Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. Common Shares

Hello and welcome to the Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp third quarter 2023 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star 1 on your telephone keypad. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Brian Chin. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us on our third quarter 2023 earnings conference call. Speaking on the call today will be Chris Huskelson, Interim Chief Executive Officer, and Darren Myers, Chief Financial Officer. Also joining us this morning for the question and answer portion of the call will be Jeff Norman, Chief Development Officer, and Johnny Johnston, Chief Operating Officer. To accompany today's earnings call, we have a supplemental webcast presentation available on our website, algonquinpower.com. Our financial statements and management discussion analysis are also available on the website as well as on CEEDAR+. We would like to remind you that our discussion during the call will include certain forward-looking information. At the end of the call, I will read a notice regarding both forward-looking information and non-GAAP measures. Please also refer to our most recent MD&A filed on CEEDAR and available on our website for additional important information on these items. On the call this morning, Chris will provide a business update, including advancements relating to the pending sale of the Renewable Energy Group, the CEO search that is currently underway, and other business developments. Then Darren will review our third quarter financial results and provide comments on guidance. We will then open the lines for a question and answer period. We ask that you kindly restrict your questions to two and then re-queue if you have any additional questions to allow others the opportunity to participate. And with that, I'll turn it over to Chris.

Well, thank you, Brian, and good morning, everyone. To start things off today, I'd like to share my observations from my first 90 days as interim CEO. During this time, I've had the opportunity to visit several of our regions across Canada and the United States. I have three main takeaways from these visits. First, we have dedicated and talented employees managing a strong set of assets. Second, there is substantial opportunity to simplify, streamline, and reinvest for greater customer service and value. And third, both our renewable and regulated segments have considerable long-term growth potential. From these takeaways, I'm even more convinced that moving to a pure-play regulated utility is the right answer for both businesses. This will create focus and provide the chance to capitalize on all of our opportunities. We have now kicked off the formal sale process for our renewable energy business. We are, of course, aware of the dynamic market environment. That said, we are seeing continued inbound interest from prospective buyers. We own a sizable fleet of high-quality renewable assets and an extensive development pipeline, and by no means will our assets be sold at a fire sale price. We continue to believe this is the strategic direction that creates the most long-term value for our stakeholders, allowing both business groups to be better capitalized while continuing to support our BBB investment credit rating and our current dividend. Since the announcement at the time of our Q2 call, we have made considerable progress on the search for a new chief executive. with the current slate of qualified candidates. As I've mentioned previously, I'm committed to staying on until the right candidate is found, and I'm actively moving the company forward. Next, I want to highlight our recent DOE grants. We invest for the future to modernize our infrastructure while keeping an eye on customer affordability. So we were very pleased to have successfully secured two DOE awards through their grid resilience and innovation partnerships program. We are only one of four regulated utilities to successfully secure two awards. This is but the first step of several towards the opportunity to invest over $100 million in accelerating the modernization of our electricity infrastructure. while reducing the impact on our customers with the DOE grants covering 50% of the cost. We're excited for this partnership and look forward to working with DOE and our local regulatory commissions and stakeholders to get the full benefits from these programs for our customers. On the regulatory front, we're pleased to report that during the quarter, a regulated services group received the final rate case order at the Pine Bluff Water Utility in Arkansas, authorizing an annual revenue increase of $3.4 million, which became effective on August 15th. Additionally, this quarter marked the implementation of new rates at our St. Lawrence gas facilities in New York, as the authorized revenue increase of $5.2 million became effective on July 1st. We're pleased with these continued advancements as a core growth strategy of the regulated services group is to responsibly invest in our utility systems and to target constructive return on rate base. In total, the regulated services group has pending rate reviews totaling $90 million across four of our utilities. These rate cases reflect our continued commitment to invest in our utilities and recovering these investments. And finally, an update on the securitization of costs related to Winter Storm Uri and retirement of the Asbury coal plant at our Empire Electric utility. Oral arguments were heard in July following Empire Electric's appeal to the Missouri Court of Appeals. And on August 1st, the court affirmed the amount eligible for securitization of $290.4 million dollars. The company intends to securitize in line with the Commission's order to recover the remaining book value of the storm costs and Asbury. However, in doing so, our securitization excludes a portion of carrying costs and taxes, which leads to a one-time charge of $63.5 million, or $48.5 million net of tax. Turning now to an update on projects for our renewable energy group, where our construction and development pipeline continues to progress. The third quarter of 23 saw advancements at phase two of our new market solar project, where 95% of panels have now been installed. Site preparations also advanced at both the Carver's Creek and Clearview solar projects. In total, we now have approximately 400 megawatts of solar projects in various stages of construction. We're pleased to report that the Sandy Ridge II wind facility achieved full commercial operations this past quarter, adding 88 megawatts of capacity to our operating fleet. Additionally, our Shady Oaks II facility achieved full commercial operations last week, adding 108 megawatts of capacity. When you include our Deerfield 2 wind facility, which achieved commercial operations in March, we have now brought over 300 megawatts into service year to date. We continue to expect to bring approximately 450 megawatts in service in 2023. With that, I'll turn things over to Darren, who will speak about the third quarter results. Darren?