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spk07: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Hydro One Limited's fourth quarter 2020 analyst teleconference. At this time, all participants' lines are in a listening 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 on your telephone. As a reminder, the call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Mr. Omar Javid, Vice President, Investor Relations at Hydro One. Please go ahead.
spk13: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us in Hydro One's fourth quarter earnings call. Joining us today are our President and CEO, Mark Proeska, and our Chief Financial Officer, Chris Lopez. In the call today, we will go over our fourth quarter results and then spend the majority of the time answering as many of your questions as time permits. There are also several slides that illustrate some of the points we'll discuss in a moment. They should be up on the webcast now, or if you've dialed into the call, you can also find them on Hydro One's website in the investor relations section under events and presentations. Today's discussions will likely touch on estimates and other forward-looking information. You should review the cautionary language in today's earnings release and RMDNA, which we filed this morning regarding the various factors, assumptions, and risks that could all that could cause our actual results to differ as they all apply to this call. With that, I turn the call over to our President and CEO, Mark Poestra.
spk03: Thank you, Omar. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. This morning, I'd like to talk to you about our fourth quarter and annual achievements, and we'll then turn to Chris to review the financial results. When I think back to January of last year, we were entering the new year full of optimism. Having released our strategy with wind at our back, we were ready to charge forward in executing our vision and mission. Shortly after our successful inaugural investor day in March, the world was transformed. While the pandemic brought forward new challenges, it also presented opportunities for us to demonstrate our support for our customers and partners in Ontario. We leaned on our vision, mission, and strategy to help guide us on our way forward and set our two priorities to help us make decisions during this time. Firstly, to ensure the safety of our employees and the public. And secondly, to continue energizing life for Ontarians. And Hydro One has performed exceptionally well. But problem solving, innovating, and never losing sight of our vision of a better and brighter future for all, we were able to advance our strategy, complete our work programs, and have limited transmission of COVID amongst our employees. A dedicated and safe employee base allowed us to deliver on the strategy that was put forward at our investor day. We've continued to build the grid for the future by investing in our assets. We deployed $1.878 billion of capital and in-serviced $1.639 billion of assets, which is within 2% of our stated goals. This level of discipline and accuracy is commendable in most years, but exemplary when we consider the challenges posed by this past year. We continue to invest in technology to modernize the grid to harden, and to protect our assets. This led to transmission reliability being the second highest it has been in 12 years. We made sure our essential services, including hospitals, pharmacies, and grocery stores, kept their lights on. Safety and efficiency have always been a key priority for us. We launched our safety improvement team, which, after a thorough review, came back with concrete recommendations to improve the safety culture of our organization to eliminate serious injuries in Hydro One. We will put these recommendations to work in the coming years. One of the things my career in the utility sector has taught me is that a safe utility is an efficient utility. In 2020, we continued to drive operational efficiency and work towards optimizing all aspects of our business. We generated productivity savings of approximately $286 million, which represents a year-over-year increase in productivity of approximately 41%. We recognize that our success is dependent on us being a trusted partner and supporting First Nations, customers, and communities that we serve. The pandemic gave us an opportunity to further strengthen these partnerships. I am pleased to report that this year we further accelerated our spending with our Indigenous partners. During the pandemic, we have continued to expand the Indigenous supplier base and spent $43 million with Indigenous businesses for goods and services in 2020, the highest amount to date. And we were delighted to be recognized for the work we are doing by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business with silver level certification in progressive Aboriginal relations, advancing from our bronze level certification in 2017. Our goal is nothing short of achieving a gold level certification. Early in the pandemic, we reached out to the First Nations communities that we serve and asked, how can we support them? This resulted in us partnering with Global Medic to deliver over 13,000 kits of food and safety supplies to First Nations communities across Ontario. We also launched a new fund to help communities respond to new and urgent challenges. Charitable organizations, municipalities, and Indigenous communities can now apply for support towards pandemic response efforts and initiatives that improve physical and emotional safety. This is part of Hydro One's commitment to build safe communities across Ontario. The focus on customers and customer advocacy has resulted in us achieving our highest customer satisfaction score to date. This reflects the ongoing engagement with our customers and supporting them with programs such as the suspension, of late payment charges and returning security deposits, in addition to the pandemic relief measures we put in place. Just days after a global pandemic was declared, we put in place a pandemic relief program to assist customers affected by COVID-19, offering financial assistance and increased payment flexibility. We know people across the province are experiencing monumental challenges, and we have a responsibility to be there for them. That's why we recently extended the financial relief and flexibility to small businesses who have been experiencing hardship. We also recently launched the Connected for Life program. This is our promise to help customers stay connected to safe and reliable power while we help them access financial relief programs and more flexible service options. The events of the last year gave us the opportunity to advocate for our customers by encouraging and supporting greater customer choice with respect to time of use pricing, as well as temporary relief offered by the government. We applaud the government for their efforts to provide assistance during this challenging time. We also applaud the government for improving Ontario's competitiveness in the last budget by removing a portion of the global adjustment costs from the electricity bill for commercial and industrial companies. This action will save our commercial and industrial customers between 14 and 16 percent and will make electricity prices in Ontario competitive with other North American jurisdictions. The rate relief is important as we invest responsibly in our core transmission and distribution businesses and continue to innovate and grow our business, primarily through our investments in organic rate-based growth. And in addition to this organic growth, we were pleased to announce the completion of the two local distribution company acquisitions this past year. This resulted in further rate-based growth. We are now busy integrating Orillia and Peterborough into the Hydro One network. As we grow, we're also keeping a keen eye towards innovation. Earlier in 2020, we launched the IV Charging Network, a partnership with Ontario Power Generation to create Ontario's largest and most connected electric vehicle charging network. I am pleased to report that we have opened 23 fast charging sites across Ontario and are on track to have over 160 fast chargers across approximately 60 locations in Ontario by the end of 2021. Part of our vision of a better and brighter future for all includes a cleaner and greener future. We are proud to transmit and distribute energy that comes predominantly from zero carbon emitting sources. We know we can take this further by reducing our carbon footprint and managing the impacts of climate change on our business. As we reinvest in our system, we continue to adapt to our design and equipment standards to address the impacts of climate change. We recognize that great companies, are those that value diversity and create equitable and inclusive cultures. Gender diversity has always been important to us, and as signatories to the Catalyst Accord, I am proud to say we met those commitments. As a leading Canadian institution, it is also our duty to take a leadership position in the fight against racism. In addition to signing on to the Black North Initiative, We also started a dialogue with our black employees with the objective of listening and understanding to inform the creation of meaningful racial equality programs. We have now established a diversity and inclusion council to help guide us through our journey. In the wake of the COVID-19 lockdowns, we also felt that it was important to address mental health and well-being. Hydro One and Jack.org announced a partnership to address a growing demand for mental health resources. The partnership brings free virtual mental health talks to young people and their families across Ontario. At Hydro One, we believe that governance around our initiatives is important. That is why we chose to enhance our sustainability report further this year. We aligned with the Global Reporting Initiative's core standards and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board's framework. We also committed to aligning with the Task Force on climate-related financial disclosures in coming years. This effort is paying dividends as we were yet again designated a sustainable electric company by the Canadian Electricity Association, and we recently received an ESG risk rating of low risk from Sustainalynix. a global leader in ESG research and ratings, placing us 11th out of 156 in its global industry group from the utilities sector. And we were again voted one of the 50 best corporate citizens in Canada by Corporate Knights. This past year has been a busy one on the legal and regulatory front. We obtained a positive decision from the Ontario Divisional Court on the Deferred Tax Assets with the expectation to have full resolution of the case from the Ontario Energy Board in the first half of 2021. We received a number of rulings from the OEB that highlighted the constructive nature of our relationship. The OEB approved the Aurelia and Peterborough transactions that I referenced earlier, In their decisions, they highlighted Hydro One's unique position to extract value from these transactions. We also obtained a favorable approval on our transmission rate application that set the transmission capital investments and rates till the end of 2022. This means that both our distribution and transmission segments are now in an incentive rate making framework till the end of 2022, giving us regulatory certainty for the coming years. We like the incentive rate making framework as it gives us an opportunity to share the fruits of our labor with our customers. This year we shared approximately $15 million with our customers on account of high demand and disciplined cost management. The successes on the regulatory front have helped reaffirm our preparation for the upcoming joint rate application for both transmission and distribution businesses. The JRAP will consist of both the distribution and transmission rate applications for a five-year period, starting in 2023. To prepare, we have embarked on a robust customer engagement that helps inform our views and plans with respect to affordability and service levels. We are more in tune with the needs of our customers, and this application will be informed by that feedback. We expect to file the application in the second half of the year. Our ability to problem solve and be nimble would not have been possible without the devotion and hardworking of our employees and the partnership of our unions. We were pleased that despite the pandemic, we were able to renew two collective agreements with the Power Workers Union covering a large sector of our employees. We have great partnerships with our unions, particularly as we continue on our journey to zero serious injuries. And I am proud of how all our employees have supported one another, being creative and adapting to our changing circumstances and united behind our vision, which enables us to deliver great results for our customers and shareholders. Hydro One was selected for Forbes annual list of Canada's best employers for six consecutive time. This honor reflects Hydro One's ongoing commitment to our incredible employees who proudly energize life for our customers and communities in Ontario. Chris, over to you.
spk08: Thank you, Mark. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I hope you and your families are both safe and doing well. As Mark mentioned, there is a lot to be positive about. Together, we've accomplished a great deal since launching our strategy a year ago. Faced with the challenge of COVID-19, our teams have continued to perform admirably. I'd like to thank all who have contributed to this positive outcome in unique and challenging circumstances and look forward to continuing to create a better and brighter future in 2021 and beyond. In terms of our financial results for the quarter, we saw a decrease in earnings per share or EPS from 35 cents last year compared to 27 cents this year. For the full year, EPS was $2.96 and adjusted EPS was $1.51 compared to EPS of $1.30 and adjusted EPS of $1.54 last year. On a full year basis, an income in 2020 was over $1.77 billion. While this seems extraordinary, this includes the one-time impact of the Ontario Divisional Court, or ODC, ruling on the deferred tax asset of $867 million. Adjusting for this and comparing to the adjusted net income for last year, we see a marginal decline in earnings year over year, with adjusted net income at $918 million last year compared to adjusted net income of $903 million this year. There are two main drivers for the decline in adjusted earnings. First, you will recall the one-time catch-up revenues for 2018 following the distribution rate decision, adding approximately 85 million of revenue or 11 cents EPS to 2019 earnings. Second, in 2020, we incurred direct costs of approximately 50 million related to the COVID-19 pandemic, on which I will elaborate further in the call. Despite the challenges faced in 2020, we were successful in partially offsetting these headwinds with productivity improvements and stringent cost control, leading to an overall reduction in OM&A. In addition, we recognised revenues related to prior year conservation and demand management and approved rates as part of the transmission and distribution rate decisions by the Ontario Energy Board, or OEB. Finally, the hotter weather drove up demand this past summer, which further supported revenues. We are once again pleased to share approximately $15 million with our customers via the earnings sharing mechanism following the admirable performance in the distribution segment over the past year. Consistent with last year, this is an example of a constructive, incentive-based regulatory model in which together we can and have enhanced value for our customers. We will continue to strive to be a leading utility in efficiency and productivity. On the productivity front, we achieved $286 million in productivity savings in 2020. This is an increase of approximately 41%, which brings our cumulative productivity gains since the initial public offering to over $735 million. We saw meaningful increases in productivity in areas such as operations, fleet, optimization, procurement, corporate costs, IT contract reductions, and call center costs. Overall, productivity was split evenly between OM&A and capital expenditures. Focusing on the fourth quarter, the main driver of lower quarterly earnings as compared to last year was higher COVID-19 related costs. Reduction of insurance proceeds received, higher depreciation and asset removal costs due to growth in capital assets and timing of work, and higher taxes. These were partially offset by rates previously approved by the Ontario Energy Board. Revenue net of purchase power was higher year-over-year by approximately 2.5%. The distribution business was the primary contributor to the increased revenues, as distribution revenue net of purchase power was higher by 7% year-over-year. This increase was a result of distribution rates approved by the OEB in 2019. The addition of revenues attributable to the Peterborough and Aurelia acquisitions and a lower regulatory adjustment related to the earnings sharing mechanism as compared to last year. Transmission revenues were lower by 2.2% in the fourth quarter compared to the same quarter last year, primarily due to lower peak demand driven by weather. The lower transmission revenues were partially offset by the OEB's decision on transmission rates, which included the recovery of certain other post-employment benefits or OPEB costs that are now expensed, making the net income neutral. On the cost front, operating maintenance and administrative expenses for the fourth quarter were higher by $34 million or 14.2% versus the fourth quarter of 2019. The increase was primarily due to COVID-19 related costs, lower insurance proceeds received for the Finch, Longwood and Maryvale stations in 2020 and OPEB costs that have been collected in revenue and recognised in OM&A following the OEB transmission rate decision. As referenced earlier, these OPEB charges are net income neutral. With respect to COVID-19 costs for the fourth quarter, we incurred operating costs of approximately $18 million. There were two reasons for these costs. First, following the issuance of the OEB staff proposal in December, we reversed the recognition of the regulatory asset associated with the incremental bad debt provision recognised in the first quarter of 2020. OEB staff issued their proposal following receipt of reports from external consultants regarding how to treat COVID-19 related costs and lost revenues. The staff proposal suggests that utilities must demonstrate a financial need and meet certain criteria to recover COVID-19 related costs and lost revenue. Based on our interpretation of the staff proposal, it is unlikely that we would qualify for recovery of any significant amount of COVID-19 related costs or lost revenues. Accordingly, we have reversed the recognition of the regulatory asset associated with the incremental bad debt provision recognised in the first quarter of 2020 and have recognised this expense in OM&A in the fourth quarter. That said, consultations with the OEB are still ongoing and the final OEB decision is expected in the first half of 2021. Second, we had additional expenses this quarter with the purchase of additional facility and cleaning related supplies. Consistent with the previous quarters, the impact of the measures taken by Hydro One to support our customers, including the Pandemic Relief Fund, financial assistance and increased payment flexibility, extending the Winter Relief Program and the temporary suspension of late fees are not expected to be material. On financing, we saw a slight increase of 3 million or 2.6% in interest expense in the quarter compared to the same quarter last year, due to higher weighted average debt balance driven by the successful debt issuances in 2020. Last year, we issued a total of approximately 2.7 billion of debt between Hydro One Limited and Hydro One Inc, all at competitive rates. As referenced in the last call, we used the net proceeds of the issuances in the fourth quarter to redeem all outstanding Series 1 preferred shares of Hydro Unlimited and accretive transaction. We expect to use the remainder of the proceeds to repay and or prepay maturing long-term and short-term debt, including maturities in early 2021 and for general corporate purposes. For the full year, financing charges were lower by 43 million or 8.4% compared to full year 2019 due to financing costs related to the merger incurred in the first quarter of 2019, partially offset by an increase in interest expense due to the increase in the weighted average debt balance in 2020. Overall, we are pleased with the stability of our balance sheet and our robust investment grade credit ratings. As we look forward to 2021, we will continue to access the debt markets opportunistically, Turning to the income tax recovery, which was $785 million compared to $6 million last year, the resulting effective tax rate, or ETR, was 77.6% negative compared to 0.8% negative last year. The increase in recovery was primarily attributable to one-time $867 million tax recovery recognised following the Ontario Divisional Court ruling on the deferred tax asset. Similarly, last year, the low effective tax rate resulted from the $51 million recovery related to cost associated with termination of the merger. Adjusting for the two non-recurring events, the adjusted tax expense was $82 million compared to $45 million last year. This represents an ETR of 8.1% compared to 4.6% in 2019. These values are consistent with the ETR guidance range of 6 to 13% that we had provided last year. We expect the ETR to remain in this range for the next five years, subject to the timing and manner in which the OEB will implement the divisional court ruling. We expect to start collecting more revenue with a corresponding increase in taxes once that is resolved. The increase in annual tax expense was related to two main factors. First, in 2019, we had higher incremental tax deductions from the deferred tax asset sharing relating to the catch-up revenue for 2018. Second, we had temporary differences related to the mix of assets placed in service, which impacted accelerated CCA values, and higher tax relating to non-service OPEB costs recovered through OM&A. Together, these factors resulted in a higher ETR. During the fourth quarter, tax expense was $27 million compared to $2 million last year. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 14.2% versus 0.9% last year. The increase in income taxes for the quarter was primarily due to temporary differences resulting in lower deductions. In addition, we had lower incremental tax deductions from DTA sharing attributed to the 2018 catch-up revenue. The increases were partially offset by lower income before taxes. Moving to investing activities, capital investments in the quarter increased by 2.7%, with the majority of these increases coming from the transmission segment as we continued investment in multi-year development projects, station refurbishments, and building out the new Ontario Grid Control Centre. Capital investments in the distribution segment declined year over year, as there were lower investments in reinforcement projects and lower spend on work for customer connections. For the year, capital investments were up 12.7% and in line with our expectations. You'll notice that the future capital investments profile for both of the segments have changed marginally for 2021 and 2022. This is due to timing differences in our project planning and does not impact our projected rate-based growth. As a reminder, the capital investment numbers for future years remain subject to OEB approval as part of the joint rate application. We placed $878 million of assets in service in the fourth quarter, a 3.4% increase over a year, owing primarily to the distribution segment. Distribution assets placed in service rose by 13.7%, driven by the completion of the Customer Contact Centre technology modernisation project, the Woodstock Operations Centre, and higher volume of storm-related replacements. The decrease in transmission assets placed in service during the fourth quarter primarily stemmed from a substantial investment placed in service for Leamington Transmission Station in the fourth quarter of 2019. On a four-year basis, assets placed in service were lower by 3.8%. The transmission segment was lower by 12.4%, mainly due to the inservicing of the Niagara Reinforcement Project in 2019. The distribution segment was up 13.6% versus last year, primarily due to the same reasons that drove the increase in the fourth quarter, as well as the completion of the Leamington Transmission Station feeder development project. On regulatory matters, We are very pleased that we have stability with both segments having approved rate cases and certainty on our forward capital investments under the incentive rate-making framework through 2022. As Mark mentioned, we look forward to filing our joint rate application in the second half of this year. Finally, we are awaiting the final decision on the timing of the DTA recovery and expect a resolution within the first half of the year. Lastly, We continue to be committed to and affirm our guidance of 47% earnings per share growth through 2022. I'll stop there, and we'd be pleased to take your questions.
spk13: Thank you, Mark and Chris. We asked the operator to explain how she'd like to organize the Q&A polling process. In case we aren't able to address your questions today, my team and I are always available to respond to follow-up questions. Please go ahead, Chen.
spk07: Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one on your telephone. To withdraw your question, press the pound key. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Mark Jarvie with CIBC Capital Markets. Your line is open. Thank you.
spk10: Yeah, thanks. Good morning, everyone. Maybe, Chris, can you clarify just a little bit? Did you say it was $15 million of earnings sharing with customers and maybe split between distribution and transmission? And maybe you can even share roughly what the sort of earned ROE was for the transmission and distribution until this year.
spk08: Hi, Mark. Thanks for the question. So the ESM is entirely attributable to distribution. So it all comes from distributions. And it compares to last year's ESM of approximately $20 million. So pretty much achieving results in line with last year.
spk10: Okay. And then I think there was a comment also about opportunistically, you know, accessing the debt markets. I mean, you did come to market, you know, in the fall last year to take care of the maturity this year. So what else could that mean? Is there anything longer dated? on some of the higher coupon notes out in 2030 or 2032 that you could opportunistically refinance or maybe just share any color in terms of opportunities in the debt market?
spk08: Yeah, thanks, Mark. Look, overall, really what we're indicating there is that we ended the year with probably a higher debt cash balance than we normally would. So we ended the year with around $685 million at Hydro One Inc. And that really was to pre-fund a debt maturity here in February. So we have no need to come to the debt markets until the second half of this year. We may come earlier if the right opportunity presents. We're not looking at those long-term refinancings. They don't really, I mean, to get out of the ones we have today, we would have to pay out at market and then you would refinance at today's rate. So there isn't a large gain for rate payers or for the company in that matter. So really we're just highlighting the fact that we don't need to come to market anytime soon, at least until the second half of this year. And when we do come to market, our debt requirements may be slightly lower than normal, but we could also consider funding some of next year's debt maturities. We've got one coming due early in the new year in January. So, you know, something that could be in the order of a billion to a billion five is normal. We could be on a slightly lower side of that and not until the second half of this year.
spk10: Got it. Thanks for clarifying. Thanks.
spk07: Thank you. Our next question comes from Robert Kwan with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.
spk04: Great, Tad. Good morning. Just on the COVID costs, you mentioned that you're going to continue to work through their process, but given you've taken this into the income statement, how far would you take things, Dan? And I'm thinking about you know, R&Vs or to the courts, similar to what you did on the tax side.
spk03: Yeah, it's Mark here. Maybe I'll start with that and then Chris can weigh in. So we are working through the process, as you said, Robert. On December 16th, the OEB staff released their proposal of the deferred accounts. And really, this is the staff's opinion. We're still going through the process and the panel will make the final decisions. So there are subsequent sessions underway and the OEB anticipates finalizing its guidance in the spring of this year. We are participating fully in all of those subsequent sessions with the OEB as long with our other partners and through the associations that we belong to. Really what the OEB staff proposal was, and again, this is the staff proposal. This isn't the final decision. is that utilities needed to demonstrate a financial need and meet certain criteria to be eligible to seek recovery. And essentially what they're saying is the mechanisms that are in place right now with our incentive rate making construct allow for things like this. So we'll continue to participate in those. We did reverse our bad debt provision that we'd taken earlier in the year And it was primarily based on the staff proposals that we felt there was less certainty around the recovery of that bad debt based on those proposals, but we'll continue to work through that process. Chris, you got anything you want to add?
spk08: Yeah, sure. I think really close. The only thing I'd say is that we are being conservative here, given that there still is some debate around what can and can't be recovered. In the staff proposal, if you read it, it talks about a general principle that if you are above your allowed ROE, then they talk about those two tests being financial need and certain criteria. The financial need is if you're over-earning or above your allowed ROE, then potentially, you know, maybe you shouldn't recover. And then meeting certain criteria is when there was a specific imposition, being the extension of the winter ban or some government direction that as part of COVID-19, that they would make exceptions for that. So still a lot to be resolved, Robert. We are being conservative at this point, and we're also conscious that every utility is affected differently. So we want to make sure that it's the right decision for the electricity industry in Ontario, not just for last year, but looking forward to this year, we're not really, you know, the impact could still change from this point forward. So I wouldn't read into that there is no recovery. What we're suggesting is right now the conservative approach is to write it all off, and that's what we've done. We are still tracking it, and we're still part of the conversation.
spk04: Just to follow up, Chris, you brought up a really good point there that it worked out okay for you in 2020 because of all the great work you did on productivity savings, and you got saved by weather. If this continues, hopefully it doesn't. If it continues to play out through 2021, you can't. Well, you definitely can't bank on weather and necessarily the same further improvement in productivity savings. So I guess the question is just like how hard are you going to fight those?
spk08: Like I said, Robert, we're going to stay in the conversation and we're going to agree on principles. And I think that's what the OEB staff are trying to do. So they're talking about a principle-based approach that meets the needs of the utility industry overall. So that's why we're still there. So I agree. It's not a case of saying, look, it worked for 2020, therefore it moves forward. The other thing I'd point out, Robert, is that's staff's opinion. Remember, the decision is made by a panel of the OAB. They are two separate and distinct parts. So there's still a ways to go here to get to a final conclusion. We're still fairly confident given the large increases we had on COVID that you're referring to really happened very early in the piece. I personally don't expect to see that reoccur now. We are ticking along at a much smaller burn rate to stay safe and healthy in operations. But early on, as you'd appreciate, when it first struck, a lot of those direct costs occurred in Q2 and Q3. So I wouldn't expect that to be the same going forward. So I don't think it's a case of it's one for 2020 and one for 2021. I think there are equal and offsetting pieces there. But we're going to remain part of it, Robert. So it's not a case of just walking away, it's a case of staying in that conversation.
spk03: The only thing I'd add, Robert, is your point around kind of whether health is out last year, which it absolutely did, but there's a lot of puts and takes to load, and we don't have an approved way from the OAB to really dissect the COVID impacts from weather, but I would point out that in January and February, and this is all public information, the load is up again over previous years, year over year, by 1% in January and 3.5% in February. So I think there's, as I said, puts and takes to load, and we're not trying to dissect those at this point, but just point out that we are entering the year in a fairly good position.
spk04: Understood. If I can just finish on a general question around customer rates. And you've had a focus on customer-facing initiatives and an advocate for your customers trying to find different ways to keep rates affordable. And I guess just, Mark, with your integrated utility background and having been in Ontario now for a little bit, Are you getting traction at the provincial level with respect to things that you've seen and done that could help achieve efficiencies, reduce duplication, drive costs out of the system to kind of help rate payers but not necessarily, you know, impact Hydro One specifically?
spk03: Yeah, great question. Yeah, I am seeing a much better cooperation over the last year with the different players in the sector. So the OAB, the IASO, ourselves, the other entities. I was also pleased to see that the government made the changes that they made, which one of the biggest drivers of the cost in Ontario is the global adjustment as a result of the policy to close down coal early and move to renewables. Government recognized that in their November budget, and they took a substantial amount of the global adjustment off of the rate payers and put it on to taxpayers, which I think was prudent from a perspective. It was government policy that drove those costs, not the utility sector. So I think that was a really good move, which helped to reduce rates on customers overall, but it also helped to facilitate all the people in the sector. I do want to point out that we did recently launch our Connected for Life program, and I want to give a little bit of context about what that was about. And that's really our promise to keep our customers connected during this time. And what we discovered is that a lot of our customers weren't aware of the relief available to them. And so really the Connect for Life is to attempt to reach out to our customers to get them to contact us and to work with us if they are having trouble paying their bills. So 70% of our customers, when we surveyed, weren't aware of the relief available. 78% said balance billing throughout the year would help them, but only 30% were aware of it. So there's a bunch of programs that customers weren't aware of, so we launched the Connected for Life program. On your specific question around what am I seeing as far as opportunities to drive out efficiency in the overall sector, I think we're getting to that. There's new leadership at the OEB who's looking for that and is open to feedback, which is a really nice breath of fresh air for us because they are listening to our ideas. The ISO is working with us on options to meet future loads and what the most efficient way of doing that is. And we're working through the other LDCs in the province on putting together joint submissions on these types of things. So I see a real cooperation across the sector in the last year that I'm not sure I saw when I first came in. That's great. Thank you very much.
spk07: Thank you. Our next question comes from Rob Hope with Scotiabank. Your line is open.
spk02: Morning, everyone. First question is just on the JRAP. You said you've started consultations with your customers. What's your kind of initial ask there? Are you looking for any kind of changes of how the revenues are structured, how the ROE is structured, or are we a little early there?
spk03: Yeah, maybe I'll talk a little bit about the process. So we are still under the evidence development process. stages of preparation. We did do two rounds of customer outreach, very extensive customer outreach, far more than we've done in the past and far more than from what we understand any other utility has done. And that's really to test our customers' appetite for different levels of spend and what that might mean to bills and what that might mean to reliability of the system. And so we just finished the second round of customer engagement. About 43,000 customers did participate in that, and it was an extensive online booklet that they had to go through, which really commented on, you know, at a certain level of spend, you get this level of reliability, this was what it would mean to your bill. And we got really good feedback from that, which really supported customers and our need to invest in our existing assets to keep them safe and reliable for the long term. So as you know, the setting of the ROE and the process and the regulatory construct, our debt-to-equity construct, that's defined already. So that's not up for debate, and it's formulaic. So we won't be debating that, but we think we're in good shape to file and on track to file in Q3 of 2021 this year for that joint rate application.
spk02: All right, thanks for that. And then just to follow up on the earning sharing mechanism, were the COVID costs specifically the ones that you booked in Q4, was that included or was that accounted for in that $15 million of earning sharing or is that set aside from it?
spk03: Chris, do you want to give the specifics on that?
spk08: Sure. Thanks, Rob. Yeah, so the way the earnings sharing mechanism works is you look at the overall net income of the segment. So in this case, it was distribution. So that $15 million, like all the other COVID costs, would be included in the net income that you calculate for that segment. So it would have been in there. Then you work out what your amount of over-earn is above you're allowed. and clearly we were above 100 basis points over our allowed ROE, which meant that we shared any of that excess earnings with rate pays, and that's what made up the 15 million. So it is net of all the COVID costs that we've incurred during the year. All right, thank you.
spk07: Thank you. Our next question comes from Linda Ezegellis with TD Security. Your line is open. Thank you.
spk01: Wondering if we can... reflect maybe on as the global pandemic has unfolded, unfortunately, maybe some of the local distribution utilities have not fared as well as Hydro One. So, you know, how has Hydro One been able to provide assistance to these LDCs to date, strengthened over time, and might this ultimately lead to acceleration of consolidation? Can you talk about what the pulse is in your conversations right now at this point?
spk03: Sure. I'll start with how we support them, and then I'll ask Chris to talk about, you know, opportunity for consolidation because he leads that portfolio. So, you know, Linda, we've, you know, recognized that the LDCs are our customers, so we've been there to support our customers through this process. early on there were liquidity concerns overall with the LDC sector. And we joined forces with them to advocate for certain relief with the IESO, which really gave them a backstop that if their customers weren't paying them, you know, that they had some support from the IESO on payments to the IESO. So really we've been, you know, part of the overall sector to advocate for how the entities can support the sector during this time. And we have, through our customer and our community outreach, supported customers. So, for example, we launched a pandemic program where communities could actually apply to Hydro One for for a grant of up to $25,000 to support them with health and safety measures, including mental health measures that they need for the community. And a lot of that was recognizing that in our budgets, we budget and allocate a certain amount for community events in the province, and a lot of those weren't happening. So we were looking for ways to support our customers through that, through other mechanisms. So we did that. So, Chris, do you want to talk about consolidation and what it might mean?
spk08: Sure. Just first, Mark, I'll quickly expand on the development of our approach with LDC. So as Mark said, they're a customer of ours, so that's been developed out and we're doing everything we can to help them. They're also a peer within the electricity industry in Ontario. Mark sits on a number of associations, as do I, that advocate for our customer but also for the industry, including the LDCs. So We're working to ensure that they are supported. And I'll tell you, early in the process, there was this belief that, as Mark said, they were going to have credit challenges. Well, through industry consultation and support, they ended up with some support through the ISO in terms of if they ran into some financial challenges, they had some financial support there. The government of Ontario, as well as the federal government, helped the municipalities with purchasing municipal bonds. which really gave them access to financing throughout that period, which allayed a lot of those concerns that were there. But really, we are being that good partner, good provider, and then we will extend that relationship into consolidation in the future if we can work together in a way that's meaningful for customers and for the municipalities. Each municipality is different. I'll be the first to acknowledge that. So it's not a case of it's a competitive... electric market with everybody with the same objectives for profit and for other areas. So we've got to approach each LDC independently and really work with them on what makes sense for their municipality. I do think it will enhance the ability to complete LDC consolidation. What we said early on in the COVID-19 situation is was that we weren't going to be predatory in any way. We're there to support them first and foremost. I think as we're coming out of COVID-19, we are starting those conversations around what can we do more. We've partnered better with them during COVID-19. How can we now help them achieve their objectives in the municipality for the next 15, 20, 40 years? So they're starting now, Linda. I would expect it would help. I don't have numbers for you today, but I expect it would help accelerate LDC consolidation going forward.
spk01: Thank you. And as a follow-up, there's, I guess, a drive for economic stimulus spend in the province. And I'm wondering, might that create incremental infrastructure build opportunities for Hydro One? And given the trade-off between reliability and cost, and you've gotten some good feedback on that, I'm wondering if that also might support a case for more investment. And I guess the third prong of my question would also be, in consultations with your staff and your unions, what sort of support is there for them for innovative solutions to drive efficiencies and enhance the rate process for the next five years beyond 2022?
spk03: So I'll start with the economic recovery. And really, you know, we were expecting the government in the last budget for it to be an economic recovery budget, and then they're going to release another budget in March, which originally we thought was going to be an economic recovery budget. But given where we're at with COVID, we expect it's likely going to be more of a support budget and they'll likely need to release another budget in the fall, which we're expecting to be the economic recovery one. So what we're doing is we are offering up where there's opportunities where we could help stimulate the economic recovery. We've also pointed out that our investment in our current rate-based growth does have a large spin-off into the economy of Ontario, and as we execute that, we are supporting it. But we have identified opportunities to advance growth spend on certain projects that, one, would increase our spend, which can flow back in the communities, but also can open up industry. We've talked about the Leamington area in southwest Ontario. There's opportunity for more transmission down there to unlock more supply to that area, which they're in need of. as well as we're working on the Wasigan line, as you know, and there's an opportunity that if the ISO and the government wanted to advance that and accelerate that, we could do that as well. So we're putting those types of things on the table to say, you know, here's how we could support the economy by spending in our existing assets, but also how we could build new assets, which would open up other sectors of the economy for further growth. And the second part of that is – sorry, Lynn. You had a second part of that, which was the innovation of our staff. So a lot of our productivity achievements are ground-up-driven productivity achievements, and there's not one thing that we've done to achieve the level of productivity we've talked about. We have what we call a lighthouse program in our distribution sector, which is really – call it similar to a Toyota Lean-type process where we engage – frontline employees in problems and solutions which drive out efficiency. So we've got a list of things that we can and will be looking at and engaging our frontline staff in the solutions to that to drive out a more efficient organization.
spk07: Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from Ben Pham with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.
spk11: Hi, thanks. Good morning. I was wondering if you can talk a bit about perhaps some of the volume trends you saw during your quarter. Transmission was down. I assume that's mostly weather-related. You saw distribution ramp up, and you're seeing some uptick in January, February this year. I'm wondering if you can unpack that a little bit and talk about the residential volume trends and CNI and the wetter impact broadly.
spk03: Yeah, I can talk generally about that. As I said earlier, the OEB hasn't really come up with an approved methodology to kind of dissect how we separate normal patterns from COVID. But we are seeing in the residential, like you said, In Q4, the residential overall consumption was up on the distribution side, yet the peaks were down. And really, I think that's just representative of the number of people who are working at home. And as the government puts more constraints on people not moving around the province or going into businesses, you're going to see that on the residential side. It's going to go up simply because people are home all day. On the peak aspect, a lot of it's driven by weather, but there's things like the hiatus on the Industrial Conservation Initiative, which took the pressure off of industry from shaving peaks. So, you know, there's weather input and there's decisions such as that that drive the outcomes, and I think they're all contributing to what we're seeing. But as I said, there's no real approved methodology that we can dissect those right now and wouldn't want to speculate on the makeup of each of the segments in what's driving the load, both on the peak side and transmission and distribution. As I pointed out earlier, we are seeing in January and February that they are up year over year again, and a lot of that I think is because people are working at home as well as we had a bit of a cold snap the last month.
spk11: Okay. And maybe to follow up on the joint application you're applying, do you think you have or will have enough visibility for the duration that that you're thinking here? I mean, obviously, as you mentioned, the volumes is somewhat debatable on projections, perhaps, on sustained working-home impacts. The ROE is moving around a lot in where interest rates are going, and you have to be mindful of that if you're going in ROE and how long you want to fix that, the five years, and also the theme of electrification when that comes in. And do you feel that there is going to be a big push for you guys to have a five-year duration on the plan or maybe something a little bit less?
spk03: Yeah, no, we are required by the OAB to file a five-year plan, and right now that includes a five-year load forecast. We will this summer, when we file, we will submit based on what we know today and But we will provide evidentiary updates near the end of the process next year, both on the rates aspect, based on current rates next year, as well as on current thinking around load forecasts. So there is a lot of uncertainty in the load forecasting right now because we're still in the middle of the pandemic. We think that we will get more certainty and clarity on the longer-term impacts of load you know, by the end of next year, we'll have more clarity than we do today. And the load is, you know, one thing I would say is we reset the load going into this period. So really there was a decline in load in the 2015 to 18 period. We reset that in our latest applications, which really kind of levelized things. So we're coming from a good position on that. and we'll continue to monitor the load overall. But we do have the opportunity to reset it just before the period starts.
spk11: Okay. And you mentioned the COVID-19 costs. That's reflected in the ESM. So maybe just to close off the question there a bit, I mean, if you push hard on going through, say, appeal on that, as suggested by my earlier question, I mean, is I mean, you're basically, you're recovering, because you're successful, you're recovering from customers, you bring them back to customers in the end.
spk13: Chris, do you want to?
spk08: Yeah, sure. Chris, for part of it, yes. So we shared $15 million with customers, which meant that the overrun was around $30 million. So the first $30 million will be shared 50% with customers. So you're absolutely correct. And hence, that was my comment earlier in the call around the position of OEB staff around if you're in a position where you're above your allowed ROE or in your over-earned, there are mechanisms, in their opinion, that take care of this. And that is a position that's out there. If it was on the downside, the downside would be true as well. So that's the principle-based approach that the OEB staff are advocating. And you're correct that we would share 50% of any recovery with ratepayers.
spk11: Okay. And my last question is on a 2025 cap estimate, do you plan to put that out maybe around the following of the joint application in the second half?
spk03: Chris, do you want to pick up? Can you just repeat that, please?
spk08: Ben, I couldn't catch it.
spk11: Yeah, sure. So you have a a four-year CapEx program right now? I mean, what's the timing with respect to adding another year there? Is it in conjunction with the joint application, or could you put some out earlier?
spk08: Yeah, exactly correct, Ben. We looked at do we add a year on today. That year would be based on our practices to try and stay as close as we can to what's been approved by the OEB to give certainty to our investors. So as soon as we file the – The joint rate application will extend that table, and it could be beyond five years. As you know, we're going to provide clarity in the application after 2027. So it's likely that we would do that at that time.
spk11: Okay.
spk08: All right. Thank you very much.
spk07: Thank you. Our next question comes from Andrew Kuski with Credit Suisse. Your line is open. Thank you.
spk05: Thanks. Good morning. Mark, in your opening comments, you outlined reliability and just the improvements you've seen over the last, I think it was 12 years. Could you just outline a little bit on how you think that translates into economic benefit for Hydro One and rate payers, whether it's by way of smarter maintenance costs, bringing up capital for growth, better customer relationships? If you could just give some color on that, that would be appreciated.
spk03: I think all of the above, Andrew. When we do our customer survey on what's important to them, reliability is important to them. On the upside, it gives us good customer satisfaction. When it's not there, it's the number one thing that drives down customer satisfaction. There is a customer driver around the reliability of the system. My In my opening, I talked about the transmission system. And because the transmission system is the backbone, it's the main arteries, the reliability of that system is really important. And so you can see that our focus has been on ensuring we maintain the reliability of that system. On the distribution side, it's quite a different story, being our reliability is third quartile overall. Part of that's because we're rural. Part of our joint rate application is recognizing that over time, because we've had to move costs out and defer spend for other reasons, that we are looking at investing in the distribution side to improve the reliability there. We do need the CAPEX to do that, and part of our customer outreach is to get the support from our customers and the evidence to support our need to do that. And so you'll see that when we file the joint rating application.
spk05: Okay, that's very helpful. And then a different bent question for Chris, and it's really just on rate sensitivity. Given the steepening we've seen in the curve recently, how do you think about just the rate sensitivity of Hydro One overall? And then maybe tied into that is the U.S. shelf that you filed late last year.
spk08: Andrew, thanks for the question. Look, rate sensitivity, we're well placed at this point. We're three or five years into our distribution application. Current rate period, we're one of two years into our transition. We've done a lot of our refinancing and getting the financing done and setting us up for this period to go into JRAP. We've got about $1 billion per year for the remaining two years to go. The debt that's coming off is roughly the same, maybe slightly higher coupon than what the forecasts are on interest rates for the next two years. The part that I will remind you of, Andrew, is as we go into the next rate period, what's important to us is the ROE that's set at the beginning of that rate period, which is at the back end of 2022. So that steepening yield curve that we have seen just recently, and if you speak to some of the banks, you see a little more between now and the end of next year, or maybe quite a bit more. That will be supportive of ROEs through the next rate period. period 23 through 27. So that's how we're thinking about it. We think it's balanced. We're in a good position today. We've done a lot of our large financing that we had to get done with more of the longer dated maturity that is now complete, which is good. In terms of the shelf, really what we've done there, Andrew, is that was a shelf that was set up really for a VISTA. At the time, we've paid all of the fees to have that registered. So really what we're doing is maintaining that flexibility. We have no intention at this point to use that in the coming year. But we thought, look, it's set up. It gives the company additional flexibility in tapping debt markets. This is things we can't see in the future. But we have no intention over the next 12 months of using that debt shopping anyway.
spk05: That's great. Thank you very much.
spk07: Thank you. Our next question comes from .
spk06: Good morning and thank you for taking my questions. Firstly, just over the last 12 to 18 months, optically we're seeing a turnaround from a number of perspectives in that you're hitting and executing a number of targets, customer satisfaction and improvement there, improved regulatory and provincial relationships and recent wins on that front. Looking into 2021 and beyond, I'm just wondering what are the key focus areas for you guys now that you've achieved success in some of your targeted areas?
spk03: Yeah, great question, Mona. And it's really to continue execution of our overall strategy. And, you know, in the deck we talk about the five elements of the strategy and we'll continue to do that and continue to focus on Ontario. And really a lot of the turnaround you've seen in In the fronts you just talked about, our renewed focus to our strategy on Ontario and on really becoming an excellent operator of a utility. And so we will continue to focus on that and continue to execute on that. You know, we're not done yet. It's a five-year strategy and we're a year into it. So I don't think that you'll see a lot of change as far as direction goes, but we will continue to put initiatives in place to execute on that.
spk06: Okay, thank you. And just secondly from me, you just commented on a continued Ontario strategy. So is it fair to say that your desire to move into the U.S. is still on hold following the Avista termination. I was just wondering with the passage of time, ultimately changeover in management and board since then, your thoughts toward a U.S. acquisition or is it really too soon?
spk03: Yeah, it's really too soon. We're still focused on right here in Ontario. We do see that there's good growth potential in our regulated rate base and our need to reinvest in our current rate base. And we've talked about there is opportunity possibly to get a little bit more growth through consolidation in the sector. And we do have a relatively small unregulated business in here, in 101, that there's small growth in there. But our primary focus will be on Ontario and continue to be Ontario and make sure we do a good job of submitting our JRAP and building the case for why we need to continue to invest in our existing system here.
spk06: That's great. Thank you.
spk07: Thank you. Our next question comes from Patrick Kinney with National Bank Financial. Your line is open.
spk09: Yeah, good morning, guys. I just wanted to follow up on the COVID-related cost discussion, and I guess including any future costs associated with the Connected for Life program. Obviously, you guys are doing the right thing here. But to that end, I mean, should you not be covered for these costs by the Ontario government, at least until the stay-at-home orders are lifted? So thinking more outside of the process you're in with the OEB or potentially pursuing any legal recourse, but more of a direct, immediate reimbursement from the government because, again, the right thing to do. So are you planning on having any non-legal discussions with the government for direct cost recovery?
spk03: Yeah, we're not planning on that. The way the regulatory construct works here is it's through our regulator, not government. And I think the government has done a good job of making sure that they're allowing the regulator to regulate. So we'll continue to work through that avenue. The Connected for Life program, is actually a program to support customers and connect them with our relief programs, but also with the programs that are available from government and other areas that our customers actually don't know about or don't know how to access. So it really is a program to connect them with relief we provide, but also broadly what's available to them. So the government is funding a bunch of that. They have small business relief programs. They have individual customer relief programs. and we have some top-ups for those. But the Connected for Life is really to connect customers with all of those programs. And quite frankly, it should help mitigate some of the impacts of bad debt because right now, as I said before, a lot of our customers aren't aware of those supports available to them. And so as we connect them with those, it should help mitigate the risk of increased bad debts.
spk09: Got it. Thanks for that, Mark. And then switching over to the energy efficiency front. So just curious how this accelerated pace of technology across the economy over the past year has maybe influenced your ability to implement the smart grid infrastructure and what it could mean for your, I guess, both your capital investment plan as well as your earnings growth rate over the coming years, say, relative to your pre-COVID outlook.
spk03: Yeah, I would say I'm not sure COVID's had an impact on that. We do have one of our pillars is building a grid for the future, and part of that is reinvesting in our smart metering assets, reinvesting in our grid control center, and things like that. So we do have our work programs that are focused on those types of things. I think that what we're seeing now is that there is a focus on carbon and climate, and on decarbonizing the transportation sector. And you're seeing that both, you know, in the private sector from the auto manufacturers here in Ontario, but we're also seeing that from the government supporting, you know, the building of EVs in Ontario and the desire for people to be able to charge their vehicles if they buy them here. And that's, you know, that was part of what drove us to starting our IV network. So I think there are a bunch of, I call it things that are climate related and innovation, like distributed energies and batteries and things like that, you know, on the horizon. But I don't think COVID has really kind of changed that.
spk09: Okay, that's perfect. Thanks, Mark.
spk07: Thank you. And our last question comes from Matthew Weeks with Industrial Alliance. Your line is open. Thank you.
spk12: Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Most of them have been asked at this point, but I want to just follow up on a bit of what was talked about a bit earlier with kind of increasing interest rates going forward as we're likely to see some kind of inflationary pressures. How do you see that kind of impacting the capital side of the business and the capital spending plans?
spk03: Yeah, so our rates are locked in until the end of 2022, so it shouldn't have an effect at all on our current capital plan. And we will, as we put our joint rate application forward, it will be reflective of the needs of the system and what that means. The rising interest rates from an ROE perspective, as you likely know, it's formulaic based on the kind of long bonds and that. So as the interest rate goes up, our ROE formularically goes up. So I don't think it will have an impact on the short-term capital program. On the longer-term capital program, we are, as I said before, building the case for what we need to invest to keep the system reliable. So interest rates shouldn't have an effect on that, but it will impact our ROE. And if they go up, it impacts it in a positive way.
spk12: Okay. Thanks very much. I'll leave it there. Thanks.
spk03: Omar, are you on mute?
spk13: No, I think that concludes the Q&A session for today. And thank you, Shannon, for your help in managing the Q&A process. The management team at Hydro One thanks everyone for their time with us this morning. during what is a busy period. We appreciate your interest and your ownership. If you have any questions that weren't addressed on the call, feel free to reach out and we'll get them answered for you. Thank you again for everything and enjoy the rest of your day. Thanks all.
spk07: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in today's conference. This does conclude today's program and you may all disconnect. Everyone have a great day.
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