FirstEnergy Corp.

Thank you. Ms. Prezell, you may begin.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to First Energy's third quarter 2023 earnings review. Our president and chief executive officer, Brian Tierney, will lead our call today, and he'll be joined by John Taylor, our senior vice president and chief financial officer. Our earnings release, presentation slides, and related financial information are available on our website at firstenergycorp.com. Today's discussion will include the use of non-GAAP financial measures and forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause our results to differ materially from these statements can be found in our SEC filing. The appendix of today's presentation includes supplemental information along with the reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures. Now it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Brian.

Thank you, Irene, and good morning, everyone. Today I'll discuss third quarter and year-to-date results, some key developments over the last few months, and our outlook for the future. For the third quarter, we delivered gap earnings of 74 cents per share versus 58 cents last year. Operating earnings for the third quarter were strong at 88 cents per share at the upper end of our guidance range and compared favorably to 79 cents per share last year. Our financial performance was a result of discipline in operating expenses as well as execution of a regulated capital investment plan to improve system resiliency and reliability. Also, as previewed on the second quarter call, we realized a tax benefit in the quarter related to a state tax adjustment, which reduced our effective tax rate to 17% for the year-to-date period. Our service territory continued to experience very mild temperatures, impacting earnings by six cents per share compared to last year. In addition, Quarterly results were impacted by lower pension credit and higher financing costs, primarily as a result of higher debt balances used to fund our capital investment program. Through strong execution by our treasury group, our consolidated long-term borrowing rate remained essentially flat. For the year-to-date period, we reported gap earnings of $1.66 per share versus $1.42 per share last year. Operating earnings for the nine-month period were $1.94 per share compared to $1.91 in 2022. As you know, we have faced some headwinds in 2023, from both the impact of market conditions to our pension plan and the impact of the extremely mild temperatures on distribution sales. Our employees have risen to these challenges by focusing on the things within our control, allowing us to meet our financial commitments despite these headwinds. Examples include demonstrating financial discipline. Our employees were able to reduce base O&M by over $130 million, or 13% year over year, by executing on various continuous improvement initiatives. Employees executed on our capital plan, with CapEx increasing $410 million year to date, mostly in transmission, which is 50% ahead of 2022 levels. Our treasury organization executed on a strategic, low cost of capital convertible debt issuance that was used to retire high cost debt and fund our pension. John will discuss these drivers and others in more detail in just a few minutes. The key takeaway is that we've had tremendous operational and financial execution to allow us to meet our targets. We intend to build on this performance, continue to change our culture, and improve resiliency and reliability for our customers. we are providing a fourth quarter guidance range of 55 to 65 cents per share, which assumes normal weather. We are also narrowing our 2023 operating earnings guidance range to $2.49 per share to $2.59 per share from our original range of $2.44 per share to $2.64. In addition, we are reaffirming our 6% to 8% targeted long-term growth rate off of the original midpoint of prior year's guidance. Before I move to key developments in the quarter, I want to address a couple of other topics. First, I want to briefly address the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission subpoena. We have no new material update at this time, and we continue to cooperate with the Commission and address their questions. Their focus continues to be on activities that were detailed in the Deferred Prosecution Agreement with nothing new. First Energy has taken full responsibility for those activities and implemented corrective actions to ensure that those type of activities never happen again. We will continue to cooperate with the OOCIC as we focus on executing our strategy and fulfilling our vision to transform First Energy into a top-performing utility. The last subject before we move on is that I believe we are uniquely well-positioned for the current interest rate environment. We expect to close on the FET transaction early next year and to receive the full proceeds of $3.5 billion in 2024 with the majority funded at close. In addition, our debt maturities are light over the next couple of years, on average approximating 6% of our total debt outstanding. This positioning supports our robust capital plan. This year, we're on track for $3.7 billion in capital investments, up from our original plan of $3.4 billion. In 2024 and 2025, our planned capital investments are $3.9 and $4.1 billion, respectively. This brings our total capital investments over the three-year period to approximately $12 billion. This capital investment plan is comprised of 47% transmission and 51% distribution, supporting 7% rate-based growth over the period, and we're reviewing additional investments to serve our customers. Turning to slide six, let's review some recent key developments. In September, our board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, payable December 1st. This represents a 5% increase compared to the quarterly payments of $0.39 per share paid since March of 2020. The increase corresponds with our targeted payout ratio of 60% to 70% that was approved by the board earlier this year. It sets the stage for future dividend growth that is aligned with our long-term operating earnings growth as we continue working to enhance value for investors. During the quarter, we also achieved some important regulatory milestones that support our strategy of investing to improve reliability, resiliency, and the customer experience. On October 18th, the Maryland Public Service Commission approved our distribution base rate case, including a $28 million revenue increase that supports equity returns of 9.5% and an equity ratio of 53%. We are pleased with this outcome, which support continued investments in the state and helps us deliver on our commitment to providing dependable and affordable electricity to our customers in Potomac Edison's Maryland service territory. We're also excited to move forward with the first of our three utility scale solar generation sites in West Virginia, totaling 30 megawatts of capacity. Our proposal, along with the small construction surcharge, was approved by the West Virginia Public Service Commission in August. We plan to seek approval from the PSC to build an additional two solar sites representing another 20 megawatts once customer subscriptions reach the 85% threshold. John will address the regulatory items and discuss the progress we're making with other filings, including the Pennsylvania consolidation case and our rate proceedings in New Jersey, Ohio, and West Virginia. We are focused on making the necessary investments in our regulated businesses, our employees, and our systems to enhance the customer experience and create new opportunities from the energy transition. To execute that vision, We are shifting decision-making and accountability closer to where the work is being done to serve customers. We are making progress to fill several key executive positions in an organization that will be structured to allow greater execution at the business unit level. In the near future, we expect to announce a President, First Energy Utilities, as well as a Chief Operating Officer. The President, First Energy Utilities, will oversee five business unit executives who will lead our state operations and our standalone transmission companies. In our new organization, the business unit executives will have P&L responsibility and will be accountable for regulatory direction and outcomes, as well as operational performance. The chief operating officer will lead the customer experience group and a range of T&D functions, including planning, construction, system operations, safety, and compliance. Five months into my role, I'm more excited than ever about the future of First Energy. We are building a strong foundation of operational and financial excellence. We are using our strengthened balance sheet to invest in our people and our system for reliability, resiliency, and in support of the energy transition. We are poised to capitalize on these opportunities to continue to grow the company and create a strong investment opportunity for investors. Thank you for joining us today. I look forward to seeing many of you at the EEI conference next month and talking more about the progress we're making at First Energy. Now, I will turn the call over to John for more financial detail.