SJW Group

Welcome to the SJW Group Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Andrew Walters, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Welcome to the second quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call for SJW Group. I will be presenting today with Eric Thornburg, Chair of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer. For those who would like to follow along, slides accompanying our remarks are available on our web site at sjwgroup.com. Before we begin today, I would like to remind you that this presentation and related materials posted on our website may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by the company in light of its experience, historical trends, current conditions, and expected future results as well as other factors that the company believes are appropriate under the circumstances. Many factors could cause the company's actual results and performance to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. From a description of some of the factors that could cause actual results to be different from statements in the presentation, we refer you to the financial results press release and to our most recent forms, 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be obtained on our website. All forward-looking statements are made as of today, and SJW Group disclaims any duty to update or revise such statements. You will have an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the presentation. And as a reminder, this webcast is being recorded, and an archive of the webcast will be available until October 23, 2023. You can access the press release and the webcast at our corporate website. I will now turn the call over to Eric Thornburg. Eric?

Welcome everyone and thank you for joining us. I'm Eric Thornburg and it is my honor to serve as chair, president, and CEO of SJW Group. 2023 continues to be a successful year for our company with a strong second quarter performance that has advanced key elements of our growth strategy. We achieved constructive regulatory outcomes on our California cost of capital proceeding that allows for an increased return on equity and balances the needs of customers and capital providers. A Connecticut WICA effective on April 1st and approval in Texas of our KT water resources acquisition. Future earnings growth will be driven by the California water cost of capital mechanism, system improvement charge in Texas, and general rate cases and infrastructure investment surcharges in Connecticut and Maine. We also invested $115.7 million in water and wastewater utility infrastructure through the second quarter, which is 45% of our $255 million 2023 capital expenditure plan and continued to progress towards our 2030 goal of 50% reduction in scope one and scope two emissions through the electrification of our vehicle fleet and expanded use of biofuels. In California, 8% of our fleet is electrified, and 24% now runs on biofuel. We also delivered earnings per diluted share of 58 cents, which is in line with our guidance. Andrew will review our financial results and regulatory updates in our state operations. Andrew?