Black Hills Corp (BKH) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the second quarter of 2025 Black Hills Corporation earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

您好，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Black Hills Corporation 2025 年第二季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。（操作員指示）

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Sal Diaz, Director of Investor Relations.

現在，我想將會議交給今天的發言人、投資者關係總監 Sal Diaz。

Thank you, operator. Good morning and welcome to Black Hills Corporation's second quarter 2025 earnings conference call. You can find our earnings release and materials for our call this morning on our website at blackhillscorp.com under an Investor Rrelations setting.

謝謝您，接線生。早安，歡迎參加 Black Hills Corporation 2025 年第二季財報電話會議。您可以在我們網站 blackhillscorp.com 的「投資者關係」設定下找到我們今天早上的收益報告和電話會議資料。

Leading our quarterly earnings call are Lin Evans, President and Chief Executive Officer; Kimberly Nooney, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Marne Jones, Senior Vice President and Chief Utility Officer.

主持我們季度財報電話會議的是總裁兼執行長 Lin Evans、資深副總裁兼財務長 Kimberly Nooney 和資深副總裁兼首席公用事業長 Marne Jones。

During our earnings discussion today, comments we make may contain forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and there are a number of uncertainties inherent in such comments. Although we believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, actual results may differ materially.

在我們今天的收益討論中，我們所發表的評論可能包含美國證券交易委員會定義的前瞻性陳述，並且此類評論中存在許多不確定性。儘管我們相信我們的預期是基於合理的假設，但實際結果可能存在重大差異。

We direct you to our earnings release slide 2 of the investor presentation on our website and our most recent Form 10-K and 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a list of some of the factors that could cost future results to differ materially from our expectations.

我們將引導您參閱我們網站上投資者簡報中的收益發布投影片 2 以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的最新 10-K 和 10-Q 表格，其中列出了可能導致未來結果與我們的預期產生重大差異的一些因素。

With that, I will now turn the call over to Lin Evans. Lin.

說完這些，我現在將電話轉給林·埃文斯 (Lin Evans)。林。

Thank you, Sal. Good morning and thank you all for joining us today. I'll begin on slide 3 with a summary of our quarter and our strategic outlook. Kimberly will provide our financial updates and Marnie will discuss our operational performance and strategic progress.

謝謝你，薩爾。早安，感謝大家今天參加我們的活動。我將從投影片 3 開始總結我們的季度狀況和策略展望。金伯利將提供我們的財務更新，而瑪妮將討論我們的營運績效和策略進展。

Among our key stakeholder commitments for the year are: first, deliver on our financial commitments, including a year-over-year earnings growth of 5% at the midpoint of guidance. Second, execute on our regulatory and growth initiatives, including our $1 billion capital plan to support key projects that serve the growing needs of our customers. And third, provide excellent operational performance, including top quartile reliability and above industry average safety performance.

我們今年向利害關係人做出的主要承諾包括：首先，兌現我們的財務承諾，包括實現指引中位數 5% 的年比獲利成長。其次，執行我們的監管和成長計劃，包括我們的 10 億美元資本計劃，以支援滿足客戶日益增長的需求的關鍵項目。第三，提供卓越的營運績效，包括最高四分位數的可靠性和高於行業平均的安全性能。

I'm pleased to report we made strong progress on these three commitments in the second quarter, and I'm proud of the relentless drive of our team as we execute our customer-focused strategy. Together, we delivered on our financial commitments and made great progress on several large initiatives through the first half of 2025.

我很高興地報告，我們在第二季度在這三項承諾上取得了重大進展，我為我們團隊在執行以客戶為中心的策略時所表現出的不懈努力感到自豪。我們共同履行了財務承諾，並在 2025 年上半年的幾項大型計劃上取得了重大進展。

We're on track to achieve our earnings guidance for the full year due to three primary drivers: new base rates, rider recovery, and customer growth, and we continue to maintain a healthy balance sheet to help us execute on our strategic growth plan.

由於三個主要驅動因素：新的基準費率、乘客恢復和客戶成長，我們有望實現全年獲利預期，並且我們將繼續保持健康的資產負債表，以幫助我們執行策略性成長計畫。

We continue to make excellent progress in our regulatory strategy. Including our recently approved Kansas Gas rate review and our active rate review in Nebraska, our seven rate reviews since the beginning of 2024 reflect the strength and skill within our team to execute multiple rate reviews annually. Collectively, these rate reviews represent the recovery of over $1.3 billion of new system investments made to serve our customers.

我們的監管策略持續取得良好進展。包括我們最近批准的堪薩斯天然氣費率審查和我們在內布拉斯加州的現行費率審查，我們自 2024 年初以來進行的七次費率審查反映了我們團隊每年執行多次費率審查的實力和技能。總的來說，這些費率審查代表著我們收回了為服務客戶而進行的超過 13 億美元的新系統投資。

Our rider mechanisms are also instrumental in recovering investments in a timely manner and support our path to achieve our earnings guidance. We also made strong progress on near-term projects that will drive growth, including our Ready Wyoming Transmission expansion, our Lang II generation project, and our Colorado Clean Energy plan.

我們的附加機制也有助於及時收回投資，並支持我們實現獲利預期。我們還在推動成長的近期項目上取得了重大進展，包括我們的 Ready Wyoming Transmission 擴建項目、我們的 Lang II 發電項目以及我們的科羅拉多清潔能源計劃。

Additionally, customer growth, including growing demand from data center and blockchain customers and economic development in our service territories are providing solid contributions to earnings. Representing that customer growth, Wyoming Electric recorded four distinct all-time peak loads during the first half of this year.

此外，客戶成長（包括資料中心和區塊鏈客戶不斷增長的需求）以及我們服務區域的經濟發展都為獲利做出了堅實的貢獻。懷俄明電力公司在今年上半年記錄了四個不同的歷史高峰負荷，反映了客戶的成長。

The newest peak of 379 megawatts set in June, is a 21% increase over the peak recorded in 2024 and a 10% increase over a peak customer load that was set earlier in the second quarter, reflecting ongoing growth in data center and blockchain demand.

6 月設定的最新高峰為 379 兆瓦，比 2024 年的高峰增加了 21%，比第二季早些時候設定的峰值客戶負載增加了 10%，反映了資料中心和區塊鏈需求的持續成長。

As we leverage our growth opportunities, we're also mitigating risk for our business and our customers. At the end of June, we established an emergency public safety power shut off program across all three of our electric utilities to mitigate wildfire risk and keep our customers safe. The program reflects extensive engagement with a variety of stakeholders to craft the framework for a plan that makes sense in our local service territories.

在我們利用成長機會的同時，我們也在降低業務和客戶的風險。六月底，我們在所有三家電力公司建立了緊急公共安全斷電計劃，以減輕野火風險並確保客戶安全。該計劃體現了與各種利益相關者的廣泛接觸，以製定適合我們當地服務區域的計劃框架。

In summary, our team continues to deliver consistent results for our stakeholders on our regulatory and growth initiatives while keeping customers' safety and reliability top of mind. Thank you to our employees and partners listening today. I'm proud of what we have achieved together, and I'm grateful for your dedication to our mission of improving life with energy every day.

總而言之，我們的團隊繼續在監管和成長計畫方面為我們的利害關係人提供一致的成果，同時將客戶的安全和可靠性放在首位。感謝今天聆聽的我們的員工和合作夥伴。我為我們共同取得的成就感到自豪，並感謝你們對我們每天充滿活力地改善生活的使命的奉獻。

Our financial outlook is provided on slide 4. With earnings meeting our expectations to date and strong ongoing customer demand opportunities ahead, we are reaffirming our 2025 earnings guidance range of $4 to $4.20 which is a 5% growth rate at the midpoint over our 2024 EPS. Looking ahead with excellent progress on our regulatory and growth initiatives, we are successfully executing on our plan to deliver in the upper half of our 4% to 6% long-term EPS growth target starting in 2026.

我們的財務展望在第 4 張投影片中提供。由於迄今為止的獲利符合我們的預期，且未來客戶需求機會持續強勁，我們重申 2025 年獲利預測範圍為 4 美元至 4.20 美元，比 2024 年每股收益的中點成長率高出 5%。展望未來，隨著我們在監管和成長計劃方面取得的出色進展，我們正在成功執行我們的計劃，從 2026 年開始實現 4% 至 6% 的長期每股收益成長目標的上半部分。

Our confidence in our long-term growth target is driven by our $4.7 billion capital plan and further reinforced by strong customer demand, including data center and blockchain demand opportunities.

我們對長期成長目標的信心源自於我們 47 億美元的資本計劃，並因強勁的客戶需求（包括資料中心和區塊鏈需求機會）而進一步加強。

Slide 5 helps illustrate our $4.7 billion capital plan. The base investment level in our business currently ranges from $700 million to $750 million annually, prioritizing the core needs of our customers for safety, reliability, and supporting growth. In addition, our transformative infrastructure expansion investments will cost effectively enhance the resiliency of our system and support growing demand and evolving system requirements.

投影片 5 有助於說明我們的 47 億美元資本計畫。我們業務的基本投資水準目前每年在 7 億美元到 7.5 億美元之間，優先考慮客戶對安全性、可靠性和支援成長的核心需求。此外，我們的變革性基礎設施擴建投資將以經濟有效的方式增強我們系統的彈性，並支援不斷增長的需求和不斷發展的系統要求。

Our ongoing capital projects include our Ready Wyoming Transmission expansion that is on target to be completed by year end, our 99 megawatt Lange II generation project in South Dakota that we expect to place in service in the second half of 2026, and our solar and battery projects to comply with the Colorado Clean Energy Plan to be placed in service in 2027 to 2028. These investments further capitalize on our strength as a vertically integrated electric and gas infrastructure company operating in eight constructive states.

我們正在進行的資本項目包括：預計於年底完成的 Ready Wyoming Transmission 擴建項目、預計於 2026 年下半年投入使用的南達科他州 99 兆瓦 Lange II 發電項目，以及符合科羅拉多州清潔能源計劃的太陽能和電池項目，預計於 2027 年至 2028 年投入使用。這些投資進一步發揮了我們作為一家在八個建設性州運營的垂直整合電力和天然氣基礎設施公司的優勢。

Our confidence in our earnings guidance and our long-term growth is reinforced by the tech-driven industrial demand we are witnessing as outlined on slide 6. For more than a decade, we have served Microsoft's increasing hyper-scale data center demand on top of our core residential and commercial customer growth. Meta, which we announced last year as a customer, is now in the process of constructing its new data center site, which we expect to begin taking data center load beginning in 2026.

如投影片 6 所述，我們所見證的技術驅動型工業需求增強了我們對獲利預期和長期成長的信心。十多年來，除了滿足核心住宅和商業客戶的成長之外，我們還滿足了微軟日益增長的超大規模資料中心需求。Meta 是我們去年宣布成為其客戶的公司，目前該公司正在建造新的資料中心站點，我們預計該站點將於 2026 年開始承擔資料中心負載。

As Meta ramps up, and as Microsoft continues its growth, we expect data centers to contribute more than 10% of our total EPS in 2028. By the end of 2029, our current forecast includes approximately 500 megawatts of data center demand being served through our innovative tariffs and market energy procurement model that provide valuable speed to market advantages for our customers.

隨著 Meta 的崛起以及微軟的持續成長，我們預計到 2028 年資料中心將為我們的總每股收益貢獻 10% 以上。到 2029 年底，我們目前的預測包括透過我們的創新關稅和市場能源採購模式滿足約 500 兆瓦的資料中心需求，這為我們的客戶提供了寶貴的上市速度優勢。

And looking ahead, our pipeline of data center demand continues to solidify and grow. We are developing our plans to serve more than one gigawatt of demand. We are engaging in meaningful conversations with a growing and diverse group of select customers that recognize the value of our unique offerings and the ideal attributes of our service territory as a choice location for our data center operations.

展望未來，我們的資料中心需求管道將持續鞏固和成長。我們正在製定計劃以滿足超過一千兆瓦的需求。我們正在與不斷成長且多樣化的精選客戶群進行有意義的對話，這些客戶認識到我們獨特產品的價值以及我們服務區域作為資料中心營運首選地點的理想屬性。

As an example, we are engaged with multiple potential data center customers, including a recent announcement by Crusoe and Tallgrass for a data center to be located in southeast Wyoming. To be clear, this would be additive to the 500 megawatts of data center load in our current five-year financial forecast.

例如，我們正在與多個潛在的資料中心客戶接洽，其中包括 Crusoe 和 Tallgrass 最近宣布將在懷俄明州東南部建立資料中心。需要明確的是，這將增加我們目前五年財務預測中的 500 兆瓦資料中心負載。

Keeping with our normal practices, we would announce additional details when contracted. This pipeline of demand will further drive growth and revenues from our innovative tariff, using our minimal capital model and create traditional investment opportunities, both of which generate utility-like returns. Marne's comments will address our operational construct and capabilities to serve this tech-driven demand.

按照我們的慣例，我們會在簽訂合約時公佈更多細節。這種需求管道將進一步推動我們創新關稅的成長和收入，利用我們的最低資本模型並創造傳統的投資機會，這兩者都能產生類似效用的回報。馬恩的評論將涉及我們的營運結構和滿足這種技術驅動需求的能力。

With that update, I'll turn it over to Kimberly for our financial update. Kimberly.

有了這個更新，我將把它交給金伯利來更新我們的財務狀況。金伯利。

Thank you, Lin, and good morning, everyone. Echoing Lin's introduction, we had a great quarter and I'm proud of our team's execution to deliver strong results. The progress we made over the last quarter continues to lay the foundation for success in 2026 and beyond, with transformative projects and regulatory progress supporting strong confidence in our ability to deliver on our earnings guidance and long-term growth targets.

謝謝林，大家早安。與林的介紹相呼應，我們度過了一個偉大的季度，我為我們團隊的執行力和所取得的強勁成果感到自豪。我們在上個季度的進展繼續為 2026 年及以後的成功奠定基礎，變革性項目和監管進展增強了我們對實現盈利預期和長期增長目標的能力的信心。

Slide 8 compares Q2 2025 to Q2 2024. We delivered $0.38 per share this quarter compared to $0.33 per share for the same period last year. New margins more than overcame the impact of higher operating expenses and financing costs to achieve quarterly earnings within our expectations. We delivered $0.22 per share of new margins, including $0.17 of new rates and rider recovery.

投影片 8 將 2025 年第二季與 2024 年第二季進行了比較。本季我們的每股收益為 0.38 美元，而去年同期的每股收益為 0.33 美元。新的利潤率超過了更高的營運費用和融資成本的影響，實現了我們預期的季度收益。我們實現了每股 0.22 美元的新利潤，其中包括 0.17 美元的新費率和附加條款恢復。

These margins more than offset $0.05 per share of higher ONM driven by increased insurance premiums and the impact of unplanned outages, $0.08 per share of higher financing costs, and $0.04 of higher depreciation expense from new assets placed in service.

這些利潤率足以抵消因保險費增加和意外停機影響而導致的每股 0.05 美元的 ONM 上漲、每股 0.08 美元的融資成本上漲以及新資產投入使用而導致的每股 0.04 美元的折舊費用上漲。

Comparing this quarter to Q2 2024, our year-over-year weather impact resulted in $0.03 of positive weather. When compared to normal, weather drove $0.04 per share of unfavorability during Q2 2025.

將本季與 2024 年第二季進行比較，我們同比的天氣影響產生了 0.03 美元的正面天氣影響。與正常情況相比，2025 年第二季天氣因素導致每股收益下降 0.04 美元。

Turning to the year-to-date EPS drivers on slide 9, earnings per share increased to $2.24 from $2.19 for the same period last year. Our year-to-date margins are benefiting from the successful execution of our regulatory strategy, which delivered $0.49 of new rates and rider recovery. Along with weather favorability of $0.14 driven by very mild weather in the prior year, these benefits more than offset $0.29 per share of higher O&M, $0.24 of higher financing costs, and $0.07 of higher depreciation expense.

回顧幻燈片 9 上的年初至今的每股收益驅動因素，每股收益從去年同期的 2.19 美元增加到 2.24 美元。我們的年初至今的利潤率受益於我們監管策略的成功執行，該策略帶來了 0.49 美元的新費率和附加險回收。加上去年氣候非常溫和帶來的 0.14 美元的有利天氣因素，這些收益足以抵消每股 0.29 美元的營運和維護成本上漲、0.24 美元的融資成本上漲以及 0.07 美元的折舊費用上漲。

Year-to-date, we experienced approximately $5 million in additional pre-tax O&M costs or $0.06 per share related to unplanned generation outages which were materially offset by benefits related to these outages recognized in margin and non-controlling interest.

年初至今，我們因意外發電中斷而產生了約 500 萬美元的額外稅前營運和維護成本，即每股 0.06 美元，但這些成本被利潤和非控股權益中確認的與這些中斷相關的收益所抵消。

Excluding these unplanned generation outage expenses from O&M, we expect to manage our 2025 O&M costs to a compounded annual growth rate of approximately 3.5% of 2023 O&M expense. We are reaffirming and expect to achieve our full year earnings guidance. Further details on year-over-year changes can be found in our earnings release and our 10-Q to be filed with the SEC later today.

將這些計劃外的發電中斷費用從營運和維護中剔除後，我們預計 2025 年的營運和維護成本將控制在 2023 年營運和維護費用的約 3.5% 的複合年增長率。我們重申並期望實現全年獲利預期。有關同比變化的更多詳細信息，請參閱我們今天晚些時候向美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 提交的收益報告和 10-Q 報告。

Slide 10 displays our solid financial position to the lens of credit quality, capital structure, and liquidity. Balance sheet strength remains one of our top priorities. We remain focused on sustaining our FFO to debt target of 14% to 15% and net debt to total capitalization target of 55%, which we maintained during the quarter.

投影片 10 從信用品質、資本結構和流動性的角度展示了我們穩固的財務狀況。資產負債表實力仍是我們的首要任務之一。我們仍然致力於將 FFO 與債務比率維持在 14% 至 15% 之間，並將淨債務與總資本化比率維持在 55% 左右，我們在本季度也保持了這一目標。

Using our rating agencies' methodologies, we expect to maintain these credit metric targets throughout our long-range financial plan, providing a healthy cushion above our downgrade threshold of 13%. Our liquidity remains strong at quarter end at more than $600 million of availability under our revolving credit facility. We are evaluating timing and refinancing options for our next debt maturity of $300 million which is due in January 2026.

利用我們評級機構的方法，我們預計在我們的長期財務計劃中維持這些信用指標目標，從而為高於 13% 的降級門檻提供健康的緩衝。截至本季末，我們的流動性依然強勁，循環信貸額度下的可用資金超過 6 億美元。我們正在評估下一筆 3 億美元債務的到期時間和再融資方案，該債務將於 2026 年 1 月到期。

We are investing $1 billion in capital during the year and as previously guided, we plan to issue approximately $215 million to $235 million of new equity to finance these investments in 2025 and have issued $65 million of equity year-to-date. The timing of our equity issuances during the year is driven by forecasted cash flow, of which a significant driver is capital investment. Based on the execution of our strategic projects, we expect to issue equity within our earnings guidance assumption for the remainder of the year.

我們今年將投資 10 億美元資本，按照先前的指導，我們計劃在 2025 年發行約 2.15 億美元至 2.35 億美元的新股權，為這些投資提供資金，今年迄今已發行了 6,500 萬美元的股權。我們年度內發行股票的時間取決於預測現金流，其中一個重要驅動因素是資本投資。根據我們戰略項目的執行情況，我們預計在今年剩餘時間內將按照盈利指導假設發行股票。

With several strategic capital projects and regulatory rate reviews driving stronger operating cash flows, our planned annual equity needs in 2026 and beyond are expected to be lower than 2025. We will continue to fund our creative growth with the most efficient, cost-effective capital available while maintaining credit quality.

隨著多個策略資本項目和監管利率審查推動更強勁的營運現金流，我們預計 2026 年及以後的計畫年度股權需求將低於 2025 年。我們將繼續以最有效、最具成本效益的資本為我們的創造性成長提供資金，同時維持信貸品質。

Slide 11 shows our earnings growth trajectory beginning in 2023 along with our 2025 earnings guidance assumptions. For 2025, we expect EPS to be between $4 and $4.20 per share, which at the midpoint represents a 5% increase over 2024 earnings.

投影片 11 展示了我們從 2023 年開始的獲利成長軌跡以及 2025 年獲利指導假設。對於 2025 年，我們預計每股收益將在 4 美元至 4.20 美元之間，中間值代表比 2024 年收益增長 5%。

As Lin mentioned, looking forward, our long-term earnings growth will be driven by new rates and rider on strategic investments like Ready Wyoming, Lange II, and the Colorado Clean Energy Plan that will provide long-term benefits to customers, ongoing customer growth we continue to experience within our jurisdictions, and data center and blockchain growth opportunities within our footprint.

正如林所提到的，展望未來，我們的長期盈利增長將受到新利率和戰略投資附加條款的推動，例如 Ready Wyoming、Lange II 和科羅拉多清潔能源計劃，這些投資將為客戶帶來長期利益，我們將繼續在管轄範圍內經歷持續的客戶增長，以及我們業務範圍內的數據中心和區塊鏈增長機會。

We believe we are well positioned to achieve the upper half of our long-term EPS growth target of 4% to 6% beginning in 2026.

我們相信，從 2026 年開始，我們有能力實現 4% 至 6% 的長期每股盈餘成長目標的上半部分。

Slide 12 illustrates our industry-leading dividend track record of 55 consecutive years. We continue to target a 55% to 65% payout ratio. A dependable and increasing dividend is an important component of our strategy to deliver long-term value for our shareholders.

幻燈片 12 展示了我們連續 55 年行業領先的股息記錄。我們繼續將派息率定為 55% 至 65%。可靠且不斷增加的股利是我們為股東創造長期價值的策略的重要組成部分。

I will now turn the call over to Marne for a business update.

現在我將把電話轉給馬恩，詢問業務最新進展。

Thank you, Kimberly, and good morning, everyone. Through the first half of the year, our team continued to deliver safe, reliable, and cost-effective energy to our 1.35 million customers and made solid progress in executing our strategic priorities.

謝謝你，金伯利，大家早安。上半年，我們的團隊繼續為 135 萬客戶提供安全、可靠、經濟高效的能源，並在執行策略重點方面取得了紮實的進展。

Operationally, we are particularly excited about the opportunities in serving data centers that Lin highlighted in his remarks. Given we are a vertically-integrated utility operating in a franchise service territory with an obligation to serve, we are well positioned to deliver value through both our current minimal capital service model and through a more traditional utility model, including investments and generation and transmission.

從營運角度來看，我們對林在演講中強調的服務資料中心的機會感到特別興奮。鑑於我們是一家在特許經營服務區域內運營的垂直整合公用事業公司，並承擔服務義務，我們完全有能力透過我們目前的最低資本服務模式和更傳統的公用事業模式（包括投資、發電和輸電）來實現價值。

Moving to slide 14, our 260-mile, $350 million Read Wyoming Transmission project, the largest capital project in our company's history, is on track for completion by year end. This expansion strengthens our system by reducing reliance on third party transmission, enhancing resiliency, and increasing access to market energy, including renewables.

轉到第 14 張投影片，我們長達 260 英里、耗資 3.5 億美元的 Read Wyoming Transmission 項目是我們公司歷史上最大的資本項目，預計將於年底完工。此次擴張透過減少對第三方傳輸的依賴、增強彈性以及增加對包括再生能源在內的市場能源的獲取，增強了我們的系統。

By building a more interconnected and robust transmission network, we are supporting long-term price stability for our customers and enabling continued growth across our service territory. Approximately $40 million of project costs placed in service last year are currently being recovered through our Wyoming Transmission rider with the remaining costs to be recovered through the same rider's starting in January 2026.

透過建構更互聯互通、更強大的傳輸網絡，我們為客戶提供長期價格穩定，並實現整個服務區域的持續成長。去年投入使用的項目成本約為 4000 萬美元，目前正在透過我們的懷俄明輸電附加條款收回，剩餘成本將從 2026 年 1 月開始透過同一附加條款收回。

Moving to slide 15, we continue to execute on our Colorado Clean Energy Plan. In 2024, we received approval for 350 megawatts of renewable resources to reduce emissions for Colorado customers by 80% by 2030. This includes a utility-owned 100-megawatt solar project, a utility owned 50-megawatt battery storage project, and a 200-megawatt solar power purchase agreement.

轉到第 15 張投影片，我們繼續執行科羅拉多清潔能源計畫。2024 年，我們獲得了 350 兆瓦可再生資源的批准，旨在到 2030 年將科羅拉多州客戶的排放量減少 80%。其中包括一個公用事業公司擁有的 100 兆瓦太陽能專案、一個公用事業公司擁有的 50 兆瓦電池儲存專案以及一份 200 兆瓦太陽能購買協議。

In June, we requested a certificate of public convenience and necessity, or CPCN for the battery project and expect approval by year end, and we continue to negotiate with the developers of the two solar projects. The utility-owned investments are included in our '26 to '28 capital plan, and if final contracts are signed, we may update our capital plan for any material shifts in timing or costs.

6 月份，我們為電池專案申請了公共便利和必要性證書（CPCN），預計在年底前獲得批准，並且我們將繼續與這兩個太陽能專案的開發商進行談判。公用事業公司擁有的投資包含在我們的 26 至 28 年資本計劃中，如果簽署了最終合同，我們可能會根據時間或成本的任何重大變化更新我們的資本計劃。

Slide 16 outlines our South Dakota Electric Resource Plan. During the second quarter, we received regulatory approval in Wyoming for a Lange II project, a 99-megawatt utility-owned natural gas fired generation resource located in Rapid City, South Dakota. We expect to begin construction in the third quarter and place our new resource in service in the second half of 2026.

幻燈片 16 概述了我們的南達科他州電力資源計劃。第二季度，我們獲得了懷俄明州監管部門對 Lange II 項目的批准，該項目位於南達科他州拉皮德城，是一座 99 兆瓦的公用事業天然氣發電資源。我們預計將於第三季開始建設，並於 2026 年下半年投入使用新資源。

Slide 17 summarizes our regulatory progress. We received approval from the Kansas Commission on a constructive black box settlement for new base rates last week. The settlement results in an increase in annual revenue of $10.8 million with new rates effective tomorrow, August 1. The settlement renews our safety and reliability focused rider and allows for a new insurance cost tracker with deferred accounting treatment.

投影片 17 總結了我們的監管進展。上週，我們獲得了堪薩斯州委員會關於新基準利率建設性黑箱結算的批准。和解將使年收入增加 1,080 萬美元，新稅率將於明天（8 月 1 日）生效。該協議更新了我們以安全性和可靠性為重點的附加條款，並允許採用遞延會計處理的新保險成本追蹤器。

Additionally, it includes approval for the company to file a capital-only abbreviated case in Q1 of 2026. The abbreviated case will allow us to recover capital place and service through December 31 of this year, based on the black box settlement terms. Our only active rate review is in Nebraska, where we requested $35 million of new annual revenue based on a return on equity of 10.5% and a capital structure of approximately 50/50 debt to equity. Interim rates are effective tomorrow, August 1, and final rates are expected by Q1 of 2026.

此外，它還批准該公司在 2026 年第一季提交僅涉及資本的簡化案件。根據黑箱結算條款，簡化的案件將使我們能夠在今年 12 月 31 日之前收回資本位置和服務。我們唯一進行利率審查的地區是內布拉斯加州，我們要求在該州實現 3500 萬美元的新年收入，該州的股本回報率為 10.5%，資本結構約為 50/50 的債務與股權比率。臨時利率將於明天（8 月 1 日）生效，最終利率預計將於 2026 年第一季公佈。

Lastly, in the fourth quarter, we are preparing to file a rate review request for Arkansas Gas. This is consistent with our cadence of 3- to 4 rate reviews annually. As we wrap up our call and before I turn it back to Lin, I'll provide an update on wildfire risk mitigation on slides 18 and 19.

最後，在第四季度，我們準備向阿肯色天然氣公司提交費率審查請求。這與我們每年 3 至 4 次費率審查的節奏一致。在我們結束通話時，在我把話題轉回林之前，我將在第 18 和 19 張幻燈片上提供有關野火風險緩解的最新資訊。

Wildfire mitigation begins with the strength of our systems and our decades of experience in proactive prevention. The potential impact of an event in our electric service territories is reduced by the geographic diversity of our high-risk areas and low population density across our broad and mostly rural service territory.

野火緩解始於我們系統的強大以及我們數十年的主動預防經驗。由於我們的高風險地區地理分佈多樣化，且服務區域廣闊且多為農村，人口密度低，因此降低了電力服務區域內事件的潛在影響。

Our industry-leading reliability results in fewer outage events, which in turn lowers the potential for ignitions that may cause a wildfire. We are proud of our low vegetation costs outage rate of just 3.5% compared to a 20% industry average. With decades of experience operating in challenging weather environments, our systems are built and maintained to withstand the high winds and severe conditions that can be typical of our region.

我們在業界領先的可靠性可減少停電事件，從而降低可能引發野火的點火可能性。我們為我們的植被成本中斷率低而感到自豪，僅為 3.5%，而行業平均為 20%。憑藉數十年在惡劣天氣環境下運作的經驗，我們的系統經過精心建造和維護，能夠抵禦我們地區常見的強風和惡劣條件。

On June 30, we launched our new Emergency Public Safety Power Shutoff program, or PSPS, as one component of our broader operational response plan and comprehensive wildfire medication plan. The program involves selectively and proactively de-energizing power lines in high-risk areas as a last resort safety measure under extreme conditions.

6 月 30 日，我們啟動了新的緊急公共安全斷電計畫（PSPS），這是我們更廣泛的營運應變計畫和綜合野火治療計畫的一部分。該計劃涉及選擇性地主動切斷高風險地區的電線，作為極端條件下的最後安全措施。

To our team and stakeholders, I'd like to say thank you for your thoughtful engagement. Delivering dependable energy is responsibility we take seriously, and we remain committed to working collaboratively to balance safety with the need for reliable service. Together, we've developed a program that makes sense in our communities as we execute on our collective priority of safety alongside the need for excellent reliability and resiliency.

對於我們的團隊和利益相關者，我想感謝你們的深思熟慮的參與。提供可靠的能源是我們認真對待的責任，我們將繼續致力於合作，以平衡安全性和可靠服務的需求。我們共同製定了一個適合我們社區的計劃，既執行了我們共同的安全優先事項，又滿足了對卓越可靠性和彈性的需求。

We look forward to working with our key stakeholders to further enhance our wildfire mitigation efforts and to align with legislative bodies on the standard of care that improves safety and reduces business risk. Legislation has already been enacted in Wyoming, and we continue to work with utility partners and legislative bodies in 2026 that will advance wildfire safety and prevention in South Dakota and Colorado.

我們期待與我們的主要利益相關者合作，進一步加強我們的野火緩解工作，並與立法機構就提高安全性和降低業務風險的護理標準保持一致。懷俄明州已經頒布了立法，我們將在 2026 年繼續與公用事業合作夥伴和立法機構合作，推進南達科他州和科羅拉多州的野火安全和預防工作。

With that, I will now turn the call back to Lin.

說完這些，我現在把電話轉回給林。

Thank you, Marne. Our solid second quarter financially and operationally provides strong confidence in achieving our 2025 guidance and our ability to deliver in the upper half of our long-term EPS CAGR starting next year. Through our robust pipeline of strategic opportunities, we are investing in safely and reliably serving our customers and mitigating risks.

謝謝你，馬恩。我們第二季的財務和營運表現穩健，這為我們實現 2025 年目標以及從明年開始實現長期每股收益複合年增長率上半部分的能力提供了強有力的信心。透過我們強大的策略機會管道，我們正在投資安全可靠地服務我們的客戶並降低風險。

We're successfully and routinely executing on our regulatory plan. And we are innovatively developing customer solutions to enable data center and blockchain load growth. This concludes our prepared remarks, and we're happy to take your questions.

我們正在成功且按計劃執行我們的監管計劃。並且我們正在創新地開發客戶解決方案，以實現資料中心和區塊鏈負載的成長。我們的準備好的演講到此結束，我們很高興回答您的問題。

(Operator Instruction)

（操作員指令）

Chris Ellinghause, Siebert Williams Shank.

克里斯埃林豪斯、西伯特威廉斯尚克。

Alright, hey, everybody, how are you? The industrial growth for the quarter was 19%. Can you give us any kind of color on how we should anticipate that digital growth to proceed? Is it going to stay in that 20+ kind of percent range on a linear basis? Or can you give us any color on what the shape looks like?

好吧，嘿，大家好嗎？本季工業成長率為19%。您能否為我們介紹一下我們應該如何預期數位成長？它會以線性方式保持在 20% 以上的範圍內嗎？或者您能告訴我們它的形狀是什麼樣子的嗎？

Good morning, Chris. This is Marne. Thanks for the question. So yeah, on the industrial growth side of it, so yeah, we did see some good growth, and what we've seen in the past is it's not necessarily linear. We see different ramp rates depending on the type of the data center as well as the type of the blockchain load that's coming on.

早上好，克里斯。這是馬恩。謝謝你的提問。是的，就工業成長方面而言，我們確實看到了一些良好的成長，而且我們過去看到的是，它不一定是線性的。根據資料中心的類型以及即將出現的區塊鏈負載的類型，我們看到不同的斜率。

So really good growth that we saw this quarter, you noticed that with the peak in Cheyenne. And while we expect to continue to see significant growth from data centers as well as blockchain going forward, I don't expect it to be just strictly linear.

因此，我們本季看到了非常好的成長，您會注意到夏延的成長達到了頂峰。雖然我們預計未來資料中心和區塊鏈將繼續顯著成長，但我並不認為這將是嚴格的線性成長。

Okay. And Lin, you talked about the new announcements for Wyoming. Was that part of the sort of incremental 500 that was in your sort of pipeline or was that incremental to what your prior thinking was?

好的。林，您談到了懷俄明州的新公告。這是您所計劃的 500 個增量中的一部分嗎？還是說這是您之前想法的增量？

Good morning, Chris. Thanks for the question. It's incremental to our pipeline in total. This is relatively new announcement. So we're in discussions with the counterparties. We've to date not included anything other than to acknowledge it's part of our pipeline now, and we're going to take a very disciplined approach when we have agreements that are executed and signed. Then we'll move that into our load forecast and move it into our financial forecast as well, perhaps.

早上好，克里斯。謝謝你的提問。總體而言，這對我們的管道來說是增量。這是一個相對較新的公告。因此我們正在與交易對手進行討論。到目前為止，我們除了承認它是我們目前管道的一部分之外，沒有包括任何其他內容，當我們執行和簽署協議時，我們將採取非常嚴謹的態度。然後，我們可能會將其轉移到我們的負載預測中，並將其轉移到我們的財務預測中。

Okay. So you're sort of 1,000-megawatt, 10 year sort of outlook, do you expect that that will, sort of get updated over time as you get closer to MOUs or whatever, even contracts, whatever your comfort level is?

好的。所以，您是針對 1,000 兆瓦、10 年期的展望，您是否預計，隨著您越來越接近諒解備忘錄或其他協議，甚至合同，無論您的舒適度如何，這種展望會隨著時間的推移而更新？

Yes, we do, Chris. Thank you for that. We're cautious, we're conservative. We're very happy with the counterparties that we have agreements with today, that being Microsoft and Meta, watching them continue to grow. Meta is building their data center now. We're serving the construction load. We have not transitioned to the data center load, but that's coming as we said in our comments in 2026.

是的，我們確實如此，克里斯。謝謝你。我們謹慎、保守。我們對今天與我們達成協議的交易對手微軟和 Meta 感到非常高興，並看到他們繼續成長。Meta 目前正在建造他們的資料中心。我們正在承擔施工負荷。我們尚未過渡到資料中心負載，但正如我們在 2026 年的評論中所說的那樣，這將會實現。

So as these data centers, through our unique tariff, because we can serve them in many different ways. As Marne pointed out in her prepared remarks, that we -- this is a service territory that's franchised to us, so we can serve in some very unique ways, and that's why we believe are these kind of customers are coming to us.

因此，對於這些資料中心，我們可以透過獨特的資費以多種不同的方式為它們提供服務。正如馬恩在她準備好的發言中指出的那樣，這是我們特許經營的服務區域，因此我們可以以一些非常獨特的方式提供服務，這就是我們相信這類客戶會來找我們的原因。

It's a great service territory for lots of different reasons, including the tariffs that we provide and allow our customers to take advantage of with us. We're very close, very watchful on how it impacts the shareholder, how it impacts our customers, how it impacts our communities, so we're being very disciplined and thoughtful about our counterparties.

由於多種原因，這是一個很棒的服務區域，包括我們提供的關稅以及允許我們的客戶利用的關稅。我們非常密切、非常關注它對股東的影響、對我們的客戶的影響、對我們社區的影響，因此，我們對我們的交易對手非常自律且深思熟慮。

Okay, great. Kimberly, you insurance expenses were particularly high in the first quarter. Is the second quarter sort of down to the incremental rate that you expect through the rest of the year?

好的，太好了。金伯利，你第一季的保險費用特別高。第二季的成長率是否會下降到您預計的今年剩餘時間的成長率？

Yeah, thank you. Good morning, Chris. From an insurance perspective, we renew insurance rates July 1 through June 30. So as we talked last year, we had some pretty significant increases. We just completed our renewals and what we're seeing is flat year-over-year insurance costs and when you compare July 1 of 2025 through -- June 30 of 2026, when you compare that period to last year, we see flat insurance rates insurance expense going forward. So that will be a nice benefit as we look through the end of 2025 and going into 2026.

是的，謝謝。早上好，克里斯。從保險角度來看，我們的保險費率從 7 月 1 日到 6 月 30 日更新。正如我們去年談到的，我們取得了一些相當顯著的成長。我們剛完成續保，我們看到的是保險費用同比持平，當您將 2025 年 7 月 1 日至 2026 年 6 月 30 日與去年進行比較時，我們會看到未來的保險費率和保險費用持平。因此，當我們展望 2025 年底和 2026 年時，這將是一個很好的優點。

All right, thanks guys. Appreciate it.

好的，謝謝大家。非常感謝。

Thank you. Have a good day.

謝謝。祝你有美好的一天。

Andrew Weisel, Scotiabank.

加拿大豐業銀行的安德魯‧韋塞爾。

Hey, good morning, everyone. My first question for Kimberly, you're pointing to the upper half of the 4% to 6% range starting next year. Can you elaborate on what specifically is driving that? Does it mean more like 5% to 6% each year or on average depending on rate cases, or is it generally or gradually accelerating as some of the large load customers ramp up? Just help us understand a little bit behind the thinking of that, please.

嘿，大家早安。我對金伯利的第一個問題是，您指的是從明年開始的 4% 到 6% 範圍的上半部。能詳細說明一下具體是什麼原因導致的嗎？這是否意味著每年或平均成長率約為 5% 到 6%，具體取決於費率情況，還是隨著一些大負荷客戶的增加而普遍或逐漸加速？請幫助我們稍微理解這種想法背後的意義。

Yeah, Andrew, thank you for the question and good morning. So as we've talked about being in the upper end of our growth guidance range of 4% to 6% starting next year, there are actually several drivers that are providing us the confidence to be able to achieve that upper half. So starting, with some of the projects you heard Marne speak to, we have Ready Wyoming, which is a $350 million transmission investment that will start full recovery of 01/01/2026. So that's a very beneficial driver.

是的，安德魯，謝謝你的提問，早安。因此，正如我們所說的，從明年開始，我們的成長預期將達到 4% 至 6% 的上限，實際上有幾個驅動因素讓我們有信心實現這一上限。因此，首先，從您聽到馬恩談到的一些項目開始，我們有 Ready Wyoming，這是一項 3.5 億美元的輸電投資，將於 2026 年 1 月 1 日開始全面恢復。所以這是一個非常有益的驅動因素。

We have Lange II and Colorado CEP being put into service to some degree in '26 through '28, so there's benefits from those specific projects as well. We continue to see customer growth within our jurisdictions. Arkansas continues to grow. We're seeing growth here in South Dakota, the Front Range of Colorado, those areas continue to grow as we've talked about in the past.

我們有 Lange II 和 Colorado CEP 在 26 年至 28 年間投入使用，因此這些特定項目也能帶來好處。我們繼續看到我們管轄範圍內的客戶成長。阿肯色州繼續發展。我們看到南達科他州、科羅拉多州前山脈地區的成長，這些地區正在繼續增長，正如我們過去談到的那樣。

And then, as Lin and Marne just talked about from a data center perspective, we are continuing -- Meta ramps up in '26, and as we look for and are working with additional data centers to the extent that that load is accelerated or comes to fruition in our five year plan, which we expect it to be, that would be additive.

然後，正如 Lin 和 Marne 剛剛從資料中心的角度談到的，我們將繼續進行——Meta 在 26 年加速發展，並且隨著我們尋找和使用更多的資料中心，這種負載會加速或在我們的五年計劃中取得成果，我們預計這將是附加的。

So when we say up for half, it doesn't include the data center growth that I just spoke to you, but in general it's going to be all those capital projects along with regulatory efforts that Marne talked about in Nebraska and Kansas when we get full year of rates next year. So lots of great things happening that give us confidence to support that upper half of our growth range.

因此，當我們說增加一半時，它不包括我剛才跟您談到的資料中心的成長，但總的來說，當我們明年獲得全年利率時，它將包括所有那些資本項目以及 Marne 在內布拉斯加州和堪薩斯州談到的監管工作。因此，許多偉大的事情發生讓我們有信心支持我們成長範圍的上半部。

That's very helpful and I appreciate that you clarified that that does not include the data center growth, including this new customer that you were referring to. So thank you for clarifying that.

這非常有幫助，我很感激您澄清這不包括資料中心的成長，包括您所提到的這個新客戶。感謝您澄清這一點。

My other question was you mentioned some unplanned outages. Can you get a little more specific? What happened there and are those plans back online and were there any issues that might have impacts looking forward?

我的另一個問題是您提到了一些計劃外的停機。能更具體一點嗎？那裡發生了什麼事？這些計劃是否恢復了？是否存在可能對未來產生影響的問題？

Yeah, I'll let Marne talk about the operational side, and I'll address the financial side.

是的，我會讓馬恩談論營運方面，然後我會談論財務方面。

Yeah, Andrew. So I'll say all of our generation is up and online and serving customers today. As you know, we've had some impacts from some outages over the course of this year, but our generation availability really continues to be in line with industry benchmarks. Our maintenance schedules are on track. And here we've had the opportunity recently to really, I think, even mitigate some future risk with some spare turbines as well as a spare combustor.

是的，安德魯。所以我想說，我們這一代今天都已經上網並為客戶提供服務。如您所知，今年我們受到了一些停電的影響，但我們的發電可用性確實繼續符合行業基準。我們的維護計劃正在按計劃進行。我認為，最近我們有機會利用一些備用渦輪機和備用燃燒室來真正減輕未來的風險。

So we've had these, but I think we have hopefully successfully mitigated some of the impacts that we could see going forward and like I said, all generation is up and running today, so we're very proud of that.

所以我們已經遇到了這些問題，但我認為我們已經有望成功減輕未來可能出現的一些影響，而且就像我說過的，今天所有的發電都已啟動並運行，所以我們對此感到非常自豪。

Yeah, and Andrew, as you think about the financial side, we tried to call out that impact to O&M just because we've provided that earnings guidance run rate, so the $5 million is going to increase our overall O&M assumption. However, within the total financial package, when you look at EPS impact, year-to-date, it's immaterial, and the big drivers are offsets related to non-controlling interest because one of the outages was related to a facility that is partially owned by a third-party and then we had some negative margin last year that obviously when you're comparing year-over-year became a benefit. So those items are offsetting the $5 million of pretax O&M.

是的，安德魯，當你考慮財務方面時，我們試圖指出這對 O&M 的影響，因為我們已經提供了盈利指導運行率，所以 500 萬美元將增加我們的整體 O&M 假設。然而，在整個財務方案中，當您查看年初至今的每股收益影響時，它是無關緊要的，而最大的驅動因素是與非控股權益相關的抵消，因為其中一次停電與部分由第三方擁有的設施有關，然後我們去年有一些負利潤，顯然，當您與去年同期進行比較時，這變成了一種好處。因此，這些項目抵消了 500 萬美元的稅前營運和維護費用。

So when you look at the total O&M rate that we've provided, if you exclude the $5 million we are on target to achieve that compounded annual growth rate of 3.5% of O&M off of our 2023. So overall, an immaterial impact.

因此，當您查看我們提供的總 O&M 率時，如果不包括 500 萬美元，我們的目標是從 2023 年開始實現 3.5% 的 O&M 複合年增長率。所以整體而言，影響並不重大。

Okay, and it sounds like no impact going forward, is that right?

好的，聽起來這對未來沒有影響，對嗎？

Agreed and yes, and we've assumed no unplanned outages for the remainder of the year.

同意，是的，我們預計今年剩餘時間內不會發生意外停電。

Got it. Okay. Thank you so much for all the details. I appreciate it.

知道了。好的。非常感謝您提供的所有詳細資訊。我很感激。

Thank you, Andrew.

謝謝你，安德魯。

Thank you. I would not like to turn the call back over to Lin Evans for any closing remarks.

謝謝。我不想把電話轉回給林·埃文斯 (Lin Evans) 做任何結束語。

Well, thank you very much for your interest in Black Hills and your time today. I want to once again extend my gratefulness to our employee team, our business partners. We delivered an excellent second quarter that's going to help us through the next several quarters in delivering upon our promises to our shareholders, our customers, and our communities.

好吧，非常感謝您對黑山的關注以及您今天抽出的時間。我想再次向我們的員工團隊和業務合作夥伴表示感謝。我們第二季的業績非常出色，這將幫助我們在接下來的幾季兌現對股東、客戶和社區的承諾。

You may hear the rumble in the background, the Sturgis rally starting soon. So if you're in the area on your motorcycle or otherwise, stop by and say hello and enjoy a Black Hills Energy, safe day. Thank you again.

您可能會聽到背景中的隆隆聲，斯特吉斯集會即將開始。因此，如果您騎著摩托車或其他交通工具來到該地區，請停下來打個招呼，享受黑山能源的安全一天。再次感謝您。

Thank you. This concludes the conference. Thank you for your participation. You may not disconnect.

謝謝。會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您不能斷開連線。