power beats profit expectations as commercial demand jumps

(New throughout, adds CFO quotes, power demand details)

April 30 (Reuters) - American Electric Power beat first-quarter profit estimates on Tuesday, with the Ohio-based electric utility reporting a jump in power demand from data centers and other commercial customers.

Power consumption from AEP rate payers grew 2.9% in the first quarter, including a higher-than-expected commercial load growth of 10.5% from a year earlier, which helped offset the expected decline in electricity consumption by residential customers.

"This is a trend we expect to continue over the next several years as the growth of AI and other technologies boost the need for additional data storage and processing," AEP Chief Financial Officer Charles Zebula said on an earnings call.

Through the end of the decade, AEP said it expects service requests to range from 10 to 15 gigawatts, driven largely by the power needs of the computer warehouses known as data centers.

The utility said it was developing new tariffs, which include electricity rates and terms of service, specifically aimed at assuring data centers end up needing the power they are requesting.

Last week, both Amazon Web Services and Google, which are among the biggest data center users, announced plans to build large-scale computer warehouses in a part of Northern Indiana that an AEP subsidiary delivers power to.

Meanwhile, AEP faced milder weather in the quarter, which reduced residential power bills.

AEP, which delivers power to 5.6 million customers in 11 states, reaffirmed its 2024 operating earnings forecast range of $5.53 to $5.73 per share.

The company reported an operating profit of $1.27 per share, beating analysts' estimates of $1.25, according to LSEG data.

Additionally, AEP said it was taking several steps including a "voluntary workforce reduction program, to help mitigate the impacts of inflation and interest rates".

(Reporting by Roshia Sabu in Bengaluru and Laila Kearney in New York; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Alison Williams)

((Laila.kearney@thomsonreuters.com))