The paragraph outlines the beginning of Alliant Energy's Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. It introduces several analysts from various financial institutions and then transitions to Susan Gille, the Investor Relations Manager at Alliant Energy, who addresses the participants. She mentions that the call will include prepared remarks from CEO Lisa Barton and CFO Robert Durian, followed by a Q&A session. A news release was issued the previous night detailing Alliant Energy's financial results, updated earnings guidance, and capital expenditure plans. The call will include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks, and the company disclaims any obligation to update these statements.

The paragraph outlines the presentation of the company's third-quarter earnings, emphasizing their solid financial performance and strategic priorities. They discuss excluding certain charges from ongoing earnings, provide a forecast for 2024 earnings despite temperature challenges, and reaffirm a long-term growth target of 5% to 7%. Additionally, the company announces a 2025 earnings guidance with a 6% increase and sets a 2025 dividend target of $2.03 per share, also a 6% increase from the current year. The focus remains on future growth through investment opportunities and maintaining affordability, reliability, and sustainability.

The paragraph discusses four key strengths that differentiate the company in the evolving energy sector, including a focus on economic development, dynamic resource planning, regulatory alignment, and strategic capacity positioning. These strengths enable the company to grow with its customers. It announces plans to bring two data centers to the Big Cedar Industrial Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which will add 1.1 gigawatts in Phase 1 by the end of 2028, increasing peak demand by 20% over the next five years and potentially adding a second phase by decade's end. The company has secured land, transmission, and energy supply agreements for this project and is supported by recent approval of individual customer rates in Iowa, allowing growth for both customers and investors.

The paragraph discusses recent decisions by the Iowa Utilities Commission that stabilize base rates for Iowa customers, promoting economic development and community growth. It highlights the company's commitment to benefiting current and new customers, as well as shareholders, through its Clean Energy Blueprint. This plan involves a non-litigated resource planning process with stakeholder engagement, adapting to changes in demand and regulations. The 2025-2028 capital expenditure plan focuses on a mid-growth scenario, emphasizing the need for a strong transmission network and a diverse energy mix, including natural gas, energy storage, and advanced grid technology, to ensure reliability, resiliency, and support the clean energy transition. The plan includes investments in enhancing existing resources and exploring repowering opportunities for fossil facilities.

The paragraph highlights Alliant Energy's commitment to enhancing energy security and economic benefits for communities in Iowa and Wisconsin through investments in clean energy resources. The company emphasizes its collaborative regulatory environment, dedication to sustainability goals, and leadership in the clean energy transition, with significant investments in wind, solar, and energy storage. Alliant Energy aims to maintain affordability and reliability while focusing on customer satisfaction and community strength. Additionally, the company has raised over half a million dollars to support hunger and food insecurity programs.

The paragraph begins with a note of gratitude from the speaker to the team for their assistance in restoring power to communities affected by Hurricane Helene. The speaker then hands off to Robert Durian, who reports on the company's third quarter earnings. The earnings per share increased to $1.15 from $1.05 in the previous year, driven by higher revenue from capital investments and favorable timing of tax expenses, despite being partially offset by higher depreciation and finance costs. The company has managed to mostly counteract the negative impact of mild temperatures on electric and gas sales through cost reductions. Through September, these temperature impacts have decreased earnings by $0.10 per share, compared to $0.02 per share in 2023. However, sales margins, when normalized for temperature, have remained close to expectations.

The paragraph discusses the company's financial performance and future projections. It notes higher than expected sales to residential and commercial customers in 2024, offset by lower sales to low margin industrial customers. The company has adjusted its 2024 earnings guidance to $2.99 to $3.06 per share due to solid earnings and successful strategies to counteract mild temperature impacts. For 2025, earnings growth is expected from capital investments, although higher depreciation and financing costs are anticipated. The company aims for consistent growth, focusing on customer value, competitive rates, and economic development. Their strategy includes expanding energy sales through new data centers and implementing cost controls to ensure affordability amidst inflationary pressures.

The company is restructuring its workforce and implementing cost-saving measures, including a Voluntary Employee Separation program to reduce its workforce by 5% and expense cuts. They are transitioning to renewable energy and storage, which will reduce operating costs, offset increased rate base impacts, and provide tax and financial benefits. They aim to continue capturing federal benefits, like a $50 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, to enhance grid reliability in rural Wisconsin. The company also announced an updated capital expenditure plan through 2028 to accommodate the growing demand for additional generation and storage projects.

The paragraph outlines the company's strategy to diversify its energy resources by increasing investment in renewables and energy storage. It has raised its capital expenditure plan by $1.8 billion, targeting a 10% compounded annual growth rate. Recently, the company completed $650 million in debt issuances to retire maturing debt and finance Iowa solar projects. It has detailed its financing plans through 2028, utilizing cash flows, tax credit proceeds, and new debt and equity to maintain capital structures. For 2025, it plans up to $1.2 billion in debt issuances and $25 million in equity issuance. Regulatory initiatives are underway, with three active dockets in Wisconsin for customer-focused investments.

The paragraph discusses Alliant Energy's plans to enhance the reliability and resiliency of its facilities through various investments, including refurbishing the Pantry Wind Farm and developing a new energy storage project. The company anticipates decisions on related regulatory dockets in 2025 and plans to file for rate reviews for 2026-2027. This is part of a broader strategy to expand renewable energy and improve resource diversity. Lisa Barton highlights Alliant Energy's commitment to balancing reliability, sustainability, affordability, and growth, emphasizing the company's flexible resource planning and community-focused growth strategies as key differentiators in the utility industry.

The paragraph discusses the company's strategic positioning and future growth plans. The company is confident in its investments and alignment with regulatory frameworks, which allow it to build, own, and operate energy generation facilities. It is focused on meeting the evolving energy needs of its customers and communities and remains confident in its team's ability to achieve sustainable growth. The company looks forward to updating stakeholders at the EEI Financial Conference and will be sharing materials on its website. During a Q&A session, Nathan Richardson from Barclays asked about the impact of high load growth on long-term EPS growth, to which Lisa Barton responded that it represents upside potential, particularly in later years. Nathan also asked about equity funding, noting the company is guiding to 10% funding for overall CapEx, with $25 million of equity issuance mentioned.

The paragraph involves a discussion about capital expenditure plans and equity needs for the company. Robert Durian mentions that an additional $1 billion in new common equity will be needed through 2028 to maintain a strong balance sheet and a 40% equity ratio at the parent company level. The capital expenditure plan is skewed towards the latter half, specifically 2026 to 2028, with a steady requirement of $300 million to $350 million per year directed towards the equity needs, considering potential ATM (At-The-Market) offerings as a mechanism. Nathan Richardson acknowledges this plan. Julian Dumoulin-Smith then asks for clarification on the potential for continued growth or contributions into 2029 and 2030, beyond the current equity and CapEx focus, indicating interest in future earnings and rate base contributions during this period.

The paragraph is a discussion between Lisa Barton, Julian Dumoulin-Smith, and Robert Durian about economic development and providing investors with reliable information regarding load growth. Lisa emphasizes the importance of having a clear understanding of timing and certainty before updating investors. Julian inquires about interpreting earned return scenarios within the context of the ICR (Incremental Cost of Recovery) tariff and data center contributions. Robert responds by indicating that significant load growth from data centers is anticipated to start in 2027-2028, which may trigger earnings sharing mechanisms towards the end of their plan in 2028 and 2029.

The paragraph discusses the growth prospects of a business at the Big Cedar industrial site and future phases that could activate earning-sharing mechanisms by 2028. Robert Durian mentions opportunities with data centers and the potential for quicker progress if contracts are finalized sooner. Andrew Weisel from Scotiabank questions a reduction in the 2024 guidance, to which Durian attributes primarily to negative temperature impacts amounting to about $0.10 over the first nine months of the year.

The paragraph discusses the financial outlook and strategies of a company in light of warm October temperatures. Despite these conditions, they've managed to offset about 75% of the negative impacts, leading to a slight decrease in their earnings guidance for 2024. The conversation shifts to capital expenditures (CapEx), specifically regarding economic development projects like data centers. These developments are seen as potential upsides that could enhance sales and customer affordability if realized. The discussion also touches on the potential for accelerated load growth in the latter half of their plan based on current strategies.

The paragraph features a discussion between Lisa Barton, Robert Durian, and Andrew Weisel about the company's growth and future plans. Andrew questions why the growth rate remains at 6% despite increased peak load, CapEx plans, and potential customer additions, asking if conservatism is the limiting factor. Lisa and Robert emphasize the importance of accurate forecasting and timing before increasing projections, indicating a conservative approach until data center loads are confirmed. They promise future updates once agreements are finalized. After Andrew's inquiry, Paul Fremont seeks clarification about the growth metrics presented on Slide 5, mentioning a 1.1-gigawatt figure.

In the discussion between Paul Fremont and Lisa Barton, it is confirmed that their energy capacity has reached 1.1 gigawatts, ruling out a low-flat growth scenario. Barton highlights ongoing cautious discussions with data centers and emphasizes the need for finalized agreements and clear projections before announcing further developments. While discussing regulatory plans, Barton notes that each jurisdiction, like Iowa and Wisconsin, requires unique approaches due to differences in regulatory structures. Regarding financial strategies, Fremont inquires about using junior subordinated debt for equity contributions, though Barton's response isn't detailed in this context.

In the conversation, Robert Durian discusses financing and equity options for the company, indicating that they don't foresee needing equity content financing instruments in 2025 but might consider options in the latter half of the year. Paul Fremont inquires about the potential use of junior subordinated instruments for equity needs, to which Durian responds that this will be evaluated later in 2025. Aditya Gandhi then asks about the company's long-term EPS growth rate, clarifying that the base is the 2024 guidance midpoint of $3.03. Durian confirms this base and states the company remains committed to a 6% growth rate, acknowledging 2024 as a lower starting point but expecting higher growth in the future.

In the paragraph, Robert Durian discusses the financing plan for an $11 billion capital expenditure over the next four years, up to 2028. He explains that the majority of the funding will come from cash flow from operations and tax credit monetization, amounting to approximately $1.6 to $1.7 billion. This is expected to average around $300 to $400 million annually, aided by investments in renewables and energy storage. Aditya Gandhi asks about potential revisions to future growth opportunities before the third quarter's CapEx updates, to which Lisa Barton responds that a revision might take place in the first half of next year. The conversation then moves to Bill Apicelli from UBS.

In the conversation, Robert Durian discusses the impact of weather on earnings for 2024, noting a $0.10 drag so far, potentially increasing to $0.12 for the full year. The company has offset approximately 75% of this impact through non-sustainable measures like tax benefits and O&M savings. These offsets aim to maintain a midpoint earnings guidance of $3.03 for 2024. Bill Appicelli asks about the assumption of normal weather in 2025 and factors influencing year-over-year growth, such as financing costs and depreciation. Durian responds that while non-sustainable offsets will not recur in 2025, expected normal weather will allow them to achieve a 6% growth rate from the $3.03 baseline.

In the paragraph, Lisa Barton and Bill Appicelli discuss Alliant Energy's strategy to use technology to reduce business costs and focus on economic development. They talk about load growth expectations, with Robert Durian indicating that substantial growth from new data centers is anticipated by 2027. For the next year or two, load growth is expected to remain consistent with historical levels, around 0.5% to 1%. The call concludes with Susan Gille thanking participants and stating that a replay will be available on their website.

This summary was generated with AI and may contain some inaccuracies.