Alliant Energy Corporation

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Alliant Energy's conference call for first quarter 2020 results. This call is being recorded for rebroadcast. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Susan Gill, Investor Relations Manager at Alliant Energy.

Good morning. I would like to thank all of you on the call and the webcast for joining us today. We appreciate your participation. Joining me on this call are John Larson, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, and Robert Durian, Executive Vice President and CFO. Following prepared remarks by John and Robert, we will have time to take questions from the investment community. We issued a news release last night announcing Alliant Energy's first quarter financial results and reaffirmed the consolidated 2020 earnings guidance issued in November 2019. This release, as well as supplemental slides that will be referenced during today's call, are available on the investor page of our website at www.alliantenergy.com. Before we begin, I need to remind you the remarks we make on this call and our answers to your questions include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risk that could cause actual results to be materially different. Those risks include, among others, matters discussed in Alliant Energy's press release issued last night and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We disclaim any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. In addition, this presentation contains references to non-GAAP financial measures. The reconciliation between non-GAAP and GAAP measures are provided in the release and are which will be available on our website at www.alliantenergy.com. At this point, I'll turn the call over to John.

Thank you, Sue. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'll start with a review of several actions we've taken to continue our critical service to our customers and communities during the current pandemic. I'll draw your attention to slide two. These are indeed unprecedented times and brings to life the values that guide our every decision. One of those values is caring for others. We understand the responsibility that comes with the essential service we provide. The Alliant Energy team has taken several steps to continue safe and reliable service to our customers and communities. We're focused now more than ever to ensure uninterrupted energy delivery. So those on the front lines can help those in need, businesses can operate and provide critical products and services, charitable organizations can support those most vulnerable, and our customers can focus on their health and well-being. Like many of you, we've adjusted the way we work, and many of our employees now work from home. We've made changes to our operations to ensure we can safely keep the lights on and the gas flowing. We're following the important guidance from the CDC, maintaining physical distancing and adding additional precautions like wearing face coverings and gloves when the situation requires. And we're rotating shifts for certain functions to limit exposure and business disruption. Another one of our core values is to do the right thing. Temporarily suspending disconnections and waiving late fees for our customers was the right thing to do. In addition, We knew that now was the time for a creative way to keep rates low and predictable for our customers. We filed a proposal in Wisconsin to keep customer rates steady through the end of 2021. This filing is a continuation of our ongoing efforts to maintain among the lowest rates in the state. And in Iowa, with our continued focus on cost reductions and the new renewable energy rider, we do not anticipate filing an electric rate review for the next couple of years. When the health crisis first started, we reached out to our nonprofit partners to understand the unmet needs in the communities we're so privileged to serve. Over the past several weeks, we've made donations to several local charities, such as food banks, the American Red Cross, and the United Way. We also provided a $2 million contribution to the Hometown Care Energy Fund to support families who need assistance in paying their bills. And through a partnership with Iowa State University, we've been providing 3D printed face shields to local medical facilities and healthcare workers. I think we can all agree that times like these is when the social part of ESG matters the most. Despite the disruption and many personal impacts this pandemic has had, our employees' commitment to our customers and communities has been remarkable. I'm proud to work for Alliant Energy and thankful for all our teams are doing to help our customers They're living our values and delivering on our purpose to serve customers and build strong communities. Times like these also require accurate real-time monitoring and energy use. It allows us to make better decisions. The important investments we made in smart meter technology has been a critical part of our planning efforts. Since the crisis began, we've spent time to understand the impacts on our customers and demand for our services. Robert will address the trends we're seeing across our residential, commercial, and industrial customer base. However, I want to mention three important factors to keep in mind as Robert outlines the impacts. One, we have a diverse customer base and operate in two constructive regulatory jurisdictions. Two, we have summer pricing in place in our Iowa business. Our larger commercial and industrial electric margins include both an energy and demand component. We've managed through many economic cycles over our 100-year history, and drawing upon that experience, we're keeping a strong focus on our operational and financial discipline. Therefore, I'm reaffirming our 2020 earnings guidance of $2.34 to $2.48. we remain committed to our 5% to 7% growth targets and our 60% to 70% dividend payout ratio. Our first quarter of 2020 was a solid start to the year, both financially and operationally. This was a direct result of the planning and execution of our long-term strategy designed to focus on customer costs, smart investments, and advancing a clean energy future. Despite operating in a time of great uncertainty, we continue to make great progress advancing our transition to a more efficient, modern, and balanced energy portfolio. In the first quarter, we achieved another major milestone when we placed 400 megawatts of new wind into service for our Iowa customers. These two new wind farms, the Whispering Willow North and Golden Plains, were completed on schedule and below budget, continuing our long track record of meeting or exceeding expectations established when we request construction authority from our regulators. And we're on track to install an additional 200 megawatts of new wind for our Iowa and Wisconsin customers by the end of this year. This will complete the full 1,000 megawatts of renewable investment approved by the Iowa Utility Board and also 150 megawatts of renewable investment approved by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. Our experience in planning, developing, and constructing renewable energy resources puts us in a great position to advance even more renewable energy for our customers. We are now entering the regulatory approval phase of our 1,000 megawatt solar build-out in Wisconsin. We are in advanced discussion with developers and anticipate filing a certificate of authority for approximately two-thirds of the 1,000 megawatts by the end of this quarter. Our Wisconsin solar investments will be enough to power more than 260,000 homes with clean and affordable energy from the sun. The expansion of the Wisconsin Renewable Resource Portfolio was a result of a year-long voluntary resource planning process we called the Wisconsin Clean Energy Blueprint. We started the Iowa Clean Energy Blueprint process and plan to share our proposed resource plan for Iowa toward the end of this year. These plans balance many important goals, including reliability, affordability, building stronger communities, and the impacts the transitions may have on our talented and dedicated employees. I'm pleased to report that we're making great strides towards achieving another major milestone in our generation transformation strategy. West Riverside Energy Center, located near Beloit, Wisconsin, has met several key testing criteria We anticipate this 730 megawatt highly efficient natural gas resource to be completed below budget and in time to meet the upcoming customer demand. This resource will bring significant benefits to our customers through lower fuel costs and continued reliability as a complement to the renewable resources in the Midwest. Alliant Energy is committed to providing reliable, economical energy and also in a sustainable manner. I'm very pleased to report that the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure has awarded our West Riverside Energy Center with its highest certification, which is platinum. This certification recognizes our commitment to construct sustainable projects and reinforces our commitment to environmental stewardship in collaboration with local communities and landowners. Congratulations to our West Riverside team for accomplishing this important and distinguished achievement. In closing, let me summarize the key messages. We are continuing to provide safe, reliable, and affordable energy to our customers, advancing our clean energy strategy on schedule and on budget, ensuring our investments are efficient and customer focused, and delivering solid returns for our investors, and continuing to focus on the safety, health, and well-being of our employees, customers, and communities. Thank you for your interest in Alliant Energy. I will now turn the call over to Robert.