H2O America

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the SJW Group Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Andrew Walters, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Shannon. Welcome to the 2022 Third Quarter Financial Results Conference Call for SJW Group. I will be presenting today with Eric Thornburg, Chair of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, and John Tang, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Government Relations. For those who would like to follow along, slides accompanying our remarks are available at our website at www.sjwgroup.com. Before we begin today, I would like to remind you that this presentation and related materials posted on our website may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by the company in light of its experience, historical trends, current conditions, and expected future results as well as other factors that the company believes are appropriate under the circumstances. Many factors could cause the company's actual results and performance to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. For a description of some of the factors that could cause actual results to be different from statements in this presentation, we refer you to the financial results press release and our most released forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be obtained on our website. All forward-looking statements are made as of today and SJW Group disclaims any duty to update or revise such statements. You will have an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the presentation. As a reminder, this webcast is being recorded and an archive of the webcast will be available until January 23, 2023. You can access the press release and the webcast at our corporate website. I will now turn the call over to Eric Thornburg. Eric?

Welcome everyone and thank you for joining us. I'm Eric Thornburg and it is my honor to serve as chair, president, and CEO of SJW Group. We thank our 700 plus employees for building and maintaining a culture of service and their commitment to serve customers, communities, the environment, and each other. They know that there's no substitute for clean drinking water, reliable service, and a healthy natural environment. We welcome Bruce Hawk to our team in August. His leadership style aligns with our company's values and already making an impact as a member of our executive leadership team. Over his 26 years in the water industry, he's built productive working relationships with regulators and local officials. Bruce's expertise and strong track record in utility operations, acquisitions, and business development will build on SJW Group's successful growth strategy that has expanded our footprint and transformed us into a multi-state water and wastewater company. We had a solid third quarter, despite some continuing headwinds, led by regulatory delays in our California general rate case and cost of capital proceedings. Our GRC settlement agreement with the Public Advocates Office was approved by the California Public Utilities Commission on October the 6th, just after the quarter ended. The increase in authorized 2022 revenues, which will be retroactive to January 1, 2022, will be reflected in Q4. Our team has overcome supply chain issues that have caused longer lead times for some materials necessary to deliver our capital projects. Despite the challenge, our capital spending is on target for 2022. Likewise, inflation is affecting our operating expenses, as it is across many sectors of the economy. In California, we are allowed an annual inflation adjustment. In all our other operations, we're focused on blunting the impact of inflation where possible, but this will not come at the expense of our commitment to water quality, reliable service, our people, and the environment. In the third quarter, we also celebrated the commissioning of our $60 million water treatment facility in Biddeford, Maine. The Saco River Drinking Water Resource Center is a generational investment that will serve the customers and communities into the next century. High quality drinking water and reliable treatment is just the start. The center is a resource in the community to raise awareness about the importance of protecting and preserving drinking water and the environment. We reaffirm our 2022 guidance of $2.30 to $2.40 per share. Andrew Walters will now discuss our financial results.