Jeanne Jones
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Exelon
Thank you, Calvin, and good morning, everyone. Today, I will cover our third quarter financial update along with our financial and regulatory outlook for the remainder of 2024. I will also spend some time highlighting a transmission project at Delmarva Power, which is helping to modernize the grid and accelerate an opportunity to save money for our customers.
Starting on Slide 6, we present our quarter-over-quarter adjusted operating earnings block [Phonetic]. For the third quarter of 2024, [Indecipherable] earned $0.71 per share compared to $0.67 per share in the third quarter of 2023. The reflecting higher results of $0.04 per share over the same period. Earnings are higher in the third quarter relative to the same period last year, driven primarily by $0.04 of timing at ComEd on its distribution earnings. After removing the timing at ComEd across Exelon, we earned $0.03 of higher distribution and transmission rates net of associated depreciation, which was offset by $0.03 of higher interest expense.
After accounting for the timing of ComEd, driven in part by expensive mutual assistance provided to non-Exelon utilities, we delivered earnings results in line with the guidance we provided in our prior quarter call. Our year-to-date performance underscores our ability to deliver strong financial results despite mild weather and heightened storm activity throughout the year. As we close out the year in the fourth quarter, we remain on track to achieve operating earnings of $2.40 to $2.50 per share.
Our fourth quarter guidance assumes a reversal of common distribution earnings timing, fair and reasonable outcomes for Pepco DC's multiyear rate case as well as the BGE and ComEd reconciliations and normal weather and storm activity. In addition, we reaffirm our long-term annualized operating earnings first year guidance range of 5% to 7% through 2027 with the expectation to be at the midpoint or better of that growth range.
Turning to Slide 7. As Calvin highlighted, we have made meaningful progress in our distribution rate cases across our jurisdictions, approaching the final milestones for ComEd, PECO and Pepco DCs open rate cases. We also filed a historical test year gas distribution rate case in Delaware. I'll begin my remarks by providing an update on this most recent filing followed by status updates on the remaining rate cases anticipated to reach resolution this year.
On September 20, Delmarva Power filed its gas distribution rate case seeking approval of a proposed $35.6 million revenue increase, exclusive of the transfer of $6.4 million of the distribution system improvement charge. The filing represents Delmarva Power's work since its last gas rate adjustment filing in 2022 and reflects investments that help ensure customer reliability and improve service and safety, including work to inspect and proactively maintain natural gas mains, replacing aging cast iron and bare steel pipe and replace and upgrade equipment at our Wilmington LNG facility.
The filing also requests the adoption of a weather normalization rider, which will offer customers more bill predictability as seasonal temperatures grow increasingly volatile. Continuing with Pepco Holdings on August 30, Pepco and other parties filed final brief on Pepco's climate ready pathway DC multiyear plan, which outlays the investments we will make to support a climate-ready grid and enable cleaner energy programs and technologies. The plan also enhances the reliability, resiliency and security of the local energy grid and expand affordability assistance for Pepco's customers across the district of Columbia. We now await the DC Public Service Commission's final order, which we anticipate before the end of the year and look forward to continuing the important work needed to enhance customer reliability, advancing economic and work development and further supporting the district goals to be carbon neutral by 2045.
Turning to Pennsylvania. Administrative law judges have issued recommended decisions in the PECO gas and electric rate cases, and we are pleased with the recommendation that the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission accept both settlement filed in August. The proposal for PECO's electric rate case allows for a $354 million revenue requirement increase, excluding a onetime credit of $64 million in 2025. On the gas side, the ALJ proposed a $78 million revenue requirement increase in 2025. While the ALJ has ruled against the addition of a weather normalization adjustment, we have filed an exception to address the adjustment, which will now go for commission review and consideration. The adjustment, which has been approved for all other major Pennsylvania gas utilities, is intended to reduce the inherent volatility in customer bills and PECO's recovery of distribution revenue. We expect the commission to issue its final orders by the end of December.
Lastly, at ComEd, on October 18, the administrative law judge presiding over the case issued a proposed order on the revised grid plan for which we expect a final order from the Illinois Commerce Commission in December. The proposed order recommends the commission approved the revised grid plan and associated adjusted revenue requirements for 2024 through 2027 with a $637 million revenue requirement increase and a $3.9 billion rate base increase with the new rates in effect in January 2025.
As a reminder, this construct allows for the recovery of prudently incurred investments up to 105% of the approved revenue requirement and provides that certain investment categories such as storms and new business are excluded from the 105% threshold. We are appreciative of the hard work put in by all parties to craft a compliant and balanced credit plan, which has resulted in strong alignment up through the proposed order and we look forward to the commission setting the path for the next three years of investments during a critical time in the industry.
With final orders anticipated to be issued for ComEd, PECO and Pepco DC by year-end, approximately 90% of our rate base will have established rates for known rate mechanisms in place through 2026 or 2027, allowing us to focus on planned execution and the strategic discussions required to support growing electrification needs and the necessary expansion of clean, reliable generation in our states. As always, additional details on the rate cases can be found on Slides 20 to 30 of the appendix.
That brings me to Slide 8, where I want to take a moment to highlight an example of the work we've been doing to modernize the transmission system. Earlier this year, Delmarva Power began work to rebuild the Vienna to Nelson 138 kV transmission line, a 14-mile circuit that extends from the Vienna substation in [Indecipherable] County, Maryland to the Nelson substation in Subset County, Delaware. The project replaces over 100 wooden 60-year-old structures with steel poles and upgrades our equipment to 230 kV standards. The new infrastructure will also be able to withstand winds over 110 miles per hour, is constructed above flood zones and includes an underground transmission lead-in, enhancing overall system resilience.
Currently, the project is on track to be placed in service nearly two years ahead of schedule in December. Completion of the project will enable the Indian River 410-megawatt coal vile generating unit to retire, eliminating the collection of the RMR and saving nearly $100 million across 551,000 customers in that two years, which is over one and half times greater than the installed cost of the project that will be collected over decades. Alongside lower bills, these customers will also experience better system reliability and resiliency from the elimination of capacity constraints. The project also emphasizes our commitment to workforce development with $13.5 million of the spend on the project with diverse suppliers, supporting local economic growth and partnership with the jurisdiction we serve.
These efforts highlight our dedication to enhancing customer value while fostering local economic growth and they are a testament to our strategic efforts to maximize the impact of our investments, modernizing the energy grid, while mitigating resource adequacy constraints and supporting state goals to decarbonize, the project also highlights the power of our platform to efficiently execute on capital plans for the benefit of our customers. This is just one example of the $9.7 billion we have in our capital plan for electric transmission investment through 2027, and it highlights why transmission will continue to be an area of significant opportunity to support our customers going forward.
Finally, I will conclude with updates on our financing activity on Slide 10. We continue to project a cushion of approximately 100 basis points on average over the planning period for our consolidated corporate credit metrics above the downgrade threshold of 12% specified by S&P and Moody's, demonstrating our commitment to maintaining a strong balance sheet. And while we continue to advocate for language that incorporates -- the corporate alternative minimum tax and the final treasury regulations, recall that our plan incorporates the assumption that the final regulations will not allow for repairs, consistent with the proposed guidance released in September. It's implemented in a way that mitigates the cash impact, we'd expect an increase of approximately 50 basis points to our consolidated metrics on average over the plan, putting us at the higher end of our targeted 100 to 200 basis points of cushion over the planning period.
From a financing perspective, we have successfully completed all of our planned long-term debt financing needs for the year with PECO raising $575 million in the third quarter. The strong investor demand we continue to see for our debt offerings is supported by the strength of our balance sheet, combined the lowest attributes of our platform. Investor confidence in our offerings, along with our preissuance hedging program positions us well as we continue to seek out the most efficient ways to finance the energy transformation for our customers and investors.
We've also successfully completed our planned $150 million of equity issuances for 2024 via our ATM. There has been no change in our guidance to issue a total of $1.6 billion of equity from 2024 to 2027 to fund our current $34.5 billion capital plan with the remaining balance expected to be issued ratably from 2025 to 2027, approximating $475 million on an annual basis. Thank you, and I'll now turn the call back to Calvin for his closing remarks.