CMS Energy Corporation

Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by. Your conference call will begin momentarily. Your patience is appreciated. My apologies. Please do not disconnect your lines. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the CMS Energy 2023 Second Quarter Results Conference Call and News Earnings Release. The earnings news release was issued earlier today, and the presentation used in this webcast are available on CMS Energy's website in the Investor Relations section. Today's call is being recorded. After the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session, and instructions will be provided at that time on how to queue up. If at any time during the conference you need to reach an operator, please press star zero. As a reminder, there will be a rebroadcast of this conference call today, beginning at 12 p.m. Eastern Time, running through August 3rd. This presentation is also being webcast and is available on CMS Energy's website in the Investor Relations section. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Sri Matapati, Treasurer and Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Michelle. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We apologize for the delay as we're experiencing technical difficulties. If you have any questions and we're unable to participate on the call, please feel free to give me or Travis and Uphouse a call after this, after this learning call. With me are Garrett Broshow, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Reggie Hayes, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. This presentation contains forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Please refer to our SEC filings for more information regarding the risks and other factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially. This presentation also includes non-GAAP measures. Reconciliations of these measures, the most directly comparable GAAP measures, are included in the appendix and posted on our website. Now I'll turn the call over to Gary.

Thank you, Sri, and thank you everyone for joining us today. CMS Energy, we deliver. We say it, and we back it up. What makes it work for all stakeholders is this investment thesis that we start with in nearly every earnings call. I've reiterated the key points of this thesis on many occasions. Today, I want to draw attention to three key components. First, we continue to make industry-leading progress on the transformation to clean energy. This is required to position the business for the future, and I will share more evidence of our good work this quarter with the exit of our coal units at our current facility and the acquisition of the covert generating plant. Michigan continues to be a solid place for investment. Our energy legislation is one of the best in the country and we operate in that top tier regulatory environment, providing important certainty for critical customer investments. And there continues to be evidence to support it. I'll share the details on our fourth consecutive settlement in our recent gas rate case. Finally, you'll hear from me on the strong progress we've made in cost management, the CE way, and other countermeasures to offset the unplanned headwinds experienced early in the year. I'm pleased with the progress and remain confident in our plan to deliver 2023 and beyond. Our investment thesis is simple. It's worked for more than 20 years, regardless of conditions, to deliver the operational and financial results across the triple bottom line. for all our stakeholders. At CMS Energy, we like to say leaders lead, and we are leading the clean energy transformation. We've set industry leading ambitious net zero targets for both our gas and electric systems, and we continue to get it done. Our actions today serve as proof points that we can and we will achieve our targets. In June, we retired our CARN units one and two removing 515 megawatts of coal generation from Michigan, further reducing our carbon profile. I'd like to take a moment to recognize the service of the individuals at CARN who dedicated their careers to providing energy for our customers. I had the opportunity to be there in the final days of the facility's operations, and I'm proud to share the pride our coworkers have for their work. I am also proud of the work we have done to provide a just transition either to retirement or a new place within our company for those who served at this facility. As we transition out of coal, it is imperative that we maintain reliability for our customers and our state. And so, in June, we assumed ownership and operations of the Covert Generating Plant. This existing 1.2 gigawatt facility maintains important, low-cost, reliable electric supply in Michigan and further bolsters the MISO footprint. I'm proud to share our industry-leading commitments are being noticed, and we are now included in the MSCI ESG Leaders Index, the only vertically integrated utility to be included in this index. These are proof points, evidence. in our leadership of this important transformation across the industry and will help us attract incremental capital to CMS Energy to bolster our customer investments. Adding to the good work of the quarter, we signed more contracts in our voluntary green pricing program, which has now grown to 341 megawatts of own generation, and I see further growth on the near horizon. We received approval for nearly $11 million in grants for RNG facilities to support farms we partner with as we decarbonize our gas systems. And we expect our 201 megawatt Heartland Wind Farm, which qualifies for a 10.7% ROE, will be operational later this year. Well, these are just a few highlights. They demonstrate what we do at CMS Energy. We set big goals. We get after it every day, and we deliver, leading the clean energy transformation. Turning to slide five, I want to take a moment to talk about the constructive regulatory environment in Michigan. Recently, the governor reappointed Chair Scripps to a full term ending in 2029 and appointed Alessandra Carrion to fill the remainder of Commissioner Terrain Phillips' term, which ends in 2025. The appointment of Commissioner Carrion and continuity in leadership through the reappointment of Chair Scripps further reflect the constructive and stable nature of the Michigan regulatory environment, which remains one of the best jurisdictions in the country. We've connected with Commissioner Carrion, and she has a strong background in decarbonization, in transportation, electrification, and is well suited for the role. We look forward to working with her and this commission. As for the regulatory calendar, our gas rate case settlement is one more in the streak of settlements and our second gas settlement in just over a year. I'm pleased with the outcome and the team's work. This is a clear demonstration of the constructive regulatory environment in Michigan and speaks to our ability to work with multiple parties to provide the best outcome for our customers and our investors. We expect rates to go into effect October 1st, the start of the new test year. In our electric rate case, we are awaiting staff's position by the end of August in a final order by March of next year. Within our filing, we are requesting approval for a small undergrounding pilot, roughly 10 miles, and plans to underground over 400 miles annually. This is an area where we have a lot of opportunity to strengthen our system and improve reliability and resiliency while aligning with our Midwest peers. solid energy legislation, strong regulatory construct, and the evidence to support it, a top-tier regulatory jurisdiction. Moving on to the financials, for the second quarter, we reported adjusted earnings per share of 75 cents. We had a strong quarter, driven by operational and financial performance, and we continue to build contingency through the CE way as we deliver on our year-end financial objectives. Today, we are reaffirming all our financial objectives, including our full-year guidance of $3.06 to $3.12 per share with continued confidence toward the high end. We're also reaffirming our long-term adjusted earnings per share growth of 6% to 8% per year with continued confidence toward the high end and remain committed to annual dividend per share growth of 6% to 8%. As I stated in our Q1 call, this is not our first rodeo. The team has done a remarkable job of mitigating the gap left from a warm winter in a large ice storm. Through the CE way, operational cost measures, financing, and other countermeasures, we have made great progress year to date. Year after year, we deliver. And this year will be no different. This is not about winning one game or one season. It's about winning multiple seasons, a winning program, continuing the long track record of consistent growth and compounding off of actuals, bringing our investors high-quality earnings and doing it year after year. Now, I'll hand the call over to Reggie to provide some additional details and insights.