Fortis Inc.

Thank you for standing by. This is Michael, the conference operator. Welcome to the Fortis, Inc. First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star then 0. I would now like to turn the conference over to Stephanie Amimo, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Ms. Amimo.

Thank you, Michael, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Fortis' first quarter 2025 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. Non-GAAP financial measures referenced in our prepared remarks are reconciled to the related U.S. GAAP financial measures in our first quarter 2025 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. We are off to a strong start in 2025. During the quarter, we delivered safe and reliable service to our customers while successfully executing on our capital plan by investing $1.4 billion in our utility systems. Financially, we reported earnings per share of $1, representing a 7-cent increase over the same quarter last year. And on the regulatory front, we received a constructive outcome in British Columbia on FortisBC's multi-year rate framework. Our 2025 capital plan remains on track, with 27% invested in the first quarter. And with our $26 billion five-year capital plan focused on transmission investments at ITC, the resource transition in Arizona, and investments that strengthen our infrastructure and support customer growth across all of our utilities, we are positioned well to deliver on our growth strategy. We expect rate base to increase by approximately $14 billion to $53 billion by 2029, supporting average annual rate base growth of 6.5%. As we advance our five-year capital plan, we are closely monitoring changes in government policies, including tariffs and their potential impacts on inflation, supply chain availability, and general economic conditions. Based on our initial assessment, we don't expect significant near-term impacts to our 2025 capital plan. In the event tariffs result in higher costs, we would expect to recover the impacts through normal regulatory mechanisms. We will be mindful of the impacts on customer affordability should tariffs result in higher costs that persist over the long term. We continue to actively pursue incremental investment opportunities, particularly at ITC and Tucson Electric Power. At ITC, the team continues to work on the 3.7 to 4.2 billion U.S. dollars of capital expenditures for MISO LRTP Tranche 2.1 projects located in Michigan and Minnesota, where rofers are in effect, and for system upgrades in Iowa. As a reminder, the majority of these investments for Tranche 2.1 are expected beyond 2029. While the legislative session proceeds in Iowa, we also continue to advocate for for ROFR legislation as part of the governor's energy bill, as there is still time to get it approved before the legislature adjourns. Beyond the MISO LRTP projects, ITC has sizable opportunities for load interconnections. This includes the Big Cedar load expansion project, as well as the potential for over 5,000 megawatts of additional load as several proposed data center and economic development projects proceed. In Arizona, TEP continues to work through advanced negotiations for new retail load growth, including a customer with a 300 megawatt initial phase that would use existing and planned capacity and start to ramp in the 2027 timeframe. We expect updates to follow later this year if a final agreement is reached. As a reminder, these large customer opportunities will be in addition to the 2.5 to 5 billion US dollars of incremental investment opportunity associated with UNS Energy's integrated resource plans. Additional opportunities are also underway at our other utilities as we work to build the infrastructure needed to support load growth, improve grid resiliency, and facilitate the interconnection of new energy resources. With a long track record of increasing dividends for the past 51 consecutive years, coupled with our low-risk growth strategy, we are committed to 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 first quarter financial results.