Duke Energy Corporation (Holding Company)

Hello all and welcome. My name is Brika and I will be your conference operator today. At this time I would like to welcome everyone to the Duke Energy third quarter 2022 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise and 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 start followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star 2, and for operator assistance, please press star 0. Thank you. Jack Sullivan, Vice President of Investor Relations, you may begin your conference.

Thank you, Brika, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Duke Energy's third quarter 2022 earnings review and business update. Leading our call today is Lynn Good, Chair, President, and CEO, along with Brian Savoy, Executive Vice President and CFO. Today's discussion will include the use of non-GAAP financial measures and forward-looking information within the meaning of securities laws. Actual results may be different than forward-looking statements, and those factors are outlined herein and disclosed in Duke Energy's SEC filings. The appendix of today's presentation includes supplemental information and disclosures, along with a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures. So with that, let's turn the call over to Lynn. Jack, thank you, and good morning, everyone.

Before I begin, I'd like to take a moment and recognize the work of our team in responding to Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful and destructive storms in U.S. history. Duke Energy mobilized 20,000 people working day and night to restore power to over 2 million customers across Florida and the Carolinas. And what's more impressive is the speed in which we did it, with 99% of our customers restored within 72 hours. This is an amazing accomplishment and a testament to our strong preparation, the tireless effort of our restoration teams, and the value of our grid-hardening investments. Moving to our financial results today, we announced adjusted earnings per share of $1.78 for the third quarter. We continue to see strong volumes from the electric utilities offset by lower contributions from commercial renewables due to fewer projects placed in service compared to 2021. Turning to the commercial renewables business, we've completed the strategic review and our board has authorized the sale of this business. I'll provide more context about this decision in a moment, but first, I'd like to address what this means for our 2022 earnings guidance. Beginning in the fourth quarter, we will move commercial renewables to discontinued operations and remove it from guidance going forward. Bringing focus to our core regulated businesses, we are updating full year 2022 adjusted earnings guidance to a range of 520 to 530. The 525 midpoint of this updated range represents our original guidance midpoint of 545, less the 20-cent contribution we originally forecasted for commercial renewables. The regulated utilities remain on track for 2022 with strong operating results, offsetting rising financing costs, giving us confidence in achieving earnings within this tighter range. Turning to slide five, in August, we announced a strategic review of the commercial renewables business, which includes our utility scale renewables platform and a smaller distributed generation business. As part of this review, we've worked with advisors to evaluate the strategic fit of these businesses and to test the market on valuation. We've received indications of interest for the utility scale business at attractive valuations, and this process will continue through year-end. We expect to announce a definitive transaction in Q1 2023 and close as early as mid-year. We're preparing the sale process for the distributed generation business, which includes RAC Solar, and expect this transaction will follow a similar timeline to closing. The majority of proceeds from both transactions will be used to reduce holding company debts. This will strengthen the balance sheet and allow us to fund our clean energy transition without common equity issuances through at least 2027. I'm very proud of our commercial team who has remained focused on maximizing the value of the portfolio, continuing to expand our robust development pipeline and operating a renewables fleet with excellence. With this pending change in our business mix, I'd like to walk you through our earnings trajectory over the next few years. For 2023, we're introducing a guidance range of 555 to 575 with a midpoint of 565. This reflects 5% to 7% growth off the updated 2022 EPS midpoint of 525. It also includes a partial year benefit from lower interest expense after reducing holdco debt with sales proceeds. Turning to 2024 and beyond, we expect to grow 5% to 7% off the 565 midpoint of our 2023 guidance range through 2027. The 2023 guidance range reflects what we know today, including the present interest rate environment, inflation, supply chain constraints, and an economic forecast that continues to support positive GDP growth in 2023. But the economic outlook remains uncertain and will continue to closely monitor trends. Consistent with past practices, we'll do all we can to control costs to match challenges in our business while maintaining excellent service to our customers. As a result, we've increased our 2023 cost mitigation target from $200 to $300 million. We expect about 75% of these savings to be sustainable over the long term. We will keep you apprised along the way and look forward to sharing our traditional guidance package on the year-end earnings call in February. Brian will provide more on our 2023 earnings drivers, but I want to underscore the strength of our underlying core utility business. We offer a premier regulated franchises and growing service territories with constructive regulatory jurisdictions and robust customer-focused investment opportunities. They have always been the lifeblood of our company, and this portfolio transition will fully highlight the strong, predictable, transparent earnings and cash flows from our premier regulated utilities and strengthen our overall investor value proposition. Next, I'd like to take a few minutes to highlight some of the important strategic work underway throughout our jurisdictions. Moving to slide six, in October we filed our first performance-based regulation application under HB 951. We filed with the North Carolina Utilities Commission requesting a review of the significant investments we're making for our 1.5 million Duke Energy Progress customers served in North Carolina. The rate increase would cover upgrades we've made to improve grid reliability and resiliency and to facilitate a clean, secure energy future. Our application contains a traditional base rate case based on historical investments and known and measurable changes projected through April of 2023. Our request is mitigated by a reduction in annual operating costs of over $100 million. since our last rate case. In addition to historic investments, our application includes gradual customer rate step-ups over the next three years to recover future investments we will make through the multi-year rate plan. This consists of roughly $3.8 billion of capital projects that are projected to go into service by 2025, approximately 75% of which is related to transmission and distribution investments. Evidentiary hearings are expected to begin in the May 2023 timeframe. Consistent with past practice, we intend to implement temporary rates in June for the historic base case subject to refund. If approved, we expect year one revised rates to be effective by October 1st, 2023. Turning to slide seven, our focus on providing customers with affordable, reliable, and cleaner energy continues to advance across each of our jurisdictions. In North Carolina, carbon plan hearings concluded in late September after almost three weeks, and we submitted our proposed order at the end of October. During the hearings, we presented strong testimony that confirms the need for our near-term development activities. The NCUC will make a final decision on the carbon plan by the end of this year. We expect to file a Duke Energy Carolina's rate case with the NCUC in early 2023. In South Carolina, we filed a rate case for Duke Energy Progress in September as we continue to work on increasing system reliability and resiliency and enhancing the customer experience. To ease the impact of these investments on customers, proposed rates would go into effect over two years, beginning in the first half of 2023. In Florida, the Public Service Commission approved our Storm Protection Plan update in October. Over the next 10 years, we expect to deploy $7 billion in capital investments through this rider. Shifting to the Midwest and Indiana, we're updating our integrated resource plan. We've held the first of three public information sessions with stakeholders to share information about plans under consideration, and we anticipate filing CPCNs for new generation resource needs with the Commission beginning in early 2023. And in Ohio, we completed a hearing in October for our electric distribution rate case. We expect to receive a final order by the end of 2022 or early 2023. Moving to slide eight, I'd like to update you on our ongoing review of the clean energy provisions under the IRA legislation. High energy costs are top of mind for our customers, and the IRA's clean energy tax credits present an opportunity to help address those issues. We expect to qualify for a variety of PTCs and ITCs that will generate billions of dollars in tax credits over the next decade. These tax credits will be returned to our customers, lowering our overall cost of service and providing for a more affordable energy transition. We will continue to evaluate the impact of the corporate minimum tax as new information and guidance from Treasury becomes available. Because of the credits generated by our substantial clean energy infrastructure investments, we do not expect this to have a material impact on our cash flows. In closing, we're advancing our strategy across our jurisdictions, balancing the progress of our clean energy transition while preserving affordability and reliability for our customers and communities. I'm confident in our long-term earnings growth and ability to execute our strategy moving forward. As I look ahead, we're well positioned to deliver exceptional value to our customers, stakeholders, and investors. And with that, let me turn the call over to Brian.