COLUMBUS — American Municipal Power-Ohio has become American Municipal Power, Inc. or AMP.

The organization announced the change yesterday to better reflect the organization’s growth and footprint that extends to six states.

“AMP’s membership has grown 50 percent in the last seven years,” AMP President/CEO Marc Gerken said. “This growth, which has been guided by policies adopted by our Board of Trustees, has benefited all members through economies of scale and increased participation in projects and programs. This growth equates to a 1,140 MW growth in peak load.”

AMP membership is comprised of 128 municipal electric systems located in the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia. Founded in 1971, AMP provides wholesale power supply and related services to its members. Last year, the organization surveyed its member communities on communications related topics. That survey demonstrated, among other issues, an interest in updating the name and organizational image. AMP worked with Paul Werth Associates, a Columbus-based integrated communications consulting firm, on renaming and new graphic elements. AMP’s Board of Trustees and executive management were actively involved in the project.

In addition to the name change, AMP has adopted a new logo and new tagline – Public Power Partners – as part of its rebranding efforts. The tagline reflects the organization’s relationship with the communities that comprise its membership. AMP owns and operates generating facilities; coordinates, negotiates and develops power supply options and interconnection agreements; and serves as a trade association providing communications, engineering services, finance services, policy analysis, legislative and regulatory affairs and other services for member communities.

“Our organization’s vision is clear, ‘To be Public Power’s leader in wholesale energy supply’,” Gerken said. “While our name and look is changing, the principles that guide this organization remain the same. We reflect the values of our member communities, we prioritize affordable, reliable power supply to the benefit of our member communities and their customers. That will never change.”

AMP says it is embarking on an aggressive generation asset development effort designed to reduce its members’ current over-exposure to the volatile and dysfunctional wholesale market, thereby bringing stability to power prices. This effort, AMP believes, will yield a diversified and balanced generation portfolio. AMP is the largest participant in the Prairie State Energy Campus, a 1,600 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant under construction in southern Illinois. Additionally, AMP is in the development phase of a new clean-coal generation facility proposed for southern Meigs County.

At the same time, AMP is pursuing the largest deployment of new run-of-the-river hydroelectric generation in the nation, with five new facilities proposed at existing dams on the Ohio River. The first of these projects started construction in June at the Cannelton locks and dam. When completed the five hydroelectric projects will provide more than 350 MW of new, renewable generation in the region. The organization is also exploring additional wind and solar generation resources and a significant expansion in energy efficiency efforts.

AMP will start incorporating its new name and image in the coming weeks, including launching a new Web site later this summer.