NiSource Inc

Standing by and welcome to the Q4 2020 NYSource Earnings Conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. And after the speaker's remark, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If you should need operator assistance during the call, please press star 0. I would now like to turn the call over to your speaker today, Randy Hewlin, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer. Thank you. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, and welcome, everyone, to the NYSOR's fourth quarter 2020 investor call. Joining me today are Joe Hamrock, our Chief Executive Officer, Donald Brown, our Chief Financial Officer, and Shawn Anderson, our Chief Strategy and Risk Officer. The purpose of this presentation is to review NYSource's financial performance for the fourth quarter and full year 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, and Sean, 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 factors 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 that out of the way, I'd like to turn the call over to Joe.

Thanks, Randy. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Hopefully, you've all had a chance to read our fourth quarter and full year earnings release, which we issued earlier today. 2020 was a year like no other. Despite the challenges of a historic global pandemic, the Nisource team remained focused on our core mission of providing safe, reliable energy to our customers and the communities we serve while at the same time enhancing our position to execute on significant long-term growth opportunities. Our 2020 financial and operational results reflect the resiliency of our business and continued execution of our safety and asset modernization programs, as well as our transition away from coal generation. In Indiana, we completed two wind power projects in December, And we continue to expect that our infrastructure and generation investments will drive compound annual growth of 7% to 9% in net operating earnings per share from 2021 through 2024, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions 90% by 2030. Let's turn now to slide three and take a closer look at our key takeaways. In 2020, we delivered non-GAAP net operating earnings of $1.32 per share as our cost management and regulatory mitigation efforts reduced the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to some I've mentioned already, we achieved a number of other key milestones in 2020. We invested $1.7 billion in our gas and electric utilities, primarily on safety and asset modernization, which remains a top priority. We advanced and matured our safety management system and safety enhancement initiatives, and 70% of our low-pressure systems are now protected with automatic shutoff devices and remote monitoring. We launched our transformative NYSourceNext initiative to support our safety initiatives, build organizational capabilities, and enhance our efficiency. We sold the Columbia Gas of Massachusetts business, completing the transaction in eight months. We lowered the weighted average interest rate on our long-term debt by 60 basis points and enhanced our liquidity through the COVID-19 pandemic. And we continued to see strong demand for natural gas, experiencing a net gain of more than 30,000 gas customers across our six state footprints. We are today reaffirming our 2021 non-GAAP net operating earnings guidance of $1.28 to $1.36 per share. Consistent with the long-term growth plan we provided at Investor Day, we expect to make $1.9 to $2.2 billion in annual growth, safety, and asset modernization investments from 2021 through 2024. and $1.8 to $2 billion in renewable generation investments through 2023. I will note that we do expect an order in our Pennsylvania-based rate case in the first quarter, with rates that would be retroactive to January 23rd. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Donald, who will discuss our 2020 financial performance in more detail.