Spire Inc.

Good morning, and welcome to SPIRE's 2022 first quarter earnings call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event has been recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Scott Dudley, head of investor relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning and welcome to SPIRE's fiscal 2022 first quarter earnings call. We issued an earnings news release this morning and you may access it on our website at spireenergy.com under newsroom. There is a slide presentation that accompanies our webcast and you may download it from either the webcast site or from our website under investors and then events and presentations. Before we begin, let me cover our safe harbor statement and use of non-GAAP earnings measures. Today's call, including responses to questions, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Security Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although our forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there are various uncertainties and risk factors that may cause future performance or results to be different than those anticipated. These risks and uncertainties are outlined in our quarterly and annual filings with the SEC. In our comments, we will be discussing net economic earnings and contribution margin, which are both non-GAAP measures used by management when evaluating our performance and results of operations. Explanations and reconciliations of these measures to their GAAP counterparts are contained in both our news release and the slide presentation. On the call today is Suzanne Sutherwood, SPIRE's President and CEO, Steve Lindsey, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, and Steve Rasche, Executive Vice President and CFO. Also in the room today are Scott Carter, President of SPIRE Missouri, and Adam Woodard, Vice President and Treasurer and CFO of our gas utilities. With that, I'll turn the call over to Suzanne.

Thank you, Scott, and good morning to those participating on the call. Here in the St. Louis region, we're expecting a major winter storm. Thus, our SPIRE employees are busy this week keeping people warm and keeping our community safe with natural gas service and supply. I'd like to take a quick moment to express our gratitude for everyone who's working around the clock to provide reliable and resilient natural gas. That's our number one goal. That's exactly what we're here to do. At SPIRE, everything begins and ends with our mission. Answer every challenge, advance every community, and enrich every life through the strength of our energy. We use that energy to make a positive, measurable impact on the world around us. Our energy keeps us stepping forward, advancing, and innovating, and energizing the future. And we continue in that spirit regardless of challenges. As you know, we faced a number of challenges over the last year or so. including an unprecedented order in our recently completed Missouri rate review and a challenge to the continued operation of SPIRE SEL pipeline. As fiscal 2022 unfolds, we continue to work through these issues, including moving forward to address the significant shortcomings in the Missouri rate order that went into effect late December. Specifically, we are already taking steps to prepare a new general rate review to ensure a fair and reasonable regulatory outcome for the future. At the same time, we're working through the remand process at Burke to secure a permanent operating certificate for SPIRE STL pipeline. Amid these challenges, we have remained steadfast in delivering on our strategic priorities and commitments. We continue to invest in significant amounts of capital into our utilities for upgrading infrastructure, gaining new businesses by adding customer connections and furthering our innovation through technology. We're doing this while enhancing all aspects of our operating performance, from customer service to safety and system reliability, including reductions in methane emissions as we fulfill our commitment to be a carbon-neutral company by mid-century. Steve Lindsey will provide more information in his remarks, including regulatory matters in Missouri, the SPIRE-STL pipeline, and our capital investments to date. Know that in everything we do, we always strive to provide significant support for our communities and create increased value for our shareholders. Steve Rasche will provide details on our first quarter earnings. As you have probably already seen in our news release, we reported $1.14 per share, which reflected the impact of warmer weather and higher costs. Now, I'll pass the call to Steve Lozzi.