Shawn Anderson
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at NiSource
Thanks, Michael, and good morning, everyone. Slide 10 reviews our financial results from the third quarter. Non-GAAP net operating earnings were $84 million or $0.19 per share compared to $45 million or $0.10 per share in the third quarter of 2022. Year-to-date results continue to track in line with our plan. Visibility from constructive regulatory outcomes and execution on O&M initiatives support our continued guidance to the upper half of the $1.54 to $1.60 EPS guidance provided last quarter.
Turning to Slide 11, you'll find segment details and key drivers of our results. Gas Distribution operating earnings were $53 million in the third quarter an increase of $21 million versus the same quarter last year. New rates and capital investment programs drove $42 million of incremental revenue including general rate case contributions in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Virginia and Maryland. Capital trackers in Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia provided additional return of capital investment for the segment as well. Offsetting these revenue increases we're spending activities in non-tracked gas O&M for the quarter of $8 million and depreciation from infrastructure programs, which increased $14 million on a year-over-year basis.
Electric operating earnings were $184 million in the third quarter, an increase of $69 million versus the same quarter last year. New rates as well as improved weather-normalized commercial and residential customer usage increased revenue by $7.3 million. Non-tracked electric O&M decreased $4 million, and depreciation increased $6 million. Lastly, Corporate and Other contributed $5 million due primarily to lower overall costs across several activities. Now I'd like to briefly touch on our debt and credit profile on Slide 12.
Our debt level, as of September 30 was $13.3 billion, $11 billion of which was long-term debt with a weighted average maturity of 12 years and a weighted average interest rate of 3.9%. At the end of the third quarter, we maintained net available liquidity of $1 billion, consisting of cash and available capacity under our credit facility our accounts receivable securitization programs. All three credit agencies have affirmed NiSource ratings and outlooks for the year. We remain committed to our current investment-grade credit ratings and remain on track to achieve our stated 14% to 16% FFO to debt range for this year upon closing of the minority interest sale transaction by the end of 2023.
Slide 13 details our refreshed long-term financial commitments. We are extending our six to eight long-term EPS growth guidance to the 2023 to 2028 period. This is supported by a five-year base capital plan of $16 billion, which fuels 8% to 10% annual 2023 to 2028 rate base growth. The enhanced base capital expenditure plan builds on our five-year plan by switching from tax equity to full ownership of our next two renewables project in '24. It also assumes additional capital for FEMSA related gas infrastructure requirements and electric transmission investments in 2027 and 2028.
These investments support incremental $1 billion of capex we have now moved into our base capital forecast over the next five-year horizon. Additionally, we are highlighting $2 billion of upside capex not included in the base plan. As Michael indicated, this includes investments to switch from tax equity to full ownership for our last two renewables projects in 2025, long-term incremental generation investment opportunities, electric and gas distribution enhancement opportunities and FINSA driven investments.
We'll be sharing more about these upside capital expenditure opportunities as we engage with stakeholders and develop better line of sight to make these investments for our customers and we'll continue to update and guide our annual capital expenditures plans to reflect the full scope of activities NiSource is engaging upon to deliver safe and reliable service for our customers.
Next, I'd like to focus on our financing plan and make four key points on Slide 14. First, we intend to remarket our equity units later this month for proceeds of $863 million. Second, this continues to be the only equity required in our base plan in 2023 and 2024 and is consistent with our prior financing plan for these years. Third, we expect to issue $200 million to $300 million of annual maintenance equity in the 2025 to 2028 periods using an ATM to maintain our capital structure and our current base case capital expenditures plan. Due to the strengthening of our balance sheet in 2023, we believe further enhancements to the capital plan and access to our upside capex and can be funded constructively by growth in cash from operations and requires minimal incremental equity from this base financing plan.
Fourth, all of these financing costs have been included in our guidance ranges and continue to be reflected fully in the growth rate of our business, which we have projected today. This plan supports both an annual 6% to 8% NOEPS growth rate and 14% to 16% FFO to debt annually for 2023 and the entire 2024 to 2028 period reflected in this planned refresh.
As we sit here today, we've been able to increase our capital plan by $1 billion compared to the plan a year ago, while requiring limited incremental equity. This is due in part to higher expected deferred taxes driven by larger solar capex and the full ownership of select assets, generating more accelerated depreciation as well as modest amounts of tax transferability proceeds and some timing associated with monetization of credits. One final note on this slide.
While the financing plan shared on Slide 14 is projected to support the $16 billion base capital plan, we expect minimal changes when we access capital investment opportunities within the upside plan. This is due in part to the strengthening of the balance sheet projected to be executed in 2023. These activities as well as improvements in cash from operations as a result of selecting those investments continue to support our commitment for all years of our plan to remain within the 14% to 16% FFO to debt which we are positioned to deliver upon once we close the minority sale transaction at NIPSCO this year.
I also want to be clear that the NiSource team has been and will continue to be thoughtful about the risks of elevated leverage. One year ago, we recognized the value of financing flexibility and diversity of capital and announced our intention to proceed with an alternative source of financing via our NIPSCO minority transaction.
Capital markets remain volatile and expensive versus historical levels for both utility equity and debt. Our base plan continues to carefully take these risks into consideration and builds in balance sheet flexibility, cushion and realistic financing assumptions accordingly. We've also updated our plan to reflect the current interest rate environment, which extends the higher short-term interest rate longer into our planned horizon than before and reflects the current outlook of the credit curve for our projected long-term debt issuances.
I'll conclude on Slide 15. Today, we introduced a refreshed long-term financial plan that builds and enhances upon the prior five-year plan introduced this time last year. Since our Investor Day in 2022 and in just one year, we have outperformed our 2022 NOEPS guidance range by exceeding our $1.44 to $1.46. And with actual NOEPS of $1.47. We've enhanced our 2023 NOEPS guidance range from $1.50 to $1.57. And up to the upper half of $1.54 to $1.60.
We've received approval for an agreement to raise $2.15 billion of diversified capital while preserving the scale of our business for our customers' benefit. We've enhanced our projected capital expenditures outlook by $1 billion and we've identified $2 billion more of capital expenditures, we believe, are important to delivering safe and reliable energy for our communities.
We continue building a track record of execution and growth, and our commitment to investors, employees and customers is central to everything we do. We'd now like to open up the line for your questions.
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