UNITIL Corporation

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the first quarter 2026 Unitil earnings 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 one one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Chris Golding, Vice President, Finance and Regulatory. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us to discuss Unitil Corporation's first quarter 2026 financial results. Speaking on the call today will be Tom Eisner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. and Dan Herstock, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Also with us today are Bob Hebert, President and Chief Administrative Officer, and Todd Diggins, Chief Accounting Officer and Controller. We will discuss financial and other information on this call. As we mentioned in the press release announcing today's call, we have posted information including a presentation to the investor section of our website at unitel.com. We will refer to that information during this call. Moving to slide two, the comments made today about future operating results or events are forward-looking statements under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risk and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted. Statements made on this call should be considered together with cautionary statements and other information contained in our most recent and your report on Form 10-K and other documents we have filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of today and we assume no obligation to update them. This presentation contains non-GAAP financial measures. The accompanying supplemental information more fully describes these non-GAAP financial measures and includes a reconciliation to the nearest GAAP financial measures. The company believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful in evaluating its performance. With that, I will now turn the call over to Chairman and CEO, Tom Eisner.

Great. Thanks, Chris. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. I'll begin on slide three, where today we announced adjusted net income, excluding transaction-related costs of $33.8 million, and adjusted earnings per share of $1.88 for the first quarter of 2026. This represents an increase of 14 cents per share, or 8%, compared to the first quarter of 2025. We are fully earning our authorized returns on a trailing 12-month basis with a GAAP return on equity of 9.6%. We have several positive business updates to share this quarter. Integration work for our main gas acquisitions has proceeded as planned. Bangor Natural Gas was fully integrated last year, And the integration of Maine natural gas is now substantially complete, with most corporate services now being provided by Unitil. In other business, we recently received an order for our New Hampshire electric rate case, approving the settlement agreement in its entirety. We also recently filed a rate case for Northern Utilities gas subsidiary in New Hampshire. We expect to file a gas rate case for Northern Utilities in Maine on or about June 1st. Dan will provide additional details about these rate filings later during this call. Given the strong results of the first quarter, we are reaffirming our 2026 guidance range of $3.20 to $3.36 per share, with a midpoint of $3.28. We are also reaffirming our long-term earnings growth of 5% to 7%. Turning to slide four, We are now the largest natural gas utility in Maine, serving approximately 90% of all gas customers. The acquisitions of Bangor Natural Gas and Maine Natural Gas meaningfully increased our rate base and will be accretive to earnings over the long term. In the most recent quarter, Bangor Natural Gas contributed $5.1 million, and Maine Natural Gas contributed $6.1 million to adjusted gross gas margins. resulting in a combined $4.1 million of incremental net income before considering financing costs for main natural gas that are currently being incurred by Unitil Corporation in the short term. As I mentioned, all integration work for Bangor Natural Gas was completed last year, and we recently completed the integration work for most corporate services for main natural gas. The success of these integration efforts was made possible by leveraging our experienced workforce and by our seasoned locally managed operational framework. We continue to realize the operating and financial benefits of these transactions consistent with our original expectations. The next significant milestone for these companies will be to establish cost of service rates under Unitil's ownership with rate filings expected in the first half of 2027. Turning now to slide five, we continue to monitor regulatory approvals in Connecticut pertaining to the sale of Aquarian from Eversource Energy to the Aquarian Water Authority. This sale received approval from the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on March 25th. More recently, on April 30th, the authority denied a petition for reconsideration, and we understand the current appeal period will now expire in mid-June, absent any additional filings in this proceeding. The closing of this transaction between Eversource Energy and the Aquarian Water Authority must occur prior to our transaction with the Water Authority. As I've said before, the Aquarian Water Companies are an ideal fit with our existing utility operations, given their geographic proximity, potential for synergies, and strong growth profile. We view the pending acquisition as highly complementary to our fully regulated portfolio. supporting rate-based growth above the upper end of our long-term range and enabling opportunities for future growth. Building on our successful integration of the main gas acquisitions, we are well-positioned to integrate these water companies following the closing of the transaction. With that, I'll now pass it over to Dan, who will provide greater detail on our first quarter financial results.