美國電力 (AEP) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Roger and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the American Electric Power fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. Today's conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions).

早安.我叫羅傑，今天我將擔任您的會議主持人。現在，我歡迎大家參加美國電力公司 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製。（操作員指令）。

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Darcy Reese, Vice President Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在，我想將會議交給投資者關係副總裁 Darcy Reese。請繼續。

Good morning, and welcome to American Electric Power's fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. A live webcast of this teleconference and slide presentation are available on our website under the Events and Presentations section. We have a few members of our management team with us today, including Bill Fehrman, President and Chief Executive Officer; Trevor Mihalik, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Kate Sturgess, Senior Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer.

早安，歡迎參加美國電力公司 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。本次電話會議的現場網路直播和投影片簡報可在我們網站的「活動和簡報」部分找到。今天我們的管理團隊有幾位成員與我們在一起，包括總裁兼執行長 Bill Fehrman； Trevor Mihalik，執行副總裁兼財務長；以及高級副總裁、財務主管兼首席會計官凱特·斯特吉斯（Kate Sturgess）。

We will be making forward-looking statements during the call. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements we make today. Factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially are discussed in the company's most recent SEC filings. Please refer to the presentation slides that accompany this call for a reconciliation to GAAP measures. We will take your questions following opening remarks.

我們將在電話會議中做出前瞻性陳述。實際結果可能與我們今天所做的任何前瞻性陳述中的預測有重大差異。該公司最新的美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 文件中討論了可能導致我們的實際結果產生重大差異的因素。請參閱此呼籲中附帶的簡報幻燈片，以了解有關與 GAAP 指標進行協調的資訊。我們將在開幕詞之後回答大家的提問。

With that, please turn to slide 4, and let me hand the call over to Bill.

說完這些，請翻到投影片 4，讓我把電話交給比爾。

Thank you, Darcy, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. Let me start by saying that after six months on the job, I continue to get more excited about the very strong and comprehensive AEP value proposition. Our future is extremely bright, and we are committed to delivering on our promises to customers, regulators and investors by putting our robust capital plan to work. We are building a platform of success by focusing on execution and accountability.

謝謝你，達西，大家早安。歡迎參加我們的 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。首先我要說的是，工作六個月後，我對非常強大和全面的 AEP 價值主張感到更加興奮。我們的未來非常光明，我們致力於透過實施強勁的資本計劃來履行對客戶、監管機構和投資者的承諾。我們正在透過注重執行和責任來建立成功的平台。

These are exciting times at AEP, and I see incredible value in this company, which I'm confident we can further unlock by advancing our long-term strategy and providing safe, affordable and reliable service across our large footprint.

這是 AEP 激動人心的時刻，我看到了這家公司不可思議的價值，我相信，透過推進我們的長期策略並在我們的廣大範圍內提供安全、實惠和可靠的服務，我們可以進一步釋放這一價值。

Before we jump into our results, I'd like to start by introducing our new CFO, Trevor Mihalik, who joined AEP last month and is on the call with me today. Trevor is a proven leader in an industry veteran. He's hit the ground running and is already considered a very strong disciplined and focused member of our senior leadership team.

在我們了解業績之前，我想先介紹我們的新任財務長 Trevor Mihalik，他上個月加入 AEP，今天和我一起參加了電話會議。特雷弗 (Trevor) 是一位業界公認的資深領導者。他立即投入工作並已被認為是我們高階領導團隊中非常自律且專注的成員。

I've made a number of changes over the last six months to streamline our leadership structure by eliminating management layers, reorganizing and reducing the size and scope of the Service Corporation and improving procurement processes to drive much higher value from suppliers. The leadership team is coming together to make AEP a premium traded utility that is highly respected and trusted by our many stakeholders.

在過去六個月裡，我做出了許多改變，簡化了我們的領導結構，包括消除管理層級、重組和縮小服務公司的規模和範圍，以及改善採購流程以從供應商那裡獲得更高的價值。領導團隊正在齊心協力，將 AEP 打造成一家受到眾多利益相關者高度尊重和信賴的優質交易公用事業公司。

Lastly, I'd like to take a moment to thank Chuck Zebula for his more than 25 years of dedicated service to AEP. We're grateful for his steady hand during the transition and will continue to benefit from his expertise until his well-earned retirement in March.

最後，我想花點時間感謝查克·澤布拉 (Chuck Zebula) 25 多年來為 AEP 做出的忠誠服務。我們感謝他在過渡期間的穩健表現，並將繼續受益於他的專業知識，直到三月他退休為止。

In my remarks this morning, I will discuss our strategic focus and our results at a high level before passing it over to Trevor to walk through our financials in more detail. Today, we announced fourth quarter 2024 operating earnings of $1.24 per share or $660 million, bringing our full year 2024 operating earnings to $5.62 per share.

在今天早上的發言中，我將首先從高層角度討論我們的策略重點和業績，然後再交給特雷弗 (Trevor) 更詳細地介紹我們的財務狀況。今天，我們宣布 2024 年第四季營業利潤為每股 1.24 美元或 6.6 億美元，使我們 2024 年全年營業利潤達到每股 5.62 美元。

Recall, as part of our commitment of continuing to deliver value to our shareholders, last October, we increased the quarterly dividend from $0.88 to $0.93 per share. In addition, today, we are reaffirming AEP's 2025 operating earnings guidance range of $5.75 to $5.95 per share and affirming our long-term operating earnings growth rate of 6% to 8%, all reinforced by our robust $54 billion capital plan from 2025 through 2029.

回想一下，作為我們繼續為股東提供價值的承諾的一部分，去年 10 月，我們將季度股息從每股 0.88 美元增加到 0.93 美元。此外，今天我們重申 AEP 2025 年每股 5.75 美元至 5.95 美元的營業利潤預期範圍，並確認我們長期營業利潤增長率為 6% 至 8%，這一切都得益於我們從 2025 年到 2029 年的 540 億美元強勁資本計劃。

As we have talked about previously, I'm committed to a strong balance sheet, and I believe it is critical to funding our robust capital plan, we will responsibly finance the great opportunities ahead of us from a position of strength. Trevor will address this further in his remarks.

正如我們之前談到的，我致力於保持強勁的資產負債表，我相信這對資助我們強勁的資本計劃至關重要，我們將以實力為依托，負責任地為我們面前的巨大機遇提供資金。特雷弗將在他的演講中進一步討論這個問題。

We will also be disciplined around portfolio management. In fact, last month, we announced the Ohio and I&M minority interest transaction on the transmission business with KKR and PSP investments for $2.82 billion. The transaction is highly accretive at 2.3 times rate base and valued at 30.3 times price to earnings. To put this into another perspective, this is equivalent to issuing AEP common stock at $170 per share.

我們也將嚴格進行投資組合管理。事實上，上個月，我們宣布了與 KKR 和 PSP 就輸電業務進行俄亥俄州和 I&M 少數股權交易，交易金額達 28.2 億美元。該交易的增值幅度極高，基準利率為 2.3 倍，本益比為 30.3 倍。從另一個角度來看，這相當於以每股 170 美元的價格發行 AEP 普通股。

Moreover, in the last couple of weeks, we filed for approval with FERC, and we expect to close in the second half of 2025 and at which time we'll still retain 95% of AEP's total transmission assets. The proceeds from this transaction allow us to rotate capital into investments that benefit our customers as we enhance reliability and deliver on growing energy demand.

此外，在過去幾週，我們向聯邦能源管理委員會提交了批准申請，預計將在 2025 年下半年完成，屆時我們仍將保留 AEP 95% 的總輸電資產。此交易的收益使我們能夠將資本轉移到有利於客戶的投資中，因為我們提高了可靠性並滿足了不斷增長的能源需求。

In addition to the minority interest transaction, we also recycled almost $0.5 billion in net cash proceeds in 2024 through the sale of the New Mexico Renewable Development solar portfolio and distributed resources business. We continue to work with federal policymakers, state legislators and regulators across our large service footprint to determine what their goals are, so we can relentlessly deliver on them.

除了少數股權交易外，我們還透過出售新墨西哥再生能源開發太陽能組合和分散式資源業務，在 2024 年回收了近 5​​ 億美元的淨現金收益。我們將繼續與聯邦政策制定者、州立法者和監管機構在我們廣泛的服務範圍內合作，以確定他們的目標，以便我們能夠堅持不懈地實現這些目標。

I would also like to spend some time this morning walking through AEP's future growth opportunities, which are underpinned by four major drivers. Large load in our service territories, including data center load that we appreciate having the chance to serve and are aggressively pursuing economic development efforts in our states, investment across the system in our transmission and distribution infrastructure, and new generation.

今天上午，我還想花一些時間介紹 AEP 未來的成長機遇，這些機會由四大驅動力支撐。我們服務區域內的負載很大，包括資料中心負載，我們很高興有機會提供服務，並正在積極推進我們各州的經濟發展工作、在整個系統中對輸電和配電基礎設施的投資以及新一代。

Our capital plan includes customer commitments for 20 gigawatts of incremental load by 2030, driven by data center demand, reshoring and manufacturing and continued economic development. In fact, large load impacts are already being felt in many of AEP's service territories, especially in Ohio, Texas and Indiana.

我們的資本計畫包括客戶承諾在 2030 年增加 20 千兆瓦的負載，這主要受資料中心需求、製造業回流以及持續的經濟發展所推動。事實上，AEP 的許多服務區域都已經感受到了巨大的負荷影響，尤其是俄亥俄州、德克薩斯州和印第安納州。

As demonstrated in our fourth quarter results we experienced commercial loan growth of 12.3% over the fourth quarter and 10.6% growth on the full year compared to 2023. One of the reasons we are seeing such growth now that we have an advanced transmission system that can help support current large loads, which is a significant advantage for us versus our peers.

正如我們第四季度業績所顯示，與 2023 年相比，我們的商業貸款在第四季度增長了 12.3%，全年增長了 10.6%。我們目前看到如此成長的原因之一是，我們擁有先進的傳輸系統，可以幫助支撐當前的巨大負載，這對我們相對於同行而言是一個顯著的優勢。

As we execute on our $54 billion capital plan to support customer needs, Affordability remains top of mind, and we are committed to fair cost allocation associated with large loans. We proactively filed the data center tariff in Ohio and large low tariff modifications in Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia and we look forward to commission decisions in Indiana and West Virginia on both states unanimous settlements in the near future.

當我們執行 540 億美元資本計畫來滿足客戶需求時，可負擔性仍然是首要考慮因素，我們致力於公平分配與大額貸款相關的成本。我們積極提交了俄亥俄州資料中心關稅申請以及印第安納州、肯塔基州和西維吉尼亞州大規模低關稅修改申請，我們期待印第安納州和西維吉尼亞州的委員會在不久的將來就兩個州達成一致解決方案。

The data center tariff hearing in Ohio concluded last month, and we should have a commission decision by the third quarter of this year. In addition to our efforts to support load growth, our current capital plan contemplates sustained and substantial investments across our distribution infrastructure to better meet our customers' energy needs and improve customer service.

俄亥俄州的資料中心關稅聽證會上個月結束，我們應該會在今年第三季前得到委員會的決定。除了支持負載成長的努力之外，我們目前的資本計畫還考慮對我們的配電基礎設施進行持續和大量的投資，以更好地滿足客戶的能源需求並改善客戶服務。

Since AEP's distribution system is one of the nation's largest at approximately 225,000 distribution miles. These efforts include work to harden or replace poles, conductors, transformers and other assets as well as deploy automated technologies like AMI meters and Grid smart for enhanced operational performance.

由於 AEP 的配送系統是全國最大的配送系統之一，配送里程約為 225,000 英里。這些工作包括加固或更換電線桿、導線、變壓器和其他資產，以及部署 AMI 電錶和電網智慧等自動化技術以提高營運效能。

In total, we are investing more than $13 billion over the next five years in these areas to improve reliability and reduce both frequency and duration of outages by advancing these initiatives as well as an aggressive vegetation management program. We will increase customer satisfaction, strengthen our systems' resilience to weather events and reduce costs for operations and maintenance.

總體而言，未來五年我們將在這些地區投資超過 130 億美元，透過推進這些舉措以及積極的植被管理計劃來提高可靠性並減少停電頻率和持續時間。我們將提高客戶滿意度，增強我們的系統對天氣事件的適應能力，並降低營運和維護成本。

Demand for power is growing at a pace not seen over my 44 years in this business. As we discussed last quarter, meeting this demand could require incremental investment of up to $10 billion, driven by additional transmission, distribution and generation infrastructure, not included in our current $54 billion capital plan. For example, in our three primary RTOs, we see an opportunity of approximately $4 billion to $5 billion of incremental transmission awards recently approved or expected to be approved in the near term with additional upside on other initiatives.

電力需求的成長速度是我從事這一行業44年來從未見過的。正如我們上個季度所討論的那樣，滿足這一需求可能需要高達 100 億美元的增量投資，由額外的輸電、配電和發電基礎設施推動，而這並未包含在我們目前的 540 億美元資本計劃中。例如，在我們的三個主要 RTO 中，我們看到了最近批准或預計近期將獲得批准的增量輸電獎勵約 40 億至 50 億美元的機會，且其他舉措還有額外的上漲空間。

The remainder of the $10 billion of incremental capital upside is in transmission, distribution and generation infrastructure across the business. In addition, as you'll recall, in November, we announced a partnership with Bloom Energy related to fuel cells. Our current capital plan does not include any investment in this custom solution, which will enable our large customers to quickly power their operations while the grid is built out to accommodate further demand. Once the necessary infrastructure is connected to these large customers, they can use the fuel cells as backup generation, further adding resiliency to their operations.

100 億美元增量資本上漲的剩餘部分將用於整個業務的輸電、配電和發電基礎設施。此外，您可能還記得，11 月，我們宣布與 Bloom Energy 建立燃料電池的合作夥伴關係。我們目前的資本計畫不包括對該客製化解決方案的任何投資，該解決方案將使我們的大客戶能夠在電網建設以滿足進一步需求的同時快速為其營運提供電力。一旦必要的基礎設施與這些大客戶連接起來，他們就可以使用燃料電池作為備用發電，進一步增強其營運的彈性。

This demonstrates our commitment to finding innovative customer solutions that let the empower up much quicker, allowing their business to deliver service to their customers, which will generate profits much sooner than waiting for a grid connection.

這表明我們致力於尋找創新的客戶解決方案，使其能夠更快地啟動，從而使他們的企業能夠為客戶提供服務，這將比等待電網連接更快地產生利潤。

As a matter of fact, just this week, AEP Ohio filed with the Ohio Commission for approval of the first two customer projects using this fuel cell technology totaling 100 megawatts. Not only is AEP working to bring solutions tailored to the current power needs of our states, but we are leading efforts in the industry on the potential that small modular reactors or SMRs, have to meet the growing needs of the future. We're looking to partner with the US Department of Energy to support the early site permit process for two potential SMR locations, one in Indiana and the other in Virginia. We are laying the groundwork to find solutions to support large loads and are fortunate for the opportunity to build these SMRs but only with appropriate risk sharing.

事實上，就在本週，AEP Ohio 向俄亥俄州委員會提交了申請，批准使用該燃料電池技術的首兩個客戶項目，總計 100 兆瓦。AEP 不僅致力於提供適合我們各州當前電力需求的解決方案，而且我們還在業界引領發掘小型模組化反應器或 SMR 滿足未來日益增長的需求的潛力。我們正在尋求與美國能源部合作，以支援兩個潛在 SMR 地點的早期場地許可流程，一個位於印第安納州，另一個位於維吉尼亞州。我們正在為尋找支援大負載的解決方案奠定基礎，並且很幸運有機會建造這些 SMR，但必須進行適當的風險分擔。

The tech companies are fast movers and AEP will be there to support them with whatever technology solution they want to deploy, but we need to ensure that we are protected and compensated.

科技公司行動迅速，無論他們想要部署什麼技術解決方案，AEP 都會為他們提供支持，但我們需要確保我們受到保護和補償。

Moving on to regulatory. Over the last six months, I have visited 10 of our 11 states and have been actively engaged with various stakeholders, listening to their preferences as we invest more in resources at the local level. I firmly believe that by delivering for our states and the customers who live there, we can, over time, improve our earned ROEs and increase equity layers as states are more receptive for the need to attract capital.

接下來是監管。在過去的六個月裡，我訪問了我們 11 個州中的 10 個，並積極與各利益相關者接觸，在我們在地方層面投入更多資源的同時傾聽他們的偏好。我堅信，透過為我們的州和居住在那裡的客戶提供服務，我們可以隨著時間的推移提高我們的淨資產收益率並增加股權層，因為各州會更容易接受吸引資本的需求。

It is an absolute imperative that AEP listened closely to our states and then aggressively deliver on the agreed upon commitments. That's my promise to them. When I look at 2024 in review, our operating companies achieved a number of positive regulatory developments, including received constructive base rate case outcomes in Indiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia, obtained commission approval of the Ohio Electric Security Plan, updated formula rates in Arkansas and Louisiana and filed system resiliency plans in both of our operating companies in Texas.

AEP 必須密切聽取各州的意見，然後積極履行商定的承諾。這是我對他們的承諾。回顧 2024 年，我們的營運公司取得了許多積極的監管進展，包括在印第安納州、密西根州、俄克拉荷馬州、德克薩斯州和維吉尼亞州獲得了建設性的基本利率案例結果、獲得了俄亥俄州電力安全計劃的委員會批准、更新了阿肯色州和路易斯安那州的公式利率並在德克薩斯州的兩家營運公司提交了系統彈性計劃。

As we discussed on our last call, APCo filed its base case in West Virginia, while offering securitization as a concept to help mitigate the proposed base rate increase. Intervenor testimony in this case is set for April with rebuttal testimony following in May and a hearing start in mid-June of this year. We look forward to working with everyone involved in this case to achieve a positive outcome for both our customers and our shareholders.

正如我們在上次電話會議上討論的那樣，APCo 在西維吉尼亞州提交了其基本案例，同時提出證券化作為幫助緩解擬議的基本利率上調的概念。該案的介入者證詞定於今年 4 月進行，反駁證詞定於 5 月進行，聽證會將於今年 6 月中旬開始。我們期待與參與此案的所有人合作，為我們的客戶和股東取得積極的結果。

Shifting now to our generation fleet. We previously filed approval of PSO's Green Country 795-megawatt natural gas facility, SWEPCO's new Hallsville, 450-megawatt natural gas plant as well as WEPCo's well 1,053 megawatt natural gas conversion project. These facilities and RFPs, which are currently in progress at APCo, I&M and DSO, in addition to future integrated resource plan filings over the next couple of years in Arkansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Virginia, at West Virginia support our capacity obligations and will go a long way in meeting our customers' energy needs.

現在轉向我們的一代艦隊。我們先前已申請批准 PSO 的 Green Country 795 兆瓦天然氣設施、SWEPCO 的新 Hallsville 450 兆瓦天然氣工廠以及 WEPCo 的 1,053 兆瓦天然氣轉換項目。這些設施和 RFP 目前正在 APCo、I&M 和 DSO 進行中，此外，未來幾年還將在阿肯色州、肯塔基州、印第安納州、密西根州、維吉尼亞州和西維吉尼亞州提交綜合資源計劃，以支持我們的容量義務，並將在很大程度上滿足我們客戶的能源需求。

In summary, we're engaged with key stakeholders on the regulatory front as we keep affordability system reliability, resiliency and security top of mind. I'm excited to start the new year having made meaningful progress, and will continue these important efforts as we advance on our commitment to excellence and deliver on what our states want.

總之，我們在監管方面與主要利害關係人合作，同時將可負擔系統的可靠性、彈性和安全性放在首位。我很高興在新的一年裡取得了有意義的進展，並將繼續這些重要的努力，繼續履行我們對卓越的承諾，實現我們各州的願望。

I'll close by thanking everyone at AEP for their hard work and dedication in 2024. I'm energized as we enter 2025 with a strong team and a more streamlined structure that are significantly driving efficiencies, reducing bureaucracy and creating a much more nimble company that can quickly execute on opportunities.

最後，我要感謝 AEP 所有人在 2024 年的辛勤工作和奉獻。我充滿活力，因為我們將擁有一支強大的團隊和更精簡的結構，從而大幅提高效率、減少官僚主義，並打造一家能夠快速抓住機會的更靈活的公司。

We're also having our employees who have been working from home returned to the office full time by June 1, to put all hands on deck with a renewed focus on execution and accountability that will serve us well as we advance our strategic priorities to enhance value for our stakeholders.

我們也讓在家工作的員工在 6 月 1 日前全職返回辦公室，讓所有人重新投入工作，重新關注執行力和責任感，這將有助於我們推進策略重點，為利害關係人提升價值。

With that, I'll now turn it over to Trevor.

現在，我將把發言權交給 Trevor。

Thank you, Bill, and good morning to everyone on the call. I want to start today by thanking Bill and the Board for placing their trust in me to help lead this organization into a bright and exciting future. I am honored and grateful for the opportunity to join a dynamic team that is focused on positioning the company for future success, and I'm committed to building on our momentum to create value for all of our stakeholders.

謝謝你，比爾，祝電話裡的每個人早安。今天，我首先要感謝比爾和董事會對我的信任，感謝我帶領這個組織走向光明和令人興奮的未來。我很榮幸也很感激有機會加入一個充滿活力的團隊，該團隊致力於為公司未來的成功做好準備，我致力於繼續保持良好的發展勢頭，為所有利益相關者創造價值。

As part of my transition, I have reviewed AEP's financial and capital plans, and I have confidence in executing on them with this team. Today, I will walk us through the fourth quarter and full year results for 2024 and expand on Bill's comments related to load growth and discuss what we expect to see in the years ahead. I will finish with commentary on credit metrics, liquidity and portfolio management as well as my focus on disciplined capital allocation.

作為我過渡的一部分，我審查了 AEP 的財務和資本計劃，我有信心與這個團隊一起執行這些計劃。今天，我將帶我們了解 2024 年第四季和全年業績，並擴展比爾有關負荷成長的評論，並討論我們對未來幾年的期望。最後，我將對信用指標、流動性和投資組合管理進行評論，並專注於嚴格的資本配置。

Please turn to slide 7. This slide shows the comparison of GAAP to operating earnings for the quarter and year-to-date periods. GAAP Earnings for the fourth quarter were $1.25 per share compared to $0.64 per share in 2023. GAAP earnings for the year were $5.60 per share compared to $4.26 per share in 2023. Detailed reconciliations of GAAP to operating earnings are shown in the appendix on slides 25 and 26.

請翻到幻燈片 7。本投影片顯示了 GAAP 與本季和年初至今的營業收入的比較。第四季的 GAAP 收益為每股 1.25 美元，而 2023 年為每股 0.64 美元。今年 GAAP 收益為每股 5.60 美元，而 2023 年每股 4.26 美元。第 25 和 26 頁投影片的附錄中顯示了 GAAP 與營業收入的詳細對帳。

Next, I will briefly cover fourth quarter operating results before moving on to a more detailed walk-through of our year-to-date results by segment. Fourth quarter operating earnings came in at $1.24 per share, which was $0.01 improvement versus the prior year. We saw $0.22 of incremental rate changes across multiple jurisdictions along with higher normalized retail sales at both the vertically integrated and transmission and distribution segments. Partially offsetting these favorable drivers were higher O&M and lower margins at the Generation & Marketing segment. For reference, the full details of our fourth quarter results are shown on slide 22.

接下來，我將簡要介紹第四季的營運業績，然後再更詳細地介紹我們各部門的年初至今的業績。第四季營業利潤為每股 1.24 美元，較上年同期成長 0.01 美元。我們看到多個司法管轄區的增量費率變化為 0.22 美元，同時垂直整合和輸配電部門的標準化零售額均有所提高。部分抵消了這些有利驅動因素的因素是發電和行銷部門的營運和維護費用增加以及利潤率下降。作為參考，我們的第四季業績詳情顯示在投影片 22 上。

Moving on to slide 8. Let's have a look at our year-to-date results. Operating earnings for 2024 totaled $5.62 per share compared to $5.25 per share in 2023. This was an increase of $0.37 per share or about 7% year-over-year, adding to AEP's long track record of delivering on its financial commitments for investors.

轉到投影片 8。讓我們來看看今年迄今為止的業績。2024 年營業利潤總計每股 5.62 美元，而 2023 年為每股 5.25 美元。這比去年同期每股增加了 0.37 美元，增幅約為 7%，進一步鞏固了 AEP 長期以來履行對投資者財務承諾的良好記錄。

Looking at the drivers by segment. Operating earnings for vertically integrated utilities were $2.63 per share, up $0.16 from a year earlier. Positive drivers included rate changes across multiple jurisdictions notable outcomes in Virginia and Indiana and a return to relatively normal weather in 2024 compared to the mild weather experienced in 2023. These items were partially offset by higher depreciation and higher O&M as we made investments to serve our customers.

按部分查看驅動因素。垂直整合公用事業的營業利潤為每股 2.63 美元，比去年同期成長 0.16 美元。積極的驅動因素包括多個司法管轄區的費率變化、弗吉尼亞州和印第安納州的顯著結果以及 2024 年天氣與 2023 年溫和天氣相比恢復相對正常。由於我們為服務客戶進行了投資，這些項目的部分費用被更高的折舊費和更高的營運和維護費用所抵消。

The Transmission & Distribution Utilities segment earned $1.51 per share, up $0.21 from last year. Favorable drivers in this segment included increased rates in Texas and Ohio, increased transmission revenue, a favorable year-over-year change in weather and higher normalized retail sales.

輸配電公用事業部門每股收益 1.51 美元，比去年增加 0.21 美元。該領域的有利驅動因素包括德克薩斯州和俄亥俄州的電價上漲、輸電收入增加、天氣同比有利變化以及正常零售額上升。

Partially offsetting these items were increased property taxes, depreciation, interest expense and O&M. The AEP Transmission Holdco segment contributed $1.51 per share up $0.08 from last year. Our continued investment in transmission assets as the new loads are added to our system was the main driver in this segment.

部分抵銷這些項目的是增加的財產稅、折舊、利息支出和營運與維護費用。AEP Transmission Holdco 部門每股貢獻 1.51 美元，較去年同期增加 0.08 美元。隨著新負載添加到我們的系統中，我們對輸電資產的持續投資是這一領域的主要驅動力。

Generation and Marketing produced $0.48 per share down $0.11 from last year. The reduced contribution from this segment was primarily driven by the sale of our universal scale assets in the third quarter of 2023, higher income taxes and lower retail energy margins. These items were partially offset by lower interest expense and higher wholesale margins.

發電和行銷每股收益為 0.48 美元，比去年下降 0.11 美元。該部門貢獻的減少主要是由於我們在 2023 年第三季出售通用規模資產、所得稅增加以及零售能源利潤率下降。這些項目被較低的利息支出和較高的批發利潤率部分抵消。

Finally, Corporate and Other saw a benefit of $0.03 per share, driven by lower income taxes and O&M which are partially offset by higher net interest expense.

最後，企業和其他業務每股收益為 0.03 美元，這得益於所得稅和營運與維護費用的降低，但淨利息支出的增加部分抵消了這一收益。

As Bill mentioned earlier, we are reaffirming our operating earnings guidance range for 2025 of $5.75 to $5.95 per share. For convenience, we've included an updated waterfall bridging our actual 2024 results to the midpoint of our guidance for 2025 on slide 20. While some variances changed due to the 2024 actual results, there is no change to our 2025 segment or overall guidance.

正如比爾先前所提到的，我們重申 2025 年營業利潤預期範圍為每股 5.75 美元至 5.95 美元。為了方便起見，我們在第 20 張投影片中提供了更新的瀑布圖，將我們 2024 年的實際結果與 2025 年指引的中點連結起來。雖然由於 2024 年的實際結果而發生了一些變化，但我們的 2025 年細分或整體指導並沒有變化。

Turning to slide 9. You can see more evidence of just how important load growth is to our financial story. Weather-normalized sales grew 3% in 2024, and we expect that to nearly triple in the years ahead. These are exciting times in the utility industry as we incorporate this tremendous growth. As Bill mentioned, the load growth that I'm going to talk about is providing the opportunity to potentially add up to $10 billion of incremental capital over the next five years to our already sizable $54 billion plan. We are continuing to evaluate the magnitude and timing of this spend to meet the growth opportunities across our footprint. The gains we are seeing from the data centers and industrial customers represent a once-in-a-generational opportunity to shape and grow the system.

翻到第 9 張投影片。您可以看到更多證據來證明負荷成長對於我們的財務狀況有多重要。2024 年天氣標準化銷售額將成長 3%，我們預計未來幾年這數字將成長近三倍。隨著我們實現這一巨大的成長，公用事業行業迎來了令人興奮的時刻。正如比爾所提到的，我將要談論的負載成長將為我們在未來五年內在已經相當龐大的 540 億美元計劃上增加高達 100 億美元的增量資本提供機會。我們將繼續評估這筆支出的規模和時機，以滿足我們業務範圍內的成長機會。我們從資料中心和工業客戶看到的收益代表著塑造和發展系統的千載難逢的機會。

So before I jump into the details, I want to emphasize a few key points about our confidence in the projections you see here. First, this isn't just a future story. This is a now story. We're already seeing these loads come online across our system.

因此，在我深入討論細節之前，我想強調我們對您在此處看到的預測的信心的幾個關鍵點。首先，這不僅僅是一個未來的故事。這是一個現在的故事。我們已經看到這些負載在我們的系統中上線。

In December of 2024, we added almost 450 megawatts of hyperscale data center load in Ohio alone. Second, the load additions built into the forecast you see here are all backed by signed customer financial obligations, demonstrating their commitment to bring these projects online.

2024 年 12 月，光是在俄亥俄州，我們就增加了近 450 兆瓦的超大規模資料中心負載。其次，您在此處看到的預測中包含的負載增加全部由簽署的客戶財務義務支持，表明他們致力於將這些項目上線。

In fact, nearly all of these loads are backed by take-or-pay contracts and have already been accepted by certain RTOs, including PJM. This means that our customers are committed to pay for a minimum amount of power over a period of time. What's more, we've achieved tariff settlements in Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia to strengthen and lengthen those commitments even further. Beyond those contracts, we have substantial interconnection queues waiting to sign additional commitments as well.

事實上，幾乎所有這些負荷都受到照付不議合約的支持，並且已經被包括 PJM 在內的某些 RTO 所接受。這意味著我們的客戶承諾在一段時間內支付最低額的電費。此外，我們還與印第安納州、俄亥俄州和西維吉尼亞州達成了關稅協議，以進一步加強和延長這些承諾。除了這些合約之外，我們還有大量的互連隊列等待簽署額外的承諾。

Diving a little further into the details, you can see where the bulk of our growth is concentrated. New data centers drove double-digit growth in our commercial sales in 2024, and with system-wide data processing load hitting a new high in December of 1.3 million megawatt hours. The gains are expanding beyond the transmission and distribution utilities into our higher vertically integrated segment.

進一步深入了解細節，你會發現我們的成長主要集中在哪裡。2024 年，新資料中心推動我們的商業銷售額實現兩位數成長，全系統資料處理負載在 12 月創下 130 萬兆瓦時的新高。收益已從輸電和配電事業擴展到我們更高垂直整合的領域。

Recently, we also connected the first of several hyperscale data center customers in Indiana, including AWS and Google. Across the entire system, we're contracted to see nearly 5 gigawatts of data processing load come online in 2025, representing almost a $0.25 increase from 2024.

最近，我們還連接了印第安納州的幾家超大規模資料中心客戶中的第一個，其中包括 AWS 和 Google。在整個系統中，我們簽訂了合同，到 2025 年將有近 5 千兆瓦的數據處理負載上線，這比 2024 年增加近 0.25 美元。

Beyond commercial load, our industrial sales are also set to accelerate after a resilient 2024. AEP's industrial load grew by more than 402,000-megawatt hours last year. This was punctuated by growth of almost 5% in Texas, highlighting the diversity of our service territory and giving us a lot of confidence going into the new year.

除了商業負荷之外，在 2024 年實現復甦之後，我們的工業銷售也將加速成長。去年，AEP 的工業負荷成長了 402,000 多兆瓦時。其中德州的成長率接近 5%，凸顯了我們服務領域的多樣性，讓我們對新的一年充滿信心。

We expect industrial sales growth to more than double in 2025 as several new large customers are contracted to come on to the system, like Cheniere in Texas. We also have several other large and well-publicized industrial projects set to come online in '26 and '27. More detailed load projections by class can be found on slide 13.

我們預計，隨著幾家新的大客戶（如德克薩斯州的 Cheniere）加入該系統，到 2025 年，工業銷售額將增長一倍以上。我們還有其他幾個大型且備受矚目的工業項目將於26年和27年上線。在第 13 張投影片中可以找到按類別劃分的更詳細的負載預測。

As a reminder, we have more than 20 gigawatts of commercial and industrial load additions contracted to come on to our system through the end of the decade. Roughly half of those are in ERCOT and the other half are spread across our PJM companies. As a result, we expect these quarterly sales numbers to continue their rapid growth for several years to come.

提醒一下，我們已經簽訂了合同，到本世紀末將有超過 20 千兆瓦的商業和工業負荷添加到我們的系統中。其中大約一半在 ERCOT，另一半分佈在我們的 PJM 公司。因此，我們預計這些季度銷售數字在未來幾年將繼續快速成長。

Let's move on to slide 10 to discuss the company's capitalization and liquidity. Our financial performance and strong balance sheet provided good credit metrics for the last 12 months. Our debt to capitalization remained largely consistent with our historical range. Our FFO to debt metrics stood at 14% for the 12 months ended December 31, which was within our target range and well above our downgrade threshold of 13%.

讓我們轉到第 10 張投影片來討論公司的資本化和流動性。我們的財務表現和強勁的資產負債表為過去 12 個月提供了良好的信用指標。我們的債務資本化與歷史範圍基本一致。截至 12 月 31 日的 12 個月內，我們的 FFO 與負債比率為 14%，處於我們的目標範圍內，且遠高於 13% 的降級門檻。

Available liquidity remained very strong at $4.6 billion and is supported by $6 billion in credit facilities. Our strong balance sheet and credit metric results coupled with ample liquidity and the outcome of the minority interest transaction expected to close in the second half of this year have enhanced our financial flexibility.

可用流動資金仍然非常強勁，達到 46 億美元，並得到 60 億美元信貸額度的支持。我們強勁的資產負債表和信用指標結果，加上充足的流動性以及預計在今年下半年完成的少數股權交易結果，增強了我們的財務靈活性。

We can efficiently access the capital markets to support the capital needs in front of us. We are committed to maintaining a strong balance sheet and credit metrics as we evaluate the upcoming capital spend opportunities and match them with optimal financing instruments.

我們可以有效地進入資本市場來支持我們面臨的資本需求。我們致力於在評估即將到來的資本支出機會並將其與最佳融資工具相匹配時保持強勁的資產負債表和信用指標。

On a similar note, last week, I spoke directly with all three rating agencies and conveyed this leadership team's commitment to a strong balance sheet focused on executing the regulatory and financing plans as well as disciplined allocation of O&M and capital to our companies.

同樣，上週我直接與所有三家評級機構進行了交談，並傳達了該領導團隊對強勁資產負債表的承諾，重點是執行監管和融資計劃以及對我們公司的運營和維護和資本的嚴格分配。

Finally, let's move on to slide 11. Before we take your questions, I wanted to summarize what you heard from us today. First, you heard we had a strong year-over-year performance in 2024, growing our earnings roughly 7% with operating earnings coming in at $5.62 per share, we reinforced our commitments to stakeholders and built solid momentum heading into 2025.

最後，我們來看第 11 張投影片。在我們回答你們的問題之前，我想總結一下你們今天聽到的內容。首先，您聽說我們在 2024 年的業績同比表現強勁，收益增長約 7%，營業收益達到每股 5.62 美元，我們加強了對利益相關者的承諾，並在 2025 年建立了強勁勢頭。

Second, you heard that we are absolutely focused on execution in 2025 to support one of the great load growth stories in our industry. We're executing on strategic investments and delivering on our regulatory strategy. Giving us confidence in our financing plans.

第二，您聽說我們絕對專注於 2025 年的執行，以支持我們行業中最大的負載成長故事之一。我們正在執行策略性投資並實施我們的監管策略。使我們對我們的融資計劃充滿信心。

Third, you heard we have $10 billion of incremental growth capital that we are currently evaluating. And fourth, you heard that the $2.82 billion pending minority interest transaction on the transmission assets is an exceptional value proposition to our shareholders. The transaction further boosts our earnings and credit profiles and helps to reduce near-term equity needs.

第三，您聽說了，我們目前正在評估 100 億美元的增量成長資本。第四，您聽說了，價值 28.2 億美元的輸電資產少數股權交易，這對我們的股東來說是一個非凡的價值主張。此交易進一步提高了我們的獲利和信用狀況，並有助於減少短期股權需求。

Recall that the value we transacted on this is comparable to issuing equity at $170 per share, and we're still retaining 95% of AEP's total transmission asset post close. These components are key to our future success and reinforce our confidence in reaffirming our commitments, including our 2025 guidance range of $5.75 to $5.95 per share, our long-term growth rate of 6% to 8% while targeting FFO to debt of 14% to 15%.

回想一下，我們對此進行交​​易的價值相當於以每股 170 美元的價格發行股票，並且我們在收盤後仍保留了 AEP 總輸電資產的 95%。這些因素是我們未來成功的關鍵，增強了我們重申承諾的信心，包括 2025 年每股 5.75 美元至 5.95 美元的指導範圍、6% 至 8% 的長期增長率，同時 FFO 與債務的目標為 14% 至 15%。

We really appreciate your time and attention today. I'm going to ask the operator to open the call so we can answer any of your questions that you may have. Thank you.

我們非常感謝您今天的時間和關注。我將請接線員打開電話，以便我們可以回答您可能提出的任何問題。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions). Shar Pourreza, Guggenheim Partners.

（操作員指令）。古根漢合夥人公司的 Shar Pourreza。

Just on the balance sheet, the 40 to 60 basis points of FFO improvement, you highlight that kind of on the slides as a near-term target. Could you sustain that over the plan. And then on equity, any sense on the means of issuing the remaining $2.5 billion? Is it juniors? Is it asset optimization, a block I mean, I know, Bill, in your comments, you did highlight portfolio management in your prepared remarks. So just want to get a sense on that remaining equity as well.

僅在資產負債表上，FFO 改善 40 到 60 個基點，您在投影片上強調這是近期目標。您能維持這個計劃嗎？那麼關於股權，發行剩餘的 25 億美元有意義嗎？是小輩嗎？這是資產優化嗎？ 我的意思是，我知道，比爾，在你的評論中，你確實在準備好的評論中強調了投資組合管理。所以只是想了解剩餘的股權。

Yes, Shar. So here's Trevor. I appreciate the question. We are targeting FFO to debt in that 14% to 15% range. And again, from our perspective, that is a target that we're looking at. I will note that we are going to have a revision to the way that Moody's calculates the deferred fuel. So we will drop down probably 40, 50 bps, 60 bps depending on where things go with that, which I think it's going to happen. But again, that's going to be above the 13% threshold.

是的，莎爾。這是特雷弗。我很感謝你提出這個問題。我們的目標是 FFO 與債務之比達到 14% 至 15% 的範圍。再說一次，從我們的角度來看，這是我們正在關注的目標。我要指出的是，我們將對穆迪計算延期燃料的方式進行修改。因此，我們可能會將利率下調 40、50、60 個基點，具體取決於情況的進展，我認為這將會發生。但同樣，這將高於 13% 的門檻。

And again, from our perspective, both Bill and I are very focused on issuing the -- or executing on the $54 billion capital plan with a strong balance sheet. So I think what you'll see is this will dip down a little bit in the current year. And then really, the deferred fuel issue kind of rolls off by 2026. And so from that perspective, we're really focused on getting that in that 14% to 15% range in the near term.

再說一次，從我們的角度來看，比爾和我都非常專注於發布——或者執行 540 億美元的資本計劃以及強勁的資產負債表。因此我認為你會看到，今年這個數字會略有下降。然後，延期燃料問題實際上將在 2026 年解決。因此從這個角度來看，我們真正關注的是近期將這一比例達到 14% 到 15% 的範圍。

Then getting to your financing question, again, like you said, we put out that $5.35 billion of equity needs last year and kind of talked about that at EEI. The good news is with this transaction, the $2.8 billion goes a long way to solving that. So that really leaves then, like you said, the $2.5 billion of which there's, call it, $500 million over the five-year period or $100 million a year on the DRIP. So then it's a very manageable $2 billion.

然後回到您的融資問題，就像您說的，我們去年提出了 53.5 億美元的股權需求，並在 EEI 上談到了這一點。好消息是，透過這筆交易，28 億美元將大大有助於解決這個問題。所以實際上就剩下 25 億美元，就像你說的，其中，五年期間有 5 億美元，或每年有 1 億美元用於 DRIP。所以，20億美元是非常可控制的。

And then looking at various things that we have here to solve for that, there's potential securitization that we're continuing to work on in some of our locations. But we'll also utilize hybrids or other equity-like instruments.

然後，看看我們要解決的各種問題，我們正在一些地方繼續致力於潛在的證券化。但我們也會利用混合金融工具或其他類似股權的工具。

And then if we need to issue equity, we could do that, and I'm not opposed to issuing equity for growth, and we have a growth plan that is incredible here especially articulating around that incremental $10 billion, but we want to be very judicious with issuing equity, but we think there's a lot of different levers that we can pull, securitization, hybrids and then potentially, over the longer term, if we had to issue incremental equity, we would consider that. But again, very focused on FFO to debt and also executing on this kind of historic $54 billion growth plan.

然後，如果我們需要發行股票，我們可以這樣做，我並不反對發行股票以實現增長，我們有一個令人難以置信的增長計劃，特別是圍繞增量 100 億美元的計劃，但我們希望在發行股票時非常謹慎，但我們認為我們可以利用很多不同的槓桿，證券化、混合債券，然後從長遠來看，如果我們必須發行增量股票，我們會考慮這一點。但同樣，我們非常關注 FFO 與債務的關係，同時也執行這種歷史性的 540 億美元成長計畫。

Perfect. And then just lastly, obviously, a lot of load growth and you guys have that new CapEx upside disclosures. Specifically on the 20 gigs of load you're leaning on. Just want to get a sense on how much of that is Ohio and on the dual tariff settlements that are out there, can the differences be bridged? And what did the commission's order swings against your settlement? I know, Bill, you've been very active on the stakeholder engagement side. Just want to get a sense there.

完美的。最後，顯然，負載成長了很多，而且你們還有新的資本支出上行揭露。具體來說，就是您所依賴的 20 千兆位元組的負載。只是想了解其中有多少是俄亥俄州的，以及現有的雙重關稅解決方案是否可以彌合分歧？委員會的命令對你的和解有何影響？我知道，比爾，你在利害關係人參與方面一直非常活躍。只是想了解那裡的情況。

So we're very obviously focused on the rate case and on the tariff filing for data centers. A lot of discussion going on. We're clearly looking to try and find a solution for bringing these folks into our system and bringing the economic development opportunities with us. And so we're continuing to look. If you think about the data center story that we have in December alone, AEP Ohio added nearly 450 megawatts of data center load from AWS and Meta. So very strong.

因此，我們顯然非常關注費率案例和資料中心的關稅申報。正在進行大量討論。我們顯然正在嘗試尋找一種解決方案，將這些人納入我們的體系，並為我們帶來經濟發展機會。因此我們會繼續觀察。如果您想想僅在 12 月我們的資料中心情況，AEP Ohio 就從 AWS 和 Meta 增加了近 450 兆瓦的資料中心負載。非常強大。

Looking ahead, we anticipate adding similar amounts of load almost every month through '25. We've got over 4.7 gigawatts of data processing load contracted to begin service this year. And then while most of this load to your point, is concentrated in Ohio and actually Texas. We also have nearly a gigawatt contracted to come online in Indiana. So that's extending our growth into the vertical integrated utility segment as well.

展望未來，我們預計到25年幾乎每個月都會增加類似數量的負荷。我們已經簽約超過 4.7 千兆瓦的資料處理負載，將於今年開始提供服務。正如您所說，大部分負載集中在俄亥俄州和德克薩斯州。我們也簽訂了在印第安納州上線近1吉瓦的發電合約。因此這也將我們的成長延伸至垂直整合公用事業領域。

So I would note that both Google and AWS have recently begun service in Indiana. So that's a very positive for us, and they're going to continue to ramp up progressively over the next several years. So this growth certainly underscores our commitment to economic development and highlights the significant opportunities ahead. But early, we're going to make sure that this doesn't fall on the shoulders of our existing customers and make sure that the appropriate parties who are driving the incremental costs will pay for the incremental cost.

因此我想指出的是，Google和 AWS 最近都已開始在印第安納州提供服務。這對我們來說是非常積極的，而且他們將繼續在未來幾年內逐步增加。因此，這種成長無疑地強調了我們對經濟發展的承諾，並凸顯了未來的重要機會。但在早期階段，我們要確保這項責任不會落在我們現有客戶的肩上，並確保推動增量成本的適當方將支付增量成本。

Perfect. Trevor, big congrats to you on the AEP team. I know you're going to do really fantastic there. So big congrats on Phase 2.

完美的。特雷弗，熱烈祝賀你加入 AEP 團隊。我知道你在那裡將會表現得非常出色。所以，熱烈祝賀第二階段的完成。

Sure. I really appreciate it excited to be here. This is an incredible story and quite the team here. So thank you.

當然。我真的很感激並很高興來到這裡。這是一個令人難以置信的故事，這裡的團隊也相當出色。所以謝謝你。

Ross Bowler, Bank of America.

美國銀行的羅斯鮑勒 (Ross Bowler)。

Trevor, welcome to AEP. So I just want to dig into maybe the data center tariffs. You talked about sort of protecting yourself around sort of stranded cost risk or minimum take risk. So in that tariff, have you disclosed what that rate is versus maybe other industrial commercial rates? Is it like a minimum power take requirement that's in there? And what kind of terms are you looking at in those tariffs that you filed?

特雷弗，歡迎來到 AEP。所以我只是想深入了解資料中心的關稅。您談到如何在擱淺成本風險或最低承擔風險方面保護自己。那麼，在該關稅中，您是否曾揭露過該稅率與其他工業商業稅率相比的情況？這是否類似於其中的最低功率消耗要求？在您提交的關稅中，您考慮了哪些條款？

So the tariffs are really driven by the cost of the incremental project. And so there's not a specific, say, price in the tariff and less until we understand what the cost of the incremental load is going to be -- or the incremental transmission is going to be to serve that load. And so it really is a case for us to protect the existing customer base and that the driver behind the data center cost will be covered essentially by the company that's requiring it. So we feel very good about where we sit.

因此，關稅實際上是由增量項目的成本決定的。因此，在我們了解增量負載的成本是多少，或為滿足該負載而增加的輸電成本是多少之前，關稅中沒有一個具體的價格。因此，我們確實需要保護現有的客戶群，而資料中心成本背後的驅動因素將主要由需要它的公司承擔。因此我們對自己所處的位置感到非常滿意。

I would say there are a couple of differences in the tariffs. If you look across the states, for instance, in Ohio, that tariff is very much focused on data centers, whereas if you look at the similar proposal in Indiana, that is a broader tariff that would apply to any and all large loads that are similar to a data center.

我想說的是關稅方面有些差異。例如，如果你看看各州，在俄亥俄州，該關稅主要集中在資料中心，而如果你看看印第安納州的類似提案，那是一項更廣泛的關稅，適用於所有類似於資料中心的大型負載。

So some minor differences across the states. But generally, the same purpose holds, which is make the customer who's driving the incremental cost, pay for the incremental cost and put it in place for a longer period of time so that we know as we're building out this incredible investment that if the customer goes away in year six or seven, we still have coverage for some of those costs. And it's not stranded and placed on the shoulders of our existing customers.

因此各州之間存在一些細微的差異。但一般來說，目的是相同的，即讓推動增量成本的客戶支付增量成本並將其實施更長的時間，以便我們知道，當我們進行這項令人難以置信的投資時，如果客戶在第六年或第七年離開，我們仍然可以承擔其中的一些成本。而且它不會被擱置，也不會被放在我們現有客戶的肩上。

So very positive outcome for us. I think it sets us up, and I don't think that it's been a detriment to the economic growth we have. If you look at the overall increases that are already signed up, we have significant growth in accordance with these tariffs. So very strong interest still even though these tariffs are going into place.

這對我們來說是一個非常積極的結果。我認為這對我們有利，但我不認為這對我們的經濟成長造成損害。如果你看一下已經簽署的整體成長協議，你會發現我們按照這些關稅實現了顯著成長。儘管這些關稅已經實施，但人們的興趣仍然非常濃厚。

That's great, Bill. And then, Trevor, maybe one for you. You mentioned securitization as an avenue for maybe some of that equity need, do you have a scaling of that versus the $2 billion need in the current plan? Or have you sort of not walked through all of that yet?

太好了，比爾。然後，特雷弗，也許有一個適合你。您提到證券化可能是滿足部分股權需求的途徑，相對於目前計畫中的 20 億美元需求，您是否進行了相應的調整？或者您還未經歷過所有這些？

Yes. We're still working through that with the various states, Ross. But honestly, I think you could look at it and securitization could, if successful, could potentially be a big chunk of that remaining $2 billion. So right now, with you -- the way I think of it, is we kind of laid out the $5.35 billion over a five year period, the $2.8 billion from the sale transaction really takes care of a big chunk of that in the immediate term here.

是的。羅斯，我們仍在與各州協商解決這個問題。但老實說，我認為你可以看看，如果成功的話，證券化可能會佔據剩餘 20 億美元中的很大一部分。所以現在，我的想法是，我們在五年內支出了 53.5 億美元，而銷售交易中的 28 億美元確實在短期內解決了其中很大一部分的問題。

And then we have a lot of other levers to pull over the remaining four years of the plan to solve for that $2 billion. But securitization could be, if successful, a real win because it could help the customers with regards to rates, but it can also help us with regards to the need for the cash that would fill that gap on the on the $54 billion plan that we laid out.

然後，我們還有很多其他的手段可以利用該計劃剩下的四年來解決這 20 億美元的資金問題。但如果成功的話，證券化可能是一個真正的勝利，因為它可以幫助客戶降低利率，還可以幫助我們滿足現金需求，以填補我們制定的 540 億美元計劃中的缺口。

Perfect. And then if I can squeeze one more in back to you Bill. You mentioned SMRs and kind of how you're trying to very early stages looking at that, but under the right risk structure. In other states, you've sort of seen like this idea where the offtake or would put in a significant proportion of the capital and take more of the risk into that project? Are you thinking about similar structures there? Or how far have you kind of walked down the thought process of what that structure would look like or might look like?

完美的。然後如果我可以再擠出一點時間給你，比爾。您提到了 SMR，以及您如何在正確的風險結構下嘗試早期研究它。在其他州，您是否看到過類似的想法，即承購方會投入相當大一部分資本，並承擔更多風險到該專案中？您是否考慮過那裡有類似的結構？或者您對這種結構的外觀或可能的外觀有過怎樣的思考嗎？

Yes. Thanks for that question. Obviously, very interested in SMRs as a technology, and that's really driven by the fact that our major customers are also interested in that as a solution. And as we noted, we've started with the early site permit work in Indiana and Virginia and have signed MOUs with various parties to support that type of work.

是的。謝謝你的提問。顯然，我們對 SMR 技術非常感興趣，這實際上是因為我們的主要客戶也對其解決方案感興趣。正如我們所指出的，我們已經在印第安納州和維吉尼亞州開始了早期的場地許可工作，並與各方簽署了諒解備忘錄來支持這類工作。

We did put in our Tier 1 application with the DOE for one of the sites in the Tier 2 application for the other site to try and get some support for those at a broader look with regards to how we would think about this. Clearly, I'm not going to put the company at risk in any type of a move as a first-of-a-kind type of technology. And so as we've been talking with the potential customers, we haven't got to any specific arrangements or how this might look at this stage. But certainly, there's discussions ongoing to see if there's a way to do this.

我們確實向 DOE 提交了其中一個站點的 Tier 1 申請，並向另一個站點提交了 Tier 2 申請，以嘗試為那些從更廣泛角度看待這個問題的人獲得一些支持。顯然，作為一種首創的技術，我不會讓公司在任何舉措中面臨風險。因此，當我們與潛在客戶交談時，我們還沒有達成任何具體安排，也不知道現階段會如何安排。但可以肯定的是，我們正在進行討論，看看是否有辦法做到這一點。

Clearly, the SMR technology providers, somebody needs to be first and somebody needs to step up and figure out how they're going to deliver their product and back it. I mean this is one of those situations where, to me, I'm buying a technology from somebody and it should work and it should be at a price that is very understandable and protected.

顯然，作為 SMR 技術提供者，需要有人先行，有人站出來弄清楚如何交付他們的產品並提供支援。我的意思是，對我來說，這就是那種情況之一，我從某人那裡購買一項技術，它應該能夠發揮作用，而且價格應該非常容易理解且受到保護。

And so I'm very excited about where we sit with regards to discussions. But I would say we're quite a ways away from having anything firmed up or really any firm structure at this point. But whatever we ultimately end up with will be very principled and disciplined on our side of this to make sure that our shareholders and our customers are protected from any significant types of negative outcomes.

因此，我對我們目前的討論情況感到非常興奮。但我想說，我們目前距離確定任何事物或任何真正牢固的結構還有相當長的距離。但無論我們最終做出什麼決定，我們都會恪守原則和紀律，以確保我們的股東和客戶免受任何重大負面影響。

Steve Fleishman, Wolfe Research.

史蒂夫‧弗萊什曼，沃爾夫研究公司。

Congrats, Trevor as well. Let me echo that. So just on the -- I guess, on the upside to the capital plan and particularly the transmission. So for example, there's these PJM transmission, the joint venture that you have and the like that's being decided in the next month or so, is that -- that would be upside to the plan that's not in the plan, so things like that?

也祝賀 Trevor。讓我重複一下。所以，我猜，這只是資本計畫和特別是傳輸的正面面向。例如，PJM 傳輸公司、你們的合資企業等將在下個月左右做出決定，這是否會對計劃產生積極影響，但又不在計劃之中，諸如此類的事情？

Yeah, Steve, that's right, that would be upside to the plan. So you know here again what we've got is, the $54 billion plan that has a very definitive things in it. And we really aren't putting things into the plan that that aren't for sure. And so then when you look at this $10 billion. A lot of this is coming to fruition over the next kind of months here. And so we're going to be pretty excited about rolling out kind of in a normal cadence on the third quarter call, a revision to the $54 billion plan. But yes, that would be upside.

是的，史蒂夫，沒錯，這對計劃來說是有利的。所以您再次知道，我們得到的是 540 億美元的計劃，其中包含非常明確的內容。我們確實不會把不確定的事情納入計劃中。那麼當你看到這 100 億美元。在接下來的幾個月裡，很多事情都會變成現實。因此，我們非常高興在第三季電話會議上以正常節奏推出 540 億美元計劃的修訂。但確實，那會有好處。

And Steve, just to add to that, Yes, just to add to a little bit specifically to PJM, you probably know we've announced the joint planning agreements with Dominion and FirstEnergy to propose those projects. through the regional transmission expansion plan. We expect PJM approval in the first quarter on those projects. And so again, as Trevor noted, all of those, if they would come to fruition, would be upside.

史蒂夫，我再補充一點，是的，我再特別向 PJM 補充一點，您可能知道我們已經宣布了與 Dominion 和 FirstEnergy 的聯合規劃協議，以提出這些項目。透過區域輸電擴展計劃。我們預計 PJM 將在第一季批准這些項目。因此，正如特雷弗所說，所有這些，如果能夠實現，都將是有利的。

Okay. And then you might have answered this Trevor and I missed it, but just in the event that you see that capital plan come up? How should we think about funding for incremental capital?

好的。然後你可能已經回答了這個問題，特雷弗，我錯過了，但萬一你看到那個資本計劃出現呢？我們該如何思考增量資本的融資？

Yes. So again, Steve, I think on the incremental capital side, we really do have a lot of positives here again, with the $2.8 billion coming in this year, that's going to set us up really well for, call it, roughly half of the equity needs that we laid out before. And then with securitization and other things, that's really going to kind of take us a long way to filling that gap. At the end of the day, I'm not opposed to issuing equity for growth and this kind of growth. I think that really makes sense.

是的。所以，史蒂夫，我認為在增量資本方面，我們確實有很多積極的因素，今年我們將獲得 28 億美元的資金，這將為我們之前提出的股權需求的大約一半提供良好的條件。然後透過證券化和其他方式，我們確實可以大大填補這一空白。歸根結底，我並不反對發行股票來促進成長以及這種成長。我認為這確實有道理。

But at the end of the day, there's a lot of other things that we're working on internally as we rightsize this organization to get costs in line with where this is going as well as other opportunities we're looking at, that I want to be somewhat careful here in how we say it. But there is capital allocation internally looking to support this growth plan. And equity, we take equity very seriously here. We know it's very precious, but we're not opposed to issuing equity for growth purposes.

但歸根結底，我們在內部還有很多其他工作要做，因為我們正在調整組織規模，使成本與我們的發展方向以及我們正在考慮的其他機會保持一致，所以我想在這裡對如何表達這一點要謹慎一些。但內部有資本配置來支持這項成長計畫。至於公平，我們非常重視公平。我們知道這非常珍貴，但我們並不反對為了成長目的而發行股票。

Yes. Okay. And then I guess two questions on data centers. First, just a high level, curious after the DeepSeek kind of freak out. Just what kind of color are you getting from your customers on their plans? Has anything change, good or bad in terms of the commentary and plans by the customers?

是的。好的。然後我想問兩個關於資料中心的問題。首先，只是水平較高，對 DeepSeek 之後的那種驚慌感到好奇。您的客戶在他們的計劃中究竟想要什麼顏色呢？就顧客的評論和計劃而言，有什麼好或壞的變化嗎？

Really no change in plan for us at all. It's been full speed ahead. And when the DeepSeek came out, we had conversations with a number of our customers and none of those individuals spoke in any way that we would be seeing a change. And so I think at least for us, I can't speak for others, obviously, but it continues to be full speed ahead.

對我們來說，計劃確實沒有任何改變。一切進展順利。當 DeepSeek 發佈時，我們與許多客戶進行了交談，但沒有人表示我們會看到變化。所以我認為至少對我們來說，顯然我不能代表其他人說話，但它仍在全速前進。

Okay. And then lastly, on the Bloom partnership and the like. Just I think you had made a firm order for the 100 megawatts and it sounds like you have customers for that? Just how are you feeling about the likelihood to get into that full gigawatt? Or is it too early to kind of say?

好的。最後，談談與 Bloom 的合作關係等等。我只是認為您已經下了 100 兆瓦的確定訂單，聽起來您有客戶了？您對實現這一千兆瓦目標的可能性有何看法？或者說現在說還太早？

Well, first, I'm really excited about the customers that we have that have taken up the first 100 megawatts that we announced when we talked about the supply agreement with Bloom last November. I feel very good about where we're at with those customers, it's obviously proven that it's a viable opportunity for others to use in order to speed their ability to build their data centers and get online significantly sooner than waiting for perhaps five to seven years for a grid interconnect. And so I like where we're at with this technology. We're obviously on the leading edge from an innovation perspective.

首先，我對我們的客戶感到非常興奮，他們已經使用了我們去年 11 月與 Bloom 談論供應協議時宣布的第一個 100 兆瓦電力。我對我們與這些客戶合作的情況感到非常滿意，這顯然證明這是一個可行的機會，其他人可以利用它來加快他們建立資料中心的能力，並且比等待五到七年的電網互連更快地上線。所以我喜歡我們現在所採用的技術。從創新角度來看，我們顯然處於領先地位。

AEP is solving problems for these data centers that while others are maybe just issuing press releases, we're actually getting to solutions for these folks. And so I'll keep -- we'll keep you updated, obviously, as our agreement with Bloom allows for further expansions up to the 1 gigawatt mark.

AEP 正在為這些資料中心解決問題，而其他人可能只是發布新聞稿，而我們實際上正在為這些人提供解決方案。因此我會繼續——我們會隨時向您通報最新情況，因為我們與 Bloom 的協議允許進一步擴展到 1 千兆瓦的目標。

Keep in mind, I would note also that this potential capital outlay is also not included in the current $54 billion capital plan as we've talked about. But it is part of the $10 billion incremental investment opportunity that we're currently evaluating. And so obviously, if more of that comes on, we'll have more updates for you. But overall, again, the feedback on this innovation and solution for customers has been extremely positive.

請記住，我還要指出，正如我們所討論的，這筆潛在資本支出也不包含在目前的 540 億美元資本計畫中。但它是我們目前正在評估的 100 億美元增量投資機會的一部分。因此，顯然，如果有更多此類訊息出現，我們將為您提供更多更新。但總體而言，客戶對這項創新和解決方案的回饋非常積極。

Jeremy Tonet, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的傑里米·托內特 (Jeremy Tonet)。

And Trevor, congratulations as well.

還有特雷弗，我也祝賀你。

Jeremy, I appreciate it.

傑里米，我很感激。

Just wanted to start off, I guess, picking up with the custom solutions, as you outlined there, being kind of bridge Solutions. I was wondering if you could provide a bit more detail what it means from the AEP side potentially. Just if we could frame what that could look like from CapEx or any other way to kind of think about that potential and specifically just wires or other elements as well as it relates to AEP.

我只是想開始採用客製化解決方案，正如您所概述的那樣，這是一種橋樑解決方案。我想知道您是否可以提供一些更詳細的信息，說明從 AEP 方面來看這可能意味著什麼。如果我們可以從資本支出 (CapEx) 或任何其他角度來構思這種潛力，特別是電線或其他元素以及它與 AEP 的關係。

Sure. Well, first and foremost, again, in the spirit of protecting our existing customers for these deals all costs for the fuel cell projects will be covered by the large customers that are under stand-alone contracts with AEP. And these are very customer-specific, and they'll need state commission approval. And so we're very excited about how this is rolling out and the fact that each of these individual customers, again, will cover the costs that are associated with the project. As far as the capital side, Trevor, maybe you add a little bit on that or how we're thinking about it.

當然。首先，再次強調，本著保護現有客戶的精神，對於這些交易，燃料電池專案的所有成本將由與 AEP 簽訂獨立合約的大客戶承擔。這些都是針對特定客戶，並且需要國家委員會的批准。因此，我們對這項計劃的實施感到非常興奮，而且每位客戶都將承擔與該專案相關的費用。就資本方面而言，特雷弗，也許你可以補充一點這方面的內容或談談我們對此的看法。

Yes. And what I'd like to do on that, Jeremy, is roll that out if and when that comes to fruition, but that's all kind of part of that $10 billion upside. So we haven't really disclosed specifics around that, but expect more of that to come in the normal cadence. The only thing I would also add, Bill, is that I think AEP has had a rich history of being an innovator in this industry, whether it's being the first to kind of have 765 kV lines all the way to this solution to help our commercial industrial load come on with this Bloom solution. But as Bill said, we're going to do it in a very disciplined way and it kind of talks to what AEP has done over the years to be a leader.

是的。傑里米，我想做的是，如果這一切得以實現，那麼就推出這項計劃，但這都是 100 億美元收益的一部分。因此，我們還沒有真正透露有關這方面的具體細節，但預計會有更多此類消息以正常節奏發布。比爾，我唯一想補充的是，我認為 AEP 作為這個行業的創新者有著悠久的歷史，無論是它是第一個擁有 765 kV 線路的公司，還是透過這種解決方案幫助我們的商業工業負載實現 Bloom 解決方案。但正如比爾所說，我們將以非常自律的方式來做這件事，這也反映了 AEP 多年來作為領導者所做的事情。

Got it. And just pivoting here to West Virginia, if you could. Just wondering if you could provide any incremental color on stakeholder conversations and just the state of, I guess, stakeholder relationships in the state at this point and how that has evolved over time?

知道了。如果可以的話，我們就把焦點轉向西維吉尼亞州。只是想知道您是否可以提供有關利益相關者對話的任何漸進式信息，以及我猜目前該州的利益相關者關係的狀態以及這種關係隨著時間的推移如何發展？

I really appreciate that question. I've been very focused on West Virginia since I joined AEP last August, have spent a considerable amount of time in the state and talking with key stakeholders, including the prior administration as well as members of the current administration. I would say that right now, we were very innovative again in the filing that we put in. We corrected the deficiencies that we had and put in a very robust filing. But inside of that filing, we also offered the commission a separate solution for them to consider.

我真的很感謝這個問題。自去年八月加入 AEP 以來，我一直非常關注西維吉尼亞州，在該州花了大量時間並與主要利益相關者交談，包括前任政府以及現任政府成員。我想說的是，我們目前在提交的文件中再次展現了創新精神。我們修正了存在的缺陷並提交了一份非常有力的文件。但在該文件中，我們也向委員會提供了一個單獨的解決方案供他們考慮。

As I noted in my remarks, the hearing is in June, and we expect a commission decision in the third quarter. We'll obviously see progress as the intervenor testimony is due in April, rebuttal testimonies due in May. And the proposed securitization option that we have on the table is not in our current financial plans.

正如我在演講中提到的，聽證會將於六月舉行，我們預計委員會將在第三季做出決定。我們顯然會看到進展，因為介入方證詞將於四月提交，反駁證詞將於五月提交。而我們提出的證券化方案不在我們目前的財務計畫中。

So again, if it does come to pass, that would be a good adjustment. But we did include it in the filing as an option and really purposely to support customer affordability. This option is a very strong option that helps reduce the cost to customers. And so we really look forward to collaborating with all of the stakeholders there and achieving a favorable outcome for really all parties. And I think that so far, as the process has gone through, we've gotten positive feedback on how we approach this.

所以，如果它確實實現了，那將是一個很好的調整。但我們確實將其作為選項納入文件中，並且確實有意支持客戶的承受能力。這個選項是一個非常強大的選項，有助於降低客戶成本。因此，我們真誠期待與所有利害關係人合作，實現對各方都有利的結果。我認為到目前為止，隨著這個過程的進行，我們已經收到了關於我們如何解決這個問題的正面回饋。

Durgesh Chopra, Evercore ISI.

Durgesh Chopra，Evercore ISI。

Look forward. Listen, I just had to clarification questions, a lot of discussions on the topics I'm going to ask you on. But just to clarify, Bill, I think you discussed the large low tariff in Ohio and decision in Q3 by the commission. Is -- as I understand that the data center customers are not part of that settlement? Or is the technology customers and not part of that settlement? Is that completely off the table? Or can they -- could you still work in agreement with them? I guess, what I'm trying to get at with this is, is there an active dialogue conversations happening with them? Or is it just now in the hands of the commission.

期待。聽著，我只是想澄清一些問題，對我要問你的話題進行大量討論。但只是為了澄清一下，比爾，我認為你討論了俄亥俄州的低關稅和委員會在第三季度做出的決定。據我了解，資料中心客戶不屬於該和解協議的一部分嗎？或者該技術是客戶而不是該解決方案的一部分？這完全不可能嗎？或者他們能——你還能按照他們的協議一起工作嗎？我想，我這樣說是想了解的是，他們之間是否正在進行積極的對話？或者它現在才到委員會手中。

So you're correct. There's actually two settlements that were being discussed. There was a settlement amongst the data centers themselves that they filed. And then there was a second settlement that was ourselves plus the commission staff plus some other large load entities that was filed. Both of those went through the hearing process. And then as I said, there's basically now in the rebottle and hearing -- or excuse me, intervener testimony and rebuttal process.

所以你是對的。實際上，目前正在討論兩項解決方案。資料中心之間已經達成了和解協議。然後還有第二份由我們自己加上委員會工作人員加上一些其他大型負載實體提交的解決方案。這兩項案件均經過了聽證程序。然後正如我所說的，現在基本上處於重新審理和聽證階段 - 或者對不起，是介入者證詞和反駁程序。

I would say that there's continuing discussions going on as always as you go through these processes, but at this point, I would say we're really into waiting for the commission to issue their ruling. And we'll see what happens. Again, we're very open. These are our customers. We want to work with our customers. We want to find solutions for them, just like we did with the Bloom Energy deal. And so we'll always try to find a way forward. But we do have certain principles that we want to make sure stay in place, which is good protection for our existing for our existing customer base.

我想說的是，在這些過程中，討論總是會持續進行的，但目前，我想說我們真的在等待委員會發布他們的裁決。我們將拭目以待。我再說一遍，我們非常開放。這些都是我們的客戶。我們希望與我們的客戶合作。我們希望為他們找到解決方案，就像我們為 Bloom Energy 交易所做的那樣。因此，我們會一直努力尋找前進的道路。但我們確實有一些原則，我們希望確保它們能夠實施，這可以很好地保護我們現有的客戶群。

That's very helpful color, Bill. And then Trevor back to you, just a little bit more color on the 2025 financing plans, obviously, going add on the asset sale. That's a big bite at the apple from the overall equity in the plant.

那是非常有用的顏色，比爾。然後 Trevor 再問你一下，我們再稍微介紹一下 2025 年的融資計劃，顯然會增加資產出售。這對於工廠的整體權益來說是一個很大的打擊。

And then your commentary about the deferred fuel balance, while taking our FFO to get down, but still keeping you comfortably above the downgrade threshold. Should we take all that to mean that from an equity standpoint, you are done for 2025? Or could you still kind of punch in more equity as you think about just focused on 2025. I'm not sure if you can answer that or not, but just thinking about whether you're done for 2025 or not.

然後您談到了延期燃油餘額的評論，雖然我們的 FFO 會下降，但仍然能讓您輕鬆地保持在降級門檻之上。我們是否應該認為，從公平的角度來看，2025 年就已經完成了？或者當您考慮只關注 2025 年時，您是否仍然可以投入更多股權？我不確定你是否可以回答這個問題，但我只是想問你是否已經完成了 2025 年的任務。

Yes. So I think, yes, the thing that I look at is the $2.8 billion of cash coming in the door when we closed that transaction will really go a long way to getting what our needs are right now because really, when we laid out that %5.35 billion, that was over a five year period. So over half of that is coming in, in year one. That being said, again, we are really focused on this growth of the $10 billion and seeing how we can get that into our plan as quickly as possible. So -- and then there's other things we're dealing with as well with, as Bill just mentioned, the potential securitizations.

是的。所以我認為，是的，我所看到的是，當我們完成那筆交易時，到賬的 28 億美元現金將真正大大有助於滿足我們現在的需求，因為實際上，當我們拿出那 53.5 億美元時，那是在五年內完成的。因此，其中超過一半是在第一年就實現的。話雖如此，我們真正關注的是這 100 億美元的成長，並考慮如何盡快將其納入我們的計劃。所以 — — 然後我們還在處理其他事情，正如比爾剛才所提到的，潛在的證券化。

So a lot moving around right now, but I think we're in that great position with this transaction that I kind of got the benefit of stepping into after Chuck and Bill had kind of solved that issue, that it really takes a lot of the pressure off of '25 right now.

所以現在有很多事情要做，但我認為我們在這次交易中處於一個很好的位置，在查克和比爾解決了這個問題之後，我有幸介入，這確實減輕了 25 年的壓力。

But again, my commitment is to be in a situation, certainly where we would be above our downgrade thresholds. And this plan, fortunately, as we've got it right now, with the $2.8 billion even with the deferred fuel adjustment mechanism keeps us above the 13%. And it puts us in a good position going forward. But again, a lot of moving parts around the growth. And that's what we're excited about right now is this incremental growth opportunity.

但是，我再次承諾，我們的評級一定會高於降級門檻。幸運的是，我們現在有這個計劃，即使採用延期燃料調整機制，28 億美元的資金也能讓我們的比例維持在 13% 以上。這為我們未來的發展奠定了良好的基礎。但同樣，成長過程中還有很多變動因素。我們現在感到興奮的就是這個增量成長機會。

Nick Campanella, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的尼克‧坎帕內拉 (Nick Campanella)。

Congrats to Trevor. Welcome to Columbus. And Chuck, if you're in the room, congrats on your retirement, too. So hey, I just wanted to -- just a couple of follow-ups when you announced the transmission sale, you kind of said it's 1.7% accretive, like on average to the plan. And can you just talk about the flexibility that, that offers you as you work to kind of add this capital to the plan and strengthen the balance sheet? And I guess where I'm heading is, like when we get to the end of this year, like is this transaction lengthening the 6% to 8%? Or do you expect kind of a step higher in -- at the 1.7% level?

恭喜特雷弗。歡迎來到哥倫布。查克，如果你在場，我也祝賀你退休。所以嘿，我只是想 - 當您宣布變速箱銷售時，您說過它會增值 1.7%，就像計劃平均增值一樣。您能否談談在您努力將這筆資本添加到計劃中並加強資產負債表時為您提供的靈活性？我想說的是，到今年年底，這筆交易的稅率是否會從 6% 延長到 8%？或者您預計會更高——達到 1.7% 的水平？

Yes. So Nick, to kind of convert that into an EPS, that's roughly $0.11 or $0.12 of -- on a full year basis that this transaction is accretive. But again, it depends on the timing of when we closed it during the year. And so that will kind of -- you have to take that into consideration as it gets towards the end of the year on what that really does. My view is, I think we put out the range of $5.75 to $5.95. And we'll be at this point in that range with the transaction and in a good shape with regards to credit.

是的。因此，尼克，將其轉換為每股收益，約為 0.11 美元或 0.12 美元 - 在全年基礎上，這筆交易是增值的。但同樣，這取決於我們在年內關閉它的時間。所以這將有點——你必須考慮到這一點，因為接近年底它確實會產生什麼影響。我的觀點是，我認為我們給出的範圍是 5.75 美元到 5.95 美元。我們的交易將處於這個範圍內，而且信貸狀況良好。

So again, it probably -- the later it goes into the year, the less impact it has on '25 with regards to the accretion but it more really does help with where we're going to be on the credit metrics.

所以，再說一次，它可能 — — 越晚進入今年，對 25 年的成長影響就越小，但它確實更有助於我們了解信用指標。

Right. Okay. And then just -- how are you kind of thinking about further portfolio management at this point? I mean, the transmission sale is a great data point. And I definitely not like kind of the clear focus here on Indiana, Ohio and Texas and just do you guys still see opportunity to kind of prune things in the portfolio if it's accretive to your plan?

正確的。好的。那麼—您現在是如何考慮進一步的投資組合管理的？我的意思是，傳輸銷售是一個很好的數據點。我絕對不喜歡將重點明確地放在印第安納州、俄亥俄州和德克薩斯州，如果這對您的計劃有益，您是否仍然看到在投資組合中削減部分資產的機會？

Yes. Again, I think on any type of M&A, we wouldn't really speak to it. But I'd tell you, the thing that we're most excited about is investing $54 billion at 1 times rate base. And if you think about that, that's basically the size of our market cap right now with a potential upside of an additional $10 billion. So our view is we want to get scale and scope, and we believe we're growing this business. And we think we are -- we've got great footprints over a large area that helps us to mitigate risk.

是的。再說一次，我認為對於任何類型的併購，我們都不會真正談論它。但我要告訴你，我們最興奮的是以 1 倍利率投資 540 億美元。如果你仔細想想，這基本上就是我們現在的市值規模，而且還可能額外增加 100 億美元。因此，我們的觀點是，我們希望獲得規模和範圍，並且我們相信我們正在發展這項業務。我們認為，我們在廣大地區取得了巨大的成就，這有助於我們降低風險。

And so from the -- at the end of the day, I look across the portfolio and believe we've got a really good footprint relative to our competitors. And so I'm very positive about what I've stepped into here and feel that this is really good.

所以從整體來看，我縱觀整個投資組合，相信我們相對於競爭對手已經取得了良好的成績。因此我對自己在這裡所從事的事情非常滿意並且覺得這真的很好。

But Bill, I'm not sure if you want to add anything on this.

但是比爾，我不確定你是否想對此進行補充。

I think, again, as Trevor noted, we've got a tremendous opportunity in front of us. And as a company, we're going to drive ourselves to be the biggest and the best energy infrastructure company in this country. I mean, again, it's in our name. We're American Electric Power, we're going to power America. And as Trevor noted, the opportunity and -- is almost unlimited for us going forward, and I have very strong confidence that we're going to be able to deliver and execute.

我認為，正如特雷弗所說，我們面前有一個巨大的機會。作為一家公司，我們將努力成為這個國家最大、最好的能源基礎設施公司。我的意思是，這又是我們的名義。我們是美國電力公司，我們將為美國提供電力。正如特雷弗所說，我們未來的機會幾乎是無限的，我非常有信心我們能夠實現並執行。

Carly Davenport, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的卡莉‧達文波特 (Carly Davenport)。

Maybe just one quick one for me. Just as you think about the generation needs across the portfolio to accommodate a slow growth I know you referenced some of the GAAP filings at PSO and SWEPCO in the opening comments. Can you just talk about the status of procurement of key equipment like turbines to execute on those plans?

對我來說也許只需要一個快速的方法。正如您考慮整個投資組合的發電需求以適應緩慢的成長，我知道您在開場評論中引用了 PSO 和 SWEPCO 的一些 GAAP 文件。您能談談執行這些計畫所需的渦輪機等關鍵設備的採購嗎？

Sure. I appreciate the question. We have a very strong generation plan that has been developed within AEP and a bit of it also predated me with regards to looking at strategies around procuring turbines, procuring transformers and other key equipment. I'm very confident in the plan that the team has. Our procurement strategy is strong. And we have a lot of activity out in the market right now. We're doing RFPs for a number of our states. We have significant IRP activity going on.

當然。我很感謝你提出這個問題。我們有一個非常強大的發電計劃，該計劃是在 AEP 內部製定的，其中一部分甚至在我之前就已製定，涉及採購渦輪機、採購變壓器和其他關鍵設備的策略。我對球隊的計劃非常有信心。我們的採購策略很強。目前我們在市場上有很多活動。我們正在為多個州制定 RFP。我們正在進行大量 IRP 活動。

And obviously, there is a growing energy demand out there, which is really why we're leading the efforts in the industry to try to find solutions for them like in the near-term bloom and in the longer-term SMRs. And so we'll be all over this. I'm confident in our team, and I'm confident in the fact that we're going to deliver what our states want from a generation plan. And clearly, as the year goes on, we'll be providing more updates in that area.

顯然，能源需求正在不斷增長，這正是我們引領業界努力尋找解決方案的原因，例如近期的繁榮和長期的 SMR。我們將全面討論此事。我對我們的團隊充滿信心，我也相信我們能夠實現各州對發電計畫的要求。顯然，隨著時間的推移，我們將在該領域提供更多更新。

Julien Dumoulin-Smith, Jefferies.

朱利安‧杜穆蘭‧史密斯 (Julien Dumoulin-Smith)，傑富瑞 (Jefferies)。

It's James Ward on for Julian. -- Very thorough Q&A covered pretty much all the questions that we had. I did have one that was remaining, which is just on the ATM that you filed, you mentioned that $400 million had been already issued in combination with the $2.8 billion of net cash proceeds that we expect to receive in the second half of the year, do those two meet your 2025 equity needs? Or should we assume any further usage of the ATM in '25 or is it just the '26 and beyond tool?

詹姆斯·沃德替換朱利安。 -- 非常詳盡的問答幾乎涵蓋了我們所有的問題。我確實還剩下一個，就在您提交的 ATM 上，您提到已經發行了 4 億美元，再加上我們預計下半年將收到的 28 億美元淨現金收益，這兩項能滿足您 2025 年的股權需求嗎？或者我們應該假設 ATM 在 '25 年還會繼續使用，或者它只是 '26 年及以後的工具？

Yes. Look, as I said, James, we're continuing to evaluate all of that. The good news is we do have access to the $1.3 billion that's remaining under the ATM, and we can always hit that if we need to. But again, right now, I think we've got a very positive situation that we will be getting the $2.8 billion coming in later this year.

是的。瞧，正如我所說，詹姆斯，我們正在繼續評估所有這些。好消息是，我們確實可以使用 ATM 機下剩餘的 13 億美元，如果需要的話，我們隨時可以取用。但是，現在，我認為我們的情況非常積極，我們將在今年稍後獲得 28 億美元的收入。

And then as we look to the $10 billion growth opportunities here, we will continue to evaluate that. I think largely, you've got it right with the ATM in place and what we're doing with the DRIP program and the cash coming in and the securitizations that potentially could come to fruition by the end of this year, we're in good shape.

當我們展望這裡的 100 億美元成長機會時，我們將繼續對此進行評估。我認為，總體而言，我們已經做好了一切準備，安裝了 ATM，並實施了 DRIP 計劃，獲得了現金，證券化也有可能在今年年底前實現，我們的狀況很好。

Got you. Really quick follow-up there. I guess the -- from the $2.55 billion that you had less $500 million or so for the DRIP, $100 million per year, the $1.7 million for the ATM. That $350 million, it would seem kind of perfect for a JSM or some sort of equity content or equity-linked security. So I guess that kind of sets with what you've described. Is that a reasonable way to think about it? And then I just had one more on the $10 billion.

明白了。確實很快跟進。我猜，從 25.5 億美元中減去 DRIP 的 5 億美元左右，每年 1 億美元，再減去 ATM 的 170 萬美元。這 3.5 億美元對於 JSM 或某種股權內容或股權掛鉤證券來說似乎是完美的。所以我猜這和你所描述的都是一致的。這是合理的思考方式嗎？然後我又談到了 100 億美元。

Yes. No, I think absolutely, you're thinking about it correctly. There's a lot of levers for us to use here as we continue to look at things. And so again, it's a very positive with the $2.8 billion and then securitizations and other equity-like instruments are all very positive. And then if need be, we do have that $1.3 billion ATM. But again, we're in good shape here.

是的。不，我絕對認為你的想法是正確的。當我們繼續觀察事物時，我們可以使用很多槓桿。因此，28 億美元再次顯示出非常積極的意義，而且證券化和其他類似股權的工具也都顯示出非常積極的意義。如果需要的話，我們確實擁有那台價值 13 億美元的 ATM。但我們現在的情況很好。

Terrific. The last one I'll leave you with. I know that you've answered one or two questions already on the [$10 billion]. Just wondered if there was a rule of thumb, a couple of years ago at EEI, the talk was all about 30% or 50% or whatever percent of incremental CapEx? And I guess there are certain thresholds. If you get $1 billion of the $10 billion, it's a different scenario than if you get all $10 billion of the $10 billion, but any rule of thumb you can give us on a high level thinking about the amount of equity or equity-like portion that you'd be looking to finance of that incremental CapEx versus financing.

了不起。我要留給你們最後一個。我知道你已經回答了一兩個問題[100億美元]。只是想知道是否存在一個經驗法則，幾年前在 EEI 討論的都是 30% 或 50% 或任何百分比的增量資本支出？我想，存在一定的門檻。如果您從 100 億美元中獲得 10 億美元，那麼情況與您從 100 億美元中獲得全部 100 億美元的情況不同，但您可以從高層次上為我們提供任何經驗法則，考慮您希望為增量資本支出提供資金的股權或類似股權的部分，而不是融資。

Yes. The biggest thing that I would say is we're excited to roll that out in a normal cadence on our third quarter call. And again, there's a lot of moving parts that we're managing here. and we were going to finance it in the most efficient way possible to ensure we can continue to meet the needs of our customers but also to deliver on value to our shareholders, and that's what we're very focused on.

是的。我想說的最重要的事情是，我們很高興能在第三季電話會議上以正常節奏推出這項舉措。再說一遍，我們這裡要管理很多活動部件。我們將以最有效的方式為其提供資金，以確保我們能夠繼續滿足客戶的需求，同時也為股東帶來價值，這也是我們非常關注的。

And that concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to Bill Furman for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。現在我將會議交還給比爾·弗曼，請他致最後總結。

Yes. Thank you. We appreciate everyone joining us on the call today. I'd like to close with just a few summary remarks. First, very exciting times are ahead for AEP as we put our robust capital plan to work, as you've heard and continue to grow the business while delivering shareholder value.

是的。謝謝。我們感謝今天參加電話會議的各位。最後，我只想作幾點總結。首先，正如您所聽到的，隨著我們實施強有力的資本計劃並在實現股東價值的同時繼續發展業務，AEP 的未來將非常令人興奮。

Second, I'm very confident we can unlock the incredible value in this company by advancing our long-term strategy and providing safe, affordable and reliable service across our large footprint.

其次，我非常有信心，透過推進我們的長期策略並在我們廣泛的業務範圍內提供安全、實惠和可靠的服務，我們可以釋放這家公司的巨大價值。

And then third, Trevor and Darcy will be hitting the road actually in March, meeting with many of you in discussing AEP's very strong and comprehensive value proposition. And finally, if there are any follow-up items, please reach out to our IR team with your questions. So thank you again for joining us today. This concludes our call.

第三，Trevor 和 Darcy 實際上將於三月上路，與你們中的許多人會面，討論 AEP 非常強大和全面的價值主張。最後，如果有任何後續事項，請聯絡我們的 IR 團隊並提出您的問題。再次感謝您今天加入我們。我們的通話到此結束。

And again, this concludes today's conference call. You may access the replay for today's conference by dialing 1 (800) 770 2030 and entering the conference ID of 1336080 followed by pound. The replay will be available until Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您可以撥打 1（800）770 2030 並輸入會議 ID 1336080 後跟井號，收聽今天會議的重播。重播將持續到 2025 年 2 月 20 日星期四東部時間晚上 11 點 59 分。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。