Alliant Energy Corporation

Good morning and welcome to Alliant Energy's conference call for fourth quarter and year-end 2021 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, Zach Fields, Lead Investor Relations Analyst at Alliant Energy.

Good morning. I would like to thank all of you on the call and on the webcast for joining us today. We appreciate your participation. Joining me on this call are John Larson, Chair, 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 fourth quarter and year-end 2021 financial results and updated our 2022 earnings guidance. This release, as well as an earnings presentation, will be referenced during today's call and are available on our investors' page of our website at www.alliantenergy.com. Before we begin, I need to remind you that 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 the Line 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 earnings release, which is available on our website. At this point, I'll turn the call over to John.

Thank you, Zach. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us. 2021 was another successful year of growth, solid operations, and strong financial performance. I want to thank our talented and dedicated employees for all they do to help us deliver on our purpose, to serve customers, and build stronger communities. It shows in how we work each day and in our results. I'm humbled by their efforts and proud to be part of the Align Energy team. My sincere thank you to our team. Yesterday we announced 2021 GAAP earnings of $2.63 per share compared to $2.47 per share in 2020, finishing the year at the top of our guidance range. Excluding temperature and non-recurring items, our earnings per share were up 7% from 2020. This was our third straight year of delivering 7% EPS growth and the 19th year of consecutive dividend increases. This consistent growth, driven by solid execution and operational results, showcases the resilience and flexibility of our employees, our strategy, and our company. I'll highlight a few of our many strategic and operational achievements from the year, then turn it over to Robert who will provide more details on our solid financial and regulatory outcomes. From the start of last year with winter storm Uri to the heat waves experienced during the summer months, our employees weathered each and every storm to keep delivering safe, reliable, and affordable energy to our customers. And our customers noticed as we earned the second highest increase in year-over-year J.D. Power's residential electric customer satisfaction scores among large utilities. 2021 was also the first full year of operations for our 1,150 megawatts of new wind, delivering clean, reliable, and affordable electricity for our customers. Our forward thinking and renewable investments also led us to develop our comprehensive clean energy blueprints for Iowa and for Wisconsin, which continue to showcase our commitment to providing a thoughtful path to a clean energy future. Also in 2021, we made tremendous progress on advancing the solar and energy storage aspects of our clean energy blueprints. The customer focused and transparent planning by our teams led to successful regulatory outcomes and positions us well for straightforward execution. We received approval for our first certificate of authority for 675 megawatts of solar in Wisconsin and have advanced into the construction phase. We also filed for an additional 414 megawatts of solar for our customers in Wisconsin and 475 megawatts of solar and battery storage for our customers in Iowa. Both filings are expected to be decided in 2022. I'd also like to note that our teams were well prepared and continue to navigate through difficult global supply chain issues. And while these supply chain issues are not over, the proactive efforts by our talented team along with leveraging our strong partnerships, have resulted in solid progress on panel and equipment deliveries, resulting in an increase in our capital investment plan. Robert will be sharing more details about this positive news later in the call. Our efforts to build stronger communities were also on full display this past year. While there are many examples I could share, I'll take a little time and highlight a few for you now. Alliant Energy was once again named a top utility in economic development by Site Selection Magazine. Site Selection credits our economic development team in collaboration with local, regional, and state partners with delivering more than $900 million in new capital investment and more than 2,200 jobs in 2021. We were honored to receive the award and proud of all we've accomplished to help bring new jobs and continued investment to our communities. Another way we're making things better in our communities is our pledge to plant one million trees by the end of 2030. These trees will grow to provide shade, reduce greenhouse gases, and improve water quality. And we're off to a great start, planting thousands of trees at community events from Ripon, Wisconsin to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It's just another way we are living our value of acting for tomorrow. We also helped to build stronger communities by nurturing a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This past year, we earned a perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index issued by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, and they named us a best place to work for the fifth year in a row. And we were proud to be named to Newsweek Magazine's Most Responsible Companies for the second year in a row, and we made Forbes America's Best Midsize Employers list for the fourth year in a row. 2021 was an excellent year for our company, our customers, and our communities. We look forward to building on that momentum in 2022. I thank you for your continued interest in Alliant Energy, and I'll now turn the call over to Robert.