Atmos Energy Corporation

Hello everyone, thank you for joining us and welcome to Atmos Energy Corporation's fiscal 2026 third quarter earnings conference call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Dan Meziere, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer. Dan. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Lucas. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our fiscal 2026 third quarter earnings call. With me today are Kevin Akers, president and chief executive officer, and Chris Forsythe, senior vice president and chief financial officer. Our earnings release and conference call slide presentation, which we will reference in our prepared remarks, are available at atmosenergy.com under the investor relations tab. As we review these financial results and discuss future expectations, please keep in mind that some of our discussion might contain forward looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act and the Securities Exchange Act. Our forward looking statements and projections could differ materially from actual results. The factors that could cause such material differences are outlined on slide 32 and are more fully described in our SEC filings. With that, I will turn the call over to Kevin.

Thank you, Dan, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate your interest in Atmos Energy. Yesterday, we reported year-to-date fiscal 26 net income of $1.2 billion, or $7.33 per diluted share. And we reaffirmed our earnings per share guidance in the range of $8.40 to $8.50. Our capital expenditures for the fiscal year total $3.1 billion, with over 87% of these investments focused on enhancing the safety and reliability of our distribution, transmission, and underground storage systems. Across our service territories, we continue to see steady diversified customer growth. For the 12 months ending June 30, 2026, we added nearly 51,000 new customers with nearly 39,000 of those new customers located here in Texas. and during the third quarter we added 600 commercial customers and over 2,500 commercial customers fiscal year to date. Additionally, we added five new industrial customers during the third quarter and 12 new industrial customers fiscal year to date. The 12 new industrial customers are anticipated to use approximately 950,000 MCF per year once they are fully operational. that is volumetrically equivalent to adding 18,000 residential customers. This continued demand from all customer classes demonstrates the value and vital role natural gas plays in economic development across our Atmos Energy Service territory. The Texas Workforce Commission reported that Texas once again added jobs at a faster rate than the nation over the last 12 months ending June 2026. and in 2026, Texas added three Fortune 500 companies, bringing the total number of Fortune 500 companies to 57, the most in the nation and highest level in Texas since 2010. In APT, we continue to work to enhance the safety, reliability, versatility and supply diversification of our system, as well as support the continued growth we are seeing in the local distribution companies behind APT system. APT is currently working on two separate projects to the southeast of the DFW Metroplex that will install a total of 29 miles of 36-inch pipeline to connect two adjacent compressor stations to our Tri-City Storage Facility. These projects enhance system reliability and capacity for gas transported from the Hainesville and Cotton Valley Shell Plays to our Bethel and Tri-City Storage Facilities. all to support the growing DFW Metroplex. To the east of the Metroplex, we began construction of a bilateral compressor station in Carthage, Texas that will increase the capacity of our 36-inch Line S2 pipeline. Finally, we are working on the final phase of the WA Loop project to support growth in the northwestern portion of the Metroplex. This final phase will install 15 miles of 36-inch pipe and it will complete a 92 mile, 36 inch pipeline loop. All of these projects are currently scheduled to be placed into service by the end of the calendar year. This month, APT will submit its annual Rider Rev Tariff seeking to reflect 160 to 165 million in revenue credits for LDC customers on the system between November 1st, 2026 and October 31st, 2027. If this amount is approved as filed, these customers will have received over $300 million in savings through the Rider-Rev mechanism from November 2023 through October 2027. Our customer support associates and service technicians continue to provide exceptional customer service, achieving customer satisfaction ratings in excess of 97% for the first nine months of this fiscal year. Finally, during the first nine months of the fiscal year, our customer advocacy team helped nearly 49,000 customers receive about $16.2 million in funding assistance. I'll now turn the call over to Chris for his update.