WEC Energy Group, Inc.

based on management's expectations at the time they are made. In addition to the assumptions and other factors referred to in conjunction with the statements, factors described in WEC Energy Group's latest Form 10-K and subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated. During the discussions, Referenced earnings per share will be based on diluted earnings per share, unless otherwise noted. And it is now my pleasure to introduce Scott Lauber, President and Chief Executive Officer of WEC Energy Group.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today as we review our results for the second quarter of 2025. Here with me are Shaw Liu, our Chief Financial Officer, And Beth Straka, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. As you saw from our news release this morning, we reported earnings of 76 cents a share for the second quarter of 2025. We remain on track to deliver another year of strong results in line with our 2025 earnings guidance of $5.17 to $5.27 a share. This, of course, assumes normal weather for the remainder of the year. We continue to target a 6.5% to 7% long-term compound annual earnings growth rate supported by a robust capital plan and strong economic growth in our region. In Wisconsin, the unemployment rate stands at 3.2%, continuing a long-running trend below the national average. And as we've discussed, we're continuing to see strong and significant economic development in our region, especially along the I-94 corridor between Milwaukee and Chicago. Just last month, Yaskawa, one of the world's largest manufacturers of industrial products and robotics, announced it's moving from the company's US headquarters to Wisconsin and consolidating manufacturing operations here. The company stated, It plans to invest approximately $180 million to build this new campus, which is expected to create 700 jobs. Work continues on Microsoft's data center campus south of Milwaukee. We remain confident in our five-year demand growth forecast of 1.8 gigawatts to serve the I-94 corridor. In addition, we're seeing progress for a large data center development just north of Milwaukee. Vantage Data Centers signed on to develop approximately 1,900 acres. While the project is in the early stages, the site has the potential to reach 3.5 gigawatts of demand over time. As a reminder, this project is not included in our current demand forecast. These are just samples of the economic growth that we are seeing in our region. And just recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that ADP ranked Milwaukee second among metro areas in the U.S. for college graduates landing jobs. Turning to our capital plan, during the second quarter, we continue to move forward on major projects. As you know, it's the largest five-year investment plan in our history, totaling $28 billion and supporting economic growth and reliability. It's based on projects that are low risk and highly executable. Many of you have asked about the potential impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. On the wind and solar front, we are actively working on completing the safe harboring of the renewable projects in our five-year capital plan under the current Treasury guidance. We are awaiting further guidance from the Treasury Department to reflect the executive order issued in early July. As these rules become available, we will of course continue to work with our developers to achieve safe harbor. Now let me give you an update on projects currently underway. In May, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin unanimously approved our applications to build modern, efficient natural gas generation and storage. We have started construction on 1,100 megawatts of simple cycle combustion turbines with an expected investment of $1.2 billion. These are located at our Oak Creek power plant site. Also, near our existing Paris generation station, we plan to invest approximately $300 million for 128 megawatts of rice generation. To support the Oak Creek site, just this month, we received verbal approval to build a two BCF storage facility for liquefied natural gas. We expect the investment is approximately a $456 million to complete this LNG facility by the end of 2027. These are critical projects are part of our all of the above approach to support reliable and affordable energy for our customers. To that end, we announced in June that we plan to extend the operating lives of units seven and eight of our Oak Creek plant through 2026. These are coal units that continue to provide essential capacity at times of high energy demand on the hottest and coldest days of the year. In addition, we expect it will be needed to meet tightened energy supply requirements in the Midwest power market. Progress continues on our renewable projects as well. In June, the battery portion of the Paris Solar Battery Park came online providing 110 megawatts of storage. This is Wisconsin's first large scale battery storage project. As a reminder, we are the 90% owner. Overall, we are confident in our ability to execute on our capital plan. Now turning to the regulatory front, we currently have no active rate cases. In Wisconsin, our very large customer or VLC tariff remains with the Public Service Commission for review. As we discussed last quarter, the tariff is designed to meet the needs of our very large load customers while protecting all of our other customers. The tariff would provide for a fixed return on equity of 10.48% and an equity ratio of 57%. The terms of the agreement are 20 years for wind and solar and the depreciable lives for natural gas and battery storage assets. We worked with our very large customers in designing the tariff, including the financial parameters. And we believe the tariff is a key component to help make Wisconsin a prime spot for data center investments. We expect a commission decision by the second quarter of next year. In Chicago, we are actively mapping out engineering and permitting plans and coordinating with the city for our pipe replacement program. Recall that the Illinois Commerce Commission directed us to focus on retiring all cast iron and ductile iron pipe with a diameter under 36 inches by January 1st, 2035. We expect that approximately 1,100 miles of older pipe will be needed to be replaced. While planning is underway, our work continues. In fact, this April, we retired the oldest pipe in the system, a gas main that had been in service since 1861. Next up, Shaw will provide you with more details on our financials.

Thank you, Scott. Our second quarter 2025 earnings of 76 cents per share reflects a nine cent increase compared to the second quarter of 2024. Our earnings packet includes a comparison of second quarter results on page 15. I'll walk through the significant drivers. Starting with our utility operations, earnings were 16 cents higher versus the second quarter of 2024. Weather positively impacted quarter over quarter earnings by approximately 4 cents. Compared to normal conditions, we estimate that weather had a $0.02 favorable impact in the second quarter of 2025 compared to a $0.02 negative impact in the second quarter of 2024. Rate-based growth contributed $0.12 more to earnings. Additionally, timing of fuel expense, tax and other items added another $0.07, These positive drivers were partially offset by 5 cents from higher depreciation and amortization expense and 2 cents from higher day-to-day O&M. As shared before, we still expect for O&M expense to grow 8 to 10 percent for the full year when compared to actual O&M in 2024. As a reminder, this year-over-year growth is largely driven by a few factors. including our continued focus on commission-approved vegetation management, new assets placed in service, and measures we took last year to offset the mild weather impact. And let me also give you some color on our weather normal retail electric deliveries. Excluding the iron ore mine, compared to the second quarter of 2024, we saw a 1.1% growth in retail electric deliveries led by the large commercial and industrial segment, which grew 1.9% quarter over quarter. The residential and small commercial and industrial segments grew 0.4 and 1% respectively when compared to the second quarter of last year. Overall, we're on track for our annual growth forecast. remember we expect our annual electric sales growth to be 4.5 to 5 percent for the period 2027 through 2029 turning to american transmission company capital investment growth contributed an incremental penny to q2 earnings compared to 2024 and at our energy infrastructure segment earnings decreased 3 cents in the second quarter of 25 compared to the second quarter of 24. Higher production tax credits were more than offset by other factors, including a loss from storm damage recognized in the second quarter of 2025. Next, you'll see that earnings from the corporate and other segments decreased 3 cents, driven by higher interest expense. In terms of common equity, we issued about $425 million through the first half of this year via our ATM program, as well as the dividend reinvestment and employee benefit plans. We're on track to issue a total of $700 to $800 million for this year. This is part of the $2.7 to $3.2 billion total common equity we expect to issue through 2029 to finance the capital investment. Consistent with what we shared before, as we refresh our capital plan this fall, we continue to expect any incremental capital will be funded with 50% equity content. Finally, let me comment on guidance. As Scott mentioned earlier, we are reaffirming our 2025 earnings guidance of $5 17 cents to $5.27 per share, assuming normal weather for the rest of the year. We're also reaffirming our long-term EPS CAGR of 6.5 to 7%. For the third quarter, we're expecting a range of 74 to 80 cents per share. This accounts for July weather and assumes normal weather for the rest of the quarter. We look forward to updating you in the fall as we refresh our capital and financing plan. With that, I'll turn it back to Scott.