Avista Corp (AVA) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day. And thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Avista Corporation Q3 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

再會。感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Avista Corporation 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Stacy Wenz, Investor relations manager. Please go ahead.

現在，我想將會議交給今天的第一位發言者，投資者關係經理 Stacy Wenz。請繼續。

Thank you, Teres. Good morning. Welcome to Avista’s third quarter, 2024 earnings conference call. Our earnings and third quarter form 10-Q were released premarket this morning. You can find both on our website.

謝謝你，特雷斯。早安.歡迎參加 Avista 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。我們的收益和第三季 10-Q 表已於今天早上盤前發布。您可以在我們的網站上找到這兩者。

Joining me this morning are Avista Corp's CEO, Dennis Vermillion; President and COO, Heather Rosentrater; Senior Vice President, CFO, Treasurer and Regulatory Affairs Officer, Kevin Christie; and Vice President, Controller and Principal Accounting Officer, Ryan Krasselt.

今天早上與我一起參加的是 Avista Corp 的執行長 Dennis Vermillion；總裁兼營運長 Heather Rosentrater；資深副總裁、財務長、財務主管兼監管事務官 Kevin Christie；以及副總裁、財務主管兼首席會計官 Ryan Krasselt。

Today, we will make certain statements that are forward-looking. These involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties which are subject to change. Various factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations we discussed in today's call. Please refer to our form 10-K for 2023 and our form 10-Q for the third quarter of 2024 which are available on our website for a full discussion of these risk factors.

今天，我們將做出一些前瞻性的聲明。這些涉及可能發生變化的假設、風險和不確定性。各種因素都可能導致實際結果與我們在今天的電話會議中討論的預期有重大差異。請參閱我們 2023 年的 10-K 表和 2024 年第三季的 10-Q 表，這些表可在我們的網站上找到，以全面討論這些風險因素。

I'll begin with a recap of the financial results presented in today's press release. Our consolidated earnings for the third quarter of 2024 were $0.23 per diluted share compared to $0.19 for the third quarter of 2023. Year-to-date, consolidated earnings were $1.44 per diluted share compared to $1.14 last year.

我將首先回顧今天的新聞稿中公佈的財務結果。我們 2024 年第三季的綜合收益為每股攤薄收益 0.23 美元，而 2023 年第三季為 0.19 美元。年初至今，綜合每股收益為 1.44 美元，去年同期為 1.14 美元。

Now, it's my pleasure to hand the call over to Dennis.

現在，我很高興將電話交給丹尼斯。

Well, thanks Stacey and good morning, everyone. It's great to be here with all of you. This is my final earnings call as CEO of Avista as you know, Heather Rosentrater will be taking over as CEO on January 1 of next year. And I have every confidence in Heather throughout her career. She has demonstrated the values, the strength acumen and, and insights to position us for success. She is the right person to lead Avista into the future.

好吧，謝謝史黛西，大家早安。我很高興能和大家在一起。這是我擔任 Avista 執行長的最後一次財報電話會議，如你所知，Heather Rosentrater 將於明年 1 月 1 日接任執行長。我對 Heather 的整個職業生涯充滿信心。她展現了我們的價值觀、實力、敏銳度和洞察力，為我們的成功奠定了基礎。她是帶領阿維斯塔走向未來的合適人選。

You know, I've been honoured to lead this company and serve alongside exceptional and dedicated employees for nearly 40 years. Our employees make of this to such a special place to work and, and witnessing first-hand, our ability to rise to meet challenges together as a team is something I will truly miss as I retire throughout my five years, as CEO we've made significant progress with our regulatory strategy, making meaningful progress towards closing the GAAP of regulatory lag.

你知道，我很榮幸能夠領導這家公司並與優秀且敬業的員工一起工作近 40 年。我們的員工為這個特殊的工作場所做出了貢獻，親眼目睹了我們作為一個團隊共同應對挑戰的能力，這是我在五年的首席執行官任期內退休後真正懷念的事情。取得了重大進展，在消除GAAP 監管滯後方面取得了有意義的進展。

Even as we found creative ways to minimize the impact of rate increases for our customers, serving customers is the heart of our business. And in the last five years, our team has grown our programs for targeted energy assistance from a level of $11 million to nearly $40 million a year. More importantly, we are providing that assistance to more customers than ever.

儘管我們找到了創意的方法來最大限度地減少費率上漲對客戶的影響，但服務客戶仍然是我們業務的核心。在過去五年中，我們的團隊將有針對性的能源援助計畫從每年1,100萬美元擴大到近4,000萬美元。更重要的是，我們正在為比以往更多的客戶提供協助。

We've also invested more than $2 billion in our system on behalf of our customers. In the last five years, the team has done a remarkable job seeking out state and federal funding for projects that matter to our customers. Avista has been awarded over $90 million in state and federal grants in the last five years, we continue to seek out these funding opportunities because it's the right thing to do for our customers.

我們也為客戶在我們的系統上投資了超過20億美元。在過去五年中，該團隊在為客戶關心的項目尋求州和聯邦政府資金方面做出了卓越的成績。在過去五年中，Avista 已獲得超過 9,000 萬美元的州和聯邦政府撥款，我們將繼續尋找這些融資機會，因為這對我們的客戶來說是正確的做法。

It enables us to accomplish more work on their behalf without impacting the price that they pay for energy in the last five years. We've also made considerable progress towards achieving our clean energy goals. We've signed four PPAs for a total of 325 megawatts of clean renewable energy. Both hydropower and wind. We're already one of the lowest emitting electric power producers in the United States. And these agreements help ensure that by 2026 more than 70% of our peak generating capability will be from renewable non emitting sources.

它使我們能夠為他們完成更多的工作，而不會影響他們過去五年支付的能源價格。我們在實現清潔能源目標方面也取得了長足的進步。我們已簽署了四份電力購買協議，總計 325 兆瓦的清潔再生能源。既有水力發電，也有風力發電。我們已經是美國排放量最低的電力生產商之一。這些協議有助於確保到 2026 年，我們 70% 以上的尖峰發電能力將來自再生非排放能源。

Our earnings continue to improve from 2023. Although our third quarter results show that we still face some headwinds and Kevin will talk about that in a few minutes, but we have the right team in place and we are well positioned to continue executing on our regulatory strategy and to deliver on our commitments to each one of our stakeholders now and into the future.

從 2023 年開始，我們的獲利將持續改善。儘管我們的第三季業績顯示我們仍然面臨一些阻力，凱文將在幾分鐘後談到這一點，但我們已經擁有合適的團隊，我們有能力繼續執行我們的監管策略，並履行我們的承諾我們現在和將來的每一個利害關係人。

You know, one of the one of the one constant in All 40 years of my career with the Avista has been our capacity to adapt and consistently bring our best to the communities. We serve through innovation, through hard work, through investment and through exemplary service.

您知道，我在 Avista 工作了 40 年，唯一不變的是我們的適應能力以及始終如一地為社區提供最好的服務的能力。我們透過創新、努力工作、投資和模範服務來提供服務。

I know Avista will carry these values forward through the next 40 years with the right team and the right values. I have every confidence in Avista's success.

我相信，在未來的 40 年裡，Avista 將憑藉優秀的團隊和正確的價值觀將這些價值觀發揚光大。我對 Avista 的成功充滿信心。

Now I'll turn the call over to Heather.

現在我將電話轉給希瑟。

Thank you Dennis. And I want to start by expressing my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to you Dennis for your leadership guidance and unwavering support for our company.

謝謝你，丹尼斯。首先我要向丹尼斯表達衷心的感謝，感謝他對我們公司的領導指導和堅定支持。

Your long tenured career is truly remarkable and we are also fortunate to have had you at the helm during some of these unprecedented times and as highlighted the progress and successes achieved through your leadership are noteworthy and have benefited our customers communities and investors and you will definitely be missed.

您的長期職業生涯確實非常出色，我們也很幸運能在這些前所未有的時期由您掌舵，正如您所強調的，在您的領導下取得的進步和成功是值得注意的，並使我們的客戶、社區和投資者受益，您一定會被懷念。

I also want to share that I'm honoured to be stepping into this role. My family's roots in our service territory, expend back to the founding of Avista over 100 and 35 years ago. So that makes it all the more meaningful to me.

我還想說，我很榮幸能擔任這個職位。我的家族在我們服務領域的根基可以追溯到 100 多年前和 35 年前 Avista 的創立。所以這對我來說更有意義。

And now turning to our operations, I'd like to share some updates. I'm pleased to announce that we are officially out of wildfire season. We've received significant rain in the last few weeks and took all of our circuits out of fire safety mode. As of October 17, public safety power shutoffs or PSPS were added to our wildfire tool kit in 2024.

現在談談我們的運營，我想分享一些最新情況。我很高興地宣布，我們已經正式走出山火季節。過去幾週，我們遭遇了強降雨，導致所有電路都退出了消防安全模式。截至 10 月 17 日，公共安全斷電或 PSPS 已於 2024 年加入我們的野火工具包。

And in late September, we experienced conditions that required the use of the PSPS tool on one of our circuits, all of our planning and work to establish coordination with community resources paid off. We successfully deployed resources to the affected area and once it was safe to do so, we were able to quickly restore service to our customers. That same day.

9 月底，我們遇到了需要在其中一個電路上使用 PSPS 工具的情況，我們為與社區資源建立協調所做的所有規劃和工作都得到了回報。我們成功地向受災地區部署了資源，一旦恢復安全，我們就能夠迅速為客戶恢復服務。同一天。

Another success story from our wildfire mitigation efforts in 2024 was the deployment of nine artificial intelligence enabled fire detection cameras.

我們在 2024 年野火緩解工作中的另一個成功案例是部署了九個人工智慧火災偵測攝影機。

These cameras detect wildfire, smoke up to 10 miles away and send alerts to appropriate resources. We've deployed them strategically throughout our service territory to maximize the view of several high-risk geographic areas. And we've already seen success with these cameras, identifying fires and notifying appropriate partner agencies and resources.

這些攝影機可以偵測 10 英里範圍內的野火、煙霧，並向適當的資源發送警報。我們在整個服務區域內策略性地部署了它們，以最大限度地提高對幾個高風險地理區域的視野。我們已經看到這些攝影機的成功應用，識別火災並通知適當的合作機構和資源。

We continue to make progress with our clean energy goals as well. The Clearwater wind project came online early and we are already receiving power from the project to serve our customers.

我們在實現清潔能源目標方面也不斷取得進展。Clearwater 風電專案很早就投入使用，我們已經從該專案獲得電力來為我們的客戶提供服務。

Clearwater directly supports meeting our goal of providing clean reliable energy to our customers at a reasonable cost while meeting Washington State's clean energy standards now and in the future, with this project added to our portfolio, Avista remains one of the lowest emitters of co two among the nation's energy producers making the company among the greenest investor owned utilities in the nation.

Clearwater 直接支持我們實現以合理的成本向客戶提供清潔可靠的能源的目標，同時滿足華盛頓州現在和未來的清潔能源標準，隨著這個項目加入我們的投資組合，Avista 仍然是二氧化碳排放量最低的發電廠之一。

And earlier this week, we signed a memorandum of understanding to work toward an ownership share of the proposed North Plains connector transmission project.

本週早些時候，我們簽署了一份諒解備忘錄，以爭取獲得擬議的北平原連接輸電項目的所有權份額。

The 415 mile high voltage direct current transmission line would interconnect the [Colster] transmission system in eastern Montana to two locations in North Dakota.

415英里的高壓直流輸電線路將把蒙大拿州東部的[科爾斯特]輸電系統與北達科他州的兩個地點連接起來。

This project was identified as part of our preferred resource strategy in the draft integrated resource plan filed in October projects like this are crucial to meeting our customers growing need for energy as well as our own clean energy goals.

該專案在10月提交的綜合資源計畫草案中被確定為我們首選資源策略的一部分，此類專案對於滿足客戶日益增長的能源需求以及我們自己的清潔能源目標至關重要。

And in addition to future transmission capacity needs, new generation resources will be needed as early as 2029 to ensure we can continue to meet our customers' needs with reliable and low cost energy.

除了未來的輸電容量需求外，最早在 2029 年就需要新一代資源，以確保我們能夠繼續以可靠且低成本的能源滿足客戶的需求。

We expect to begin a request for proposal process shortly after finalizing our integrated resource plan in January of 2025. And as part of that request for proposal, we do expect to include ownership options to self-build and build transfer agreement options.

我們預計將於 2025 年 1 月完成綜合資源計畫後不久開始提案請求流程。作為該提案請求的一部分，我們確實希望包括自建所有權選項和建設轉讓協議選項。

And with that, I'll turn it over to Kevin for a discussion of financial results.

接下來，我將把話題交給凱文 (Kevin) 來討論財務結果。

Thanks Heather and good morning, everyone. Dennis. I'd like to start by congratulating you and on your retirement.

謝謝 Heather，大家早安。丹尼斯。首先，我謹向您表示祝賀，祝賀您退休。

It has been my extreme privilege to report to you for almost my entire 19 year career. Here at Avista. You stepped into the CEO role right before the COVID pandemic. And wow, what a ride. It's been.

在我幾乎整個 19 年的職業生涯中，能夠向您報告工作是我的莫大榮幸。在 Avista 這裡。您就在新冠疫情爆發之前就擔任了執行長一職。哇，真是一段奇妙的旅程。它已經。

Dennis has been exactly the leader this company required during the pandemic. And over the last several post pandemic years, the investor community likely hasn't had the opportunity to see Dennis's belief in the importance of the right culture for the company. He's had a laser focus on both preserving the best parts of our culture while continuously improving it as well.

丹尼斯正是該公司在疫情期間所需要的領導者。在過去幾年疫情爆發後的幾年裡，投資者群體可能沒有機會看到丹尼斯堅信正確的公司文化的重要性。他一直致力於保存我們文化中最優秀的部分，同時不斷改進它。

And that focus has made such a positive difference. Dennis is also incredibly thoughtful, warm, easy to talk to and above all loyal. He's loyal to our investors, customers, communities and employees and strive for the best outcomes for all. I wish you the very best and you will be greatly missed.

這種關注已經產生了非常正面的影響。丹尼斯也非常體貼、熱情、容易交談，最重要的是忠誠。他忠誠於我們的投資者、客戶、社區和員工，並努力為所有人爭取最好的結果。我祝你一切順利，我們會非常想念你的。

I'm also extraordinarily excited for Heather as we move into a new era. We are in very good hands, and she is the perfect choice to replace Dennis as we look toward the future.

隨著我們進入一個新時代，我對希瑟感到無比興奮。我們得到了很好的照顧，展望未來，她是接替丹尼斯的最佳人選。

Now, turning to our earnings of Avista utilities results for the third quarter and year-to-date show continued improvement from 2023. This is largely due to the effects of our general rate cases.

現在，回顧 Avista 公用事業公司第三季和年初至今的收益，結果顯示該公司將從 2023 年開始繼續改善。這在很大程度上是由於我們的一般費率案例的影響。

In the third quarter, we recognized a pretax expense of $3.2 million under the energy recovery mechanism or ERM power supply cost came in a little higher than we expected. And year-to-date, we recognized a $7.8 million pre-tax expense under the AAL and PS results for the third quarter were in line with our expectations and they're once again on track to meet their full year earnings targets year-to-date at our other businesses. We recognize the $0.3 loss per diluted share due to the result of periodic market valuations within our portfolio of investments.

第三季度，我們確認能源回收機製或 ERM 電源成本下的稅前支出為 320 萬美元，略高於我們的預期。今年迄今為止，我們確認了 AAL 下的 780 萬美元稅前支出，而 PS 第三季度的業績符合我們的預期，他們再次有望實現全年盈利目標。我們確認，每股攤薄虧損 0.3 美元，這是由於我們的投資組合內定期的市場估值造成的。

We expected that the M&A and IPO activity in the private equity markets along with public clean tech market comparables which in part, drive valuations in our other businesses would improve in the latter half of 2024.

我們預計，私募股權市場的併購和 IPO 活動以及公共清潔技術市場的可比性（在一定程度上推動我們其他業務的估值）將在 2024 年下半年得到改善。

That improvement has not yet materialized as we expected even so, I'm quite optimistic about the future opportunities within our investment portfolio.

即使如此，這種改善尚未實現，我仍然對我們投資組合中的未來機會感到非常樂觀。

You've heard me say before and it's still true today that our regulatory strategy is critical to our success. We expect a constructive rate order from our Washington general rate cases in mid-December and earlier this month, we filed a general rate case in Oregon.

您以前就聽我說過，而且今天仍然如此，我們的監管策略對於我們的成功至關重要。我們預計 12 月中旬華盛頓州一般稅率案件將收到建設性稅率命令，本月初，我們在俄勒岡州提起了一般稅率案件。

We plan to file our next case in Idaho in the first quarter of 2025 we are committed to investing the necessary capital in our utility infrastructure, capital expenditures at Avista. Utilities were $389 million in the first three quarters of 2024 our planned capital expenditures are about $515 million for the year.

我們計劃於 2025 年第一季在愛達荷州提起下一個訴訟，我們致力於在 Avista 的公用事業基礎設施和資本支出中投入必要的資金。2024 年前三個季度的公用事業費用為 3.89 億美元，我們計劃全年資本支出約為 5.15 億美元。

We just finalized our capital plan for 2027 and over the next three years, we expect to spend about $1.7 billion in capital to ensure that we can continue to support customer growth and maintain our system to provide safe and reliable energy to our customers.

我們剛完成了 2027 年的資本計劃，未來三年，我們預計將投入約 17 億美元的資本，以確保我們能夠繼續支援客戶成長並維護我們的系統，為客戶提供安全可靠的能源。

That includes investments of $525 million in 2025 $575 million in 2026 and now $600 million in 2027.

其中包括 2025 年的投資 5.25 億美元、2026 年的投資 5.75 億美元以及 2027 年的投資 6 億美元。

We expect capital expenditures at AL&P to be $21 million and investments at our other businesses to be $10 million in 2024 on the liquidity front. As of September 30, we had $212 million available under our committed line of credit and $43 million available under our letter of credit facility.

我們預計，到 2024 年，AL&P 的資本支出將達到 2,100 萬美元，而我們其他業務的流動性投資將達到 1,000 萬美元。截至 9 月 30 日，我們的承諾信用額度下有 2.12 億美元可用，信用證額度下有 4,300 萬美元可用。

We expect to issue approximately $70 million of common stock in 2024 to fund our capital spending through September 30. We've issued $35.7 million of common stock. In April. We remarketed $84 million of tax exempt bonds, and we do not expect to issue additional long term debt in 2024.

我們預計在 2024 年發行約 7,000 萬美元的普通股，以資助截至 9 月 30 日的資本支出。我們已經發行了價值 3570 萬美元的普通股。在四月。我們重新行銷了 8,400 萬美元的免稅債券，並且預計 2024 年不會發行額外的長期債務。

Turning to our earnings guidance, as I mentioned, we expected that the private equity markets would recover through the latter half of 2024 which has not yet occurred as a result. We now expect our other businesses to have a net loss in the range of $0.4 to $0.6 per diluted share in 2024. And because of that expectation, we're lowering our consolidated earnings guidance for 2024 by $0.10 to a range of $2.26 to $2.46 per diluted share as a result of higher than expected power supply costs as well as maintenance of thermal generation assets, medical bad debt and ongoing legal costs. We expect of this utilities to contribute near the low end of the range in 2024.

談到我們的獲利預測，正如我所提到的，我們預計私募股權市場將在 2024 年下半年復甦，但結果尚未發生。我們現在預計，2024 年其他業務的每股淨虧損將在 0.4 美元至 0.6 美元之間。基於這項預期，我們將 2024 年綜合收益預期下調 0.10 美元，至每股攤薄收益 2.26 美元至 2.46 美元之間，原因是電力供應成本高於預期，以及火力發電資產維護、醫療壞帳以及持續的法律費用。我們預計，到 2024 年，這些公用事業的貢獻將接近該範圍的低端。

This includes the expected firm impact of a negative $0.8 per diluted share which is partially offset by the impact of the new large customer we added earlier this year, we continue to expect AL&P to contribute in the range of $0.9 to $0.11 per diluted share in '24.

這包括預期每股攤薄收益 0.8 美元的負增長，但部分抵消了我們今年早些時候新增大客戶的影響。

Following our rate case decision in December, we expect to give 2025 guidance in February on our fourth quarter. Earnings call. I will be happy to take your questions.

繼 12 月做出利率案件決定後，我們預計將在 2 月就第四季提供 2025 年指引。收益電話會議。我很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Julian Dumoulin Smith, Jefferies.

（操作員指示） 朱利安·杜穆林·史密斯（Julian Dumoulin Smith），傑富瑞（Jefferies）。

Yeah. Hi. It's actually Brian Russo at Jefferies. Good morning. The hey, just on the announcement of your participation in the North Plains connector, you know, what are the upcoming milestones that we should be aware of for you to finalize the, the nonbinding MOU and then just more specifically, how does that fit in with the integrated resource plan you just filed, you know, in terms of longer term capacity needs reliability, etcetera?

是的。你好。實際上是 Jefferies 的 Brian Russo。早安.嘿，就在你們宣布參與北平原連接器之後，你知道，我們應該注意哪些即將到來的里程碑，以便你們最終確定非約束性諒解備忘錄，然後更具體地說，它是如何適應的你知道，就您剛提交的綜合資源計畫而言，長期容量需求可靠性等等嗎？

Great. Thanks, Brian. I'm happy to answer that. And yeah, we're very excited about taking this next step. That is an important piece of our integrated resource plan and having access to additional markets and high load factor wind facilities in the Midwest. So, it is a key piece of our future resource needs. And the next steps include development of definitive agreements probably in the next 6 to 9 months. And then we will continue identifying next steps from there. So that's the next near term step.

偉大的。謝謝，布萊恩。我很樂意回答這個問題。是的，我們對邁出下一步感到非常興奮。這是我們綜合資源計畫的重要組成部分，可以進入中西部地區的額外市場和高負載率風力發電設施。所以，它是我們未來資源需求的關鍵部分。接下來的步驟包括可能在未來 6 到 9 個月內制定最終協議。然後我們將繼續確定下一步。這是下一步的近期措施。

Okay. And I think according to your press release doesn't seem like there's any financial commitment from a Avista, until the, the, the project is operational. Is that correct?

好的。我認為根據您的新聞稿，在該項目投入運營之前，Avista 似乎不會做出任何財務承諾。那正確嗎？

There will likely be some payments earlier, smaller. But the majority would be potentially after the, after it's energized.

可能會有一些更早、更小的付款。但大多數都可能發生在它通電之後。

Okay, great. And then the, upcoming RFPS for, for new generation, I think you referenced 2029. And, you know, the, the scenarios of self-build built on transfer, is there anything different in this RFP past RFPs where you know, there seem to be limited outcomes for Avista owned generation relative to the PPA that the company has signed in the past, just trying to get a sense of maybe what, what the size of these RPS are and what are the, you know, when will final bids be due, etc.

好的，太好了。然後，對於新一代的即將到來的 RFPS，我認為你提到了 2029 年。你知道，在轉讓基礎上自建的方案，這個 RFP 和過去的 RFP 有什麼不同嗎？的規模是多少，以及最終投標何時到期，等等。

I don't think we have the details related to when final bids will be due in the RFP, but it will be in early 2025 is when we'll go out for it and the, you know, with related to self-build and build transfer options, the tax, you know, implications have changed with the IRA. And so, we do feel that there'll be more competitive options related to us having ownership in certain projects.

我認為我們還沒有關於 RFP 中最終投標截止日期的詳細信息，但我們將在 2025 年初進行投標，你知道，這與自建和建立轉移選項，稅收的影響已經隨著 IRA 而改變。因此，我們確實認為，如果我們擁有某些項目的所有權，那麼將會有更多有競爭力的選擇。

Okay, great. And then, and then lastly just, you know, on the, and, and the, the volatility that and, and the, the expense year-to-date just bigger picture are, are there ways for this to, to, you know, optimize the generation portfolio more going forward and possibly adding more company owned generation. Is that one solution to managing, you know, it seems to be ongoing volatility with your power supply costs.

好的，太好了。最後，你知道，關於波動性，以及年初至今的費用，更大的問題是，有沒有辦法做到這一點，進一步優化未來發電組合，並可能增加更多公司自有發電。您知道，這是解決電力供應成本持續波動的問題的解決方案嗎？

Hey, Brian, it's Kevin. Thanks for the question. I'm happy to take that one and I'll start by talking about the IM itself and our regulatory proceeding as, as you know, we have filed for and we made some modifications during the pendency of the case to significantly change the IM and the financial impact that would have on us. I, I think our team does a great job of optimizing our resources to the best of our ability.

嘿，布萊恩，我是凱文。謝謝你的提問。我很高興接受這個採訪，我將首先談談IM本身和我們的監管程序，正如你所知，我們已經提交了申請，並且在案件審理期間做了一些修改，以顯著改變IM和這將對我們造成的財務影響。我認為我們的團隊在盡最大努力優化資源方面做得很好。

And at the same time, power supply dynamic in the Pacific Northwest has changed significantly. And with that change, I think a change of the arm is appropriate, they'll keep optimizing our resources. And I think if we have more resources that we directly own, that would help too. But I think the biggest impact is the change to the arm.

同時，太平洋西北地區的電力供應動態發生了顯著變化。隨著這一變化，我認為改變武器是合適的，他們將繼續優化我們的資源。我認為，如果我們擁有更多直接擁有的資源，那也會有所幫助。但我認為最大的影響是對手臂的改變。

Okay, great. And, and good luck in the future, Dennis. Appreciate it. Thank you.

好的，太好了。祝你未來好運，丹尼斯。非常感謝。謝謝。

Yeah, thanks, Brian. Appreciate.

是的，謝謝，布萊恩。欣賞。

(Operator Instructions) Anthony Crowdel, Mizuho.

（操作員指示）瑞穗的 Anthony Crowdel。

Hey, good morning. And Dennis Vermillion's comments. Best of luck in your next endeavour. Just one question I was having was just on the other segment. I think you; it's now flipped to a loss for the year for 2024. Just if you give us more detail on the $0.4 to $0.6 loss. Is that mainly a mark to market on the unregulated business there?

嘿，早安。還有 Dennis Vermillion 的評論。祝您在接下來的努力中好運。我只有一個問題是關於另一個部分的。我認為你；現在，2024 年已轉為虧損。只要您向我們提供有關 0.4 美元到 0.6 美元損失的更多詳細資訊。這主要是針對那裡不受監管的業務進行市價調整嗎？

Yeah, that, that's correct. Anthony. It's Kevin. Nice to chat with you. And I think it takes, it's worth taking a minute to talk about that other segment. Given the, the change in the guidance that we have there. It is around mark to market and the valuations haven't materialized as we discussed in our comments.

是啊，那是正確的。安東尼。是凱文。很高興和你聊天。我認為值得花一點時間來討論另一部分。考慮到我們那裡的指導方針發生了變化。它是圍繞市價進行的，但估值尚未實現，正如我們在評論中所討論的那樣。

And it's important to also remember that it's a very small but important piece of our, our business. When we look at that other segment, it's just 2%. When you compare original guidance for utility versus the non reg side, the clean tech market hasn't improved. It's a little bit more volatile, certainly. But I'm seeing some pretty good signs that we could see exits and improved valuation down the road. It's also important to remember how strategic the investments are and the benefit that it brings back to the utility.

並且還要記住，這是我們業務中非常小但非常重要的一部分。當我們看其他部分時，它只有 2%。當您比較公用事業和非監管方面的原始指導時，清潔技術市場並未改善。確實，它的波動性更大一些。但我看到一些相當好的跡象表明，我們將來可以看到退出機會和估值的提高。同樣重要的是要記住投資的策略性以及它為公用事業帶來的利益。

We, we really do think that this is a strong investment for us as we're better positioned to be that utility of the future. So, although there were some headwinds this quarter and this year thus far, we think that 2025 and beyond look pretty good.

我們確實認為這對我們來說是一項強有力的投資，因為我們更有能力成為未來的公用事業。因此，儘管本季和今年迄今面臨一些阻力，但我們認為 2025 年及以後的前景相當樂觀。

Great. And then last question I have, I guess is on this, on the state itself, on Washington. And I, and I just don't know the results. I think there were two initiatives or, or ballot initiatives, maybe the right description or maybe bringing gas into homes and, and I apologize. I got the other one. Do, do you know how those fared in the election yesterday?

偉大的。我的最後一個問題是關於這個州本身，關於華盛頓。而我，我只是不知道結果。我認為有兩項倡議，或者說投票倡議，也許是正確的描述，或者可能是將天然氣引入家庭，我對此表示歉意。我拿到了另一個。你知道昨天的選舉結果如何嗎？

Yeah. Anthony, the, the two were I-2117 and I-2066. So, the I-2117 was the, or is the repeal of the CCA, the Climate Commitment Act? And, that one has failed. So, the, the, the Climate Commitment Act will, you know, which is the, the, the carbon trading, cap and trade program in, in the state of Washington that will, will stay in place. The other one, the I-2066 is the, you know, the energy choice one that you're referring to and that one is, it has a slight lead.

是的。安東尼，這兩個分別是 I-2117 和 I-2066。那麼，I-2117 是《氣候承諾法案》還是《CCA》的廢除？而這一次卻失敗了。所以，你知道，《氣候承諾法案》，即華盛頓州的碳交易、限額與交易計劃，將繼續實施。另外一個，I-2066，就是你提到的能源選擇，它略有領先。

And so, you know, but it's too early to, it's too close to call. There's still a lot of uncounted votes in the state and, so we really, we really don't have a sense for where it's going to end up, should know probably by the end of the week I would guess, but it's pretty close and there's still, I think there's still like 700,000 ballots last I heard that's still to be counted in the state of Washington. So, stay tuned on that one.

所以，你知道，現在還為時過早，還難以預料。該州仍有許多選票未計，所以我們真的不知道最終結果會如何，我猜應該在本週末之前就能知道，但結果已經非常接近了。張選票尚待統計。因此，請繼續關注。

Stay tuned. Well, thanks so much. Appreciate the time and looking forward to seeing you guys in Florida.

敬請關注。好吧，非常感謝。感謝您的時間，並期待在佛羅裡達州見到你們。

Great, thanks.

太好了，謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Sophie Carp with KBCM.

(操作員指示) Sophie Carp 與 KBCM。

Hi, guys. Good morning. Thank you for taking my question.

嗨，大家好。早安.感謝您回答我的問題。

Good morning.

早安.

Yeah. So maybe could you talk a little bit about the wildfire season now that it's kind of in the rear-view mirror lessons learned? Like, did you have to do PSPS and kind of what you learned from that? And also, you know, the tackle on that? Are there any legislative initiatives with respect to wildfire, response liabilities that you could be pursuing in the upcoming legislative session in, in Washington? Thank you.

是的。那麼，現在山火季節已經成為過去，您能否談談我們從中學到的教訓？例如，你是否必須做 PSPS 以及你從中學到了什麼？而且您知道，該如何解決呢？在華盛頓即將召開的立法會議上，您是否會提出有關山火應對責任的立法措施？謝謝。

Yeah, Sophie, Heather, I'm happy to answer that one for you. And, we had done a lot of work in the off season preparing for wildfire season. And so, we had prepared with a public safety power shutoff tool in our tool kit. And in late September, we did have a condition that caused us to move one of our circuits. It was about 1,500 customers on that circle that, experience the public safety power shutoff. But all of the work that we had done to coordinate with our agencies to communicate and make customers aware of that.

是的，蘇菲，希瑟，我很樂意回答你們這個問題。而且，我們在淡季做了很多工作來為野火季節做準備。因此，我們在工具包中準備了公共安全斷電工具。九月下旬，我們確實遇到了一個情況，導致我們移動了其中一條線路。該環路上約有 1,500 名顧客遭遇公共安全斷電。但我們所做的所有工作都是與我們的代理商協調，進行溝通，並讓客戶意識到這一點。

And just internal planning resulted in us being able to restore customers that same day once conditions were safe. So, we were able to learn a lot and be able to minimize the impact to customers through that. So, we felt like we had a pretty successful wildfire season this year in implementing the additional tools and resources that we put into place. And now we're back into that planning season and looking forward and some of the things that we're focused on are adding weather stations in our higher risk areas.

只要內部規劃，一旦條件安全，我們就能在同一天恢復客戶服務。因此，我們能夠學到很多東西，並透過這種方式最大限度地減少對客戶的影響。因此，我們覺得，透過實施我們所部署的額外工具和資源，今年的山火季節過得相當成功。現在我們又回到了規劃季，展望未來，我們重點關注的事情之一是在高風險地區增加氣象站。

We used manual weather stations to, to support us during the this last wildfire season and then a lot of focus on undergrounding and covered conductors as well. On the legislative side, we have a team that's been putting a lot of work in to move that forward and working with other utilities and other partners, stakeholders in Washington and in Idaho. And we are planning on moving forward legislation in both states in this legislative session.

我們使用手動氣象站來為我們在最近的野火季節提供支持，然後也將重點放在地下和覆蓋導體上。在立法方面，我們有一個團隊為推動這一進程付出了大量努力，並與華盛頓和愛達荷州的其他公用事業公司、其他合作夥伴和利益相關者進行了合作。我們計劃在本屆立法會議上推動兩州的立法。

Great. Thank you so much. Very helpful. Appreciate it.

偉大的。太感謝了。非常有幫助。非常感謝。

(Operator Instructions) I'm showing no further questions at this time. So, I would now like to turn it back to Stacy Wenz for closing remarks.

（操作員指示）我現在沒有其他問題了。因此，現在我想請 Stacy Wenz 作最後發言。

Thank you all for joining us today and for your interest in the Avista. Have a great day.

感謝大家今天的參與以及對 Avista 的關注。祝你有美好的一天。

This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

該計劃確實結束了。您現在可以斷開連線。