FirstEnergy Corp.

Hello, and welcome to First Energy Corp.'s second quarter earnings call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Karen Sagot, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to First Energy's second quarter 2026 earnings review. Our earnings release, presentation, and related financial information are available on our website at firstenergycorp.com slash IR. Today's discussion will include the use of non-GAAP financial measures and forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors discussed in our earnings news release during today's conference call and in our SEC filings could cause our actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. The appendix of today's presentation includes supplemental information along with the reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures. Please read our cautionary statements and discussion of non-GAAP financial measures on slides two and three of the presentation. Our Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Brian Tierney will lead our call today, and he will be joined by Jon Taylor, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Now it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Brian.

Thank you, Karen, and good morning, everyone. We have made significant progress in key strategic and regulatory priorities and are executing well against our 2026 plan. I'm excited to share with you today the strides we have made and the opportunities we are pursuing. We delivered another quarter of solid financial and operational performance. We are reaffirming our 2026 $6 billion capital investment plan and our core earnings guidance range of $2.62 per share to $2.82. Jon will take you through the second quarter details later in the call. We are also reaffirming our $36 billion five-year capital investment plan and our core earnings growth near the top end of 6% to 8% through 2030, with meaningful upside opportunities that I'll describe later. Our performance reflects strong execution and financial discipline, a fundamental change in how we operate, how we adapt, how we invest, and how we serve our customers. We're executing across every part of our business, were advancing constructive regulatory outcomes within our footprint, deploying customer-focused capital at a record pace, and delivering the financial performance we expected through the first half of the year. This performance is important not only because it demonstrates disciplined execution, but also positions us to capture future growth opportunities that can meaningfully expand First Energy's long-term earnings growth. And that's where the story becomes even more compelling. were now focused on both executing today's plan and creating pathways that have the potential to strengthen it. Perhaps the clearest example is the demand we're seeing from data centers. Across our system, total forecasted data center demand has increased 30% since the first quarter to approximately 25 gigawatts. And during the second quarter alone, we contracted an additional 2.1 gigawatts bringing our total contracted demand to 6.4 gigawatts. We expect an additional 1.5 gigawatts to enter into contracts in the next couple of weeks. For perspective, our contracted and pipeline demand now represents approximately 70% of our July system peak load of 34.8 gigawatts. That illustrates both the scale of the opportunity ahead and the confidence customers have in First Energy as a long-term partner. And we are seeing even more compelling opportunity emerge in West Virginia. We are making significant progress toward approval of the 1.2 gigawatt Maidsville Energy Center. But what excites me most isn't simply one project, it's what that project represents. Today we have 4.3 gigawatts of contracted and pipeline data center demand in West Virginia, and we expect that to increase by the end of the year. As the demand continues to develop, we believe First Energy is uniquely positioned to provide the generation needed to support that growth, creating significant opportunities for additional investment while supporting economic development across the state. We're evaluating the right structure to support that future growth, including the potential for structures that would allow Monpower or Potomac Edison West Virginia to enter into a wholesale power agreement with an affiliated generation company. Whether in a regulated vehicle or Genco, our principles remain unchanged. We want to bring new generation online faster, protect and create value for existing customers, support economic growth, and deliver appropriate market-based returns for those investing in our company. We are in the process of developing an RFP for the major equipment needed to support the next generation plant, and we've started the site selection process. We plan to give you more insight into the timing of the next generation plant later this year. We are making progress in other jurisdictions as well. Ohio's new regulatory framework is constructive as demonstrated by a recent three-year rate plan settlement involving a peer utility. The framework enhances transparency for customers, regulators and other stakeholders. It also gives us greater visibility into future financial performance through a three-year forward-looking test year with annual true-ups, enabling more effective planning and investment to address evolving system needs. Our three-year rate plan filing is on track with the staff report due by November 30th and hearings scheduled to begin March 1st with an order anticipated on time in the second quarter of 2027. In New Jersey, We are working collaboratively with the governor's office, regulators, and local stakeholders and are encouraged by the ongoing engagement. We plan on making a base rate case filing this quarter and have held pre-filing meetings with administration and BPU staff. We remain focused on making investments to enhance reliability and deliver long-term value for our customers and communities as they have demanded and we have committed. In West Virginia, The state understands the meaningful opportunity for the economic development in front of them and they appreciate the importance of reliable energy to drive growth. We are committed to supporting the needs of the state and our customers and are excited about the incremental investments. Our transmission business represents a significant growth driver with a 16% compound annual growth rate through 2030 in the current plan. As a longstanding investment priority, it continues to offer meaningful expansion potential beyond the current plan through organic investment needs, competitive development projects, and data center demand. When you look across our portfolio, we have created a breadth of growth opportunities. We are building optionality into the business, creating avenues for growth that strengthen our current plan and position First Energy to capitalize on the changing energy landscape. I'll now hand over to Jon, who will walk us through our financial results and provide details on key regulatory updates.