WEC Energy Group, Inc.

Hello and welcome to the WEC Energy Group Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. During the meeting, we'll have a question and answer session. Stockholders who have entered the meeting using their control number can submit questions or comments at any time by selecting the Q&A icon. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Gail Klapa. Mr. Klapa, the floor is yours.

Thank you and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's just past 1.30 p.m. Central Daylight Time, the time set for convening WEC Energy Group's 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I'm Gail Kloppe, Chairman of the Board of WEC Energy Group, and I will serve as Chairman for today's meeting. Before we begin, I'd like to call your attention to the Rules of Conduct for our meeting. They're available by clicking on the Documents icon on the top right of your screen. A copy of the proxy materials can be found there as well. And now it's time to call our 2025 annual meeting to order. I've been given the inspector's report, which indicates that more than 88% of the company's outstanding shares are represented. This constitutes a quorum under the company's bylaws, and this meeting, therefore, is duly convened to conduct business. At the end of our formal program, we will be happy to answer your questions. As always, some of the information you will receive at this meeting is forward-looking in nature and is based on our current expectations. Our projections, of course, involve risks and uncertainties, factors discussed in the company's latest Form 10-K, and in subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Now we'll begin our business session. All members of the WEC Energy Group Board of Directors who are standing for election are with us today. Also attending is Abby Cowart from ComputerShare. That's the company that serves as our transfer agent and registrar. Abby has been appointed as the Inspector of Election for our meeting. Also with us today are P.J. DiStefano and Andy Coors from Deloitte & Touche, our independent auditors. And now I'll call on our Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary Peggy Kelsey to discuss the proposals that we have before us and to conduct the voting. Peggy?

Thank you, Gail. On March 27, 2025, a notice of this meeting was sent to all stockholders of record as of March 7, 2025. The polls for the 2025 Annual Meeting remain open. If you previously voted your proxy, your vote has already been recorded. If you entered the meeting using your control number and have not yet voted, or you wish to change your vote, you may do so now by clicking on the vote icon at the top right of your screen. We will close the polls shortly. As set forth in your proxy statements, there are six proposals on which stockholders have been asked to vote. Number one, election of 13 directors to serve for terms expiring at the annual meeting of stockholders in 2026, including Warner Baxter, Ave B, Danny Cunningham, William Farrow III, Christina Garcia-Thomas, Maria Greene, Gail Klapa, Thomas Lane, John Lang, Scott Lauber, Euless Payne Jr., Mary Ellen Stanek, and Glenn Tellick. Number two, ratification of Deloitte and Touche LLP as independent auditors for 2025. Number three, an advisory vote to approve compensation of the named executive officers, otherwise known as say on pay. Number four, a proposal to amend our restated articles of incorporation to eliminate supermajority voting requirements. And number five, a proposal to amend our bylaws to eliminate supermajority voting requirements. Finally, there is one stockholder proposal regarding simple majority voting. At this time, I invite Mr. John Chavadin to present his proposal. Mr. Chavadin, you will be allowed up to three minutes for this presentation. After that time, we will proceed to the proxy vote. Mr. Chavadin, the floor is yours.

Hello, this is John Chavadin. Proposal 6, simple majority vote.

Charles requested the Board of Directors take the necessary steps so that each voting requirement in the Charter and Bylaws calls for a greater than simple majority vote. be replaced by a requirement for a majority of the votes cast for and against proposals, or a simple majority. Contrary to the WEC Board of Directors text next to this proposal, it is of utmost importance for shareholders to vote for this Proposal 6 in case the Board of Directors Proposals 4 and 5, on the same topic as this Proposal 6, do not pass. There is a major risk that the Board of Directors Proposal 4 and 5 will not pass because Proposal 4 and 5 did not pass at the 2024 WEC Annual Meeting. Plus, the threat of Proposals 4 and 5 not passing seems reasonable given the Board of Directors' lack of any extra effort to help their Proposals 4 and 5 pass following their 2024 failed vote. The WEC Board of Directors seems to be on the exact same path to failure that it used in 2024. It would seem reasonable that the Board of Directors would need to make an extra effort to get its Proposals 4 and 5 to pass, because Proposals 4 and 5 need a most challenging 80% approval vote from all WEC shares outstanding, and only 76% of WEC shares typically vote at the annual meeting. This Proposal 6, on the other hand, only needs a 51% vote to pass. Under these circumstances, the Board of Directors could have made arrangements to adjourn this annual meeting to seek more votes for its Proposals 4 and 5, but failed to do so. The WEC Board of Directors is more than welcome to elaborate on any innovation it is using now to avoid the repeat of its 2024 failures on Proposal 4 and 5. Please vote yes.

Majority vote Proposal 6.

Thank you, Mr. Chavadin. The Board is recommending a vote against this proposal as described in the Board's response to Proposal 6, beginning on page 81 of the proxy statement. I have been appointed to vote all of the shares represented by the proxy votes sent in by our stockholders. I have submitted proxy ballots that reflect your instructions to the Inspector of Election.

The polls are about to close, so if you have not yet finished voting, Please do so now. Thank you. The online voting is now closed.

The preliminary inspector's report has been completed and the preliminary results show that each of the nominees for the board of directors has been elected to serve a one-year term expiring at next year's annual meeting. The appointment of Deloitte and Touche as independent auditors for 2025 has been ratified. The advisory vote to approve the compensation of the named executive officers has passed. The proposals to amend our restated articles of incorporation and our bylaws to eliminate supermajority voting did not receive the required shareholder vote for passing. And the stockholder advisory proposal supporting simple majority vote has not passed. The board will consider these results in due course. A final report on our meeting will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the next few days. Gail, back to you.

Peggy, thank you very much. The formal business portion of our meeting is adjourned. In a moment, I'll turn the meeting over to Scott Lauber, our President and Chief Executive, to tell you about our progress over the past year. As you know, we delivered another year of solid results. But first, I'd like to provide you with an update on our dividend. In January of this year, the Board of Directors raised our dividend by 6.9%. This marks the 22nd consecutive year that our company has rewarded shareholders with higher dividends. And because of our consistent track record of dividend growth, our company has been added to the Standard & Poor's High Dividend Aristocrats Index. This index is made up exclusively of companies that have raised their dividends for at least 20 consecutive years. And now Scott will bring you up to date on a number of important highlights. Scott, all yours.

Thank you, Gail. As Gail mentioned, I'm pleased to share that we delivered another year of solid results on virtually every meaningful measure, from customer satisfaction to financial performance to steady execution of our capital plan. Turning to our first quarter earnings, as you may have seen earlier this week, we reported first quarter 2025 earnings of $2.27 a share. We're off to a good start to the year. We remain laser focused on reliability, financial discipline, and customer satisfaction. And we're on track to deliver another year of strong results in line with our earnings guidance for 2025. As a reminder, we're guiding to a range of $5.17 to $5.27 a share, assuming normal weather for the rest of the year. Turning now to economic development opportunities, opportunities that point to significant growth in demand for electricity in the years ahead. Along the I-94 corridor between Milwaukee and Chicago, Microsoft continues work on the first phase of its major data center complex. This $3.3 billion investment is expected to begin operations in 2026. And just to the south in Pleasant Prairie, The pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly, announced plans for a $3 billion expansion. Turning north of Milwaukee, Cloverleaf has announced plans to develop approximately 1,700 acres for another large data center campus. Cloverleaf has projected at least 1,000 megawatts of electric demand for this development. That could be in service by the later part of the decade. And these are just a few of the exciting projects driving the need for investment in our infrastructure. To that end, last October, we announced a $28 billion investment plan to support safety, reliability, and growth. It's the largest five-year investment plan in our company's history. A balanced power generation mix is a significant focus for our electric utilities. Highlights of the plan include adding efficient, reliable natural gas generation, liquefied natural gas storage, and renewable energy. In fact, our plan calls for our regulated utilities to add 4,300 megawatts of renewable generation in the next five years for an expected investment of $9.1 billion. To help assure energy security for our customers, we're also focused on strengthening our distribution network and investments needed in transmission across the region. The building blocks of our capital plan clearly support our long-term earnings growth, which we project to be in the 6.5% to 7% range on a compound annual basis. As part of the plan, we're seeking approval from the Wisconsin Public Service Commission for a number of specific projects. I'm pleased to report that one of those projects, the High Noon Solar and Battery Park for approximately $883 million was recently approved. Construction is expected to be completed in 2027. In addition, we have a request under review to build 1,100 megawatts of modern combustion turbines at our existing Oak Creek power plant site. The expected investment is $1.2 billion. These peaking units will serve as a critical resource as we continue to transform our fleet. To support the power generation at our Oak Creek campus, we are also proposing to build a 33-mile natural gas pipeline with an investment of approximately $180 million. And as another source of reliable fuel, we are proposing a new LNG storage facility at Oak Creek with an investment of approximately $460 million. In addition, we requested state regulatory approval to add reciprocating internal combustion engines, also referred to as RICE units, near our Paris generating station. We expect to invest approximately $280 million in that project. We are confident in our ability to execute on our capital plan. Our future is bright, our investment opportunity has never been greater, and we're focused on execution. With that, I'll turn things back to Gail.

Scott, thank you very much. And now, folks, it's time for the question and answer portion of our meeting. Stockholders may submit questions online by clicking on the Q&A icon. And Peggy Kelsey has kindly agreed to read us the questions.

Thank you, Gail. Our first question. Will there be less demand for renewable energy during the Trump years? And what is being done to mitigate the negative impact of Trump on renewable energy?

Well, we'll let Scott give you a very specific answer, but as he mentioned during his prepared remarks, the company is planning a very significant investment in what I would call all of the above. I mean, when you think about, Scott, the demand for electricity that we're seeing grow as economic development continues in our region, We're going to need just about every energy source we can to keep our system reliable. Scott?

You're exactly right, Gail. So we have a combination of solar, wind, and batteries to support the need for the capacity needs, along with the mix of natural gas. So the solar that we have planned and the other renewable energy, in fact, it is cost-free fuel. Our customers are saving approximately $150 million this year on fuel savings from having those renewables on the system. So we see the value on that, and we just continue to move forward with our capital plan at this time, and we feel very confident in the mix that we're developing.

Okay, question number two.

Instead of spending all this money on renewables, think intermittent power, why don't we spend it on reliable power, i.e., nuclear? We can't run a full-time state on part-time power supplies.

Well, I think everyone would agree that our first responsibility as a utility to help support the economy and keep the lights on is actually to be reliable. And one of our hallmarks, frankly, over the last 50 years is we have been one of the most reliable electric systems in the United States. Under Scott's leadership and the team, that will continue. But again, I think, Scott, the real key here is we need the mix of all of these type of fuel sources. And nuclear, frankly, which may be a great option going forward, is a long way away.

Correct, correct. And nuclear, when you think about it, nuclear is potentially an option. but the time it takes to site and move into nuclear is extremely long, and we have tremendous economic development right now that we need to beat the needs of our capacity needs through a combination of renewables and natural gas generation. Super.

All right, question number three. Can you please comment on the current regulatory environment in Illinois and the Chicago Pipeline Replacement Program?

Scott, we just received a few months ago a decision after more than a one-year pause on the pipe replacement program, but a decision from the Illinois Commerce Commission.

Exactly right, Gail. We've got a decision now to the need to replace approximately 1,100 miles of of cast iron and ductile iron pipe that are under 36 inches in size. So that pipe replacement program will go through now through the end of 2034. So we have some clear direction. We are currently working on the engineering and procurement and supply chain and everything to get lined up. And we're ramping up those programs as efficiently as and fast as we can. We expect to get to a run rate north of about $500 million a year by the year 2028. So a lot of work to get done, but we have received some clarity and are in the process of pulling the plans and executing on them today.

Thank you. And Gail and Scott, we have no more questions in the queue at this time.

Very good. Well, with no more questions in the queue, that concludes our 2025 annual meeting. If you do have additional questions or would like more information, please feel free to email us at stockholder-services at wecenergygroup.com. Thank you again for your confidence and all your support. Good afternoon, everyone.

Ladies and gentlemen, you may now disconnect.