Avista Corporation

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Avista Corporation Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising that your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's call is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to our first speaker for today, Stacey Wentz, Investor Relations Manager. Stacey, you may begin.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to this is first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Our earnings and first quarter Form 10-Q were released pre-market this morning. You can find both on our website. Joining me this morning are Avista Corp CEO Dennis Vermillion, President and COO Heather Rosentrader, Senior Vice President, CFO, Treasurer, and Regulatory Affairs Officer Kevin Christie, and Vice President, Controller, and Principal Accounting Officer Ryan Crossel. Today, we will make certain statements that are forward-looking. These involve assumptions, risks, and uncertainties which are subject to change. Various factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations we discussed in today's call. Please refer to our Form 10-K for 2023 and our Form 10-Q for the first quarter of 2024, which are available on our website for a full discussion of these factors. First, I will recap the financial results presented in today's press release. Our consolidated earnings for the first quarter of 2024 were 91 cents per diluted share compared to 73 cents for the first quarter of 2023. Now, I'll turn the call over to Dennis.

Well, thanks, Stacey, and good morning, everyone. In March, Avista marked its 135th anniversary. In the midst of unprecedented change in our industry, I look back on our history and realize that our legacy of innovation is still alive and well. We've made our way through seismic shifts before, and we're prepared to meet today's challenges and those of the future. I continue to be inspired by the innovation that makes it possible not only to persevere, but to prevail over the years. Who we are today is a testament to the thoughtful planning and careful building of our predecessors who formed the company that we've inherited. The quality of our work is recognized on the outside as well. For the fifth year in a row, Avista has been recognized by Ethisphere as one of the world's most ethical companies. Avista is one of only eight honorees in the energy and utilities industry this year. We're putting our innovative spirit in action with the modernization of our Post Falls Dam. We started work on this project here in the first quarter and we currently estimate we will spend $225 million over five years replacing existing agent equipment with more modern and energy efficient designs. The project was also selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to receive a $5 million grant associated with the improvements in efficiency that are planned with the scope of that work. We are delighted with the Department of Energy's support. It enables our $500 million capital budget to accomplish even more for our customers in 2024. Turning to earnings, our earnings for the first quarter are right in line with our expectations. And I believe we are well positioned to meet our full year earnings targets. Kevin will have more of this later. As we expected, the IRM in Washington had a negative impact on our first quarter results. Our general rate case in Washington seeks to modify the way the power supply costs are shared with our Washington customers. And if approved, these changes would reduce the volatility we experience under the IRM. We will continue to work through the rate case process with the Commission as we always do as we execute on our regulatory strategy. Executing on our regulatory strategy includes seeking to adjust customer rates to reflect the actual cost of providing service. In addition, the general rate case currently before the Washington Commission, we expect to file our next Oregon case in the latter half of 2024. We expect to file general rate cases in Idaho in the first quarter of 2025. Now I'll turn the call over to Heather for some updates about our operations.