NYSE:AWK American Water Works Q3 2023 Earnings Report $143.98 -2.06 (-1.41%) Closing price 04/25/2025 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$143.93 -0.05 (-0.04%) As of 04/25/2025 06:57 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast American Water Works EPS ResultsActual EPS$1.66Consensus EPS $1.55Beat/MissBeat by +$0.11One Year Ago EPS$1.63American Water Works Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$1.17 billionExpected Revenue$1.14 billionBeat/MissBeat by +$29.94 millionYoY Revenue Growth+7.90%American Water Works Announcement DetailsQuarterQ3 2023Date11/2/2023TimeAfter Market ClosesConference Call DateThursday, November 2, 2023Conference Call Time9:00AM ETUpcoming EarningsAmerican Water Works' Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Wednesday, April 30, 2025, with a conference call scheduled on Thursday, May 1, 2025 at 9:00 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)SEC FilingEarnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by American Water Works Q3 2023 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrNovember 2, 2023 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 11 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good day, and welcome to American Water's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded and is also being webcast with an accompanying slide presentation through the company's Investor Relations website. The audio webcast archive will be available for 1 year on American Water's Investor Relations website. I would now like to introduce you to your host for today's call, Aaron Musgrave, Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Operator00:00:31Musgrave, you may begin. Speaker 100:00:35Thank you, Chris. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for today's call. At the end of our prepared remarks, we will open the call for your questions. Let me first go over some Safe Harbor language. Today, we will be making forward looking statements that represent our expectations regarding our future performance or other future events. Speaker 100:00:55These statements are predictions based on our current expectations, estimates and assumptions. However, since these statements deal with future events, they are subject to numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from the results indicated or implied by such statements. Additional information regarding these risks, uncertainties and factors as well as a more detailed analysis of our financials and other important information is provided in the Q3 earnings release and in our September 30 Form 10 Q each filed yesterday with the SEC. And finally, all statements during this presentation related to earnings and earnings per share refer to diluted earnings and diluted earnings per share. Susan Hardwick, our President and CEO, will share highlights of Q3 and year to date results and will comment on our 2024 EPS guidance and longer term targets. Speaker 100:01:52Cheryl Norton, our Executive Vice President and COO, will then discuss our new capital investment plan, including the expected impact of PFAS related investments and will conclude with a regulatory update, including our views on customer affordability. John Griffith, our Executive Vice President and CFO, will then discuss our year to date financial results in more detail, discuss our acquisition outlook, and we'll close with details behind our 2024 outlook and longer term goals and our 2024 to 20 28 financing plan. After a few final remarks, we'll then close by answering your questions. With that, I'll turn the call over to American Water's President and CEO, Susan Hardwick. Speaker 200:02:38Thanks, Erin, and good morning, everyone. Let's turn to Slide 5, and I'll start by covering some highlights from the Q3 year to date periods. As we announced yesterday, we delivered strong financial results in the Q3 of 2023, and we're pleased to again reaffirm our 2023 guidance on a weather normalized basis. Earnings were $1.66 per share for the quarter compared to $1.63 for the same period last year. In the 1st 9 months of 2023, earnings were $4.03 per share compared to $3.70 per share in the same period of 'twenty 2. Speaker 200:03:14The estimated net favorable weather impact year to date in 'twenty three is about $0.11 per share compared to $0.06 per share favorable in 'twenty two. These weather normalized results so far in 2023 continue to reflect our strong execution in line with our growth expectations for the year. John will elaborate further on results later. Moving on to some of our other key accomplishments to date in 2023. We have invested $1,800,000,000 in capital projects year to date, reflecting great work by our teams responsible for planning and completing these investments. Speaker 200:03:49As you will recall, the total capital investment plan for 2023 includes approximately $400,000,000 of acquisitions, including one sizable transaction in Pennsylvania we expect to close in December and another in Illinois around the end of the year. As you know, we completed an equity issuance of $1,700,000,000 in March and a $1,000,000,000 convertible debt issuance in June. These were the 2 key priorities of our 2023 financing plan. We were focused on completing these issuances in the first half of the year to reduce market related pricing risk and overall execution risk, which has served our investors, customers and our customers well considering the current market conditions. Turning to Slide 6, as we roll out our new 5 year plan today, we are affirming our long term targets, including 7% to 9 We are also initiating our 2024 earnings guidance of $5.10 per share to $5.20 per share, which John will discuss further later in the discussion. Speaker 200:04:56This represents our expectation of 8% EPS growth in 2024 compared to our weather normalized 2023 EPS guidance. One thing to note on this slide is that we have revised the look of our earnings growth outlook. Recall that we'd historically referred to it as our growth triangle. We believe this new version better highlights our compelling 7% to 9% earnings growth expectation and better represents the key drivers of growth. As a nearly 100% regulated water and wastewater utility, rate based growth and regulatory execution are the key drivers of growth for our company. Speaker 200:05:32Rate based growth continues to be driven by the accelerated CapEx plan we put forth 2 years ago and now with this updated plan. Combined with our robust regulated acquisition strategy on which we've proven we can execute, we continue to expect 8% to 9% rate based growth over the next decade. Later, Cheryl will review the amount of capital we expect to spend over the next 5 years, including related to acquisitions. On this slide, you can see we are highlighting our acquisition growth strategy measured by a compounded annual growth rate in customer connections of 2%. The timing of closing on acquisitions is often difficult to control within a calendar year, which can cause volatility This 2% customer additions CAGR target should be an easier way for investors to monitor and measure our growth through acquisitions. Speaker 200:06:24And as I said, rate based growth, which includes acquisition investment, is the key driver to earnings growth. Our growth outlook also includes the organic revenue growth opportunities we expect from our military services group from the 18 installations we currently serve with an added upside for any new basis secured. One of our company's competitive advantages is its diverse Regulated operations across 14 states that provides us with flexibility in the timing of rate cases and capital deployment. We also have a very predictable and controllable set of capital projects annually, almost half of which are recoverable through infrastructure mechanisms. Along with our other regulatory approaches, we are confident we can deliver consistent earnings growth and dividend growth over the next 5 years and beyond. Speaker 200:07:12While utility stocks including ours have seen the impact on the short term of higher interest rates, history has shown that over medium and longer term horizons the utility sector And certainly, American Water has delivered compelling value to investors. We believe the combination of our EPS and dividend growth Reported by our significant yet low risk capital investment plan and our focus on customer affordability and ESG leadership will continue to be rewarded by investors. Based on this long term plan and our history of executing on our strategies, We intend to continue to deliver a very competitive, sustainable shareholder return for many years to come. With that, let me turn it over to Cheryl to talk more about our capital investment plan and our focus on customer affordability and regulatory execution. Cheryl? Speaker 300:08:01Thanks Susan and good morning everyone. Before I jump into a discussion of our current long term capital plans starting on slide 8, I want to first acknowledge that our teams have done a great job executing on our accelerated capital investment plans these last few years. We have consistently met our capital deployment goal and we are on pace to do it again by meeting our overall capital plan of $2,900,000,000 this year, which includes acquisition investments. Looking ahead to 2024, we expect a modest increase in our investment spending level to roughly $3,100,000,000 Over the next 5 years, we expect to invest approximately $16,000,000,000 to $17,000,000,000 an increase of about $2,000,000,000 over our previous plan. This level of spending reflects the result of our consistent Risk based project planning. Speaker 300:08:52Along with risk, customer affordability is a key variable in our analysis, which I will speak more about shortly. Looking out over the next decade, we expect to invest $34,000,000,000 to $38,000,000,000 in our regulated systems and acquisitions, which is $4,000,000,000 higher than the previous 10 year plan. In addition to tackling PFAS, we expect Follow on capital needs related to acquisitions to continue to increase over time and modestly higher costs for pipe and other capital goods over time. Continuing on slide 9, the increase in the 5 year capital plan is primarily driven by 3 needs. First, The plan includes approximately $1,000,000,000 of needed investment to treat water for PFOS contamination across our systems. Speaker 300:09:39As we've said many times, American Water supports the U. S. EPA's efforts to protect public health by proposing national drinking water standards for PFAS. And we believe our company is in a better position than any water utility to remove PFAS at the level that would be required under the rule as proposed. And we've also said the cost to comply will be significant. Speaker 300:10:01Roughly $1,000,000,000 of capital remains our best estimate based upon the proposed federal EPA rule, which we expect will be finalized in late 2023 or early 2024 without much modification. We expect Most of these PFAS related capital investments to occur over a 3 year period beginning later in 2024 and primarily in our larger states in terms of customers served like New Jersey as an example. The source water supplies for New Jersey American Water that have PFAS contamination include large surface water supplies that are more costly to treat than our groundwater sources. And as we've said, granulated activated granular activated carbon or GAC will be the primary treatment Speaker 400:11:07While much Speaker 300:11:07uncertainty exists around the topic of PFAS, including the recovery of related capital and operating costs, We expect constructive outcomes for this important water quality initiative and we will continue to advocate that the ultimate responsibility for the cleanup of these contaminants should fall to the polluters. We will also continue to advocate that all water and wastewater utility providers, regardless of ownership, have equal access to any federal and or state funding related to treating PFAS. In addition, we will continue our efforts to request permanent federal funding for a water and wastewater low income customer assistance program. The other two drivers of increased CapEx in the 2024 to 2028 plan are a higher level of spend related to prioritized Renewal projects across our footprint such as for hydrant, pipe and meter replacement as well as a higher level of expected follow on capital related to future acquisitions. Following recent acquisitions, we have continued to experience a higher level of investment need in order to bring water and wastewater systems into regulatory compliance and up to our operating standards, which is driving the higher estimated capital need of $600,000,000 You can also see that we have deferred $500,000,000 of lower risk projects to later years beyond the 5 year plan. Speaker 300:12:32We did this as a part of our extensive risk based project analysis in conjunction with our ongoing affordability analysis. For example, we deferred until later in the 10 year capital plan, the replacement of some services in mains where it was determined that they did not pose an immediate risk to service reliability or water quality. Let's turn to Slide 10 and I'll cover the latest regulatory across our states. Shown in the slide is a summary of our pending general rate cases with some key facts for each. In the appendix, you will also find some details related to infrastructure charges as well as a snapshot of the key outcomes from the most recent general rate case in our top 10 states. Speaker 300:13:14Our general rate cases in California, Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky are all progressing well and as expected. All of these cases, except perhaps California, will most likely be resolved in early 2024. Just yesterday, we filed a general rate case in Virginia, reflecting $110,000,000 in system investments covering May 2023 through April 2025. We are seeking $20,000,000 of additional annual revenue and expect interim rates to go into effect in May of next year. Outside of our general rate cases, as we discussed last quarter, we filed a request as authorized by California's Water cost of capital mechanism seeking a 52 basis point increase to our ROE in 2023, which was approved on July 25, or increasing the return on equity to 9.5 percent effective July 31. Speaker 300:14:09We filed a similar request in October for an additional 70 basis point increase to go into effect January 1, 2024, which would bring our ROE to 10.2%. And finally, related to the customers we have proudly served in the Monterey community for over 100 years, in October, a local entity adopted a resolution enabling it to file an imminent domain lawsuit with respect to the Monterey System assets. This is not a new issue, just the latest chapter in a long running effort by an entity that we believe lacks the expertise to own and operate a very complex water distribution system serving these Monterrey Bottom line, we believe based upon existing legal precedent, we'll be able to successfully defend against an imminent domain lawsuit if it's filed. You can find more information on this topic in our SEC filings, including this quarter's 10 Q. Moving to Slide 11, I'll wrap up with a discussion of customer affordability and this new capital investment plan. Speaker 300:15:13Using U. S. Census Bureau data specific to the Geographies we serve, our research and analysis concluded that projected rising levels of median household income, combined with conservative assumptions around an increasing customer base, would allow us to stay within our target for residential water bills of 1% or less of median household income. 1 of the most difficult challenges we face in the water and wastewater industry is balancing customer affordability with the magnitude of the system investments that are needed. Thankfully, today our industry and our company are in very good relative positions in in terms of affordability or wallet share. Speaker 300:15:54At the same time, we realize we must continue to evolve our strategies rate design and programs to assist our customers who are challenged with affordability. We must also continue our focus on technology, efficiencies of scale and cost management in order to deliver on customer affordability. Our dual focus on operating efficiency and customer affordability has and a valuable part of our company's DNA for many years. As you know, we've historically used O and M efficiency as one of our benchmark metrics to measure our success at managing costs as we grow the business. In recent years, we've emphasized that revenue growth has been just as impactful to the O and M efficiency metric as managing costs. Speaker 300:16:38As we look ahead, we're continuing to evaluate whether this is the Best metric by which to judge our effectiveness at managing costs and running an efficient business. More to come on this in 2024. With that, I'll hand it over to John to cover our financial results and plans in further detail. John? Speaker 500:16:56Thank you, Cheryl, and good morning, everyone. Turning to Slide 13, let me provide a few more details on year to date results. The appendix also has details of 3rd quarter EPS, which has many of the same drivers as year to date results. Consolidated earnings were $4.03 per share year to date, up $0.33 per share compared to the same period in 2022 and up $0.28 per share on a weather normalized basis. Increased revenues were driven by general rate cases we completed in late 2022 early 2023 in our larger states. Speaker 500:17:31These additional revenues are driven by the significant investments we have made and continue to make in our systems. As noted, Earnings were higher year to date by an estimated net $0.11 per share as a result of weather in the second and third quarters due to warm and dry conditions, primarily in Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This compares to net favorable weather in the Q3 of 2022 of $0.06 per share, which related mostly to warm and dry conditions in New Jersey. And looking at operating costs, Higher pension expense of about $0.10 per share and increased chemical costs of about $0.09 per share, including inflationary pressures are being recovered in large part through higher revenues we proactively sought through the use of forward test years and traditional updates to base cost of service and general rate cases we completed in the last 12 to 18 months. This strategy has limited the bottom line impact of those higher costs in 2023 and is a strategy we are continuing to use in our recently filed and upcoming cases. Speaker 500:18:37Supporting our investment growth, depreciation expense increased $0.17 per share and the cost of additional long term financing increased to $0.28 per share, primarily related to share count dilution. As I mentioned last quarter, the EPS impact of the higher share count from our equity issuance offsets the avoided interest expense in the current interest rate environment. We expect the impact to be approximately neutral to EPS for the full year as well based on the current outlook. Turning to Slide 14, this graph illustrates that our continued execution on capital investments, Both infrastructure projects and acquisitions are succeeding and growing regulated rate base at a long term rate of 8% to 9%. Rate based growth of course will drive earnings growth. Speaker 500:19:23We believe the high degree of visibility to our capital investment plan combined with the low risk nature of the plan, uniquely positions American Water in the utility sector and is fundamental to our investment thesis. Turning to Slide 15, you'll see that we continue to be set up for strong growth through acquisitions. We closed on 14 acquisitions totaling $36,000,000 across 6 states in the 1st 9 months of 2023, which demonstrates our continued ability to close deals in many states. We also had 32 transactions under agreement across 10 states through the end of September, totaling $611,000,000 2 of which we closed in early October, including 1 in West Virginia for $27,000,000 This total also includes both The Butler Area Sewer Authority Wastewater System in Pennsylvania and the Granite City Wastewater Treatment Plant in Illinois we previously announced. We expect the Butler acquisition to close later this year in Granite City around year end pending regulatory approvals for each and we look forward to serving those customers. Speaker 500:20:30Also included in our acquisitions under agreement is the Talamenson Township Wastewater System in Pennsylvania we expect to purchase for $104,000,000 as announced back in March. We expect to close this acquisition in late 2024 or early 2025 pending final regulatory approval and we look forward to serving those customers as well. Our outlook for future acquisitions remains very strong as we expect to have over $250,000,000 of acquisitions under agreement at the end of 2023 after the expected closings of Butler and Granite City. Of course, as we close on transactions, the work to build and refill the acquisition pipeline is continuous. Our pipeline of 1,300,000 customer connections is a strong leading indicator that supports this piece of our rate base growth outlook. Speaker 500:21:21On Slide 16, we provide some considerations regarding First, as you would expect, our growth will be driven by capital investment to serve our customers and earning a return on that investment. So we see that ramp up reflected in earnings in 2024 both from base rate increases and infrastructure mechanisms. As a reminder, approximately 45% of our CapEx is recoverable by infrastructure mechanisms, so it's a very meaningful driver of consistent earnings growth for us. Recent regulated acquisitions that are being incorporated into active or just completed rate cases will also drive growth next year. I'd like to note that our military services group does add incrementally to our earnings growth expectation as we have continued to show in our growth outlook. Speaker 500:22:25MSG's great work on the 18 military installations it serves has built trust and resulted in the U. S. Government allocating additional funds for improvement projects driving increased revenues. Just as critical to our growth strategy is our ability to prudently manage the Operating costs it takes to run the business, which goes to my final point on this slide. Because of our strong culture of operating efficiency and cost management, We expect only modest increases in O and M in 2024. Speaker 500:22:55These efforts go to the heart of the customer affordability construct We want to protect, which is closely aligned with the interests of regulators and ultimately investors in managing affordability of customer bills. Finally, related to pension, I'd simply remind you that our pension obligation remeasurement will be done at year end 2023 and that will drive the determination of our 2024 pension expense. Turning to Slide 17, I'll provide a total of $2,000,000,000 of equity financing need. We successfully issued $1,700,000,000 of the $2,000,000,000 earlier this year, leaving $300,000,000 of equity financing needed toward the end of that prior plan. Equity in our new plan is expected to be issued near the middle of the 2024 to 20 28 period subject to market conditions. Speaker 500:23:53The $700,000,000 increase in the anticipated external equity need is driven by the incremental $2,000,000,000 of CapEx in the new plan. As we've said many times now, we expect incremental CapEx to be funded roughly fifty-fifty Debt and Equity, which includes both external equity and cash flow from operations. Our financing plan design also takes into account the goal of maintaining a strong balance sheet and continuing to meet our long term debt to capital target of less than 60%. Another assumption inherent in our new plan is that we will continue to be a cash taxpayer, especially as we will likely become subject to the new corporate On Slide 18, we provide a summary of our continued strong financial condition. Our total debt to capital ratio as of September 30, net of the roughly $630,000,000 of cash on hand remains at 54%, which is comfortably within our long term target of less than 60%. Speaker 500:24:56As we are all aware, The current higher interest rate environment is challenging. We are however in a position of strength on a number of fronts in dealing with the challenge. Our strategy of issuing debt at the holding company level allows us to take advantage of our scale and pricing debt issuances. We remain confident that we will have strong access to capital for the long term. In fact, we just extended the maturity of our revolving credit facility to October 2028, which has a capacity of $2,750,000,000 Our diversified banking relationships with some of the largest and strongest banks in the world coupled with our fully regulated business model and strong credit ratings gives us great confidence around liquidity. Speaker 500:25:40Our laddered approach to long term debt financings over the years is very important in environments like the current one to manage cash flows and minimize interest rate risk, which contributes to managing customer affordability. And our short duration between general rate cases allows us to minimize any lag we may experience related to recovery of debt costs. With that, I'll turn it back over to Susan for some closing thoughts. Susan? Speaker 200:26:06Thanks, John. To close on Slide 20, you've heard our latest strategic thinking today, and it should sound very familiar. It's all about execution at every level. As we continue to demonstrate our ability to consistently execute, we believe our industry leading EPS and dividend growth combined with our focus on affordability and ESG leadership will continue to be highly valued and rewarded by investors. We believe these aspects of our business and strategy separate us from all utilities. Speaker 200:26:37They are underpinned by our significant low risk capital investment plan, which includes our best in class execution on acquisitions and our excellent regulatory execution, all while maintaining a strong balance sheet with a well planned debt maturity profile and a differentiated affordability proposition. Through our consistent achievement of high operating standards, including our leading safety culture and water quality accolades, our team at American Water has raised the bar for success in the water and wastewater industry, and that includes the outstanding efforts by our military services group team to proudly serve the 18 military installations in our footprint. Our history of executing on our strategies has delivered a very competitive, Sustainable shareholder return. With this long term plan, we have full confidence in our ability to achieve the goals we talked about today and continue our track record of delivering superior shareholder value. And with that, let me turn the call back over to Chris to begin Q and A and take any questions you may have. Operator00:27:41Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Today's first question comes from Richard Sunderland with JPMorgan. Please proceed. Speaker 600:28:16Hi, good morning. Am I coming through clearly? Speaker 200:28:19You are, Rich. Good morning. Speaker 600:28:21Great. Thank you. Appreciate the details around the update here. I wanted to start with The CapEx revision and the bill outlook, looking back to 2021 when You first outlined the accelerated investment plan. You gave some details on the customer affordability angle, But I'm curious kind of bridging not back to last year, but back to 'twenty one. Speaker 600:28:48Is there anything different in that outlook now? Obviously, The CapEx is up significantly. Also curious if the 2% customer additions target and the language around there for M and A has factored into how you've crafted this new capital plan around the customer affordability angle as well. Speaker 200:29:09Okay, Rich. Yes, there's a lot in there. Let me start and then Sheryl and John can add to it. I would say our focus has Sharpened over the last number of years related to customer affordability. And that sharpened focus, I think, has really been around this sort of wallet share concept that Sheryl talked about. Speaker 200:29:34I think it's important for us to understand the communities that we operate in and the demographics of those Communities and what are the challenges of customers in those communities. And we've been able to do a lot of analysis at a very detailed level around around household income, around just economic impacts in the various communities that we serve and our focus has been, I think very clearly defined around our wallet share as a percentage of that household income. And we've been developing this concept here now for a number of years and I think that, our ability to confidently say this plan As we've continued to grow it, we'll continue to maintain our position of roughly 1% or less of a customer's bill in the communities that we serve specifically. And I think that focus has allowed us to really think about How to build this plan, how to continue to grow it, how to continue to grow rate base, while not Overburdening customers with our growth expectations. I think this plan fits very nicely in that concept. Speaker 200:30:53Cheryl, you want to add anything? Speaker 300:30:54Yes. I would just add Rich that, as Susan said, we look at all the communities that we serve, we look at the demographics and yet the capital investments are not that different from community to community and we need to make sure that we are investing at the right level in all of those communities. New regulations, like PFOS, but also the lead and copper rule that is driving a lot of capital investment across the board And so we have to continue to do that and we need to do that in all the communities. So these affordability calculations, the risk Priority model that we use, we think it's really the best balance to getting the right amount of infrastructure investment in all of the communities that we serve and as we grow the number of communities that we are serving that will continue to increase. But we think we are getting the right balance Because we have to treat all of our customers in a fair way. Speaker 300:31:49They all deserve clean, safe drinking water. Speaker 200:31:52And Cheryl, I might just add one additional comment. From a regulatory perspective, this is also a concept that we've been sharing very transparently with regulators. This affordability analysis that we've done and as we lay out in every jurisdiction, the The plan and the investments that we have made, we're right alongside it talking about impacts to customers and how we've thought about the plan and how it affects affordability for the customers in the service territory. So again, it's So concept and a view that we've taken that we think is differentiating here and I think regulators just as one party are certainly recognizing that. Speaker 500:32:35And Rich, I'll pick up on the 2% part of your question. As Susan mentioned in her commentary, 2% is a metric that we think is good to think about as a long term metric given just the short term Variability around acquisitions, but you're right to point it out in this context, as you know, that 8% to 9% Rate based growth is what drives the 7% to 9% earnings growth, but being able to spread that 8% to 9% rate base growth over A larger customer base is a healthy element of our growth. Speaker 600:33:09Great. That was very helpful color there. Thanks for laying all of that out. And then separately turning to the financing plan here, you're clear on the drivers around the equity relative to the Thanks. I'm curious on the operating cash flow side, it looks like a significant step up 24% to 20% versus 23% to 20 7%. Speaker 600:33:31Is that just Normal course kind of rate recovery, any discrete items in there, just how to think about prior versus new? Speaker 500:33:41Yes, it's a good question, Rich. Really there is a big step up if you think about the increase in our capital plan as we go back from 2021, 2022, 2023 and forward, it's such a significant step up that when you drop 23 out of the plan and you bring 28 into the plan, the accumulation of the capital spend through that period accounts for a very significant portion of that operating cash flow step up. And then as you would also intuitively think, There is increased cash flow in the interim years as well, just given the increase in capital plan. Operator00:34:32Our next question is from Paul Zimbardo with Bank of America. Please proceed. Speaker 700:34:39Hi, good morning team. Good morning. And just to clarify that last line, confirm my understanding. So there's effectively no change in Growth triangle, as you call it, it's just kind of a re presentation? Speaker 200:34:55Yes, I think that's Fair. We want to continue to emphasize that rate based growth is the driver. Rate based investment, which includes acquisitions, is the driver. What we are trying to do here, I think, is just give Some clarity around or maybe a better view as to how you can measure our progress toward Growth through acquisition by giving you that sort of metric around customer additions. The investment that we'll continue to make in Just rolls into rate base, which it always has. Speaker 200:35:30So no real change in that. I just think it's a better view potentially for investors To be able to see progress we're making around the acquisition strategy. Speaker 700:35:42Okay. Understood. That's what I thought. And then shifting to the financing plan. So if I understand it right and correct me if I'm wrong, it doesn't assume any Litigation proceeds, state funding, federal funding for PFAS. Speaker 700:35:57Just is there any sense of what that kind of offset could be to help out on customer bills? Speaker 200:36:03Yes, it's a good question. Obviously, the numbers that we have laid out here, as Cheryl outlined, continue to be our best estimates of the cost necessary to Meet the current proposed rule. Obviously, we don't have a rule yet. So finalizing those numbers will occur once we have a final rule. And we do participate in the ongoing litigation around this whole issue. Speaker 200:36:28We've laid all that out in the queue, so you can look at that There and probably won't talk much more about it than that since it is ongoing litigation. I think it is fair to say that our estimates today are the costs we would We have to see how the litigation ultimately works out, to see what impact that may have. And I think Cheryl covered this Well, we do believe as by virtue of our participation in the litigation that polluters It should be our first line here of responsibility. So we are quite involved in that to make sure that that is Properly executed. Speaker 700:37:10Okay. So to make sure, it does have an assumption around kind of getting external Funding or it does not? Speaker 200:37:18It does not at this point. No. Speaker 700:37:19It's Speaker 200:37:19just the cost estimates that we have developed so far. Operator00:37:31The next question comes from Will Granger with Mizuho. Please proceed. Speaker 800:37:38Hi, good morning everybody. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Just wanted to ask On the PFOS $1,000,000,000 that you've outlined today, how should we be thinking about the makeup Of that over your service territories, is it pretty ratable or yes, if you could unpack the underlying assumptions there, that'd be Yes. Speaker 200:38:04I will ask Sheryl to comment on that. We hit on I think pretty high level, but Sheryl you might want to just reemphasize that. Yes. We, as we have looked at this, Our Speaker 300:38:13as I mentioned in my comments earlier, we expect the bulk of the spend to be in our states where we have a larger footprint of customers, New Jersey for example and the reason for that driver of that being the largest amount of spend is that there is more contamination There in general, but also these are large surface water plants that are very costly to add treatment to. We have Pennsylvania is a larger state, numerous locations there, but we really haven't outlined everywhere that we're going to add treatment, but anywhere that it's a Surface water plant as opposed to a groundwater source is going to be a lot more costly to add that treatment. And so New Jersey is our biggest dollar state for sure. Speaker 800:38:57Got it. That's helpful. And then maybe just on the equity for your plan, Is that the incremental equity is just $700,000,000 if I've got my math right, the $300,000,000 that You're still planning to issue now an incremental $700,000,000 or is it an incremental $1,000,000,000 You've Speaker 500:39:20got it right, Will. It's an incremental $700,000,000 Speaker 800:39:24Okay. And we should expect the timing of that to come in towards the back half of your plan or would that Be issued like as an ATM and just kind of pretty ratable. Speaker 500:39:38What we said is we'll issue it in the middle of our New 2024 to 2028 plan, subject to market conditions, obviously. Operator00:39:57Our next question is from Jonathan Reeder with Wells Fargo. Please proceed. Speaker 900:40:04Hey, good morning team. Just kind of following up a little bit on that last question. Despite the higher operating cash flows, It looks like the external capital needs increased more than the $2,000,000,000 CapEx increase. You got the $700,000,000 equity and then I think it's $1,700,000,000 of debt. Anything unique going on there? Speaker 500:40:29Jonathan, we really lead this analysis by looking at our credit metrics. And so a lot of it just goes back to what we've said in the past where incremental CapEx will fund it fifty-fifty debt and equity. As we think about equity there, it's internally generated funds as well as new issuance. I think we think of it as lining up in that regard. Speaker 900:40:52Okay. No, I was just thinking the debt portion was a little higher than I would have thought. Speaker 500:41:00Yes, that's just a function of the capital spend as well as the maturity schedule. Speaker 900:41:05Okay. Yes, maybe the maturity settled. Okay. So Cheryl, I know you said that California filed on 10.16 to increase, the 24 allowed ROE. Has there been any opposition filed to this request? Speaker 900:41:20I think there's like a 30 day Comment period which probably ended maybe yesterday? Speaker 300:41:26Yes, there is that 30 day period and, Jonathan, I am unaware of any kind of Intervention or any kind of concern over that? Speaker 1000:41:36Okay. Speaker 200:41:36It's pretty formulaic, Jonathan. I mean, Yes, we don't expect there to be any issue with that. It really just follows the formula. Speaker 900:41:45Yes. No, I mean, I think Investor concern is more on the electric side, whether you'll see some intervention than the water, but monitor both. I think the 10 year CapEx plan, you bumped up the M and A placeholder by $1,000,000,000 Is there anything specific driving that or is that just kind of Passage of time more than anything. Speaker 500:42:07Yes, I'd say, Jonathan, it's certainly passage of time is part of it. We are investing in our capability across the system, Starting with originations and as well as due diligence and integrations. As we look at What happens when we make acquisitions and just our standards as a best in class operator relative to the systems that we acquire, We just continue to think that there's a lot of momentum there and a lot of strength in us continuing this program. So It is a capability that we're investing significantly in. And yes, as you pointed out, as we We look forward in time, we expect those numbers to become bigger to maintain that relative level of contribution. Speaker 500:42:55Okay. Speaker 900:42:55And then last, you mentioned the pension costs for 'twenty four and figuring that out. But do you have much exposure on that? Or do most of your key states now have tracking mechanisms for pension? Speaker 500:43:11We have trackers and deferral accounts in certain states, Jonathan, we can go through that with you in detail. So there's a mix there of what we pick up already and what would need to be picked up in the future. Operator00:43:41The next question comes from Greg Orrill with UBS. Please proceed. Speaker 1000:43:48Yes. Hi. Thank you. Speaker 100:43:51Good morning, Greg. Speaker 1000:43:52Good morning. I think you mentioned You're working on an acquisition in Pennsylvania of $104,000,000 to close in late 'twenty four, 'twenty five. How do you think about when you go into acquisitions sort of the Reasonable timeline for getting approvals. How do you think about that? Speaker 200:44:22Don, you want to comment on that? I think the one you're referring to in particular, it's a little more complicated. I wouldn't say it's Sort of a traditional process, the Tal Minson acquisition. I recall we stepped into That arrangement when NextEra decided to exit the opportunity. So that was just a little more complicated. Speaker 200:44:45John, you want to talk sort of typically how we think about the process around acquisitions? Speaker 500:44:49Sure. Yes. And Greg, it varies state to State, but since you mentioned Pennsylvania, there's a process you go through to file an application. The application has to be deemed complete And then that starts the statutory clock. And so in the case of Pennsylvania, there's a 6 month statutory clock that runs through. Speaker 500:45:07And then either you're settling your approval or you're litigating your approval, but all within that 6 month statutory timetable. Speaker 1000:45:18And so what's different about this situation? Speaker 500:45:22Well, Tom mentioned it's one where There's opportunity based on precedent in Pennsylvania. We'll see how Well, the post PUC approval plays out, but we're just allowing a little bit of latitude in the event that there's Any follow-up to the PUC approval from intervenors? Operator00:45:57The next question comes from Aditya Gandhi with Wolfe Research. Please proceed. Speaker 400:46:05Good morning, Susan, Sheryl and John. Can you hear me? Speaker 200:46:08We can. Good morning. Good morning. Speaker 400:46:10Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I just wanted to of water systems from any PFOS related financial liability under Circular. Do you see risk if a final rule is released And it doesn't contain any protections. And then the second topic is, can you maybe give some color on what portion of the $50,000,000 additional annual O and M sort of qualifies for trackers or expense mechanisms? Speaker 300:46:53I can take those questions. This is Sheryl. As far as protections around the CERCLA, We have been really engaged in that process and we have been pushing really hard to ensure that water and wastewater utilities are protected in that space. And so we are going to continue to fight that battle. Right now, you are right, there is a little bit of vulnerability out there, but But we feel pretty confident that we're going to be able to manage through that and that we're going to be able to impact, how we're treated in that space. Speaker 300:47:22So more to come on that, but rest assured we are going to fight like crazy to make sure that we are protected there. And as far as the 50,000,000 I don't have an exact breakdown and we haven't talked about an exact breakdown from state to state, but whether or not that would be recovered through mechanisms just Depends on the type of mechanisms that a state would have. So if they have a mechanism that would allow them to recover their production costs, Any kind of tracker in that space would be really helpful in those costs. In some cases, we have environmental writers that include Capital improvements, some of them include capital and operating improvements, so that would allow them to recover those costs as well. So there's going to be a portion that we're going to be able to recover right upfront, but the rest of them will just recover through a general rate case with very little lag I would anticipate as far as those costs are concerned. Speaker 200:48:18Yes. And the only thing I would add to that is, where we don't have An existing mechanism or an approach to ensure timely recovery, We're going to work to design 1. Our view here is that these are federally mandated costs, and we are Taking care of a problem created by someone else and because of that federal mandate and the federal rule behind it, we think we will have A great argument to make around recovery and timely recovery. So we will be looking for where we don't have existing solutions, we will be looking to create New opportunity to do that. So there will be a lot on the regulatory front here to do once we have a final rule and I know how this plays out. Speaker 300:49:08Yes, Susan, I would just add that that 3 year implementation period that we have to put treatment in place gives us time to do those Kinds of things and make those regulatory improvements. Right. Speaker 400:49:20Got it. That's super helpful color. Thank you. And just One question for John. On the equity needs, you've mentioned it's in the middle of your new 2024 through 2018 plan. Speaker 400:49:32So Sort of in the 'twenty six timeframe, you're also going to have proceeds from the HOS note come in. I believe they're due at the end of 2020 6. Just can you add a little bit more color on timing and the form of equity? Is this just going to be like a straight block or is this going to be some sort of forward where you'll maybe draw down on the forward Over a couple of years, how should we think about that? Speaker 500:50:02Yes, Deja, I would say that we haven't We're not close enough yet in terms of time to have made the decision on the exact form of equity. You're right on the timing of the HOS, No proceeds, but as we approach the more immediate timing, then we'll develop our thinking Closer to that point, but certainly we're we'll look and do what's best for shareholders there. I'd say that You've seen us issue the straight equity as we did this year with the $1,700,000,000 We issued the convert this year for $1,000,000,000 And so we're willing to look at everything, but I'd say that's a decision we'll make as that time approaches. Speaker 400:50:52Okay, got it. And just one follow-up. Can you just clarify The point you made on your cash taxpayer status. And I just wanted to confirm, is there a base for your 7% to 9% EPS CAGR At all, I couldn't find that in the slides or the earnings release. Speaker 500:51:13Yes. So, and let me just clarify on the equity That we've talked about, to be clear, it will be equity, not another instrument To replace the equity. With regards to our cash taxpayer status, With the Inflation Reduction Act, we do expect that we'll become subject to the corporate alternative minimum tax in the coming years. Those regulations are not finalized at this point, and there are certain elements that are in play that will dictate the precise timing for when we would become subject to the AMT, But we are expecting that to be the case for us. With regards to 7% to 9% and a base year. Speaker 500:52:09I'd say on that, this is a target that we think of as a long term target. You're aware that over the last few years we reset the capital plan with the sale of HOS and the sale of New York and we needed time to redeploy those proceeds and which was the case in '22 and 'twenty three. And as Susan pointed out, our 'twenty four guidance reflects an 8% EPS CAGR at the midpoint. So we really think of 7% to 9% as a long term target driven by the long term 8% to 9% rate based growth CAGR. Speaker 400:52:50Got it. That's super helpful. Thanks for taking all my questions. Operator00:52:59At this time, we are showing no further questioners in the queue. And this does conclude our question and answer session as well as our conference. Thank you for attending today's presentation and you may now disconnect.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallAmerican Water Works Q3 202300:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) American Water Works Earnings HeadlinesUBS Group Reaffirms Neutral Rating for American Water Works (NYSE:AWK)April 26 at 1:42 AM | americanbankingnews.comUBS Downgrades American Water Works (AWK)April 25 at 3:02 PM | msn.comFrom Social Security to Social Prosperity?In less than a decade, Social Security could be out of money. But a surprising plan from Trump’s inner circle may not just save the system — it could unlock a major opportunity for savvy investors. Financial insider Jim Rickards calls it “Social Prosperity,” and says those who act now could see the biggest gains.April 26, 2025 | Paradigm Press (Ad)UBS downgrades American Water on valuation after outperformanceApril 25 at 2:46 AM | markets.businessinsider.comAmerican Water downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBSApril 25 at 2:46 AM | markets.businessinsider.comPennsylvania American Water receives $9.5M funding for lead line projectApril 24 at 8:26 PM | markets.businessinsider.comSee More American Water Works Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like American Water Works? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on American Water Works and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About American Water WorksAmerican Water Works (NYSE:AWK), through its subsidiaries, provides water and wastewater services in the United States. It offers water and wastewater services to approximately 1,700 communities in 14 states serving approximately 3.5 million active customers. The company serves residential customers; commercial customers, including food and beverage providers, commercial property developers and proprietors, and energy suppliers; fire service and private fire customers; industrial customers, such as large-scale manufacturers, mining, and production operations; public authorities comprising government buildings and other public sector facilities, such as schools and universities; and other utilities and community water and wastewater systems. It also provides water and wastewater services on military installations; and undertakes contracts with municipal customers, primarily to operate and manage water and wastewater facilities, as well as offers other related services. In addition, the company operates approximately 80 surface water treatment plants; 540 groundwater treatment plants; 175 wastewater treatment plants; 53,700 miles of transmission, distribution, and collection mains and pipes; 1,200 groundwater wells; 1,700 water and wastewater pumping stations; 1,100 treated water storage facilities; and 74 dams. The company was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Camden, New Jersey.View American Water Works ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles Markets Think Robinhood Earnings Could Send the Stock UpIs the Floor in for Lam Research After Bullish Earnings?Market Anticipation Builds: Joby Stock Climbs Ahead of EarningsIs Intuitive Surgical a Buy After Volatile Reaction to Earnings?Seismic Shift at Intel: Massive Layoffs Precede Crucial EarningsRocket Lab Lands New Contract, Builds Momentum Ahead of EarningsAmazon's Earnings Could Fuel a Rapid Breakout Upcoming Earnings Cadence Design Systems (4/28/2025)Welltower (4/28/2025)Waste Management (4/28/2025)AstraZeneca (4/29/2025)Mondelez International (4/29/2025)PayPal (4/29/2025)Starbucks (4/29/2025)DoorDash (4/29/2025)Honeywell International (4/29/2025)Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (4/29/2025) Get 30 Days of MarketBeat All Access for Free Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools. Start Your 30-Day Trial MarketBeat All Access Features Best-in-Class Portfolio Monitoring Get personalized stock ideas. Compare portfolio to indices. Check stock news, ratings, SEC filings, and more. Stock Ideas and Recommendations See daily stock ideas from top analysts. Receive short-term trading ideas from MarketBeat. Identify trending stocks on social media. Advanced Stock Screeners and Research Tools Use our seven stock screeners to find suitable stocks. Stay informed with MarketBeat's real-time news. Export data to Excel for personal analysis. Sign in to your free account to enjoy these benefits In-depth profiles and analysis for 20,000 public companies. Real-time analyst ratings, insider transactions, earnings data, and more. Our daily ratings and market update email newsletter. Sign in to your free account to enjoy all that MarketBeat has to offer. Sign In Create Account Your Email Address: Email Address Required Your Password: Password Required Log In or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google Forgot your password? Your Email Address: Please enter your email address. Please enter a valid email address Choose a Password: Please enter your password. Your password must be at least 8 characters long and contain at least 1 number, 1 letter, and 1 special character. Create My Account (Free) or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google By creating a free account, you agree to our terms of service. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
There are 11 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good day, and welcome to American Water's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded and is also being webcast with an accompanying slide presentation through the company's Investor Relations website. The audio webcast archive will be available for 1 year on American Water's Investor Relations website. I would now like to introduce you to your host for today's call, Aaron Musgrave, Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Operator00:00:31Musgrave, you may begin. Speaker 100:00:35Thank you, Chris. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for today's call. At the end of our prepared remarks, we will open the call for your questions. Let me first go over some Safe Harbor language. Today, we will be making forward looking statements that represent our expectations regarding our future performance or other future events. Speaker 100:00:55These statements are predictions based on our current expectations, estimates and assumptions. However, since these statements deal with future events, they are subject to numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from the results indicated or implied by such statements. Additional information regarding these risks, uncertainties and factors as well as a more detailed analysis of our financials and other important information is provided in the Q3 earnings release and in our September 30 Form 10 Q each filed yesterday with the SEC. And finally, all statements during this presentation related to earnings and earnings per share refer to diluted earnings and diluted earnings per share. Susan Hardwick, our President and CEO, will share highlights of Q3 and year to date results and will comment on our 2024 EPS guidance and longer term targets. Speaker 100:01:52Cheryl Norton, our Executive Vice President and COO, will then discuss our new capital investment plan, including the expected impact of PFAS related investments and will conclude with a regulatory update, including our views on customer affordability. John Griffith, our Executive Vice President and CFO, will then discuss our year to date financial results in more detail, discuss our acquisition outlook, and we'll close with details behind our 2024 outlook and longer term goals and our 2024 to 20 28 financing plan. After a few final remarks, we'll then close by answering your questions. With that, I'll turn the call over to American Water's President and CEO, Susan Hardwick. Speaker 200:02:38Thanks, Erin, and good morning, everyone. Let's turn to Slide 5, and I'll start by covering some highlights from the Q3 year to date periods. As we announced yesterday, we delivered strong financial results in the Q3 of 2023, and we're pleased to again reaffirm our 2023 guidance on a weather normalized basis. Earnings were $1.66 per share for the quarter compared to $1.63 for the same period last year. In the 1st 9 months of 2023, earnings were $4.03 per share compared to $3.70 per share in the same period of 'twenty 2. Speaker 200:03:14The estimated net favorable weather impact year to date in 'twenty three is about $0.11 per share compared to $0.06 per share favorable in 'twenty two. These weather normalized results so far in 2023 continue to reflect our strong execution in line with our growth expectations for the year. John will elaborate further on results later. Moving on to some of our other key accomplishments to date in 2023. We have invested $1,800,000,000 in capital projects year to date, reflecting great work by our teams responsible for planning and completing these investments. Speaker 200:03:49As you will recall, the total capital investment plan for 2023 includes approximately $400,000,000 of acquisitions, including one sizable transaction in Pennsylvania we expect to close in December and another in Illinois around the end of the year. As you know, we completed an equity issuance of $1,700,000,000 in March and a $1,000,000,000 convertible debt issuance in June. These were the 2 key priorities of our 2023 financing plan. We were focused on completing these issuances in the first half of the year to reduce market related pricing risk and overall execution risk, which has served our investors, customers and our customers well considering the current market conditions. Turning to Slide 6, as we roll out our new 5 year plan today, we are affirming our long term targets, including 7% to 9 We are also initiating our 2024 earnings guidance of $5.10 per share to $5.20 per share, which John will discuss further later in the discussion. Speaker 200:04:56This represents our expectation of 8% EPS growth in 2024 compared to our weather normalized 2023 EPS guidance. One thing to note on this slide is that we have revised the look of our earnings growth outlook. Recall that we'd historically referred to it as our growth triangle. We believe this new version better highlights our compelling 7% to 9% earnings growth expectation and better represents the key drivers of growth. As a nearly 100% regulated water and wastewater utility, rate based growth and regulatory execution are the key drivers of growth for our company. Speaker 200:05:32Rate based growth continues to be driven by the accelerated CapEx plan we put forth 2 years ago and now with this updated plan. Combined with our robust regulated acquisition strategy on which we've proven we can execute, we continue to expect 8% to 9% rate based growth over the next decade. Later, Cheryl will review the amount of capital we expect to spend over the next 5 years, including related to acquisitions. On this slide, you can see we are highlighting our acquisition growth strategy measured by a compounded annual growth rate in customer connections of 2%. The timing of closing on acquisitions is often difficult to control within a calendar year, which can cause volatility This 2% customer additions CAGR target should be an easier way for investors to monitor and measure our growth through acquisitions. Speaker 200:06:24And as I said, rate based growth, which includes acquisition investment, is the key driver to earnings growth. Our growth outlook also includes the organic revenue growth opportunities we expect from our military services group from the 18 installations we currently serve with an added upside for any new basis secured. One of our company's competitive advantages is its diverse Regulated operations across 14 states that provides us with flexibility in the timing of rate cases and capital deployment. We also have a very predictable and controllable set of capital projects annually, almost half of which are recoverable through infrastructure mechanisms. Along with our other regulatory approaches, we are confident we can deliver consistent earnings growth and dividend growth over the next 5 years and beyond. Speaker 200:07:12While utility stocks including ours have seen the impact on the short term of higher interest rates, history has shown that over medium and longer term horizons the utility sector And certainly, American Water has delivered compelling value to investors. We believe the combination of our EPS and dividend growth Reported by our significant yet low risk capital investment plan and our focus on customer affordability and ESG leadership will continue to be rewarded by investors. Based on this long term plan and our history of executing on our strategies, We intend to continue to deliver a very competitive, sustainable shareholder return for many years to come. With that, let me turn it over to Cheryl to talk more about our capital investment plan and our focus on customer affordability and regulatory execution. Cheryl? Speaker 300:08:01Thanks Susan and good morning everyone. Before I jump into a discussion of our current long term capital plans starting on slide 8, I want to first acknowledge that our teams have done a great job executing on our accelerated capital investment plans these last few years. We have consistently met our capital deployment goal and we are on pace to do it again by meeting our overall capital plan of $2,900,000,000 this year, which includes acquisition investments. Looking ahead to 2024, we expect a modest increase in our investment spending level to roughly $3,100,000,000 Over the next 5 years, we expect to invest approximately $16,000,000,000 to $17,000,000,000 an increase of about $2,000,000,000 over our previous plan. This level of spending reflects the result of our consistent Risk based project planning. Speaker 300:08:52Along with risk, customer affordability is a key variable in our analysis, which I will speak more about shortly. Looking out over the next decade, we expect to invest $34,000,000,000 to $38,000,000,000 in our regulated systems and acquisitions, which is $4,000,000,000 higher than the previous 10 year plan. In addition to tackling PFAS, we expect Follow on capital needs related to acquisitions to continue to increase over time and modestly higher costs for pipe and other capital goods over time. Continuing on slide 9, the increase in the 5 year capital plan is primarily driven by 3 needs. First, The plan includes approximately $1,000,000,000 of needed investment to treat water for PFOS contamination across our systems. Speaker 300:09:39As we've said many times, American Water supports the U. S. EPA's efforts to protect public health by proposing national drinking water standards for PFAS. And we believe our company is in a better position than any water utility to remove PFAS at the level that would be required under the rule as proposed. And we've also said the cost to comply will be significant. Speaker 300:10:01Roughly $1,000,000,000 of capital remains our best estimate based upon the proposed federal EPA rule, which we expect will be finalized in late 2023 or early 2024 without much modification. We expect Most of these PFAS related capital investments to occur over a 3 year period beginning later in 2024 and primarily in our larger states in terms of customers served like New Jersey as an example. The source water supplies for New Jersey American Water that have PFAS contamination include large surface water supplies that are more costly to treat than our groundwater sources. And as we've said, granulated activated granular activated carbon or GAC will be the primary treatment Speaker 400:11:07While much Speaker 300:11:07uncertainty exists around the topic of PFAS, including the recovery of related capital and operating costs, We expect constructive outcomes for this important water quality initiative and we will continue to advocate that the ultimate responsibility for the cleanup of these contaminants should fall to the polluters. We will also continue to advocate that all water and wastewater utility providers, regardless of ownership, have equal access to any federal and or state funding related to treating PFAS. In addition, we will continue our efforts to request permanent federal funding for a water and wastewater low income customer assistance program. The other two drivers of increased CapEx in the 2024 to 2028 plan are a higher level of spend related to prioritized Renewal projects across our footprint such as for hydrant, pipe and meter replacement as well as a higher level of expected follow on capital related to future acquisitions. Following recent acquisitions, we have continued to experience a higher level of investment need in order to bring water and wastewater systems into regulatory compliance and up to our operating standards, which is driving the higher estimated capital need of $600,000,000 You can also see that we have deferred $500,000,000 of lower risk projects to later years beyond the 5 year plan. Speaker 300:12:32We did this as a part of our extensive risk based project analysis in conjunction with our ongoing affordability analysis. For example, we deferred until later in the 10 year capital plan, the replacement of some services in mains where it was determined that they did not pose an immediate risk to service reliability or water quality. Let's turn to Slide 10 and I'll cover the latest regulatory across our states. Shown in the slide is a summary of our pending general rate cases with some key facts for each. In the appendix, you will also find some details related to infrastructure charges as well as a snapshot of the key outcomes from the most recent general rate case in our top 10 states. Speaker 300:13:14Our general rate cases in California, Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky are all progressing well and as expected. All of these cases, except perhaps California, will most likely be resolved in early 2024. Just yesterday, we filed a general rate case in Virginia, reflecting $110,000,000 in system investments covering May 2023 through April 2025. We are seeking $20,000,000 of additional annual revenue and expect interim rates to go into effect in May of next year. Outside of our general rate cases, as we discussed last quarter, we filed a request as authorized by California's Water cost of capital mechanism seeking a 52 basis point increase to our ROE in 2023, which was approved on July 25, or increasing the return on equity to 9.5 percent effective July 31. Speaker 300:14:09We filed a similar request in October for an additional 70 basis point increase to go into effect January 1, 2024, which would bring our ROE to 10.2%. And finally, related to the customers we have proudly served in the Monterey community for over 100 years, in October, a local entity adopted a resolution enabling it to file an imminent domain lawsuit with respect to the Monterey System assets. This is not a new issue, just the latest chapter in a long running effort by an entity that we believe lacks the expertise to own and operate a very complex water distribution system serving these Monterrey Bottom line, we believe based upon existing legal precedent, we'll be able to successfully defend against an imminent domain lawsuit if it's filed. You can find more information on this topic in our SEC filings, including this quarter's 10 Q. Moving to Slide 11, I'll wrap up with a discussion of customer affordability and this new capital investment plan. Speaker 300:15:13Using U. S. Census Bureau data specific to the Geographies we serve, our research and analysis concluded that projected rising levels of median household income, combined with conservative assumptions around an increasing customer base, would allow us to stay within our target for residential water bills of 1% or less of median household income. 1 of the most difficult challenges we face in the water and wastewater industry is balancing customer affordability with the magnitude of the system investments that are needed. Thankfully, today our industry and our company are in very good relative positions in in terms of affordability or wallet share. Speaker 300:15:54At the same time, we realize we must continue to evolve our strategies rate design and programs to assist our customers who are challenged with affordability. We must also continue our focus on technology, efficiencies of scale and cost management in order to deliver on customer affordability. Our dual focus on operating efficiency and customer affordability has and a valuable part of our company's DNA for many years. As you know, we've historically used O and M efficiency as one of our benchmark metrics to measure our success at managing costs as we grow the business. In recent years, we've emphasized that revenue growth has been just as impactful to the O and M efficiency metric as managing costs. Speaker 300:16:38As we look ahead, we're continuing to evaluate whether this is the Best metric by which to judge our effectiveness at managing costs and running an efficient business. More to come on this in 2024. With that, I'll hand it over to John to cover our financial results and plans in further detail. John? Speaker 500:16:56Thank you, Cheryl, and good morning, everyone. Turning to Slide 13, let me provide a few more details on year to date results. The appendix also has details of 3rd quarter EPS, which has many of the same drivers as year to date results. Consolidated earnings were $4.03 per share year to date, up $0.33 per share compared to the same period in 2022 and up $0.28 per share on a weather normalized basis. Increased revenues were driven by general rate cases we completed in late 2022 early 2023 in our larger states. Speaker 500:17:31These additional revenues are driven by the significant investments we have made and continue to make in our systems. As noted, Earnings were higher year to date by an estimated net $0.11 per share as a result of weather in the second and third quarters due to warm and dry conditions, primarily in Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This compares to net favorable weather in the Q3 of 2022 of $0.06 per share, which related mostly to warm and dry conditions in New Jersey. And looking at operating costs, Higher pension expense of about $0.10 per share and increased chemical costs of about $0.09 per share, including inflationary pressures are being recovered in large part through higher revenues we proactively sought through the use of forward test years and traditional updates to base cost of service and general rate cases we completed in the last 12 to 18 months. This strategy has limited the bottom line impact of those higher costs in 2023 and is a strategy we are continuing to use in our recently filed and upcoming cases. Speaker 500:18:37Supporting our investment growth, depreciation expense increased $0.17 per share and the cost of additional long term financing increased to $0.28 per share, primarily related to share count dilution. As I mentioned last quarter, the EPS impact of the higher share count from our equity issuance offsets the avoided interest expense in the current interest rate environment. We expect the impact to be approximately neutral to EPS for the full year as well based on the current outlook. Turning to Slide 14, this graph illustrates that our continued execution on capital investments, Both infrastructure projects and acquisitions are succeeding and growing regulated rate base at a long term rate of 8% to 9%. Rate based growth of course will drive earnings growth. Speaker 500:19:23We believe the high degree of visibility to our capital investment plan combined with the low risk nature of the plan, uniquely positions American Water in the utility sector and is fundamental to our investment thesis. Turning to Slide 15, you'll see that we continue to be set up for strong growth through acquisitions. We closed on 14 acquisitions totaling $36,000,000 across 6 states in the 1st 9 months of 2023, which demonstrates our continued ability to close deals in many states. We also had 32 transactions under agreement across 10 states through the end of September, totaling $611,000,000 2 of which we closed in early October, including 1 in West Virginia for $27,000,000 This total also includes both The Butler Area Sewer Authority Wastewater System in Pennsylvania and the Granite City Wastewater Treatment Plant in Illinois we previously announced. We expect the Butler acquisition to close later this year in Granite City around year end pending regulatory approvals for each and we look forward to serving those customers. Speaker 500:20:30Also included in our acquisitions under agreement is the Talamenson Township Wastewater System in Pennsylvania we expect to purchase for $104,000,000 as announced back in March. We expect to close this acquisition in late 2024 or early 2025 pending final regulatory approval and we look forward to serving those customers as well. Our outlook for future acquisitions remains very strong as we expect to have over $250,000,000 of acquisitions under agreement at the end of 2023 after the expected closings of Butler and Granite City. Of course, as we close on transactions, the work to build and refill the acquisition pipeline is continuous. Our pipeline of 1,300,000 customer connections is a strong leading indicator that supports this piece of our rate base growth outlook. Speaker 500:21:21On Slide 16, we provide some considerations regarding First, as you would expect, our growth will be driven by capital investment to serve our customers and earning a return on that investment. So we see that ramp up reflected in earnings in 2024 both from base rate increases and infrastructure mechanisms. As a reminder, approximately 45% of our CapEx is recoverable by infrastructure mechanisms, so it's a very meaningful driver of consistent earnings growth for us. Recent regulated acquisitions that are being incorporated into active or just completed rate cases will also drive growth next year. I'd like to note that our military services group does add incrementally to our earnings growth expectation as we have continued to show in our growth outlook. Speaker 500:22:25MSG's great work on the 18 military installations it serves has built trust and resulted in the U. S. Government allocating additional funds for improvement projects driving increased revenues. Just as critical to our growth strategy is our ability to prudently manage the Operating costs it takes to run the business, which goes to my final point on this slide. Because of our strong culture of operating efficiency and cost management, We expect only modest increases in O and M in 2024. Speaker 500:22:55These efforts go to the heart of the customer affordability construct We want to protect, which is closely aligned with the interests of regulators and ultimately investors in managing affordability of customer bills. Finally, related to pension, I'd simply remind you that our pension obligation remeasurement will be done at year end 2023 and that will drive the determination of our 2024 pension expense. Turning to Slide 17, I'll provide a total of $2,000,000,000 of equity financing need. We successfully issued $1,700,000,000 of the $2,000,000,000 earlier this year, leaving $300,000,000 of equity financing needed toward the end of that prior plan. Equity in our new plan is expected to be issued near the middle of the 2024 to 20 28 period subject to market conditions. Speaker 500:23:53The $700,000,000 increase in the anticipated external equity need is driven by the incremental $2,000,000,000 of CapEx in the new plan. As we've said many times now, we expect incremental CapEx to be funded roughly fifty-fifty Debt and Equity, which includes both external equity and cash flow from operations. Our financing plan design also takes into account the goal of maintaining a strong balance sheet and continuing to meet our long term debt to capital target of less than 60%. Another assumption inherent in our new plan is that we will continue to be a cash taxpayer, especially as we will likely become subject to the new corporate On Slide 18, we provide a summary of our continued strong financial condition. Our total debt to capital ratio as of September 30, net of the roughly $630,000,000 of cash on hand remains at 54%, which is comfortably within our long term target of less than 60%. Speaker 500:24:56As we are all aware, The current higher interest rate environment is challenging. We are however in a position of strength on a number of fronts in dealing with the challenge. Our strategy of issuing debt at the holding company level allows us to take advantage of our scale and pricing debt issuances. We remain confident that we will have strong access to capital for the long term. In fact, we just extended the maturity of our revolving credit facility to October 2028, which has a capacity of $2,750,000,000 Our diversified banking relationships with some of the largest and strongest banks in the world coupled with our fully regulated business model and strong credit ratings gives us great confidence around liquidity. Speaker 500:25:40Our laddered approach to long term debt financings over the years is very important in environments like the current one to manage cash flows and minimize interest rate risk, which contributes to managing customer affordability. And our short duration between general rate cases allows us to minimize any lag we may experience related to recovery of debt costs. With that, I'll turn it back over to Susan for some closing thoughts. Susan? Speaker 200:26:06Thanks, John. To close on Slide 20, you've heard our latest strategic thinking today, and it should sound very familiar. It's all about execution at every level. As we continue to demonstrate our ability to consistently execute, we believe our industry leading EPS and dividend growth combined with our focus on affordability and ESG leadership will continue to be highly valued and rewarded by investors. We believe these aspects of our business and strategy separate us from all utilities. Speaker 200:26:37They are underpinned by our significant low risk capital investment plan, which includes our best in class execution on acquisitions and our excellent regulatory execution, all while maintaining a strong balance sheet with a well planned debt maturity profile and a differentiated affordability proposition. Through our consistent achievement of high operating standards, including our leading safety culture and water quality accolades, our team at American Water has raised the bar for success in the water and wastewater industry, and that includes the outstanding efforts by our military services group team to proudly serve the 18 military installations in our footprint. Our history of executing on our strategies has delivered a very competitive, Sustainable shareholder return. With this long term plan, we have full confidence in our ability to achieve the goals we talked about today and continue our track record of delivering superior shareholder value. And with that, let me turn the call back over to Chris to begin Q and A and take any questions you may have. Operator00:27:41Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Today's first question comes from Richard Sunderland with JPMorgan. Please proceed. Speaker 600:28:16Hi, good morning. Am I coming through clearly? Speaker 200:28:19You are, Rich. Good morning. Speaker 600:28:21Great. Thank you. Appreciate the details around the update here. I wanted to start with The CapEx revision and the bill outlook, looking back to 2021 when You first outlined the accelerated investment plan. You gave some details on the customer affordability angle, But I'm curious kind of bridging not back to last year, but back to 'twenty one. Speaker 600:28:48Is there anything different in that outlook now? Obviously, The CapEx is up significantly. Also curious if the 2% customer additions target and the language around there for M and A has factored into how you've crafted this new capital plan around the customer affordability angle as well. Speaker 200:29:09Okay, Rich. Yes, there's a lot in there. Let me start and then Sheryl and John can add to it. I would say our focus has Sharpened over the last number of years related to customer affordability. And that sharpened focus, I think, has really been around this sort of wallet share concept that Sheryl talked about. Speaker 200:29:34I think it's important for us to understand the communities that we operate in and the demographics of those Communities and what are the challenges of customers in those communities. And we've been able to do a lot of analysis at a very detailed level around around household income, around just economic impacts in the various communities that we serve and our focus has been, I think very clearly defined around our wallet share as a percentage of that household income. And we've been developing this concept here now for a number of years and I think that, our ability to confidently say this plan As we've continued to grow it, we'll continue to maintain our position of roughly 1% or less of a customer's bill in the communities that we serve specifically. And I think that focus has allowed us to really think about How to build this plan, how to continue to grow it, how to continue to grow rate base, while not Overburdening customers with our growth expectations. I think this plan fits very nicely in that concept. Speaker 200:30:53Cheryl, you want to add anything? Speaker 300:30:54Yes. I would just add Rich that, as Susan said, we look at all the communities that we serve, we look at the demographics and yet the capital investments are not that different from community to community and we need to make sure that we are investing at the right level in all of those communities. New regulations, like PFOS, but also the lead and copper rule that is driving a lot of capital investment across the board And so we have to continue to do that and we need to do that in all the communities. So these affordability calculations, the risk Priority model that we use, we think it's really the best balance to getting the right amount of infrastructure investment in all of the communities that we serve and as we grow the number of communities that we are serving that will continue to increase. But we think we are getting the right balance Because we have to treat all of our customers in a fair way. Speaker 300:31:49They all deserve clean, safe drinking water. Speaker 200:31:52And Cheryl, I might just add one additional comment. From a regulatory perspective, this is also a concept that we've been sharing very transparently with regulators. This affordability analysis that we've done and as we lay out in every jurisdiction, the The plan and the investments that we have made, we're right alongside it talking about impacts to customers and how we've thought about the plan and how it affects affordability for the customers in the service territory. So again, it's So concept and a view that we've taken that we think is differentiating here and I think regulators just as one party are certainly recognizing that. Speaker 500:32:35And Rich, I'll pick up on the 2% part of your question. As Susan mentioned in her commentary, 2% is a metric that we think is good to think about as a long term metric given just the short term Variability around acquisitions, but you're right to point it out in this context, as you know, that 8% to 9% Rate based growth is what drives the 7% to 9% earnings growth, but being able to spread that 8% to 9% rate base growth over A larger customer base is a healthy element of our growth. Speaker 600:33:09Great. That was very helpful color there. Thanks for laying all of that out. And then separately turning to the financing plan here, you're clear on the drivers around the equity relative to the Thanks. I'm curious on the operating cash flow side, it looks like a significant step up 24% to 20% versus 23% to 20 7%. Speaker 600:33:31Is that just Normal course kind of rate recovery, any discrete items in there, just how to think about prior versus new? Speaker 500:33:41Yes, it's a good question, Rich. Really there is a big step up if you think about the increase in our capital plan as we go back from 2021, 2022, 2023 and forward, it's such a significant step up that when you drop 23 out of the plan and you bring 28 into the plan, the accumulation of the capital spend through that period accounts for a very significant portion of that operating cash flow step up. And then as you would also intuitively think, There is increased cash flow in the interim years as well, just given the increase in capital plan. Operator00:34:32Our next question is from Paul Zimbardo with Bank of America. Please proceed. Speaker 700:34:39Hi, good morning team. Good morning. And just to clarify that last line, confirm my understanding. So there's effectively no change in Growth triangle, as you call it, it's just kind of a re presentation? Speaker 200:34:55Yes, I think that's Fair. We want to continue to emphasize that rate based growth is the driver. Rate based investment, which includes acquisitions, is the driver. What we are trying to do here, I think, is just give Some clarity around or maybe a better view as to how you can measure our progress toward Growth through acquisition by giving you that sort of metric around customer additions. The investment that we'll continue to make in Just rolls into rate base, which it always has. Speaker 200:35:30So no real change in that. I just think it's a better view potentially for investors To be able to see progress we're making around the acquisition strategy. Speaker 700:35:42Okay. Understood. That's what I thought. And then shifting to the financing plan. So if I understand it right and correct me if I'm wrong, it doesn't assume any Litigation proceeds, state funding, federal funding for PFAS. Speaker 700:35:57Just is there any sense of what that kind of offset could be to help out on customer bills? Speaker 200:36:03Yes, it's a good question. Obviously, the numbers that we have laid out here, as Cheryl outlined, continue to be our best estimates of the cost necessary to Meet the current proposed rule. Obviously, we don't have a rule yet. So finalizing those numbers will occur once we have a final rule. And we do participate in the ongoing litigation around this whole issue. Speaker 200:36:28We've laid all that out in the queue, so you can look at that There and probably won't talk much more about it than that since it is ongoing litigation. I think it is fair to say that our estimates today are the costs we would We have to see how the litigation ultimately works out, to see what impact that may have. And I think Cheryl covered this Well, we do believe as by virtue of our participation in the litigation that polluters It should be our first line here of responsibility. So we are quite involved in that to make sure that that is Properly executed. Speaker 700:37:10Okay. So to make sure, it does have an assumption around kind of getting external Funding or it does not? Speaker 200:37:18It does not at this point. No. Speaker 700:37:19It's Speaker 200:37:19just the cost estimates that we have developed so far. Operator00:37:31The next question comes from Will Granger with Mizuho. Please proceed. Speaker 800:37:38Hi, good morning everybody. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Just wanted to ask On the PFOS $1,000,000,000 that you've outlined today, how should we be thinking about the makeup Of that over your service territories, is it pretty ratable or yes, if you could unpack the underlying assumptions there, that'd be Yes. Speaker 200:38:04I will ask Sheryl to comment on that. We hit on I think pretty high level, but Sheryl you might want to just reemphasize that. Yes. We, as we have looked at this, Our Speaker 300:38:13as I mentioned in my comments earlier, we expect the bulk of the spend to be in our states where we have a larger footprint of customers, New Jersey for example and the reason for that driver of that being the largest amount of spend is that there is more contamination There in general, but also these are large surface water plants that are very costly to add treatment to. We have Pennsylvania is a larger state, numerous locations there, but we really haven't outlined everywhere that we're going to add treatment, but anywhere that it's a Surface water plant as opposed to a groundwater source is going to be a lot more costly to add that treatment. And so New Jersey is our biggest dollar state for sure. Speaker 800:38:57Got it. That's helpful. And then maybe just on the equity for your plan, Is that the incremental equity is just $700,000,000 if I've got my math right, the $300,000,000 that You're still planning to issue now an incremental $700,000,000 or is it an incremental $1,000,000,000 You've Speaker 500:39:20got it right, Will. It's an incremental $700,000,000 Speaker 800:39:24Okay. And we should expect the timing of that to come in towards the back half of your plan or would that Be issued like as an ATM and just kind of pretty ratable. Speaker 500:39:38What we said is we'll issue it in the middle of our New 2024 to 2028 plan, subject to market conditions, obviously. Operator00:39:57Our next question is from Jonathan Reeder with Wells Fargo. Please proceed. Speaker 900:40:04Hey, good morning team. Just kind of following up a little bit on that last question. Despite the higher operating cash flows, It looks like the external capital needs increased more than the $2,000,000,000 CapEx increase. You got the $700,000,000 equity and then I think it's $1,700,000,000 of debt. Anything unique going on there? Speaker 500:40:29Jonathan, we really lead this analysis by looking at our credit metrics. And so a lot of it just goes back to what we've said in the past where incremental CapEx will fund it fifty-fifty debt and equity. As we think about equity there, it's internally generated funds as well as new issuance. I think we think of it as lining up in that regard. Speaker 900:40:52Okay. No, I was just thinking the debt portion was a little higher than I would have thought. Speaker 500:41:00Yes, that's just a function of the capital spend as well as the maturity schedule. Speaker 900:41:05Okay. Yes, maybe the maturity settled. Okay. So Cheryl, I know you said that California filed on 10.16 to increase, the 24 allowed ROE. Has there been any opposition filed to this request? Speaker 900:41:20I think there's like a 30 day Comment period which probably ended maybe yesterday? Speaker 300:41:26Yes, there is that 30 day period and, Jonathan, I am unaware of any kind of Intervention or any kind of concern over that? Speaker 1000:41:36Okay. Speaker 200:41:36It's pretty formulaic, Jonathan. I mean, Yes, we don't expect there to be any issue with that. It really just follows the formula. Speaker 900:41:45Yes. No, I mean, I think Investor concern is more on the electric side, whether you'll see some intervention than the water, but monitor both. I think the 10 year CapEx plan, you bumped up the M and A placeholder by $1,000,000,000 Is there anything specific driving that or is that just kind of Passage of time more than anything. Speaker 500:42:07Yes, I'd say, Jonathan, it's certainly passage of time is part of it. We are investing in our capability across the system, Starting with originations and as well as due diligence and integrations. As we look at What happens when we make acquisitions and just our standards as a best in class operator relative to the systems that we acquire, We just continue to think that there's a lot of momentum there and a lot of strength in us continuing this program. So It is a capability that we're investing significantly in. And yes, as you pointed out, as we We look forward in time, we expect those numbers to become bigger to maintain that relative level of contribution. Speaker 500:42:55Okay. Speaker 900:42:55And then last, you mentioned the pension costs for 'twenty four and figuring that out. But do you have much exposure on that? Or do most of your key states now have tracking mechanisms for pension? Speaker 500:43:11We have trackers and deferral accounts in certain states, Jonathan, we can go through that with you in detail. So there's a mix there of what we pick up already and what would need to be picked up in the future. Operator00:43:41The next question comes from Greg Orrill with UBS. Please proceed. Speaker 1000:43:48Yes. Hi. Thank you. Speaker 100:43:51Good morning, Greg. Speaker 1000:43:52Good morning. I think you mentioned You're working on an acquisition in Pennsylvania of $104,000,000 to close in late 'twenty four, 'twenty five. How do you think about when you go into acquisitions sort of the Reasonable timeline for getting approvals. How do you think about that? Speaker 200:44:22Don, you want to comment on that? I think the one you're referring to in particular, it's a little more complicated. I wouldn't say it's Sort of a traditional process, the Tal Minson acquisition. I recall we stepped into That arrangement when NextEra decided to exit the opportunity. So that was just a little more complicated. Speaker 200:44:45John, you want to talk sort of typically how we think about the process around acquisitions? Speaker 500:44:49Sure. Yes. And Greg, it varies state to State, but since you mentioned Pennsylvania, there's a process you go through to file an application. The application has to be deemed complete And then that starts the statutory clock. And so in the case of Pennsylvania, there's a 6 month statutory clock that runs through. Speaker 500:45:07And then either you're settling your approval or you're litigating your approval, but all within that 6 month statutory timetable. Speaker 1000:45:18And so what's different about this situation? Speaker 500:45:22Well, Tom mentioned it's one where There's opportunity based on precedent in Pennsylvania. We'll see how Well, the post PUC approval plays out, but we're just allowing a little bit of latitude in the event that there's Any follow-up to the PUC approval from intervenors? Operator00:45:57The next question comes from Aditya Gandhi with Wolfe Research. Please proceed. Speaker 400:46:05Good morning, Susan, Sheryl and John. Can you hear me? Speaker 200:46:08We can. Good morning. Good morning. Speaker 400:46:10Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I just wanted to of water systems from any PFOS related financial liability under Circular. Do you see risk if a final rule is released And it doesn't contain any protections. And then the second topic is, can you maybe give some color on what portion of the $50,000,000 additional annual O and M sort of qualifies for trackers or expense mechanisms? Speaker 300:46:53I can take those questions. This is Sheryl. As far as protections around the CERCLA, We have been really engaged in that process and we have been pushing really hard to ensure that water and wastewater utilities are protected in that space. And so we are going to continue to fight that battle. Right now, you are right, there is a little bit of vulnerability out there, but But we feel pretty confident that we're going to be able to manage through that and that we're going to be able to impact, how we're treated in that space. Speaker 300:47:22So more to come on that, but rest assured we are going to fight like crazy to make sure that we are protected there. And as far as the 50,000,000 I don't have an exact breakdown and we haven't talked about an exact breakdown from state to state, but whether or not that would be recovered through mechanisms just Depends on the type of mechanisms that a state would have. So if they have a mechanism that would allow them to recover their production costs, Any kind of tracker in that space would be really helpful in those costs. In some cases, we have environmental writers that include Capital improvements, some of them include capital and operating improvements, so that would allow them to recover those costs as well. So there's going to be a portion that we're going to be able to recover right upfront, but the rest of them will just recover through a general rate case with very little lag I would anticipate as far as those costs are concerned. Speaker 200:48:18Yes. And the only thing I would add to that is, where we don't have An existing mechanism or an approach to ensure timely recovery, We're going to work to design 1. Our view here is that these are federally mandated costs, and we are Taking care of a problem created by someone else and because of that federal mandate and the federal rule behind it, we think we will have A great argument to make around recovery and timely recovery. So we will be looking for where we don't have existing solutions, we will be looking to create New opportunity to do that. So there will be a lot on the regulatory front here to do once we have a final rule and I know how this plays out. Speaker 300:49:08Yes, Susan, I would just add that that 3 year implementation period that we have to put treatment in place gives us time to do those Kinds of things and make those regulatory improvements. Right. Speaker 400:49:20Got it. That's super helpful color. Thank you. And just One question for John. On the equity needs, you've mentioned it's in the middle of your new 2024 through 2018 plan. Speaker 400:49:32So Sort of in the 'twenty six timeframe, you're also going to have proceeds from the HOS note come in. I believe they're due at the end of 2020 6. Just can you add a little bit more color on timing and the form of equity? Is this just going to be like a straight block or is this going to be some sort of forward where you'll maybe draw down on the forward Over a couple of years, how should we think about that? Speaker 500:50:02Yes, Deja, I would say that we haven't We're not close enough yet in terms of time to have made the decision on the exact form of equity. You're right on the timing of the HOS, No proceeds, but as we approach the more immediate timing, then we'll develop our thinking Closer to that point, but certainly we're we'll look and do what's best for shareholders there. I'd say that You've seen us issue the straight equity as we did this year with the $1,700,000,000 We issued the convert this year for $1,000,000,000 And so we're willing to look at everything, but I'd say that's a decision we'll make as that time approaches. Speaker 400:50:52Okay, got it. And just one follow-up. Can you just clarify The point you made on your cash taxpayer status. And I just wanted to confirm, is there a base for your 7% to 9% EPS CAGR At all, I couldn't find that in the slides or the earnings release. Speaker 500:51:13Yes. So, and let me just clarify on the equity That we've talked about, to be clear, it will be equity, not another instrument To replace the equity. With regards to our cash taxpayer status, With the Inflation Reduction Act, we do expect that we'll become subject to the corporate alternative minimum tax in the coming years. Those regulations are not finalized at this point, and there are certain elements that are in play that will dictate the precise timing for when we would become subject to the AMT, But we are expecting that to be the case for us. With regards to 7% to 9% and a base year. Speaker 500:52:09I'd say on that, this is a target that we think of as a long term target. You're aware that over the last few years we reset the capital plan with the sale of HOS and the sale of New York and we needed time to redeploy those proceeds and which was the case in '22 and 'twenty three. And as Susan pointed out, our 'twenty four guidance reflects an 8% EPS CAGR at the midpoint. So we really think of 7% to 9% as a long term target driven by the long term 8% to 9% rate based growth CAGR. Speaker 400:52:50Got it. That's super helpful. Thanks for taking all my questions. Operator00:52:59At this time, we are showing no further questioners in the queue. And this does conclude our question and answer session as well as our conference. Thank you for attending today's presentation and you may now disconnect.Read morePowered by