Hydro One Limited

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Hydro One Limited's second quarter 2025 analyst teleconference. At this time, all participants are in list-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 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. As a reminder, the call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Mr. Wafin Khalil, Director of Investor Relations at Hydro One. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Hydro One's quarterly earnings call. Joining us today are our President and CEO, David Hewitt, and our Chief Financial and Regulatory Officer, Terry Taylor. On the call today, we will provide an overview of our quarterly results, and then we'll answer as many questions as time permits. Today's discussion will likely touch on estimates and other forward-looking information. Listeners should review the cautionary language in today's earnings release and our MD&A, which we filed this morning, regarding the various factors, assumptions, and risks 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, David Lieber.

Thank you, Washington. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for our second quarter 2025 earnings call. This morning, I will provide an update on our recent activities and accomplishments during the quarter. Then Harry will take you through the financial results. Before we start, I'll touch on safety. It is at the core of our business and will always be a focus for us. This focus and commitment to safety goes beyond our day-to-day activities and includes contributions to public safety. Recently, Hydro One, in partnership with the Advanced Coronary Treatment, or ACT Foundation, and other partners, trained more than 25,000 local area high school students in Lindsay and surrounding communities with critical CPR and AED life-saving skills that will help care for their fellow community members. To date, more than 3 million students across the province have been trained for ACT's high school CPR and AED programs. We are very proud to be part of this achievement and our partnership with the ACT Foundation. Established in 2000, the long-time partnership between ACT and Hydro One has provided continued access to CPR, AED, and now OPA-associated emergency training for teachers and students across Ontario. Turning to the corridor, the damage caused by the March 2025 ice blowing was severe and widespread. With three days of ice accumulation causing uprooted trees, downed power lines, and more than 2,700 broken poles across the province, Tiger One crews, alongside 30 Canadian utility partners and contractors, work safely day and night in freezing rain, snow, and wind to restore power to our communities and those impacted by the storms. The costs associated with the storm, including those incurred by third-party contractors and other local distribution companies that support the restoration efforts, are approximately $225 million. As noted in our prior call, given the severity of the storm, we are applying to recover the crops through a debt factor application with the Ontario Energy Board. This application allows utilities that experience a significant, unforeseen event that was beyond the utility's control to apply for cost recovery. We expect to file the application shortly. To help with cleanup and recovery efforts, I do want to announce 50 recipients that include Indigenous communities and municipalities who will each receive up to $10,000 through the IceCorp 2025 recovery grant. The grants are part of our commitment to supporting recovery efforts and initiatives in local communities that were severely impacted by the storm. Energy demand in Ontario continues to grow across the province, with demand expected to grow by 70% by 2050. Hy-G-1 is pleased to be part of this growth and continues to play a critical role in meeting the increased demand and supporting the province's electrification goals. Early in June, I was pleased to see the Ontario government release its first integrated energy plan, or IEP, titled Energy for Generations. The plan sets out a long-term plan roadmap to 2050 for delivering clean, affordable, secure, and reliable energy. It unifies planning across electricity, natural gas, hydrogen, and emerging fuels to support economic growth, jobs, and energy security to meet the growth in demand and provide Ontario's affordable, secure, reliable, and clean energy. As part of the plan, the government announced the acceleration of the development of transmission infrastructure and the modernization of the distribution grid, which will provide Hydro One with additional growth opportunities. The new transmission project included the Berry to Sudbury transmission line, a new single-circuit 500kV line between ESA transformer stations and Hamner transformer stations, There is also early development work on a second 500 kV line. Bowmanville to the Greater Toronto Area Transmission Line, a new double-circuit 500 kV line from Bowmanville Switching Station to an existing 500 kV station in the GTA. Greenstone Transmission Line, a new 230 kV transmission line between Longlock Transformer Station in Geraldine to Nippicon Transformer Station and connecting to the East West Side Transmission Line near Nippicon Bay. And Windsor-Lakeshore Transmission Line, a new 230 kV transmission line from Lausanne Transformer Station in Windsor to Lakeshore Transmission Station in Lakeshore. The report also referred to the Orangeville to Barrie Reconductor Project, which involved reconductor to tie the existing 208 kV transmission lines between the Orangeville Transformer Station and the Echo Transformer Station, both in Barrie. Subject to required approval and a 60-day consultation period, The Ministry of Energy and Mines intends to declare these projects as priority projects and designate these transmission lines to Hydro One. The Windsor to Lakeshore transmission line was previously designated to Hydro One in March of 2022. However, with the declaration of this project as a priority project, it moves from early development into delivery to meet the emerging demand of the region. Our certified Lakeshore Transmission Line project, which was completed and exacted at the end of 2024, represented a significant milestone as it was the first project to be completed through the industry-leading 50-50 First Nations Equity Partnership Model. We are happy to report the two First Nations partners have secured the necessary financing, enabling them to make their equity investments in the transmission line. This project represents the first time that we are advancing – this project represents the first that we are advancing into the 50-50 Partnership Model and further enables First Nation investment into the electricity system to provide generation-owned source revenue for indigenous communities. We are proud of these new partnerships and our ongoing efforts to advance reconciliation. We continue to collaborate with the remaining First Nation partners as they work to finalize their investment and financing decisions and expect to conclude this work by the end of 2025. After reaching 10 of the settlements and two collective agreements, the main collective agreement, and the customer service and operations agreement with the Power Workers Union earlier this year, I'm happy to report these agreements were ratified by members of the union. The agreements cover employees in frontline and customer-facing roles across the company's operations and will be effective from October 1, 2025 to March 31, 2028. Partnering with the Society of United Professionals continues as the party is working towards reaching an agreement ahead of the September 30, 2025 expiry of existing contracts. As is normal during bargaining, and to respect the bargaining process between the teams, we will be providing any further comments on this process. In May, we released our 2024 Sustainability Report. The report provides a balanced account of our performance across a range of sustainability measures and highlights our progress towards enabling the energy transition on Ontario, leading to a better and brighter future for all. The 2024 report highlights accomplishments related to our long-term targets, and key initiatives, including reducing our operations-driven greenhouse gas emissions, Scope 1, and Scope 2 operations-driven emissions by approximately 41% compared to baseline year 2018, converting approximately 44% of our sedans and SUVs to electric vehicles and hybrids since announcing the initiative in July of 2021, spending over $158 million, or 5.5% of our total sourceable spend in 2024, on materials and supplies from Indigenous businesses, ahead of our target of 5% by 2026. Investing approximately $3.1 billion of capital in 2024 to expand and renew Ontario's grid, and creating over 60 hectares of pollinator habitat in 2024. These achievements reflect the alignment that exists between our strategy and sustainability, leading to a better and brighter future for all. Our actions reflect our purpose and commitment, and I am pleased that our actions continue to be recognized. For the 10th year in a row, we are part of Corporate Night's annual list of 50 Best Corporate Citizens in Canada. This award recognizes those entities that are committed to doing business differently and are committed to sustainability and environmental stewardship. We are also proud to be recognized by the Forbes inaugural ranking of Canada's Best Employers for Company Culture. The ranking surveyed more than 40,000 Canadian-based workers employed at companies with at least 500 people, and involved a range of companies' culture-related topics, including fairness, inclusivity, and opportunity. Lastly, Hydro-One was also recognized in Time Magazine and Statistica's first-ever list of Canadian Best Companies for 2025. The list ranks the top Canadian companies from over 2,000 eligible companies based on metrics that include employee satisfaction, sustainability transparency, and continuous revenue growth in the last three years. These accolades reinforce what drives us every day and are a powerful reflection of our values, promises, and the dedication we all bring to work every day. Before I send this call to Harry, I want to take a moment to update you on some recent executive changes. It is my pleasure to announce that Megan Selford will take over as Chief Operating Officer and will lead the safety, operations, and customer experience, capital portfolio delivery, strategy, both planning a Hydro One remote community aid. Lisa joined our Hydro One in 2020 and previously held leadership roles that include responsible for health and safety and environment, human resources, indigenous relations, corporate affairs, and customer care teams. Lisa Pearson will assume the role of executive vice president of corporate affairs. Since joining Hydro One in 2024, Lisa has been responsible for building a trusted partnership that delivers value for the customers and shareholders. In addition to her current mandate, she will also be in business relations, sustainability, and energy policy functions at Hydro One. These changes position us for the future and help us achieve our strategic objectives while driving economic growth across Ontario. With that, I'll turn it over to Harry to discuss our financial results. Harry, over to you.