Fortis Inc.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for standing by. My name is Joelle and I will be your conference operator today. Welcome to Fortis Q3 2024 earnings conference call and webcast. During the call, all participants will be in listen-only mode. There will be a question and answer session following the presentation. At that time, those with questions should press star followed by the one on your telephone. If at any time during the conference you need to reach an operator, please press star zero At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Stephanie Amimo. Please go ahead, Ms. Amimo.

Thanks, Joelle, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Fortis' third quarter 2024 results conference call. I'm joined by David Hutchins, President and CEO, Jocelyn Perry, Executive VP and CFO, other members of the senior management team, as well as CEOs from certain subsidiaries. Before we begin today's call, I want to remind you that the discussion will include forward-looking information, which is subject to the cautionary statement contained in the supporting slideshow. Actual results can differ materially from the forecast projections included in the forward-looking information presented today. All non-GAAP financial measures referenced in our prepared remarks are reconciled to the related U.S. GAAP financial measures in our third quarter 2024 MD&A. Also, unless otherwise specified, all financial information referenced is in Canadian dollars. With that, I will turn the call over to David.

Thank you and good morning, everyone. The third quarter was another solid quarter in the books for Fortis. Operationally, we continue to deliver safe and reliable service to our customers, and financially, our results continue to demonstrate the success of our regulated growth strategy. Through September, we invested $3.6 billion in our energy systems, and we expect capital expenditures of $5.2 billion for the year. During the quarter, we also announced our 2025 to 2029 capital plan of $26 billion, supporting average annual rate-based growth of 6.5% through 2029. Additionally, in September, our Board of Directors declared an increase in the fourth quarter dividend of approximately 4% and extended our 4% to 6% annual dividend growth guidance to 2029. And beyond the plan, momentum continues to build on the tranche 2.1 projects associated with the MISO long-range transmission plan, as well as other investment opportunities. As mentioned, our annual 2024 capital program is now expected to be $5.2 billion, or $400 million higher, driven mainly by timing of expenditures associated with the Eagle Mountain Pipeline project in British Columbia. Our new five-year capital plan of $26 billion is $1 billion higher than the previous five-year plan, driven primarily by projects associated with the MISO LRTP and resiliency investments at ITC, as well as growth at Fortis Alberta. The capital plan remains low-risk and highly executable, with nearly all being regulated investments and only 23% consisting of major capital projects. The five-year plan supports our transition to cleaner energy resources and includes investments that enhance and strengthen our infrastructure and support customer growth. As we execute our capital plan, we remain keenly focused on investing in the resiliency of our energy systems while maintaining customer affordability. We continue to control operating costs and support programs such as energy efficiency and bill assistance, as well as secure tax credits for the benefit of our customers. Over the five-year horizon, rate base is expected to increase by approximately $14 billion to $53 billion by 2029, supporting average annual rate base growth of 6.5%, which is up from 6.3% in our prior five-year plan. In September, MISO released its final map of the tranche 2.1 LRTP projects, with 24 projects totaling $21.8 billion U.S., The projects are subject to MISO Board approval, which is anticipated next month. ITC estimates its portion of tranche 2.1 to be at least 3 billion U.S. dollars of investment, the majority of which is expected beyond 2029. The estimate assumes ITC's expected portions of two projects in southern Minnesota and three projects in Michigan where rights of first refusal are in effect. Other transmission investments continue to progress as they relate to customer connections. Notably, ITC, in collaboration with Alliant Energy, received approval in October under MISO's expedited review process for the Big Cedar load expansion project in Iowa. This project relates to transmission upgrades to serve up to 1,600 megawatts of new data center load at the Big Cedar Industrial Center. The first phase of the project would require transmission upgrades to support 800 megawatts of new load with a targeted in-service date of 2027. And phase two requires another 800 megawatts with an in-service date of 2028. The project requires franchise approvals from the Iowa Utilities Commission prior to construction. The transmission project has a potential investment of up to 400 million U.S. dollars. In our view, this development underscores the attractiveness of the Midwest region for future growth. With ample land availability, high renewable penetration, competitive utility rates, and overall speed to market aided by MISO's expedited review process, we see this as a positive step forward in bringing tangible load growth to the region. We continue to make progress on new data center, mining, and manufacturing opportunities across several of our jurisdictions and are working to secure additional investments in Arizona related to our integrated resource plan as we transition to cleaner energy. Last month, TEP's 2023 IRP was acknowledged by the Arizona Corporation Commission based on modest load growth projections of 1.5% per year. Since the IRP was prepared, our load growth expectations have increased as reflected in our current capital plan. In fact, TEP is seeing significant service requests from data centers and other large potential customers that could create substantial new energy needs above our current expectations. But at this point, it is difficult to estimate what percentage of that will come to fruition. We are making progress in negotiations with one large new customer, while others are at various stages of the process. We are actively developing the infrastructure options to serve this growth. If this new retail growth materializes, it would drive significant upside to our existing capital plan and sales growth in Arizona. And with TEP being a vertically integrated utility, we have the ability to invest in generation, transmission, and distribution to serve these opportunities. We expect this load growth to be met with a combination of gas, renewables, and storage, depending on the customer's needs. To advance these opportunities, we expect regulatory approvals will be required outside our standard tariffs to ensure protections are in place to avoid negatively impacting our existing customers. We expect more visibility into these negotiations over the next few quarters. As a reminder, this new retail load would be on top of the $2.5 to $5 billion U.S. dollars of investments expected from UNS's IRPs outside the existing plan, as well as the at least $3 billion U.S. at ITC for Tranche 2.1, as well as other transmission opportunities as part of the New York Transco. overall we remain bullish about our long capex runway and the role we play in to support climate adaptation grid resiliency load growth and the clean energy transition across our footprint as highlighted in september our board of directors declared a 4.2 percent increase in our fourth quarter dividend marking 51 years of consecutive dividend increases During the third quarter, we also extended our annual dividend growth guidance of 4% to 6% through 2029. Now I will turn the call over to Jocelyn for an update on our third quarter financial results.