NiSource Inc

Hello, and thank you for standing by. My name is Tiffany, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Q4 2025 NYSource earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during that time, Simply press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to turn the call over to Durgesh Chopra, Vice President of Investor Relations. Durgesh, please go ahead.

Thank you, Tiffany. Good morning, and welcome to NYSource's fourth quarter 2025 investor call. Joining me today are President and Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Yates, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Sean Anderson, Executive Vice President of Technology, Customer, and Chief Commercial Officer Michael Oers, and Executive Vice President and Group President of NYSource Utilities, Melody Birmingham. Today we'll review NYSource's financial performance for the fourth quarter and share updates on operations, strategy, and growth drivers. Then we'll open the call for your questions. Slides for today's call are available in the investor relations section of our website. Some 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 risk factors and MDA sections of our periodic SEC filings. Additionally, some statements made on this call relate to non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the supplemental slides, segment information, and full financial schedules for information on the most directly comparable GAAP measure and a reconciliation of these measures. With that, I'll turn the call over to Lloyd.

Thank you, Dagesh, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today. I begin on slide three. At NYSource, we exist to deliver safe, reliable, and competitive energy that drives value to our customers. Creating that value depends on disciplined capital deployment, operational excellence, and constructive regulatory frameworks that enable timely recovery of investments. These core principles generate competitive returns, strengthen our balance sheet, and form the foundation of our business strategy. Before we cover our standard business updates, I'd like to highlight the successful year for NiceSource. In 2025, we effectively executed an agreement with Amazon, and as detailed in our special contract filing with the IURC, we are anticipating $1 billion to flow back to Nipskill customers, equating to an estimated $7 to $9 per customer per month upon Amazon's full ramp. Our base business continues to deliver for our shareholders, achieving a full-year adjusted EPS of $1.90 per share and FFO to debt of 16.1%. Both results surpassing our guidance range. Today, NYSource's value proposition is driven by our regulated utility operations across six highly constructed jurisdictions, providing diversification in both asset type and regulatory environments. As we continue to invest in modernizing our electric and gas infrastructure, we remain focused on supporting economic growth, advancing innovative solutions like our GenCo model, and maintaining a strong commitment to a customer affordability and stakeholder value. On slide four, we highlight our key priorities. Delivering value for our customers has always been and continues to be one of our highest priorities We have proactively deployed proven regulatory and rate design tools to mitigate bill impact and protect customers from external cost pressures. In Pennsylvania, customers benefit from the weather normalization mechanism, which prevents bill spikes during colder months and from a higher fixed charge that helps stabilize the impact of changing usage. These protections were negotiated during our last rate case and have already prevented heightened bill increases since implementation in January. Similarly, in Ohio, our fixed variable rate design smooths the bill impacts associated with necessary investments to maintain system safety and reliability and can cut total bill increases in half relative to higher volumetric rate design structures. Our landmark agreement with Amazon further demonstrates our commitment to affordability This agreement will return approximately $1 billion in value to our Indiana customers, translating into meaningful bill reductions over a 15-year period. Customers also benefit from NYSource's scale and discipline planning. During the recent severe winter storm, we leveraged low-cost gas from our storage assets, which served roughly 75% of our total load at below market prices, which helped limit customer bill impacts. In addition, our flat O&M objective across the platform constrains cost growth and reduces the pass-through of investment-related expenses to customer bills. Together, these proactive measures enable us to invest approximately $28 billion over the next five years to modernize and maintain our infrastructure. while continuing to prioritize safety and reliability and targeting average annual bill increases of less than 5%. We have advanced our gas system support by securing a final order in Pennsylvania and adding supportive legislation in Ohio, which will improve rate making and reduce regulatory lag. In Indiana, our contract with Amazon is pending before the IURC, with a decision expected in the first half of this year. Today, we reported fourth quarter adjusted EPS of 51 cents, bringing our year-to-date total to $1.90, and we are reaffirming 2026 consolidated adjusted EPS guidance of $2.02 to $2.07. Despite these strong financial commitments, we believe significant upside remains across the outlook of our plan from developing projects supporting data center growth, orange shoring of manufacturing, and robust economic development across our territories. Now let's turn to slide five. At NYSource, safety is our top priority and the foundation of operational excellence. In 2025, We maintain ISO 55001 and API 1173 certifications, underscoring our commitment to a strong safety management system. Our investments in system resilience and emergency preparedness proved invaluable this winter. During one of the most significant storms in the last decade, while many communities across the country experienced widespread allergies, our customers remain safe and warm with limited service disruption across our footprint. Over the past year, we accelerated critical safety initiatives, including installing over 545,000 smart meters and surveying more than 41,000 miles of pipelines with advanced mobile leak detection technology, both exceeding targets and enhancing system reliability. Operational performance was further strengthened by leveraging AI, analytics, and our work management intelligence system, which improved productivity and is being expanded into supply chain and reliability functions. Project Apollo continues to drive cost savings and process improvements, enhancing service quality, and we remain focused on customer affordability, targeting annual bill increases below 5% across our territories over the planned horizons. Regarding our regulatory agenda on slide six, we secured important outcomes in the fourth quarter, including approval of our Pennsylvania rate case in December and continued progress across our tracker platforms. We expect to benefit from improved regulatory support in Ohio following recently enacted utility legislation. Together, these developments reduce regulatory lag, align cost recovery with investment timing, and reinforce our constructive jurisdictional framework. In Indiana, we continue active engagement with the IURC as we advance filings tied to generation transition, fuel recovery, and our economic development initiatives. In 2025, the Indiana Economic Development Team managed one of the strongest pipelines in recent years, supporting over 140 active projects across the service territory. In Virginia, which remains the data center capital of the world, our team has fielded more than 40 data center inquiries in 2025. We are currently engaged in approximately two dozen active data center projects, advancing gas infrastructure opportunities to support customer needs. As we look forward to our regulatory agenda in 2026, we currently do not have any pending rate cases. but as typical for our business, some level of regulatory activity will likely occur. We are committed to working collaboratively with stakeholders to make investments that maintain safe, reliable service for our communities. We also continue to engage actively with policymakers at both the federal and state level. In December, NIPSCO received a federal order directing continued operation of our Shaper coal plant beyond its planned retirement. We will comply with this and any future orders we might receive. Our capital strategy remains adaptable to meet regulatory requirements and to maintain financial stability. We filed a proposed new schedule for cost recovery with FERC in line with the DOE mandated coal plant extension. Our commitment to providing safe and dependable energy remains steadfast. We are monitoring developments related to EPA reliability regulations, MISO accreditation changes, and state-level customer initiatives. Our diversified footprint and integrated electric and gas operations positions as well to adapt to evolving policy. We have a well-defined plan for executing our data center initiative marked by key milestones as noted on slide seven. Right now, we're advancing the Amazon project and we are on track On February 2nd, our zoning application for five parcels was approved by the Jasper County Commissioners, a key step for our data center strategy. This approval reflects our commitment to transparency and stakeholder collaboration, as well as Indiana's support for economic growth. Our next major milestone includes IURC approval of the special contract and commencing civil site works. We'll update you as we reach and progress towards key milestones over the next several quarters. We're focused on discipline construction execution, leveraging our proven track record of delivering large-scale generation projects on time and on budget. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Sean.