Northwest Natural Holding Company

by pressing star 1 on your telephone keypad. I now have the pleasure of handing you over to your host, Nikki. Nikki, please go ahead.

Thank you, Natasha. Good morning and welcome to our first quarter 2024 earnings call. As a reminder, some things that will be said this morning contain forward-looking statements. They are based on management's assumptions, which may or may not occur. For a complete list of cautionary statements, refer to the language at the end of our press release. We expect to file our 10Q later today. As mentioned, this teleconference is being recorded and will be available on our website following the call. Please note these calls are designed for the financial community. If you are an investor and have additional questions after the call, please contact me directly at 503-721-2530. News media may contact David Roy at 503-610-7157. Speaking this morning are David Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, and Brody Wilson, CFO, Vice President, Treasurer, and Chief Accounting Officer. David and Brody have prepared remarks and then will be available along with other members of our executive team to answer your questions. With that, I will turn it over to David.

Thanks, Nikki, and good morning, everyone. This morning, I'll walk through a few financial and economic indicators and some takeaways from a winter peak event that we experienced. Brody will go through the quarter's results and then I'll wrap up with an update on decarbonization activities in our water and renewables company. To begin with, our financial results are on track for the year and in line with our full year guidance that we issued in February. We reported net income of $1.69 per share in the first quarter compared to net income of $2.01 per share for the same period last year. As discussed on the year end call in February, results in 2024 reflect a combination of regulatory lag, related to our capital investments and inflationary pressures. It's the reason we filed an Oregon general rate case at the end of 2023. First quarter 2024 results included higher pension, depreciation, and interest expense compared to the same period in 2023. Related to our gas utility service territory, despite seeing some signs of softening, Oregon's unemployment rate remains low at 4.2%. Unemployment rates in our water service territories were as low as 3.2%, at our Rose Valley utility located just outside of Phoenix, Arizona. Single-family building permits posted double-digit growth for five of the nine counties our water utilities served for the 12 months ended March 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Population growth in 2023 was as high as 4.7% in Texas, where our Blue Topaz utilities are based, and 2.1% growth in Yuma, Arizona, where our largest water utilities serve customers. Collectively, our gas and water utility customer base grew 1.7% over the last 12 months. Essential energy service to our customers was at the forefront again this past winter. Frigid temperatures, severe wind, and snow hit the Pacific Northwest region for about a week in January. Our region and nation were reminded once again of the critical life-saving energy the natural gas system provides and the long-term energy reliability benefits our system delivers to the region. Northwest Naturals customers relied heavily on our system. We hit a new peak day record on Saturday, January 13th, delivering 8 million therms of natural gas to sales customers. That's 100,000 therms more than our previous record set in December 22, and about double our average daily winter send-out. MIST, our on-system gas storage facility, delivered a new record volume that same Saturday, providing essential support for our entire region's electric and gas energy systems throughout the event. I'm pleased to report that our employees rose to the occasion and ensured that our system performed well, supporting direct use of natural gas in appliances like gas fireplaces, water heaters, stoves, and generators when the electric system was experiencing widespread power outages. During the highest energy use hour, Northwest Natural delivered 55% more energy than local electric providers combined. Despite decades of investment in renewables, the electric system for the United States sourced only 7% of its power that week from wind, solar, and hydro. Climate policies will only be successful if we as a modern society understand and acknowledge the essential role the gas system provides during these critical events. Our disciplined investments in the systems over many decades have resulted in the safe transportation of affordable energy to homes and businesses today. That's why we believe that two integrated systems, gas and electric, each doing what they do best is the right solution. It's a starting point for our climate strategy as we leverage our system already in place in new, innovative ways to continue driving down emissions even further. Voters in our service territory agree with us. We've surveyed voters the last five years, commissioning the research through a respected independent firm. Time and time again, the data shows that voters want a diversified set of energy solutions, citing reliability and affordability concerns. For example, three out of four voters continue to view natural gas system as essential. This has consistently been the view for the past five years. With increasing concern about power outages, 81% of voters today say we need both electricity and natural gas to reliably meet the energy needs. We appreciate voters increasing understanding of the essential role the natural gas system plays in an affordable, reliable, and decarbonized energy system. With that, let me turn it over to Brody to cover the financial.