5/1/2019

speaker
Liz
Moderator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Entergy First Quarter 2019 earnings release teleconference. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode, so if anyone should require assistance during the call, please press star, then zero on your touchtone telephone to reach an operator. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded. I'd now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Mr. David Bord, Vice President, Investor Relations. Sir, please go ahead.

speaker
David Bord
Vice President, Investor Relations

Thank you. Good morning, and thank you for joining us. We will begin today with comments from Entergy's Chairman and CEO, Leo Denalt, and then Drew Marsh, our CFO, will review results. In an effort to accommodate everyone who has questions, we request that each person ask no more than one question and one follow-up. In today's call, management will make certain forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements due to a in our earnings release, our slide presentation, and our SEC filings. Entergy does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Management will also discuss non-GAAP financial information. Reconciliation to the applicable GAAP measures are included in today's press release and slide presentation, both of which can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website. And now I will turn the call over to Leo.

speaker
Leo Denalt
Chairman and CEO

Thank you, David, and good morning, everyone. We've had a productive start to the year, and today we are reporting first quarter adjusted earnings of 82 cents per share. While weather was a headwind, we remain firmly on track to achieve our full-year guidance and our longer-term outlooks. We checked off every first quarter key deliverable, and we added an important new milestone. We announced our agreement for a post-shutdown sale of Indian Point to Holtec International. With this announcement, we now have definitive agreements to sell all of EWC's remaining nuclear assets. We will shut down Pilgrim this month, and we plan to close on the sale of that plant by the end of the year. We will then shut down Indian Point Unit 2 next year and Unit 3 in 2021. The sale of all Indian Point units is expected to close in the third quarter 2021, and we expect to complete the Palisades transaction after its shutdown in 2022. The sales of these plants are important. Not only do they secure our orderly exit from the merchant business, but they do so in a way that benefits stakeholders by accelerating the decommissioning timeline, drawing on industry-leading decommissioning and site remediation expertise and experience, and laying the foundation for future business development opportunities in the regions. We are grateful to our nuclear teams who remain focused on finishing strong with safe and secure operations. Our Pilgrim employees are a shining example of this hard work, commitment, and dedication. In March, Pilgrim returned to normal baseline oversight by the NRC, moving to column 1 in the NRC's reactor oversight program. Over the last two years, Pilgrim's 600 employees exhibited professionalism and pride, resulting in this important milestone for our organization. At the utility business, we also executed on key deliverables in the quarter. We continue to pursue our commitment to renewable resources, and two of our operating companies, Entry-G Arkansas and Entry-G Texas, have each issued requests for proposals for 200 megawatts of solar resources. Entry-G Arkansas also announced plans for a 100 megawatt solar facility. This project, pending approval by the Arkansas Public Service Commission, will be the largest utility-owned solar facility in the state and the first to feature battery storage. The facility is expected to be in service by 2021. We are pleased with the progress we continue to make on developing renewable projects, They are an important resource beyond their obvious environmental attributes. They can provide cost-effective energy supply, fuel diversity, and advance the adoption of distributed energy solutions for our customers. We currently have just over 230 megawatts of renewable resources in service, including hydro, solar, and biomass technologies. We also have 185 megawatts of new solar projects that have been approved and are moving forward. Just under 300 megawatts that are pending regulatory approval, and the 400 megawatts that I mentioned from Arkansas and Texas RFPs. And as the economics and performance of renewable resources continue to improve, we will engage with our regulators and stakeholders to expand their use across our service area. In January, we began installment of the first automated meters. Over the next three years, we will install approximately 3 million automated meters across our jurisdictions with plans to activate 1 million new meters in 2019. The new meters will benefit our customers with faster outage identification, enhanced customer service, and cost savings. Additionally, these meters will provide us with the tools to help our customers manage their energy usage and lower their bills. And we will recycle the old meters after removal. They will be sustainably dismantled, yielding copper and aluminum scrap that can be recycled. Our new-built CCGT projects remain on budget and on schedule. After a little over two years of construction, St. Charles Power Station is in its final conditioning phase, and that plant is expected to be placed in service this quarter. Construction activity at the New Orleans Power Station kicked into high gear after the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality issued its clean air permit. The plant will be a much-needed local resource of modern natural gas-generated power for residents and businesses. In Mississippi, we continue to work through the Choctaw Generating Station acquisition to ensure that the plant is a good value for our customers. Our due diligence has identified a potential mechanical issue that may need to be addressed prior to closing. There is a possibility that closing may be delayed to allow time to resolve the issue. We will know more in the coming weeks, and we will provide an update on our next earnings call. At this point, we do not foresee a delay that would have a material financial impact. These are just a few examples of the investments we are making in our efficient and sustainable power system for the benefit of our customers. We kicked off 2019's base rate filings with Entergy Mississippi's annual FRP, which was submitted on March 15. We are working through that process and expect new rates to be effective in June. We are also preparing to file our annual FRPs in Louisiana and Arkansas later this year. Our New Orleans rate case is ongoing and we remain on track to have new rates effective this summer, and we have requested a formula rate plan to take effect next year. In addition, proposed legislation in Texas could help reduce regulatory lag on generation investment in that jurisdiction. The legislation passed the House. It was also passed by the Senate Business and Commerce Committee, and it will now be considered by the full Senate. If signed into law, the legislation would allow the Commission to approve a rider to recover reasonable and necessary generation investment, which would be more timely and less burdensome than a base rate case filing. This legislation is consistent with our desire to align regulatory structures with customer benefits. Three of our five jurisdictions, which generate approximately 80% of the utilities' revenue, have annual formula rate plan mechanisms. These, combined with other constructs that allow for timely recovery of investments which benefit customers, provide clarity to our plans and solidify the financial commitments we've made to provide steady, predictable growth in earnings and dividends. At Entergy, our people are critical to our success. Our employees make it possible to implement our strategy and achieve our objectives. Acquiring, retaining, and developing the talent we need to meet today's business needs and to prepare for the workplace of tomorrow are important. As part of our employee focus, we are proud to promote supportive work environments for members of the National Guard and Reserve. In recognition of this, we won the 2019 Pro Patria Award from the Department of Defense, and we were a semifinalist for the 2019 Freedom Award. Entergy is also committed to supporting businesses in the communities we serve. The Women's Business Enterprise National Council recognized our efforts and once again presented the prestigious America's Top Corporations for Women's Business Enterprises Award to Entergy. The National Award recognizes companies with world-class diversity and inclusion programs that enable growth and innovation while breaking down barriers for women-owned businesses. These awards are a good validation of our mission to create value for all of our stakeholders, customers, employees, communities, and owners. We recently released our annual integrated report titled, When Does One Equal More? It illustrates how our efforts to serve the needs of each stakeholder creates value for all. Our report outlines how the emergence of new technologies enables us to build more individualized relationships with our customers and partner with them on solutions that make their lives better, and how providing opportunities for our employees to adopt new skill sets to effectively implement and manage new technologies will drive transformative change. Entergy is also recognized as an industry leader for taking action to address climate issues. In 2001, we were the first U.S. electric utility to commit voluntarily to stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2005, we upped that commitment to capping our carbon dioxide emissions at 20 percent below year 2000 levels through the year 2010. Then in 2011, we extended that commitment through 2020. Even though Entergy's carbon dioxide emissions rate continues to be one of the lowest among our peers, the broad consensus of current scientific data on climate change indicates that, as an industry, we must do more to reduce our footprint and that of our customers and communities. Entergy sees this not as a choice but as a responsibility and an opportunity. That is why, in addition to our integrated report, we also released our climate scenario analysis and evaluation of risks and opportunities. This report outlines our role in meeting the worldwide imperative to reduce risk that's posed by climate change and announces a new greenhouse gas emissions goal to reduce our CO2 emissions rate to 50 percent below year 2000 levels by 2030. That means that for every unit of electricity we generate in 2030, we will admit half the carbon dioxide we did in 2000. Entergy's leadership in sustainability and social responsibility makes us a successful Fortune 500 company with a conscience. Our actions and commitments to sustainability position us to effectively benefit our stakeholders today while securing a bright tomorrow. For the first quarter of 2019, we continue on track of steady, successful execution of our strategy. 2019 will be another successful year for us. Our operating and financial positions are solid and our strategic direction is clear. We are an industry leader in critical measures of sustainability. We have among the lowest retail rates in the country and we operate one of the cleanest large-scale fleets in the United States. We also benefit from strong industrial growth within our service territory, we invest in our employees and our communities, and our strategy is aligned with the goals of our regulators. This is what makes Entergy a compelling long-term investment and this is the foundation from which we will continue to grow and innovate for the benefit of all of our stakeholders. I will now turn the call over to Drew who will provide more detail on our first quarter financial results.

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Leo. Good morning, everyone. As Leo said, the first quarter was a productive start to the year and we are firmly on track to meet our full year guidance and longer-term outlooks. Today, we are officially starting to report earnings using our simpler Entergy Adjusted Earnings measure to better reflect the nature of our business going forward and our materials and disclosures are more streamlined as a result. Let's now turn to the numbers. As you can see on slide four, on a per share basis, Entergy Adjusted Earnings were largely flat quarter over quarter. Turning to slide five, results of the utility are straightforward. Net revenue increased primarily from the effects of rate activity in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. Also, with the enactment of tax reform, last year's results included regulatory charges to return the benefits of the lower federal tax rate to customers and that lower tax rate is now reflected in customer bills. Partially offsetting was lower volume due to the effects of weather which was unfavorable this quarter compared to one year ago. Finally, the higher share count affected this quarter's results on a per share basis. EWC's first quarter results are summarized on slide six and as a reminder, EWC is now excluded from our Entergy Adjusted measure. As reported, earnings were 60 cents higher than the prior year. The key driver was strong market performance on the quarter for EWC's nuclear decommissioning trust funds. A tax item which resulted from the sale of Vermont Yankee partly offset the increase. Before leaving EWC, I would like to affirm that after accounting for the transaction costs for Indian Point, we still expect EWC to provide slightly positive net cash to parents from 19 through 22. Slide seven shows operating cash flow for the quarter of $501 million, a $56 million decrease from a year ago. The change is driven by the return of approximately $100 million of unprotected excess ADIT to customers as well as the effects of unfavorable weather. Lower pension contributions partially offset the decrease. We are affirming our 2019 earnings guidance and financial outlooks which are summarized on slide eight. As I mentioned, we experienced unfavorable weather in the quarter. Nevertheless, we remain on track to come in around the midpoint of our 2019 guidance. Our credit metrics are shown on slide 10. Our parent debt to total debt has improved to 21.7%. This was largely due to the settlement of a portion of the equity forward in December. Our FFO to debt is 11.1%, but this includes the effects of returning $692 million of unprotected excess ADIT to customers. In the quarter, excluding this giveback, and certain items related to our exit of EWC, FFO to debt would be 15%. We expect cash flows to improve as soon as next quarter and throughout the remainder of the year assuming normal weather. We remain committed to our targeted ranges of at or above 15% for FFO to debt by 2020 and below 25% for parent debt to total debt as well as maintaining our investment grade profile. We had a productive first quarter and we see 2019 as another successful year. The foundation is in place for us to meet our financial commitments to deliver steady, predictable growth and earnings and dividends through customer-centric investment. As Leo mentioned, our operating and financial positions are solid and our strategic direction is clear. We are continuing our mission to create sustainable value for all of our stakeholders and we look forward to the opportunities ahead. And now the InterG team is available to answer questions.

speaker
Liz
Moderator

Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to ask a question at this time, please press the star then the number one key on your touchtone telephone. If your question has been answered or you wish to remove yourself from the queue, you may do so by pressing the pound key. In the interest of time, we ask that you limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Our first question comes from line of Proffulmeta with Tiddy Group. Your line is now open.

speaker
Proffulmeta
Analyst at Tiddy Group

Thanks so much. Hi guys. Morning Profful, how are you doing? Good morning. So I guess first question on the earnings guide for 2019, it looks like you reduced the O&M expectation for the full year from 30 cents to 20 cents. Is that, firstly, is that helping maintain your earnings guide and what's helping keep that or bring that O&M down from your original 30 cent assumption to now the 20 cents?

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, Profful, this is Drew. That is helping us to maintain that amongst a couple of other things. You know, that includes some efficiencies we found early in the year. Our good operations have led to some rebates for insurance premiums. A little bit of it is timing into other periods like 2020, but it's not enough to change any expectations out there. And we've also seen some offsets in other areas like interest expense. We had a very active quarter, one and a half billion dollars of refinancing the new money issuances and since interest rates were low, we were able to capture some of that versus our previous expectations. So the combination of all those things are what's helping us maintain our expectations for the year.

speaker
Proffulmeta
Analyst at Tiddy Group

Gotcha. That's helpful. Thanks, Drew. And then secondly, on the operating cash flow drop, which is significant, but it sounds like it's primarily driven by the ADID, which it seems like you're front-loaded even within the year. Is that fair in terms of understanding how the ADID will be paid out in 2019?

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

Yes, that's correct. And as you know, that's a 12-month kind of view. And so we would see, or I'm talking on top of the FFO kind of measures would be a 12-month kind of view. We do see it continue to turn down over the course of the year, both on a 12-month rolling bit and in the quarters. And you'd see our operating cash flow continue to improve over the course of the year. We're about 70% done with the return of the cash so far to our customers.

speaker
Proffulmeta
Analyst at Tiddy Group

Gotcha. That's super helpful. And then finally, congrats on Indian Point. Just wanted to clarify, is it fair to understand that the decommissioning trust risk or the performance of the decommissioning trust risk is now primarily in the hands of the buyer where if there is any underperformance, it won't really impact the transaction economics?

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

That's correct.

speaker
Proffulmeta
Analyst at Tiddy Group

Okay, great. Thanks so much,

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

guys. All right. Thank you, Proffol.

speaker
Liz
Moderator

Our next question comes from the line of Angie Storoszczynski with Macquarie. Your line is now open.

speaker
Angie Storoszczynski
Analyst at Macquarie

I wanted to ask a longer-term question. So you mentioned that you might increase renewable power spending if the economics of wind and solar assets improve. I mean, given some sunset of tax subsidies for those, wouldn't you consider actually accelerating some of the capex?

speaker
Leo Denalt
Chairman and CEO

I'm sorry, Angie. The connection wasn't good enough for us to catch that.

speaker
Angie Storoszczynski
Analyst at Macquarie

Can you hear me now?

speaker
Leo Denalt
Chairman and CEO

Yes, sounds a little better,

speaker
Angie Storoszczynski
Analyst at Macquarie

yeah. I'm sorry. I was just wondering about your regulated renewable power capex. You mentioned that some of your jurisdictions might consider more renewable spending going forward once renewables become more economic, but given that there is a sunset of some of the tax subsidies, wouldn't you consider actually potentially accelerating these capex?

speaker
Leo Denalt
Chairman and CEO

I'm not sure really that we would see any acceleration in those. Most of these projects will be showing up at the end of the plan in the 2021 and beyond timeframe, and I really wouldn't see us accelerating much. We've got to work them into the resource plan where they make economic sense and serve the right purpose for the grid. So as the prices come down and as the technology continues to evolve, which we fully expected to do, we should see it playing a bigger role in the resource plan as it competes well with other resources for the type of operational characteristics that they have.

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

And I'll just add, Angie, our low cost rates make it a little less economic for some of these projects, and of course we still have to go through the regulatory processes associated with each of these transactions. And so I think we're going at a pretty good clip given what we think the regulatory bandwidth is at this point. Of course if the economics took a step change, certainly we would look at something different. So we're looking at it, but we're not anticipating an acceleration like Leo said.

speaker
Angie Storoszczynski
Analyst at Macquarie

Okay,

speaker
Liz
Moderator

thank you.

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

Thank

speaker
Liz
Moderator

you. Our next question comes from line of Steve Fleischman with Wolf Research. Your line is now open.

speaker
Steve Fleischman
Analyst at Wolf Research

Good morning. I know you kind of addressed this. Hey, Leo, could you maybe talk a little bit more about the impacts of the Texas legislation to your plan and what could it be impactful to your guidance or your capital plan?

speaker
Rod
Entergy Executive

Hey, Steve, it's Rod. Good morning. The Texas legislation, while certainly positive, is not material enough for us to change our guidance and outlooks. I think we're keeping in mind that it's really providing both the commission as well as the company additional tools as we think beyond Montgomery County. So the answer to your question is not material enough in terms of a financial impact to change our outlooks. Okay.

speaker
Chris Block
Entergy Executive

I'll add

speaker
Leo Denalt
Chairman and CEO

to that, Steve. It's a good risk reduction opportunity, right? It lines up the benefit that customers get from the addition of new generation with the timing of regulatory recovery that's a lot more efficient than the way we would anticipate going about it now with a rate case around every new generating asset, which works fine for something large like Montgomery County, but if you start adding smaller generation or if you're in the renewable space, it becomes a little bit more problematic to provide that benefit to the customers at the same time you get regulatory approval.

speaker
Steve Fleischman
Analyst at Wolf Research

Okay. And then just the Choctaw issue that you mentioned, could you remind what the investment there is? And just is this a fixable issue or is there a risk that you just decide not to acquire the plan?

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, Steve, it's true. Our planned investment there is about $400 million, including some of the upgrades and some of the things that we have planned. At this point, we don't know exactly what the issue is. We just know that there are some vibrations and other things, but we believe it's probably fixable and we'll be able to get to a transaction close before too terribly long.

speaker
Steve Fleischman
Analyst at Wolf Research

Okay. Okay. Thank you.

speaker
Liz
Moderator

Thank you, Steve. Our next question comes from the line of Greg Gordon with Evercore. Your line is now open.

speaker
Greg Gordon
Analyst at Evercore

A larger question for you. Are you

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

okay? Yes, we can.

speaker
Greg Gordon
Analyst at Evercore

Sorry. I have a larger question, bigger picture question for you since the specific questions I had were just answered. You know, we are seeing here, you know, our macro view on the U.S. economy continues to accelerate. The data just keeps getting better, you know, with the, just notably with, you know, an absence of underlying core inflation in the economy is, you know, you guys have a particularly economically sensitive jurisdiction, you know, that is, you know, your region of the country is sort of, you know, has a concentrated exposure to certain types of industries related to petrochemicals, et cetera. I know that you guys try to do a really good job of sort of constantly evolving your thought process on underlying demand growth. Like, what does the current economic climate look like in terms of the risk of being sort of either over or under your base case demand growth expectations?

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, Greg, this is Drew. As we look at our industrial load, we continue to see positive signs, frankly. So, you know, our industrial customers are looking at a number of spreads, commodity spreads, for, you know, crack spreads, you know, gas versus oil, geographic spreads between Henry Hub and, you know, NBP, for example, or Brent. And so all of those indicators continue to be green for us. Inventories are reasonable and exports are picking up as the low nature of just energy prices here on the Gulf Coast is extremely competitive worldwide. And so we're very confident in what we can see. You know, our current forecast is based on what we can see from an industrial load perspective. And that includes petrochem, LNG, some metals, and not much coracoli new at this point, but coracoli has been a very strong performer for us and that market continues to get tighter. And as we look forward, we do see new opportunities in the coracoli space, in the petrochem space. There is potential for new LNG and other things. So all of that bodes well for our industrial sales expectations. And, you know, while that's good for us, you know, the really important thing for us is it gives us incremental headroom to create investment. And, you know, whether it's for those industrial customers or supporting distribution operations in new ways, there is significant investment opportunity within our business, as we highlighted last July. And so all of that industrial opportunity may create an additional headroom for us to make those investments.

speaker
Greg Gordon
Analyst at Evercore

Great. Thank you for the detailed answer. Have a great morning. Thanks, Greg.

speaker
Liz
Moderator

Our next question comes from the line of Jonathan Arnold with Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.

speaker
Jonathan Arnold
Analyst at Deutsche Bank

Good morning, guys. Good morning, Jonathan. Could I just inquire, can you give us an update on just how things are going with the discussions around Pilgrim for the transfer? There's been quite a lot of noise locally, but hoping you could sort of cut through what matters for us.

speaker
Chris Block
Entergy Executive

This is Chris Block. And as Leo said, we do expect the transaction to close before the end of the year. We are following very closely the license transfer application and the other issues that lead to closure, and we're confident we can maintain that schedule.

speaker
Jonathan Arnold
Analyst at Deutsche Bank

Okay. And so these kind of push for an approval at the state level. Do you see that as a concern or not at this point?

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

I think we're quite confident we can work through that. Yeah, and Jonathan, there isn't any state approval in Massachusetts. It's just NRC

speaker
Jonathan Arnold
Analyst at Deutsche Bank

that we're seeking. Right. I know. I've heard some noise of people kind of pushing to have something, so it's good to hear that you don't think that's going to gain some momentum. And then just on Indian Point, is it sufficiently similar to what you proposed elsewhere that you see this as being reasonably formulaic or any sort of special considerations to think about as you move into the approval process there, and anything to comment regarding local policymakers' views around New York and timing?

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

Well, I'll answer this particular one. From the NRC's perspective, I think it should be pretty straightforward. Of course, we'll be working with Holtec and the state to figure out what's the best thing to do there, but it's still early in the process and too early to tell exactly what will be required there.

speaker
Jonathan Arnold
Analyst at Deutsche Bank

Okay. Thank you. Thanks for the update. Thank you, Jonathan.

speaker
Liz
Moderator

Our next question comes from the line of Julian Dumoulin-Smith with Thank of America. Your line is now open.

speaker
Julian Dumoulin-Smith
Analyst at Thank of America

Hey, good morning. Can you hear me? Yeah, we can. Good morning, Julian. Excellent. Good morning. Thank you. A lot of questions have been asked already, but I wanted to come back to the Texas legislative side, obviously making good progress there, but I wanted to understand a little bit the puts and takes on earned ROEs at the Texas subsidiary itself. Just as you think about it, perhaps leaving aside the legislation itself, how do you think about the ability to earn your ROE, both the puts and takes over the next few years, and how do you think about the cadence of the benefit of the legislation just year over year here, given its potential impact?

speaker
Rod
Entergy Executive

Hey, it's Rod. I think it's important to note that the reason why we're suggesting that the proposed legislation, and keep in mind it's still in the midst of negotiations at the legislature, does not change our outlooks in terms of Texas's performance, in large part because of the timing of the existing rate case process or rate case filing in Texas. So we made some headway over the last several years in Texas to reduce risks, to improve the likelihood of us earning our allowed ROE through mechanisms such as the transmission cost recovery rider, the distribution cost recovery rider, with the objective of moving Texas closer to, as Leo mentioned, the other jurisdictions that have more formulaic rate mechanisms. So we view the proposed rider as a step in the right direction of reducing the risk in Texas and improving our ability to earn and sustain our allowed ROE. So while it's a creative structurally, it's not material enough for us to change our outlook. So putting that rider in some context I think is appropriate.

speaker
Julian Dumoulin-Smith
Analyst at Thank of America

Got it. Okay, fair enough. Thank you. And then turning elsewhere, I just wanted a quick clarification, if you can, actually. Back to Angie's question, I think if I understand you right, you're evaluating opportunities on the renewable side, but because it's principally solar-type resources rather than wind, the timing element around PTC exploration just simply doesn't jive with respect to your own efforts. In contrast to perhaps AEP's efforts in Arkansas, for instance. Again, I just want to make sure I understand some of the prepared remarks that you made.

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

Well, certainly we already have quite a bit happening in Arkansas in particular. We have one project up and running. We have another one that's proposed. And then of course we have all the other ones that we've listed out in more detail in the materials today. So we are very focused on that. I mean, that's a thousand megawatts of renewables. That's quite a bit for us to move through all of our various jurisdictions. Like I said earlier, we will continue to keep an eye on things. If renewables started to become much more economic and the window was still open on the production of the investment tax credits, certainly we would look to accelerate if we thought that was the right thing.

speaker
Leo Denalt
Chairman and CEO

Just to be clear, they're fitting in just to the resource plan to meet needs that we have on the system, including their environmental benefits and including obviously the fact that when we put these in, we get some experience with how they interact with the system, real-life experience. So we're moving thoughtfully through it to benefit our customers as much as we can.

speaker
Julian Dumoulin-Smith
Analyst at Thank of America

Right. Understood. Thank you for clarifying.

speaker
Leo Denalt
Chairman and CEO

Thank you, Julian.

speaker
Liz
Moderator

And our last question comes from the line of Charles Fishman with Morningstar Research. Your line is now open.

speaker
Charles Fishman
Analyst at Morningstar Research

Thank you. Leo, you mentioned in your opening remarks that the annual dividend review will occur, as Greg already does, in the fourth quarter. Your payout ratio, based on your guidance, should be in the bottom half of your range. You have the bulk of the risk with respect to Indian Point now behind you. And then finally, your cap X has got a little bit of a downward trajectory with some of the generation being completed. Does this put the board in a better position to increase the dividend closer to the EPS growth rate? And I realize you can't speak for the board, but do I at least have the right factors or is there something else I'm forgetting?

speaker
Leo Denalt
Chairman and CEO

Well, you're correct. I can't speak for the board at this point. But I'll just tell you kind of a process that we go through. Obviously, our objective is to get to the point where earnings and dividend growth more closely match than they have over the last few years. That's why we started the dividend increases long before we got into that payout ratio target. Certainly, tax reforms had an impact on that. One thing that I would say in your discussion that is not necessarily true is the capital plan reduction. If you go back to the 2013 to 2015 timeframe, that three-year period, our capital plan was about $6 billion over the three years. I think the one in the presentation today is $11.7 billion. So it's a doubling of CapEx in that timeframe while we've been able to maintain some of the lowest rates in the United States. So we would anticipate if we can continue to manage the business with the rate levels as attractive as they are, keep customers' bills low. That gives us the opportunity to continue to invest more on behalf of our customers to improve technology to a higher level of service at a lower price. That's our objective. So that piece of your discussion where CapEx should be trending downward is not necessarily correct. In fact, I would think it would be going the other direction. So all of those things will come into consideration. You're right on our objective is to get to the point where our earnings growth and dividend growth will more closely match. It is something that will come up within the year normally where the board refreshes its point of view on that, and we'll take it up with them. But tax reform, the growing capital budget, where we are in the range, what we see earnings going, and the opportunities associated with that will all be factors that play into it.

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

And it's true. And just to clarify what Leah said around the capital, we know what we showed you in July that our annual stay was a capital plan that declined. So by the time we get out there, we're not anticipating that it would be at that level. We expect it to continue to grow.

speaker
Charles Fishman
Analyst at Morningstar Research

Yeah, you know what my mistake was? I was only looking at the generation. Your D is going up then, our T and D.

speaker
Drew Marsh
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, yeah. And with the distribution, we expect to grow with all of the investment opportunities that many of our peers are already into. But we have the distribution automation, automated meters, a million going in this year, stuff like that, which we think will begin to provide a platform for us to continue to invest into over the next several years.

speaker
Charles Fishman
Analyst at Morningstar Research

Okay. Thank you very much. That's all I have. Thank you, Charles.

speaker
Liz
Moderator

And that concludes today's question and answer session. I'd like to turn the call back to David Bord for closing remarks.

speaker
David Bord
Vice President, Investor Relations

Thank you, Liz, and thanks to everyone for participating this morning. Our annual report on Form 10Q is due to the SEC on May 10th and provides more details and disclosures about our financial statements. Events that occur prior to the date of our 10Q filing that provide additional evidence of conditions that existed at the date of the balance sheet would be reflected in our financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Also, as a reminder, we maintain a webpage as part of Entergy's Investor Relations website called Regulatory and Other Information, which provides key updates of regulatory proceedings and important milestones on our strategic execution. While some of this information may be considered material information, you should not rely exclusively on this page for all relevant company information. And this concludes our call. Thank you very much.

speaker
Liz
Moderator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the program, and you may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

Disclaimer

This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

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