Alliant Energy Corporation

Thank you for holding and welcome to Alliant Energy's year-end 2023 earnings conference call. At this time, all lines are in the listen-only mode. Today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Susan Gill, Investor Relations Manager at Alliant Energy. Please go ahead.

Good morning. I would like to thank all of you on the call and the webcast for joining us today. We appreciate your participation. With me here today are John Larson, Executive Chairman, Lisa Barton, President and CEO, and Robert Duran, Executive Vice President and CFO. Following prepared remarks by John, Lisa, 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 near-end financial results. This release, as well as an earnings presentation, will be referenced during today's call. and are available on the investor page of our website at 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 risks that could cause actual results to be materially different. Those risks include, among others, matters discussed in Alliant Energy's news 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. References to adjusted earnings exclude non-GAAP adjustments, as well as net temperature impacts. 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, Susan. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us. 2023 was another successful year. Our adjusted earnings of $2.88, which excludes temperature impacts and non-gap adjustments, continued to deliver on our 5% to 7% long-term growth expectations. We take exceptional pride in delivering on our purpose. to serve customers and build stronger communities, and consistently achieving our earnings growth objectives. As we look back at 2023, I'm proud we can say, once again, we achieved EPS growth of at least 5%, our 14th straight year of delivering on that objective. We increased our dividend with 2023 marking the 20th straight year of dividend increases. We successfully executed on one of the largest capital expenditure programs in our history. And as of the end of 2023, nearly 30% of our electric distribution system is underground, improving reliability and reducing operating expenses. I will now highlight a few of our many 2023 accomplishments and then turn it over to Lisa and Robert to provide details on our 2023 regulatory, operating, and financial results. Throughout 2023, our team demonstrated their dedication and resilience as we faced the dynamic economic environment and weather-related challenges while also successfully advancing our customer-focused investments. We made notable progress on our generation investments. An example is the progress we made in Wisconsin on our utility-scale solar projects. As of today, over 90% of our solar investments are complete and in operation, and we expect to be 100% complete later this spring. These strategic investments enhance customer value by providing access to zero-cost fuel resources and diversify our energy mix, also supports our local economies through new jobs and tax revenues. In addition, our wind and solar investments generate renewable tax credits that provide even more benefits to our customers. In 2023, we executed agreements to transfer those credits, improving our cash flow and providing us greater flexibility in our financing plans. Our technology investments and undergrounding efforts place Alliant Energy among the top performers for electric reliability when compared to peer U.S. utilities. Through these investments, we are better positioned to provide our customers with the high level of reliability they expect. Reflecting on the past year and with my tenure as CEO concluding as of year-end 2023, I wish to express my profound pride in all our employees who consistently embody our purpose and values. Each and every day, our employees bring our purpose-driven strategy to life, serving our customers and helping to build stronger communities. I am proud to acknowledge the outstanding contributions of our engineers, whose work to innovate and advance our industry will be celebrated next week during National Engineers Week. I'd like to thank our customer service team for consistently going above and beyond as they assist our customers, and a sincere thank you to our dedicated crews and support staff for their unwavering commitment to excellence and for being the driving force behind our operating success. In closing, I'd like to extend one more congratulations to Lisa, Her thoughtful leadership, care for the customer, and industry knowledge will guideline energy into the next phase of its journey. I look forward to collaborating with her and the team for continued success in 2024. Now I'll hand the call over to Lisa.