Genie Energy Ltd.

Good morning and welcome to Genie Energy's third quarter 2023 earnings call. Until the Q&A portion of the call, all participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation by Genie Energy's management, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Brian Siegel of Hayden IR.

Thank you, operator. With me today are Michael Stein, Genie Energy's CEO, and Avi Golden, Genie Energy's CFO, who will discuss operational and financial results. Any forward-looking statements made during this conference call, whether general or specific in nature, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, Those discussed in the reports that we filed periodically with the SEC. Jeannie assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements that we have made or may make or to update the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that we forecast. During the remarks, management makes reference to adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure. Management believes that its measure of adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to both management and investors that supplement our core operating results. Our earnings release, which is posted on the Gini.com IR page, includes a reconciliation of consolidated adjusted EBITDA to its nearest comparable gap measures, consolidated debt income and income from operations, for all periods presented. In addition, adjusted EBITDA for applicable segments are reconciled in the earnings release to their respective segments' income from operations for all periods presented. I will now turn the conference over to Michael Stein, Gini's Chief Executive Officer.

Thank you, Brian. Welcome to Genie Energy's third quarter earnings call. Our momentum from the first half of the year continued into Q3, with record quarterly revenues and nearly $19 million in adjusted EBITDA, driven mainly by GRE's investments in retail customer acquisition since early in the year. Additionally, Genie Renewables, or GRU, continued to expand its pipeline of potential projects while moving forward in the construction process with two of its projects. At GRE, we added 60,000 gross new meters in the quarter, up 81% from Q3 of last year. However, we were less aggressive in adding customers compared to the first half of the year, and therefore, our CEN meters were essentially flat sequentially, despite year-over-year growth of 49% and 42% respectively. Our return rate was down 30 basis points from last year at 4.4%, While we were not as aggressive as in the first half, we continued to capitalize on pockets of customer acquisition opportunities during the quarter. At GRU, we added two projects comprising nine megawatts to our development pipeline during the quarter, while continuing to build out the two New York projects under construction. As a result of our strong performance year to date and overall 2023 outlook, we are increasing our previous consolidated adjusted EBITDA guidance range of 47 to 55 million to 52 to 57 million. This range increase reflects our strong third quarter and continued optimism about the business as we head into the winter. Remember, these results also represent a significant increase from our pre-2022 normalized EBITDA range of $25 to $30 million, and these are consolidated configures even after allowing for our continued investment in GRU. These higher expectations reflect our larger customer base, transition to operating exclusively in domestic retail markets, and our focus on continuously enhancing our analytical and operational capabilities. For the fourth quarter, we expect to continue to invest in new retail customer acquisitions. With wholesale energy costs remaining at lower levels, we will continue to pursue targeted opportunities created by the higher legacy cost-based rates of certain incumbent utilities. This organic, targeted growth strategy should enable us to expand our meter-based cost effectively, albeit at a lower growth rate than in the first half of the year. Looking to the fourth quarter for GRU, we are making solid progress toward completing our Perry, New York solar farm and are in the construction phase for our Lansing, New York project. Of course, we will also continue looking for opportunities to expand our pipeline of potential projects. To wrap up, we delivered yet another quarter of strong operational and financial results while continuing to position ourselves to create incremental medium to long-term value with our solar pipeline. Now, I'll turn the call over to Avi for his discussion of Q3 financial results.