NiSource Inc

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Q3 2020 NYSource Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a time for question and answers. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star, then 1 on your telephone. If you require any further assistance, please press star, then 0, and an operator will come back on to assist you. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Mr. Nick Drew, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Amy. Good morning, and welcome to the NYSource Third Quarter 2020 Investor Call. Joining me today are Joe Hamrock, our Chief Executive Officer, Donald Brown, our Chief Financial Officer, Sean Anderson, our Chief Strategy and Risk Officer, and Randy Heelan, our Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasurer. The purpose of this presentation is to review NYSource's financial performance for the third quarter of 2020, as well as provide an update on our operations, growth drivers, and financing plans. Following our prepared remarks, we'll open the call to your questions. Slides for today's call are available on NYSource.com. Before turning the call over to Joe, Donald, Sean, and Randy, just a quick reminder. Some of the statements made during this presentation will be forward-looking. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the statements. Information concerning such risks and uncertainties is included in the MD&A and risk factor sections of our periodic SEC filings. Additionally, some of the statements made on this call relate to non-GAAP measures. For additional information on the most directly comparable GAAP measure and a reconciliation of these measures, please refer to the supplemental slides and segment information, including our full financial schedules, available at NYSource.com. With all of that out of the way, I'd now like to turn the call over to Joe.

Thanks, Nick. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Hopefully you've all had a chance to read our third quarter earnings release, which was issued earlier this morning. With 2020 in its home stretch, NYSource continues to execute on a path deliver premium value from our 100 regulated electric and gas utility platforms our teams are focused on continued execution of our safety and asset modernization programs and our transition to renewable energy in our electric business these investments are expected to drive compound annual growth of seven to nine percent in net operating earnings per share from 2021 through 2024 while reducing greenhouse gas emissions 90% by 2030. Sustaining this level of execution while maintaining safe, reliable energy service through the COVID-19 pandemic is a testament to the thousands of dedicated employees throughout NYSource. With the announcement of additional solar and storage energy projects in Indiana and the closing of the sale of Columbia Gas of Massachusetts last month, we have strengthened our foundation for future growth. So let's dive into the updates starting on slide three. We delivered non-GAAP net operating earnings of nine cents per share in the third quarter compared to zero cents in the same quarter a year ago. Our continued cost management and regulatory mitigation efforts are reducing the financial impacts of COVID-19, which we continue to monitor closely. Our transformational NYSource Next initiative is well underway and designed to enhance organizational capabilities, drive efficiencies, and maintain affordable service for our customers. Despite challenges related to the pandemic, we continue to expect to make $1.7 to $1.8 billion in capital investments in 2020, as our safety and asset modernization investments remain among our top priorities. We advanced our renewable generation strategy last month by reaching build transfer agreements with Nextera for three Indiana solar and storage projects, representing an $850 million capital investment for NIPSCO. On the regulatory front, we received approval of the sale of Columbia Gas of Massachusetts assets to Eversource, and the transaction closed on October 9th. We also reached a settlement in our gas base rate case in Maryland, and received approval of our latest capital expenditure program tracker update in Ohio. We are also today reaffirming non-GAAP net operating earnings per share guidance for 2021 in the range of $1.28 to $1.36, which includes an expected COVID impact of $0.05. And we are reaffirming the financial guidance that we provided at our investor day on September 29th. These include investments of $1.9 to $2.2 billion per year in safety, modernization, and growth from 2021 through 2024, $1.8 to $2 billion in incremental renewable generation investment opportunities across 2022 and 2023, and compound annual earnings per share growth of 7% to 9% from 2021 through 2024. with 5% to 7% annual growth in the near term. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Donald, who will discuss our third quarter financial performance in more detail.