CenterPoint Energy Inc (CNP) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to CenterPoint Energy's Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call with Senior Management. (Operator Instructions)

早上好，歡迎來到 CenterPoint Energy 與高級管理層舉行的 2022 年第三季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）

I will now turn the call over to Jackie Richert, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer, Ms. Richert?

我現在將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁兼財務主管 Jackie Richert，Richert 女士？

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CenterPoint's earnings conference call. Dave Lesar, our CEO; and Jason Wells, our CFO, will discuss the company's third quarter 2022 results. Management will discuss certain topics that will contain projections and other forward-looking information and statements that are based on management's beliefs, assumptions and information currently available to management. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks or uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially based upon various factors as noted in our Form 10-Q, other SEC filings and our earnings materials. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement. We will be discussing certain non-GAAP measures on today's call.

大家，早安。歡迎來到 CenterPoint 的收益電話會議。我們的首席執行官 Dave Lesar；我們的首席財務官 Jason Wells 將討論公司 2022 年第三季度的業績。管理層將討論某些主題，這些主題將包含基於管理層目前可獲得的管理層信念、假設和信息的預測和其他前瞻性信息和陳述。這些前瞻性陳述受風險或不確定因素的影響。實際結果可能會根據我們的 10-Q 表格、其他 SEC 文件和我們的收益材料中指出的各種因素而產生重大差異。我們沒有義務公開修改或更新任何前瞻性聲明。我們將在今天的電話會議上討論某些非 GAAP 措施。

When providing guidance, we use the non-GAAP EPS measure of adjusted diluted earnings per share. On a consolidated basis, referred to as non-GAAP EPS. For information on our guidance methodology, and a reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures used in providing guidance, please refer to the earnings news release and presentation, both of which can be found under the Investors Section on our website. As a reminder, we use our website to announce material information. This call is being recorded. Information on how to access the replay can be found on our website. Now I'd like to turn the discussion over to Dave.

在提供指引時，我們使用非 GAAP EPS 衡量調整後的稀釋每股收益。在綜合基礎上，稱為非 GAAP 每股收益。有關我們的指導方法的信息，以及用於提供指導的非 GAAP 措施的協調，請參閱收益新聞稿和演示文稿，兩者都可以在我們網站的投資者部分找到。提醒一下，我們使用我們的網站來公佈重大信息。此通話正在錄音中。有關如何訪問重播的信息可以在我們的網站上找到。現在我想將討論轉交給戴夫。

Thank you, Jackie. Good morning and thank you to everyone joining us for our third quarter 2022 earnings call. Before we get started today, I want to congratulate Jason Wells on this morning's announcement of his pending promotion to President and COO of CenterPoint Energy. Since joining our team a little over 2 years ago, he has demonstrated that he has the strategic vision, executive mindset, deep industry experience and operational knowledge to be a great leader. Equally important, he has the confidence and support of our organization, our Board and our shareholders. This promotion is a product of an ongoing and thoughtful succession planning process and executive development journey that has been a top priority of mine and our entire Board. The Board and I have watched Jason grow as an executive over the last 2 years and believe now is the perfect time to expand his role within our organization.

謝謝你，傑基。早上好，感謝大家加入我們的 2022 年第三季度財報電話會議。在我們今天開始之前，我要祝賀 Jason Wells 今天上午宣布即將晉升為 CenterPoint Energy 的總裁兼首席運營官。自從 2 年多前加入我們的團隊以來，他已經證明他擁有成為一名優秀領導者的戰略眼光、執行思維、深厚的行業經驗和運營知識。同樣重要的是，他得到了我們組織、董事會和股東的信任和支持。此次晉升是持續深思熟慮的繼任計劃流程和高管發展之旅的產物，這一直是我和整個董事會的首要任務。在過去的 2 年裡，董事會和我見證了 Jason 作為一名高管的成長，我相信現在是擴大他在我們組織中的角色的最佳時機。

And for those of you who are wondering, I am not going anywhere. I look forward to continuing to mentor and support Jason in his new role and to working side by side to execute on our strategy. I know I speak for many of you when I say, well done, Jason. As you have seen from the press releases we issued this morning, this has been a very busy quarter at CenterPoint, and today's call may seem a bit like a mini Analyst Day update. When I became a CEO of CenterPoint nearly 2.5 years ago, the company needed to quickly establish a strategic path forward to, among other things, realign our relationships with our regulators, customers and investors. We look to immediately set challenging but executable goals by which you could measure progress while collectively adopting a management mindset of over delivering on our commitments. I want to highlight what that has looked like here at CenterPoint over the last 2.5 years.

對於那些想知道的人，我哪兒也不去。我期待在 Jason 的新角色中繼續指導和支持他，並肩並肩執行我們的戰略。我知道當我說，幹得好，傑森時，我代表了你們中的許多人。正如您從我們今天早上發布的新聞稿中看到的那樣，這是 CenterPoint 非常繁忙的一個季度，今天的電話會議看起來有點像小型分析師日更新。將近 2.5 年前，當我成為 CenterPoint 的首席執行官時，公司需要迅速建立一條戰略前進道路，其中包括調整我們與監管機構、客戶和投資者的關係。我們希望立即設定具有挑戰性但可執行的目標，您可以通過這些目標來衡量進展，同時共同採用超額兌現承諾的管理心態。我想強調過去 2.5 年來 CenterPoint 的情況。

So what we've achieved so far. First, we committed to achieving industry-leading non-GAAP EPS growth. Now including this quarter, we have met or exceeded that goal for 10 consecutive quarters. In addition, we have over delivered on that growth by raising our non-GAAP EPS guidance 5x during that 2.5 years span and continue to reiterate that we will grow future earnings off of each new and higher base that we achieve. Second, we committed to becoming a pure-play regulated utility that was not subjected to the earnings volatility of our now divested midstream investment. And now more than 95% of our earnings are derived from regulated utility operations.

那麼到目前為止我們取得了什麼成就。首先，我們致力於實現行業領先的非 GAAP 每股收益增長。現在，包括本季度在內，我們已連續 10 個季度達到或超過該目標。此外，我們通過在這 2.5 年的時間跨度內將我們的非 GAAP EPS 指引提高 5 倍來實現這一增長，並繼續重申我們將在我們實現的每一個新的和更高的基礎上增加未來的收益。其次，我們致力於成為一家純粹的受監管公用事業公司，不受我們現已剝離的中游投資的收益波動的影響。現在，我們 95% 以上的收入都來自受監管的公用事業運營。

The approximately $1.3 billion of after-tax midstream sale proceeds exceeded your expectations and allowed us to reinvest the money into our regulated utility businesses for the benefit of our customers. Finally, we committed to funding our increased regulated utility investments without reliance on external equity issuances. This led to the sale of our Arkansas and Oklahoma LDCs for which we obtained a landmark valuation and then recycle those cash proceeds efficiently back into our regulated businesses, all for the benefit of our customers and investors.

大約 13 億美元的稅後中游銷售收益超出了您的預期，使我們能夠將這些資金重新投資到我們受監管的公用事業業務中，以造福於我們的客戶。最後，我們承諾在不依賴外部股票發行的情況下為增加的受監管公用事業投資提供資金。這導致我們出售了我們的阿肯色州和俄克拉荷馬州最不發達國家，我們為此獲得了具有里程碑意義的估值，然後將這些現金收益有效地回收回我們受監管的業務，這一切都是為了我們的客戶和投資者的利益。

Now let's look at today. We earned $0.32 in the third quarter on a non-GAAP basis. We are also reiterating full year 2022 non-GAAP EPS guidance of $1.37 to $1.39 per share, which represents a 9% growth rate at the midpoint versus the comparable 2021 non-GAAP Utility EPS of $1.27. And as Jason will discuss, we are also ahead of plan in terms of capital spend for 2022 in spite of supply chain pressures, and we've deployed more capital than anticipated.

現在讓我們看看今天。根據非公認會計原則，我們在第三季度的收入為 0.32 美元。我們還重申 2022 年全年非 GAAP 每股收益指引為 1.37 美元至 1.39 美元，與可比的 2021 年非 GAAP 公用事業每股收益 1.27 美元相比，中點增長率為 9%。正如 Jason 將要討論的那樣，儘管存在供應鏈壓力，但我們在 2022 年的資本支出方面也超前於計劃，而且我們部署的資本比預期的要多。

In addition, today, we are initiating our full year 2023 non-GAAP EPS guidance target range of $1.48 to $1.50. At the midpoint, this represents an additional 8% growth over our previously raised 2022 non-GAAP EPS guidance. Beyond 2023, we continue to expect 8% non-GAAP EPS growth for 2024 and at the mid- to high end of 6% to 8% annually thereafter through 2030. I also want to point out that these earnings growth rate targets do not reflect any potential earnings from the $5.3 billion in incremental capital opportunities that we will discuss next.

此外，今天，我們啟動了 2023 年全年非 GAAP 每股收益指導目標範圍 1.48 美元至 1.50 美元。從中點來看，這比我們之前提出的 2022 年非 GAAP 每股收益指引額外增長了 8%。 2023 年以後，我們繼續預計 2024 年非公認會計準則每股收益增長 8%，此後到 2030 年的中高端每年增長 6% 至 8%。我還想指出，這些收益增長率目標並未反映我們接下來將討論的 53 億美元增量資本機會的任何潛在收益。

Our track record of over-delivering continues with today's announcement of what is now a third increase to our 2021 Analyst Day, $40 billion 10-year capital plan. We continue to anchor around this Analyst Day number to provide consistency, clarity and clearly mark goalpost for our investors to follow. Our new incremental capital opportunities are based on customer-driven investments that were developed through our increased stakeholder engagement strategy. Our strategy initially kicked off with the City of Houston on our collective Resilient Now initiative under the leadership of Mayor Sylvester Turner. It has grown to include over 30 cities in some of our largest industrial customers.

今天宣布我們的 2021 年分析師日 400 億美元 10 年資本計劃第三次增加，我們繼續保持超額交付的記錄。我們繼續圍繞這個分析師日數字進行錨定，以提供一致性、清晰度和明確標記目標，供我們的投資者遵循。我們新的增量資本機會基於客戶驅動的投資，這些投資是通過我們增加的利益相關者參與戰略開發的。我們的戰略最初是在西爾維斯特·特納 (Sylvester Turner) 市長的領導下，從休斯頓市發起的集體 Resilient Now 倡議開始的。它已經發展到包括 30 多個城市中的一些最大的工業客戶。

With their collective input, we have developed $5.3 billion in additional capital opportunities related to increased systems resiliency, reliability and grid modernization as well as to facilitate eventual EV adoption.

在他們的共同投入下，我們開發了 53 億美元的額外資本機會，這些機會與提高系統彈性、可靠性和電網現代化有關，並促進最終採用電動汽車。

Now there is a well-known saying that demographics is destiny. And in looking at its demographics, the City of Houston is destined for great things. As the only investor-owned utility headquartered in Texas, we are fortunate to serve customers in the City of Houston and its surrounding areas. The Houston area is one of the fastest growing and most ethnically diverse areas in the nation, averaging more than 2% annual population growth over the last 3 decades. We believe that this diversity only strengthens Houston's future growth prospect, which benefits our customers and investors alike. Although Houston today is well known as the energy capital of the world, not as well known is that it's also home to one of the largest active ports in the nation in the Houston-based Texas Medical Center, which is the largest medical center in the world. For example, the Port of Houston is the largest port in the U.S. by waterborne tonnage and is also the U.S.'s largest exporter with over $140 billion of goods shipped annually. This is more than 35% greater than that of New York, the next largest U.S. shipping exporter.

現在有一句名言，人口就是命運。從人口統計數據來看，休斯頓市注定會成就非凡。作為唯一一家總部位於德克薩斯州的投資者所有的公用事業公司，我們有幸為休斯頓市及其周邊地區的客戶提供服務。休斯頓地區是全國發展最快、種族最多樣化的地區之一，在過去 3 年中，年平均人口增長率超過 2%。我們相信，這種多樣性只會加強休斯頓未來的增長前景，這對我們的客戶和投資者都有好處。儘管今天的休斯敦以世界能源之都而聞名，但並不為人所知的是，它還是全美最大的活躍港口之一，位於休斯敦的德克薩斯醫療中心是美國最大的醫療中心世界。例如，休斯頓港是美國水運噸位最大的港口，也是美國最大的出口商，每年運送的貨物超過 1400 億美元。這比美國第二大航運出口國紐約高出 35% 以上。

The Houston Ship Channel's Petrochem complex alone, both 272 chemical plants, refineries, and other industrial facilities, which generate about $800 billion a year in business annually. Just this summer, an additional $1 billion project which started to widen and deepen the channel to support immense future growth. In addition, the Port Authority is now looking at electrifying its port operation. This will also benefit our customers and communities who live near the port by helping reduce submissions from idling cargo ships.

僅休斯頓航道的石化綜合設施就有 272 家化工廠、煉油廠和其他工業設施，每年產生約 8000 億美元的業務。就在今年夏天，一個額外的 10 億美元項目開始拓寬和深化支持巨大未來增長的渠道。此外，港務局目前正在考慮實現港口運營電氣化。這也將有助於減少閒置貨船提交的報告，從而使我們的客戶和住在港口附近的社區受益。

Turning to the Texas Medical Center, or TMC. If this complex was standing on its own, would already be the 8th largest business district in the United States. And just last month, it was announced that the TMC would nearly double its size in the next 5 to 10 years. It is now anticipated that this doubling in size of the TMC will alone create over 100,000 new jobs. With a greater focus on the biosciences and biomanufacturing of critical medical products, the TMC should continue to attract diverse talent for years to come. Today, it already sees roughly 8 million patients every year. So much like the region, it continues to grow.

轉向德克薩斯醫療中心 (TMC)。如果這個綜合體獨立存在，就已經是美國第 8 大商業區。就在上個月，TMC 宣布將在未來 5 到 10 年內將其規模擴大近一倍。現在預計，僅 TMC 規模擴大一倍，就可以創造超過 100,000 個新工作崗位。隨著更加關注關鍵醫療產品的生物科學和生物製造，TMC 應在未來幾年繼續吸引多元化人才。如今，它每年已經接待了大約 800 萬患者。與該地區非常相似，它繼續增長。

Lastly, and perhaps the purest illustration of Houston's incredible organic growth, there are over 70,000 births in the Houston area alone last year. That's a new baby born every 7 minutes. While Houston's natural growth and positioning in the Gulf Coast provides a clear competitive advantage, we are also mindful of our exposure to severe weather. Our Houston Electric customers know what's at stake, a day without power can equal a loss of up to $1.4 billion of GDP. This is one factor that drives the collective community desire for a more reliable and resilient energy supply. This desire has led to customer-driven investment opportunities that we will be folding into our 10-year capital plan through 2030.

最後，也許是休斯頓令人難以置信的有機增長的最純粹例證，僅去年休斯頓地區就有超過 70,000 名新生兒。那是每 7 分鐘就有一個新生兒出生。雖然休斯頓在墨西哥灣沿岸的自然增長和定位提供了明顯的競爭優勢，但我們也注意到我們暴露在惡劣天氣下的風險。我們的 Houston Electric 客戶知道什麼是利害攸關的，一天斷電相當於 GDP 損失高達 14 億美元。這是推動集體社區渴望更可靠和更有彈性的能源供應的一個因素。這種願望帶來了以客戶為導向的投資機會，我們將把這些機會納入到 2030 年的 10 年資本計劃中。

For reasons to be discussed next, at this time, we are now only incorporating $2.3 billion of this additional $5.3 billion in capital into the balance of our existing 10-year investment plan through 2030. $1 billion of this is expected to be deployed by the end of 2025 and another $1.3 billion to be deployed by the end of 2030, all for the benefit of our customers. And while we are not updating our Analyst Day non-GAAP EPS guidance targets previously discussed, the deployment of this increased capital will clearly increase the potential future earnings power of the company.

由於接下來要討論的原因，此時，我們現在僅將這 53 億美元的額外資本中的 23 億美元納入我們現有的到 2030 年的 10 年投資計劃的餘額中。預計其中的 10 億美元將由到 2025 年底，另外 13 億美元將在 2030 年底之前部署，所有這些都是為了我們客戶的利益。雖然我們沒有更新之前討論的分析師日非 GAAP 每股收益指導目標，但增加的資本的部署將明顯增加公司未來潛在的盈利能力。

The initial $2.3 billion in capital now being added to our investment plan reflects the subset of opportunities, we believe we can currently and confidently execute efficiently and is comprised of the following: $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion of this new capital will be dedicated toward our distribution system resiliency, reliability and expanded grid modernization. This also includes strategically undergrounding certain parts of our system, replacing poles with higher wind resistant ones and elevating parts of the grid, especially substations to help protect such structures from the threat of flood damage.

現在添加到我們投資計劃中的初始 23 億美元資本反映了機會的子集，我們相信我們目前可以自信地高效執行，包括以下內容： 這筆新資本中的 16 億美元至 18 億美元將專門用於我們的分銷系統彈性、可靠性和擴展的電網現代化。這還包括戰略性地將我們系統的某些部分置於地下，用更高抗風性的電線桿替換電線桿，以及抬高部分電網，尤其是變電站，以幫助保護此類結構免受洪水破壞的威脅。

We recognize our customers want more resiliency more quickly, which is why we have already jumped ahead and began some of these projects in 2022. For example, $300 million of the $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion related to this category of capital spend is expected to be completed by the end of this year. $600 million to $800 million of this new capital will be focused on transmission upgrades. As we've stated before, our Houston Electric service territory comprises just 2.5% of the geographic footprint of the state of Texas, but we consume nearly 25% and of ERCOT's peak summer load. At the same time, our service territories need to import up to 60% of that load from generators outside our territory. This requirement to import a significant portion of the energy that is consumed in the Houston area, each and every day creates a risk of disruption.

我們認識到我們的客戶希望更快地獲得更高的彈性，這就是為什麼我們已經提前開始並在 2022 年開始了其中一些項目。例如，與此類資本支出相關的 16 億美元至 18 億美元中的 3 億美元預計將用於今年年底完成。這筆新資金中的 6 億至 8 億美元將用於傳輸升級。正如我們之前所說，我們的休斯頓電力服務區域僅佔德克薩斯州地理足蹟的 2.5%，但我們消耗了 ERCOT 夏季高峰負荷的近 25%。與此同時，我們的服務地區需要從我們地區以外的發電機進口高達 60% 的負荷。這種需要進口休斯頓地區消耗的大部分能源的要求，每天都會產生中斷的風險。

As this summer is illustrated, when Houston endures sustained high temperatures, statewide power generation can struggle to keep up with demand and the need for additional transmission lines to deliver a cheaper and more diverse power supply for our customers in the Houston area becomes even more apparent. On top of the $2.3 billion described above, we have separately identified other capital investment opportunities of $3 billion, which we will opportunistically integrate into our long-term capital plan. These additional opportunities include even more grid modernization and system reliability investments as well as the increased investments for accelerated electrification in the Houston area, including EVs.

正如今年夏天所說明的那樣，當休斯頓忍受持續的高溫時，全州的發電量可能難以滿足需求，並且需要額外的輸電線路來為休斯頓地區的客戶提供更便宜、更多樣化的電力供應變得更加明顯.除了上述 23 億美元之外，我們還單獨確定了 30 億美元的其他資本投資機會，我們將適時將其納入我們的長期資本計劃。這些額外的機會包括更多的電網現代化和系統可靠性投資，以及增加對休斯頓地區加速電氣化的投資，包括電動汽車。

As a reminder, we conservatively estimate that each light-duty EV brings approximately $80 in margin to us per year. The Houston area remains a laggard in the adoption with about 30,000 EVs on its roads today. None of the potential future earnings upside from additional EV penetration is reflected in our current earnings forecast. Furthermore, the $3 billion in additional future capital spend I mentioned earlier, does not fully include the potential impact of increased or accelerated EV adoption.

提醒一下，我們保守估計每輛輕型電動汽車每年為我們帶來大約 80 美元的利潤。休斯頓地區在採用方面仍然落後，目前道路上約有 30,000 輛電動汽車。我們當前的盈利預測中沒有反映出電動汽車普及率提高帶來的潛在未來盈利增長。此外，我之前提到的 30 億美元的額外未來資本支出並未完全包括增加或加速電動汽車採用的潛在影響。

With nearly 5 million cars in the Houston area, that is a lot of potential upside. The remaining $3 billion of opportunities beyond the $2.3 billion that we've added to our investment plan through 2030, also provides capital upside and additional potential earnings power for us. However, as is our management team's history, we are taking a prudent approach and are not yet adding it to our capital plan.

休斯頓地區擁有近 500 萬輛汽車，這是一個很大的潛在上升空間。除了我們到 2030 年在投資計劃中增加的 23 億美元之外，剩下的 30 億美元機會也為我們提供了資本上行空間和額外的潛在盈利能力。然而，正如我們管理團隊的歷史一樣，我們正在採取謹慎的態度，尚未將其添加到我們的資本計劃中。

We will start to add these amounts incrementally to our planned capital spend once we are convinced, we can access the labor, nail down the availability of the equipment and deploy it to the benefit of our customers. In other words, we fully expect to include the $3 billion balance of the $5.3 billion of these other new capital opportunities on our plan when we believe we can operationally execute it, efficiently fund it and prudently recover it. This approach is no different than our recent history of folding incremental capital into our plan once we are convinced, we can efficiently deploy it to benefit our customers. The customer benefits of our revised capital plan are exciting and tangible, enhancing both reliability and resiliency while also helping us to advance the restoration of service during outages.

一旦我們確信我們可以獲得勞動力，確定設備的可用性並將其部署到我們的客戶的利益中，我們將開始逐步將這些金額添加到我們的計劃資本支出中。換句話說，當我們相信我們可以在運營上執行它、有效地為其提供資金並謹慎地收回它時，我們完全希望將這些其他 53 億美元的新資本機會中的 30 億美元餘額包括在我們的計劃中。這種方法與我們最近將增量資本納入我們的計劃的歷史沒有什麼不同，一旦我們確信，我們就可以有效地部署它以使我們的客戶受益。我們修訂後的資本計劃給客戶帶來的好處是令人興奮和切實的，既提高了可靠性和彈性，同時也幫助我們在中斷期間推進服務的恢復。

To summarize this capital spend. This will increase our current capital plan by $2.3 billion, which now totals nearly $43 billion through 2030. As I stated today, we are only including $2.3 billion of investments in our updated capital plan, which we believe we have the crews and materials can efficiently finance while remaining focused on overall affordability at the same time, customers are facing rising energy costs. The remaining $3 billion will be folded in once it also meets that same criterion, which we believe will be achievable through prior securitization charges rolling off, our commitment to O&M discipline and the continued organic growth in our Houston Electric service territory.

總結這筆資本支出。這將使我們目前的資本計劃增加 23 億美元，到 2030 年總計將近 430 億美元。正如我今天所說，我們在更新後的資本計劃中僅包括 23 億美元的投資，我們相信我們擁有的人員和材料可以有效地在財務繼續專注於總體承受能力的同時，客戶正面臨不斷上升的能源成本。一旦剩餘的 30 億美元也符合相同的標準，我們將折疊起來，我們相信這將通過之前的證券化費用的減少、我們對 O&M 紀律的承諾以及我們休斯頓電力服務領域的持續有機增長來實現。

This increased capital investment will also contribute to our ongoing efforts to reduce O&M over the longer term, which will help continue to keep customer bills affordable. Included in our capital spend are grid modernization investments such as circuit reclosers and other smart grid investments that will reduce the number of truck rolls to restore power, which should translate into lower O&M costs that directly benefit our customers. The benefit of O&M savings is exemplified by the fact that every dollar saved of O&M roughly translates to $8 that can be invested as capital for the benefit of customers. This ability to reduce O&M along with prior securitization charges coming off the bill in 2022 and 2024 and continued organic growth creates a perfect opportunity to invest incremental capital to the benefit of our customers while keeping customer charges affordable.

這種增加的資本投資也將有助於我們在長期內減少 O&M 的持續努力，這將有助於繼續保持客戶負擔得起的賬單。我們的資本支出中包括電網現代化投資，例如電路重合閘和其他智能電網投資，這些投資將減少上門服務以恢復電力的次數，這應轉化為更低的 O&M 成本，從而直接使我們的客戶受益。 O&M 節省的好處體現在這樣一個事實，即 O&M 節省的每一美元大約相當於 8 美元，可以作為資本投資，造福於客戶。這種減少 O&M 的能力以及在 2022 年和 2024 年取消的先前證券化費用以及持續的有機增長創造了一個絕佳的機會來投資增量資本以造福於我們的客戶，同時保持客戶負擔得起的費用。

We believe our continued O&M discipline in organically growing Houston customer base will also allow us to make these investments, while customer charge increases stay below the average historical level of inflation of 2%. This is in line with the increase to our charges that we've seen for our Houston Electric customers over the last 10 years, which averaged a little over 1% annually. We also still expect to reduce our O&M by 1% to 2% per year on average over our 10-year plan. And in case you're wondering, this updated capital plan still does not require us to issue any additional external equity nor does it rely on the use of strategic proceeds from the sale of any additional regulated CenterPoint assets as our cash flow remains strong. This is a nice combination in a great position to be in today.

我們相信，我們在有機增長的休斯頓客戶群中持續的 O&M 紀律也將使我們能夠進行這些投資，而客戶費用的增長將保持在 2% 的平均歷史通貨膨脹水平以下。這與我們在過去 10 年中看到的休斯頓電氣客戶的收費增長一致，平均每年略高於 1%。我們還期望在我們的 10 年計劃中平均每年將我們的 O&M 減少 1% 到 2%。如果你想知道，這個更新後的資本計劃仍然不需要我們發行任何額外的外部股權，也不依賴於使用來自出售任何額外受監管的 CenterPoint 資產的戰略收益，因為我們的現金流仍然強勁。這是一個很好的組合，在今天處於有利地位。

Jason will walk you through our capital investment financing plan in a few minutes. Importantly, recovering our updated capital plan does not rely on any big bets as approximately 80% of the total plan can be recovered through interim regulatory mechanisms. And again, Jason will go into more detail on the funding and financial details of this in his section.

Jason 將在幾分鐘內向您介紹我們的資本投資融資計劃。重要的是，恢復我們更新後的資本計劃並不依賴於任何大賭注，因為總計劃的大約 80% 可以通過臨時監管機制恢復。同樣，Jason 將在他的部分中詳細介紹這方面的資金和財務細節。

So in summary, before I turn the call over to Jason, our management team is committed to executing and what we believe is one of the most tangible growth stories in the industry, which is driven by the growth profile of our largest jurisdiction, the Houston area. Our customer-driven investments are focused on meeting our customers' desire for reliable and cleaner energy so they can continue to contribute to one of the country's strongest and fastest-growing economies. We will look to deliver on those investments while keeping customer charges affordable, targeting charge increases at or below an average of 2% annually through 2030.

因此，總而言之，在我將電話轉給 Jason 之前，我們的管理團隊致力於執行我們認為是行業中最切實的增長故事之一，這是由我們最大的司法管轄區休斯頓的增長概況推動的區域。我們以客戶為導向的投資專注於滿足客戶對可靠和清潔能源的需求，以便他們能夠繼續為該國最強大和增長最快的經濟體之一做出貢獻。我們將尋求實現這些投資，同時保持客戶費用負擔得起，目標是到 2030 年每年平均費用增加 2% 或以下。

As we continue to engage with stakeholders, we believe additional customer-driven opportunities can be identified, and we look forward to furthering those customer discussions to help them achieve their own objectives. We reiterate 2022 non-GAAP EPS guidance of $1.37 to $1.39, a 9% growth rate over 2021, while initiating 2023 non-GAAP EPS guidance of $1.48 to $1.50 per share, a further 8% growth. After that, we continue to target a further 8% growth through 2024 and at the mid- to high end of 6% to 8% annually thereafter through 2030 and industry-leading growth rate. As a result of customer-driven initiatives, we have identified $2.3 billion of new capital and $3 billion of future capital to increase resiliency, grid modernization as well as to facilitate expanded electrification that will drive additional potential earnings power.

隨著我們繼續與利益相關者接觸，我們相信可以確定更多客戶驅動的機會，我們期待進一步開展這些客戶討論，以幫助他們實現自己的目標。我們重申 2022 年非 GAAP 每股收益指引為 1.37 美元至 1.39 美元，比 2021 年增長 9%，同時啟動 2023 年非 GAAP 每股收益指引為 1.48 美元至 1.50 美元，進一步增長 8%。在那之後，我們的目標是到 2024 年進一步實現 8% 的增長，然後到 2030 年實現每年 6% 到 8% 的中高端增長，並保持行業領先的增長率。由於客戶驅動的舉措，我們已經確定了 23 億美元的新資本和 30 億美元的未來資本，以提高彈性、電網現代化以及促進擴大電氣化，這將推動額外的潛在盈利能力。

We believe our continued focus on over delivering on our commitments has served our customers and investors well and will continue into the future. We are proud of our 10 consecutive quarters of execution and look to build on that streak while also delivering above expectations for the benefit of both our customers and our investors. Lastly, we remain focused on achieving our value proposition, which is striving for sustainable, resilient and affordable rates for our customers, sustainable earnings growth for our shareholders and a sustainable positive impact on the environment for our communities.

我們相信，我們對超額兌現承諾的持續關注為我們的客戶和投資者提供了良好的服務，並將持續到未來。我們為連續 10 個季度的執行感到自豪，並希望在此基礎上再接再厲，同時為我們的客戶和投資者的利益提供超出預期的業績。最後，我們仍然專注於實現我們的價值主張，即為我們的客戶爭取可持續、有彈性和負擔得起的利率，為我們的股東爭取可持續的收益增長，並為我們的社區對環境產生可持續的積極影響。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Jason.

有了這個，我會把電話轉給傑森。

Thank you, Dave, and thank you to all of you for joining us this morning for our third quarter call. And thank you, Dave, for those kind comments. I sincerely appreciate your continued mentorship, and I also want to take a moment to thank the Board for their continued support. I am humbled and honored to work alongside this great team we have here at CenterPoint in a different capacity starting next year. and I will remain committed to continuing to over deliver for all of our stakeholders as I approach this new role.

謝謝戴夫，感謝大家今天早上加入我們的第三季度電話會議。戴夫，謝謝你的好評。我衷心感謝您一直以來的指導，我也想花點時間感謝董事會一直以來的支持。從明年開始，我很榮幸能以不同的身份與我們在 CenterPoint 的這個偉大的團隊一起工作。在我擔任這個新角色時，我將繼續致力於繼續為我們所有的利益相關者提供超額服務。

Now I'll start by covering the financial results for the quarter as shown on Slide 5. On a GAAP EPS basis, we reported $0.30 for the third quarter of 2022. Similar to the second quarter, our GAAP EPS results include a portion of the tax on the gain on sale of our Arkansas and Oklahoma gas LDCs, which we are required under GAAP to recognize over the course of the full year. On a non-GAAP EPS basis, we reported $0.32 for the third quarter of 2022 compared to $0.25 for the same period in 2021.

現在，我將首先介紹本季度的財務業績，如幻燈片 5 所示。根據 GAAP 每股收益，我們報告 2022 年第三季度為 0.30 美元。與第二季度類似，我們的 GAAP 每股收益結果包括一部分對我們的阿肯色州和俄克拉荷馬州天然氣最不發達國家的銷售收益徵稅，根據美國通用會計準則，我們必須在全年中確認這些收益。在非 GAAP 每股收益基礎上，我們報告 2022 年第三季度每股收益為 0.32 美元，而 2021 年同期為 0.25 美元。

Growth in rate recovery contributed $0.05, largely driven by continued organic customer growth and capital recovery mechanisms for Houston Electric, which included TCOS and 1 month of DCRF recovery. Usage for this quarter was a favorable variance of $0.02 when compared to the same quarter of 2021, largely driven by warmer weather than normal that we've been experiencing here in the Greater Houston area.

費率恢復的增長貢獻了 0.05 美元，這主要是由休斯頓電氣持續的有機客戶增長和資本恢復機制推動的，其中包括 TCOS 和 1 個月的 DCRF 恢復。與 2021 年同一季度相比，本季度的使用量有 0.02 美元的有利差異，這主要是由於我們在大休斯頓地區經歷的天氣比往常溫暖。

Ongoing cost management was a benefit of $0.02 for the quarter, and we have been able to pull forward work for the benefit of our customers due to favorable weather through the second and third quarters of this year. This included accelerating additional vegetation management work into 2022, which began in the second quarter. We continue to expect to achieve our average annual 1% to 2% O&M reductions over the 10-year plan. These favorable drivers were partially offset by higher interest expense of $0.04, $0.01 of which related to absorbing costs previously allocated to our midstream segment in 2021. Other items contributed another $0.01 of favorable variance over the comparable quarter in 2021. Included in these other drivers are miscellaneous revenues and the disallowance of the 2021 winter storm-related extraordinary gas cost recovery by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.

持續的成本管理為本季度帶來了 0.02 美元的收益，並且由於今年第二和第三季度的有利天氣，我們能夠為客戶的利益推進工作。這包括將額外的植被管理工作加速到 2022 年，該工作從第二季度開始。我們繼續期望在 10 年計劃中實現年均 1% 至 2% 的 O&M 減少。這些有利的驅動因素被利息支出增加 0.04 美元部分抵消，其中 0.01 美元與吸收之前在 2021 年分配給我們中游部門的成本有關。其他項目與 2021 年同期相比又貢獻了 0.01 美元的有利差異。這些其他驅動因素包括雜項收入以及明尼蘇達州公用事業委員會不允許 2021 年冬季風暴相關的特別天然氣成本回收。

As Dave mentioned, we are initiating non-GAAP EPS guidance of $1.48 to $1.50 for 2023, which represents 8% growth over the midpoint of our previously increased 2022 non-GAAP EPS guidance of $1.37 to $1.39. We continue to target 8% growth in 2024 and at the mid- to high end of the 6% to 8% range annually thereafter through 2030.

正如 Dave 所提到的，我們正在啟動 2023 年 1.48 美元至 1.50 美元的非 GAAP 每股收益指導，這比我們之前增加的 2022 年非 GAAP 每股收益指導 1.37 美元至 1.39 美元的中點增長了 8%。我們的目標是在 2024 年實現 8% 的增長，並在此後到 2030 年實現每年 6% 至 8% 的中高端增長。

Before I turn to the future capital updates, I want to note that we are tracking nicely against our 2022 capital plan as seen on Slide 6. Through the third quarter, we spent $3.2 billion, which represents nearly 70% of the updated current year $4.6 billion capital plan target. Again, these figures include the incremental $300 million investment in grid hardening that Dave discussed.

在我談到未來的資本更新之前，我想指出，我們正在很好地跟踪我們的 2022 年資本計劃，如幻燈片 6 所示。整個第三季度，我們花費了 32 億美元，佔本年度更新後的 4.6 美元的近 70%億資本計劃目標。同樣，這些數字包括 Dave 討論的增加的 3 億美元電網加固投資。

Now shifting to the long-term capital plan and its corresponding earnings growth. As Dave already touched upon, we are updating our capital investment plan to include an incremental $2.3 billion of customer-driven capital, which now totals nearly $43 billion of capital to be deployed through 2030. Because we continue to update on our previously announced 10-year capital plan, which we are already 2 years into, this is really increasing the remaining 8 years by $2.3 billion. Furthermore, we have an additional $3 billion of potential opportunities that we will continue to evaluate to determine the appropriate time to incorporate these in our capital plan.

現在轉向長期資本計劃及其相應的盈利增長。正如 Dave 已經提到的那樣，我們正在更新我們的資本投資計劃，以包括增加 23 億美元的客戶驅動資本，到 2030 年，目前總計將部署近 430 億美元的資本。因為我們繼續更新我們之前宣布的 10-年的資本計劃，我們已經實施了 2 年，這實際上使剩餘 8 年增加了 23 億美元。此外，我們還有另外 30 億美元的潛在機會，我們將繼續評估這些機會，以確定將這些機會納入我們的資本計劃的適當時間。

You may notice on Slide 17 of the appendix, that the timing of our capital deployment has shifted somewhat from our last Analyst Day. As I will discuss later, the Posey solar project is now expected to be placed into service in 2024 rather than the end of 2023. In light of the supply chain delays and in line with what we previously communicated, this shift in our capital profile was not completely unexpected and does not change our view of our non-GAAP EPS guidance for 2023 or beyond because of the capital investment we announced we executed on earlier this year. It is also important to reiterate the recovery of this incremental capital is not based on any big bets. It is a series of small projects that we expect will be recovered through our routine and recurring interim capital recovery mechanisms. The result of the incremental $2.3 billion customer-driven capital investment will drive a rate base CAGR of over 9.5% through 2030.

您可能會在附錄的幻燈片 17 中註意到，我們的資本部署時間與上次分析師日有所不同。正如我稍後將討論的那樣，Posey 太陽能項目現在預計將在 2024 年而不是 2023 年底投入使用。鑑於供應鏈延遲以及我們之前傳達的信息，我們資本狀況的這種轉變是並非完全出乎意料，也不會因為我們今年早些時候宣布執行的資本投資而改變我們對 2023 年或以後的非 GAAP 每股收益指引的看法。重申這一增量資本的恢復並非基於任何大賭注也很重要。這是一系列小型項目，我們預計將通過我們的常規和經常性臨時資本回收機制回收。增量 23 億美元的客戶驅動資本投資的結果將推動到 2030 年的利率基礎複合年增長率超過 9.5%。

We are not updating our longer-term non-GAAP EPS growth guidance of 8% in 2024 and at the mid- to high end of the 6% to 8% range annually thereafter through 2030 despite this increase in capital investment. That is because it's very important to remember that we have a large number of rate cases in 2024 that will begin to set rates in 2025. We will update our long-term non-GAAP EPS growth estimates after those cases are resolved. However, I want to reiterate this additional capital investment we are announcing today will undoubtedly provide incremental earnings power for the company. Our goal continues to be delivering industry-leading growth each and every year while over delivering for our customers and our shareholders.

儘管資本投資有所增加，但我們不會更新 2024 年 8% 的長期非 GAAP 每股收益增長指引，以及此後每年 6% 至 8% 範圍的中高端，直至 2030 年。這是因為記住我們在 2024 年有大量利率案例將在 2025 年開始設定利率是非常重要的。在這些案例得到解決後，我們將更新我們的長期非 GAAP 每股收益增長估計。不過，我要重申，我們今天宣布的這項額外資本投資無疑將為公司提供增量盈利能力。我們的目標繼續是每年實現行業領先的增長，同時為我們的客戶和股東提供超額收益。

On the matter of upcoming rate cases, we are taking measured steps to achieve constructive outcomes for all stakeholders. For example, we have already funded Houston Electric's current capital structure with 45% equity despite the current improved capital structure being 42.5%. When looking at other non-ERCOT Texas utilities, national averages and the fact we have potential exposure to severe weather, we believe a 45% equity ratio is the minimum level that should be considered going forward. We've not assumed an increase in our equity ratio and our long-term EPS growth guidance, but we will work with our stakeholders to find a constructive resolution in our next rate case.

關於即將到來的利率案件，我們正在採取慎重的步驟，為所有利益相關者取得建設性的成果。例如，儘管目前改進後的資本結構為 42.5%，但我們已經為休斯頓電氣公司當前的資本結構提供了 45% 的股權。在查看其他非 ERCOT 德州公用事業、全國平均水平以及我們可能面臨惡劣天氣的事實時，我們認為 45% 的股本比率是未來應考慮的最低水平。我們沒有假設我們的股本比率和我們的長期 EPS 增長指導會增加，但我們將與我們的利益相關者合作，在我們的下一個利率案例中找到建設性的解決方案。

Now turning to the financing of our capital plan. As Dave discussed, the updated capital plan does not require external equity financing, nor does it require the sale of any of our rate-regulated utility assets. The capital plan is expected to be funded through OpCo debt consistent with our regulatory capital structure and higher FFO from potential changes in capital structure or the cash currently funding the 45% equity ratio at Houston Electric, for which we only have approval for 42.5%. I also want to point out that we used some conservative cash estimates at our previous Analyst Day, specifically around cash taxes associated with the sales of energy transfer units and gas LDCs. This provided an additional source of cash that we can use to help fund this incremental capital.

現在轉向我們的資本計劃的融資。正如 Dave 所討論的，更新後的資本計劃不需要外部股權融資，也不需要出售我們任何受利率管制的公用事業資產。資本計劃預計將通過符合我們監管資本結構的 OpCo 債務和資本結構潛在變化帶來的更高 FFO 或目前為休斯頓電氣 45% 的股權比例提供資金的現金提供資金，我們只批准了 42.5%。我還想指出，我們在之前的分析師日使用了一些保守的現金估計，特別是與能源傳輸裝置和天然氣最不發達國家的銷售相關的現金稅。這提供了額外的現金來源，我們可以用它來幫助為這筆增量資本提供資金。

We believe we'll be able to deliver on this increased capital plan while still targeting long-term FFO to debt of 14% to 15%, as of the end of the third quarter, our FFO to debt was over 15% above our stated target aligning with Moody's methodology. Shifting gears, there has been some concern among shareholders around the level of floating rate debt some utilities have. I want to address this topic. We intentionally entered 2022 with an elevated level of variable rate debt as we knew we were going to delever using the strategic proceeds from the sale of energy transfer units in the Arkansas and Oklahoma gas LDCs. We have paid down over $1.6 billion in floating rate debt this year, resulting in a 35% reduction in floating rate debt since the beginning of 2022. In addition, as of the end of the third quarter of 2022, we have reduced our parent level to total debt by 9 percentage points from the beginning of the year and project to be around 20% by the end of the year.

我們相信我們將能夠實現這一增加的資本計劃，同時仍將長期 FFO 與債務的比率定為 14% 至 15%，截至第三季度末，我們的 FFO 與債務的比率比我們規定的高出 15% 以上目標與穆迪的方法一致。換檔，股東對一些公用事業公司的浮動利率債務水平存在一些擔憂。我想談談這個話題。我們有意以更高水平的可變利率債務進入 2022 年，因為我們知道我們將使用在阿肯色州和俄克拉荷馬州天然氣最不發達國家出售能源傳輸裝置的戰略收益來去槓桿化。今年我們已經償還了超過 16 億美元的浮動利率債務，導致自 2022 年初以來浮動利率債務減少了 35%。此外，截至 2022 年第三季度末，我們降低了母公司水平總債務比年初減少 9 個百分點，預計到年底將達到 20% 左右。

With our continued focus on reducing parent-level debt as a percentage of total debt and successful restructuring of the legacy vector and legal entities, next year, we will look to finance (inaudible) at the OpCo level, which should allow us to reduce parent-level debt by another $640 million, resulting in a more normalized and efficient financing structure for both our customers and our investors. One other item to note is we have the ability to file rate cases earlier than previously communicated and will likely take this approach for CERC. We anticipate CERC filing a Texas rate case in mid-2023 and which will allow us to update our revenue requirement for, among other things, increased interest costs.

隨著我們繼續專注於降低母公司債務佔總債務的百分比，並成功重組遺留載體和法人實體，明年，我們將尋求 OpCo 層面的融資（聽不清），這將使我們能夠減少母公司-級債務再增加 6.4 億美元，從而為我們的客戶和投資者帶來更加規範和高效的融資結構。另一項需要注意的事項是，我們有能力比之前通知的更早提交費率案例，並且很可能會為 CERC 採用這種方法。我們預計 CERC 將在 2023 年年中提交德克薩斯州利率案件，這將使我們能夠更新我們的收入要求，其中包括增加的利息成本。

Moving on to a broader regulatory update on Slide 9. In Minnesota, we saw the full recovery of the $409 million of extraordinary gas costs incurred during Winter Storm Uri. While at the same time, we sought to minimize the impact on our customers by extending the recovery of that amount to 5 years. In May, the 2 administrative law judges that heard the evidence concluded that we acted prudently to procure gas to serve our customers during the extreme event. Unfortunately, in a split decision, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission disallowed recovery of approximately $36 million of the total $409 million incurred or about 8.7% of the total. Similar percentage disallowances were applied by the Minnesota PUC to other companies that had excess gas cost in the state. As this case continues, we will work towards an outcome that we believe is both fair for our customers and CenterPoint alike.

轉到幻燈片 9 上更廣泛的監管更新。在明尼蘇達州，我們看到在冬季風暴 Uri 期間產生的 4.09 億美元的特殊天然氣成本已全部收回。與此同時，我們力求通過將該金額的回收期延長至 5 年，將對客戶的影響降至最低。 5 月，聽取證據的 2 名行政法法官得出結論，我們在極端事件期間謹慎採購天然氣以服務我們的客戶。不幸的是，明尼蘇達州公用事業委員會在一項分裂決定中不允許收回 4.09 億美元總額中的約 3600 萬美元，即總額的 8.7%。明尼蘇達州 PUC 對州內天然氣成本過高的其他公司也適用類似的百分比免稅額。隨著此案的繼續，我們將努力爭取一個我們認為對我們的客戶和 CenterPoint 都公平的結果。

We also have a couple of securitizations that we continue to make progress towards completing. In Texas, the securitization related to extraordinary gas costs incurred during Winter Storm Uri continues to work its way through the regulatory process, and we expect to receive the approximately $1.1 billion of bond proceeds by the end of 2022.

我們還有一些證券化，我們將繼續在完成方面取得進展。在得克薩斯州，與冬季風暴 Uri 期間發生的異常天然氣成本相關的證券化繼續通過監管程序進行，我們預計到 2022 年底將收到約 11 億美元的債券收益。

In Indiana, we continue to work with stakeholders to finalize a first-of-its-kind $360 million securitization of the A. B. Brown coal facilities that will result in savings for our Indiana electric customers. We are expecting a decision by the end of this year, and if the financing order is approved, a bond issuance would occur sometime in the first quarter of 2023. Aside from the extraordinary gas cost and securitizations, we have a few other regulatory items I want to highlight. We had a constructive outcome in our gas rate case in Minnesota, where we settled our rate case, which resulted in a revenue increase of approximately $48.5 million. In addition, we filed for our second TCOS recovery in Texas for approximately $38 million, which we anticipate to start recovering in November this year.

在印第安納州，我們繼續與利益相關者合作，完成 A. B. Brown 煤炭設施的首次 3.6 億美元證券化，這將為我們印第安納州的電力客戶節省開支。我們預計將在今年年底做出決定，如果融資令獲得批准，債券發行將在 2023 年第一季度的某個時候進行。除了異常的天然氣成本和證券化，我們還有其他一些監管項目 I想要突出顯示。我們在明尼蘇達州的天然氣費率案件中取得了建設性的結果，我們在那裡解決了我們的費率案，從而使收入增加了約 4850 萬美元。此外，我們以大約 3800 萬美元的價格在德克薩斯州申請了第二次 TCOS 回收，預計將於今年 11 月開始回收。

Moving to our Integrated Resource Plan update. We're focused on delivering on our Indiana generation transition to support our net zero goals. And as I just discussed, we are still on track to receive a securitization order by the end of 2022 and bond proceeds in Q1 of 2023. Our Posey County Solar asset was originally expected to be placed in service in the fourth quarter of 2023. The project is now anticipated to be placed in service in 2024 due to supply chain delays. Given this delay, the forecasted capital amount for 2023 on the electric side has been shifted to 2024. But as a reminder, we are able to begin recovery as soon as the plant is placed into service. To enhance the disclosures around our progress of our energy transition, we have also published our first task force on climate-related finance disclosures report, which we committed to at our 2021 Analyst Day. As we continue to express, we take our commitment to be good stewards of your investment very seriously and realize our obligation to optimize stakeholder value. I'll now turn the call back over to Dave.

轉到我們的綜合資源計劃更新。我們專注於實現印第安納州的一代人過渡，以支持我們的淨零目標。正如我剛才所討論的，我們仍有望在 2022 年底之前收到證券化訂單，並在 2023 年第一季度收到債券收益。我們的 Posey County Solar 資產最初預計將在 2023 年第四季度投入使用。由於供應鏈延誤，該項目現在預計將於 2024 年投入使用。鑑於這一延遲，電力方面 2023 年的預測資本額已轉移到 2024 年。但提醒一下，我們能夠在工廠投入使用後立即開始恢復。為了加強圍繞我們能源轉型進展的披露，我們還發布了第一份氣候相關財務披露報告特別工作組，我們在 2021 年分析師日承諾這樣做。正如我們繼續表達的那樣，我們非常重視成為您投資的好管家的承諾，並履行我們優化利益相關者價值的義務。我現在將電話轉回給戴夫。

Thank you, Jason. And once again, congratulations. As you heard from us today, we have 10 straight quarters of meeting or exceeding expectations. We are a pure play regulated utility with industry-leading incremental growth opportunities driven by our customer demands.

謝謝你，傑森。再一次，祝賀你。正如您今天從我們這裡聽到的那樣，我們連續 10 個季度達到或超過預期。我們是一家純粹的受監管公用事業公司，在客戶需求的推動下擁有行業領先的增量增長機會。

Thank you, Dave. Operator, we are now ready to turn the call over to Q&A.

謝謝你，戴夫。接線員，我們現在準備將電話轉交給問答環節。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Our first question comes from Anthony Crowdell with Mizuho.

我們的第一個問題來自瑞穗的 Anthony Crowdell。

Congratulations, Jason, that's a lot in a new position and I guess your new team got roast. Dave, if I could hit you with the first question, just some insight or color into the CFO search, are you looking internally to the utility sector externally? Just what's the ideal kind of deal? I have a CapEx question after that.

恭喜你，Jason，在一個新的位置上有很多，我猜你的新團隊被烤了。戴夫，如果我可以問你第一個問題，只是對首席財務官搜索的一些見解或色彩，你是在內部尋找公用事業部門嗎？什麼樣的交易才是最理想的？之後我有一個資本支出問題。

Okay. No, I think this is going to be a really, really attractive job for a CFO. So we're going to cast that really, really wide essentially across the whole public spear in the U.S. and see what we can find. But as I said, I think it's going to be a great opportunity, a great job, and I expect that we're going to see some really good candidates.

好的。不，我認為這對 CFO 來說將是一份非常非常有吸引力的工作。因此，我們將在美國的整個公共矛中進行真正、非常廣泛的投射，看看我們能找到什麼。但正如我所說，我認為這將是一個很好的機會，一份很棒的工作，我希望我們會看到一些非常優秀的候選人。

Great. And then on Slide 7, I just wanted to focus on the $3 billion of incremental opportunities. Just if you give us some like structure and timing of that. Is that something that could apply maybe linear throughout the forecast period those are back-end loaded? Just any color you could give on that $3 billion and where we should be applying that in our forecast?

偉大的。然後在幻燈片 7 上，我只想關注 30 億美元的增量機會。只要你給我們一些類似的結構和時間安排。在後端加載的整個預測期間，這是否可以線性應用？您可以為這 30 億美元給出任何顏色，我們應該在預測中應用它嗎？

Yes. I think the way to think about this is look at the track record that we've developed as a management team. I think we've done a pretty good job identifying sort of incremental capital opportunities, finding a way to efficiently execute that, fund it and bring it into our rate base at the right time. And this is really no different. Maybe it's a little bit bigger than the ones we've had in the past. But I think from a context standpoint, if you think back to our first Analyst Day, this is the 5th time that we've raised capital.

是的。我認為思考這個問題的方法是查看我們作為管理團隊開發的業績記錄。我認為我們在確定增量資本機會方面做得非常好，找到了一種有效執行該機會的方法，為其提供資金並在正確的時間將其納入我們的利率基礎。這真的沒有什麼不同。也許它比我們過去擁有的要大一點。但我認為從背景的角度來看，如果你回想我們的第一個分析師日，這是我們第 5 次籌集資金。

If you go to our second Analyst Day, this is the third time that we raised capital. So I think we've got a pretty good track record of identifying and bringing this into not only execution and then rate base, but then earnings. And as we said a couple of times, and hopefully, Jason sort of walked you through the numbers, our guidance targets do not include any of the earnings from this. But I think the really important thing to focus on is that we still continue to believe that we will have industry-leading growth as we basically take on all the headwinds and the tailwinds that are thrown at us in this business. But I think the bottom line is, I think, industry-leading growth.

如果你去參加我們的第二個分析師日，這是我們第三次籌集資金。因此，我認為我們在識別並將其不僅用於執行，然後用於利率基礎，還用於收益方面有很好的記錄。正如我們多次說過的那樣，希望 Jason 能夠帶您了解這些數字，我們的指導目標不包括由此產生的任何收益。但我認為真正需要關注的重要事情是，我們仍然相信我們將擁有行業領先的增長，因為我們基本上承擔了這項業務中給我們帶來的所有逆風和順風。但我認為底線是行業領先的增長。

If I could just squeeze one in for Jason. Jason, you talked about you pulled forward some O&M from '23 to '22. And I think you mentioned maybe some vegetation management. Are you able to quantify how much O&M you pulled forward to '22?

如果我能為傑森擠一個進去就好了。傑森，你談到你將一些 O&M 從 23 年提前到 22 年。我想你可能提到了一些植被管理。您是否能夠量化您將 O&M 提前到 22 年的程度？

Anthony, I would think about it as a couple of cents of pull-forward work that we've incurred already, and we continue to look to optimize our plan in the fourth quarter. And I think this is just an incredible luxury that we have to continue to do more work on the system for the benefit of our customers as well as kind of giving us additional flexibility as we enter '23 from an earnings standpoint. So we're happy to continue to executing on it. We've incurred about $0.02 of that and still have some to go in the fourth quarter.

安東尼，我認為這是我們已經承擔的前瞻性工作的幾分錢，我們將繼續尋求在第四季度優化我們的計劃。而且我認為這只是一種令人難以置信的奢侈，我們必須繼續在系統上做更多的工作，以造福於我們的客戶，並在我們從收益的角度進入 23 世紀時為我們提供更多的靈活性。所以我們很高興繼續執行它。我們已經承擔了其中的大約 0.02 美元，並且在第四季度仍有一些支出。

And David, the strokes need to win. I don't know if we can handle a very successful Philly sports mindset.

而大衛，中風需要取勝。我不知道我們是否可以處理非常成功的費城體育心態。

We're hoping for the best.

我們希望最好的。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Our next question comes from Steve Fleishman with Wolfe Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Steve Fleishman。

Congrats, Jason. So just the $2.3 billion of CapEx that's in the plan, but not kind of in the earnings power, how should we -- I mean I assume you're not going to spend that if you're not going to get it recovered. So is it just a matter of kind of getting the certainty on the visibility of recovery to get that into the kind of earnings outlook instead of just earnings power?

恭喜，傑森。因此，計劃中只有 23 億美元的資本支出，但不是盈利能力，我們應該如何 - 我的意思是我假設如果你不打算收回它，你就不會花掉它。那麼，是否只是確定復甦的可見性，將其納入盈利前景，而不僅僅是盈利能力？

Thanks, Steve, for the question. And that's right. We wouldn't spend it if we didn't have full confidence that we'll earn on it. We continue to stress that we've got great capital recovery mechanisms here across our jurisdictions, that this is capital that our customers are asking for. And so we have confident that as we execute this work, we will fold it into rate base and earn on it. Really, the fact that we haven't increased the long-term EPS growth targets is really a function of the point that I stressed in our prepared remarks. I mean, we are entering a period here in 2024, where we'll have several major rate cases, Houston Electric, Texas Gas, City and Electric, among others. And I think it's just prudent for us.

謝謝史蒂夫提出這個問題。沒錯。如果我們不完全相信我們會從中獲利，我們就不會花它。我們繼續強調，我們在我們的管轄範圍內擁有強大的資本回收機制，這是我們的客戶所要求的資本。因此，我們有信心，在執行這項工作時，我們會將其納入費率基礎並從中獲利。實際上，我們沒有提高長期每股收益增長目標這一事實實際上是我在準備好的發言中強調的一點的功能。我的意思是，我們將在 2024 年進入一個時期，屆時我們將有幾個主要的費率案例，休斯頓電力公司、德克薩斯天然氣公司、城市和電力公司等。我認為這對我們來說是謹慎的。

We've taken conservative assumptions as we approach those rate cases. But I think it's prudent for us to kind of get to the other side. I think the takeaway, though, is the capital we're deploying will flow at a rate base. We have confidence in that and undoubtedly enhances the long-term earnings power of the company. I think the other thing just to point out beyond the capital from the standpoint of the long-term earnings power of the company, I want to reemphasize what I shared in my prepared remarks, we've already prefunded a higher equity ratio at Houston Electric as well. And while we have not assumed that increase in the long-term earnings growth rates that we provided, should we be successful in achieving that higher equity ratio, that presents yet another tailwind without a financing overhang. And so I think we are just continuing to put ourselves in a position to over deliver for our shareholders, our customers and continue to enhance what is an already industry-leading growth rate.

在處理這些利率案例時，我們採取了保守的假設。但我認為我們走到另一邊是明智的。不過，我認為外賣是我們正在部署的資本將以一個利率為基礎流動。我們對此充滿信心，無疑增強了公司的長期盈利能力。我認為另一件事只是從公司的長期盈利能力的角度指出資本之外，我想再次強調我在準備好的發言中分享的內容，我們已經預先為休斯頓電氣公司提供了更高的股權比率以及。雖然我們沒有假設我們提供的長期收益增長率有所提高，但如果我們能夠成功實現更高的股本比率，那將帶來另一個沒有融資過剩的順風。因此，我認為我們只是繼續讓自己處於為我們的股東、我們的客戶超額交付的位置，並繼續提高已經處於行業領先地位的增長率。

Okay. Great. That's helpful color. On -- when you talked about kind of incremental CapEx going back in the past. There was also a discussion of potential asset sales that could potentially help fund it and I think there's been more concern in the market just on asset sale values given just the financial market conditions, higher rates. Could you just comment if anything's changed in the strategy on asset sales and why maybe that's not discussed as part of this updated plan?

好的。偉大的。這是有用的顏色。開 - 當你談到過去的增量資本支出時。還討論了可能有助於為其提供資金的潛在資產出售，我認為，鑑於金融市場狀況和較高的利率，市場對資產出售價值的關注度更高。如果資產出售戰略有任何變化，您能否評論一下？為什麼可能沒有將其作為更新計劃的一部分進行討論？

Sure. Thanks for the question, Steve. No change in our strategy. Our strategy is to finance our incremental capital as efficiently as possible. We are fortunate today as part of this CapEx update to have identified sources of funding that are more efficient than incremental sales of utility assets. We've had a handful of conservative assumptions around tax positions, which have all resolved themselves favorably for the company. As I said, we prefunded the equity ratio at Houston Electric. We will either have higher FFO coming out of that as a result of that higher equity ratio, where we can pull back and use the cash to fund the capital directly. And so I think we have not changed our approach to strategy.

當然。謝謝你的問題，史蒂夫。我們的策略沒有改變。我們的戰略是盡可能有效地為增量資本融資。今天，作為資本支出更新的一部分，我們很幸運地確定了比公用事業資產的增量銷售更有效的資金來源。我們對稅收狀況有一些保守的假設，這些假設都對公司有利。正如我所說，我們預先為休斯頓電氣的股權比率提供資金。由於更高的股本比率，我們將獲得更高的 FFO，我們可以撤回並使用現金直接為資本提供資金。所以我認為我們沒有改變我們的戰略方法。

We just continue to find the most efficient sources of funding this incremental capital. More broadly, to your point though, we have not seen a softening in the private demand for utility assets, as we've talked about extensively over the years. With our previous communications, we still continue to receive pretty extensive outreach and interest. We just have not, as I said, needed to take that approach because we continue to find other sources that are more efficient to fund the CapEx that we've announced today.

我們只是繼續尋找最有效的資金來源來為這些增量資本提供資金。更廣泛地說，就你的觀點而言，正如我們多年來廣泛討論的那樣，我們並未看到私人對公用事業資產的需求減弱。通過我們之前的溝通，我們仍然繼續收到相當廣泛的外展和興趣。正如我所說，我們只是不需要採取這種方法，因為我們繼續尋找其他更有效的來源來為我們今天宣布的資本支出提供資金。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Julien Dumoulin-Smith with Bank of America.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Julien Dumoulin-Smith。

Jason, congratulations. If I may just picking up on Steve's question there a little bit further here. Can you talk a little bit about when you get to a position to talk about that mid- to high end of 6% to 8% here? I mean as you describe it, you're going to wait until the other side of these cases, which puts you perhaps in the latter half of '24 to give that update on the '25 onwards outlook. And at the same time, if I can, during the pendency presumably of a (inaudible) case, presumably there might be additional lag given the lack of the track or follow through. How do you think about the step-up in '25 earnings power given the additional CapEx as well as the related step-up type 2 earnings from the cases given the trajectory of 8% in '24 and 6% to 8% in '25?

傑森，恭喜。如果我可以在這裡進一步回答史蒂夫的問題。你能談談什麼時候可以在這裡談論 6% 到 8% 的中高端嗎？我的意思是，正如您所描述的那樣，您將等到這些案例的另一面，這可能會讓您在 24 年的下半年對 25 年以後的前景進行更新。同時，如果我可以的話，在可能是（聽不清）案件懸而未決的情況下，由於缺乏跟踪或跟進，可能會有額外的滯後。考慮到額外的資本支出，您如何看待 25 年盈利能力的提升以及案例中相關的 2 型收益的提升，給出 24 年 8% 的軌跡和 25 年 6% 到 8% 的軌跡？

Thanks, Julien, for the question. There's a lot there. Let me try to sort of unpack a handful of these items. I wouldn't ascribe an exact timeline to the update on the long-term growth rates of company sort of post these rate cases. As you said, we want to resolve those cases constructively and favorably for all stakeholders as we have better certainty, we will provide an update. I think what I want to stress around this point, though, is we would not spend this capital if we didn't assume and have a high degree of confidence that it would be included in rate base. And so as you model as others model, I would look at enhancing and increasing the long-term earnings power of the company sort of post these rate cases.

謝謝朱利安提出的問題。那裡有很多。讓我嘗試打開其中一些物品的包裝。我不會將確切的時間表歸因於這些利率案例後公司長期增長率的更新。正如您所說，我們希望為所有利益相關者建設性和有利地解決這些案例，因為我們有更好的確定性，我們將提供更新。不過，我想圍繞這一點我想強調的是，如果我們不假設並且高度相信它會被包含在費率基礎中，我們就不會花費這筆資金。因此，當您像其他人一樣建模時，我會著眼於增強和增加公司在發布這些利率案例後的長期盈利能力。

I think as it relates to kind of navigating a handful of these timelines, we have a fair degree of flexibility with respect to the capital trackers just given the multiple jurisdictions that we operate in. We will not have access to the capital trackers here in our Texas businesses while we're in those rate cases. So that does present a small amount of additional regulatory lag as we look to earn on those. We have tried to get in front of that issue by accelerating additional capital here into '23 that we will file for recovery for -- sorry, here in '22 that will file for recovery in '23, and we'll be fully into the earnings power of the company in '24. We also have a fair degree of flexibility in Indiana Electric, particularly with the generation transition that will coincide with the timing of these rate cases. As you may recall there, as we bring our renewable projects online, we can begin earning at the month they become operational.

我認為這涉及到一些時間線的導航，鑑於我們在多個司法管轄區開展業務，我們在資本追踪器方面具有相當程度的靈活性。我們將無法在我們的這裡訪問資本追踪器德克薩斯州的企業，而我們處於這些利率案件中。因此，當我們希望從中獲利時，這確實會帶來少量額外的監管滯後。我們試圖通過將額外資本加速到 23 年來解決這個問題，我們將在 23 年申請恢復——抱歉，在 22 年這裡將在 23 年申請恢復，我們將完全進入公司在 24 年的盈利能力。我們在印第安納電力公司也有相當程度的靈活性，特別是在與這些費率案例的時間相吻合的代際轉換方面。您可能還記得，當我們將可再生能源項目上線時，我們可以在它們投入運營的月份開始盈利。

And so there is minimal if any regulatory lag with respect to the investments in Indiana Electric. And so we're sequencing these investments, either having accelerated, as I said, this year, or balancing some of the chunkier projects over the next couple of years to sort of seamlessly work through the rate cases that are on the horizon. But the short of it is again, we wouldn't spend this capital if we didn't believe and have confidence that we'd earn on it. And so the takeaway should be, this enhances the long-term earning power of the company.

因此，在印第安納電力公司的投資方面，即使有任何監管滯後，也幾乎沒有。因此，我們正在對這些投資進行排序，正如我所說，今年已經加速，或者在未來幾年平衡一些更龐大的項目，以無縫地處理即將出現的利率案例。但缺點是，如果我們不相信並有信心從中獲利，我們就不會花掉這筆資金。因此，外賣應該是，這增強了公司的長期盈利能力。

Got it. Indeed, it does. And if I may, just going back to the here and now, if you will. Thanks for the additional details on the reduced variable rate debt year-to-date. You mentioned accelerating rate cases and offset. You talked about timing of costs and accelerating some of those costs. What are the other mitigation opportunities at corporate or else or, frankly, to dampen the impact of these higher financing costs to maintain the EPS trajectory, which you obviously have, but what other latitude levers might there exist?

知道了。確實如此。如果可以的話，回到此時此地，如果你願意的話。感謝您提供有關年初至今減少的可變利率債務的更多詳細信息。你提到了加速案例和抵消。你談到了成本的時間安排和加速其中一些成本。公司或其他方面還有哪些其他緩解機會，或者坦率地說，抑制這些較高融資成本的影響以維持 EPS 軌跡，這顯然是您擁有的，但可能存在哪些其他緯度槓桿？

I would say, Julien, I think you hit on the cost side. I think the big one that we talked about that people sometimes forget about it as soon as we talk about it, is our organic growth. I mean we are spreading -- as we reduced our O&M where we're spreading a smaller amount of O&M across a larger rate base or a larger customer base year after year after year. And that's just the luxury most other utilities don't have.

我想說，朱利安，我認為你談到了成本方面。我認為我們談論的最重要的是我們的有機增長，人們有時會在我們談論它時忘記它。我的意思是我們正在擴展——因為我們減少了 O&M，我們年復一年地在更大的費率基礎或更大的客戶群中分配更少量的 O&M。而這正是大多數其他公用事業所沒有的奢侈品。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Our next question comes from Jeremy Tonet with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Jeremy Tonet。

Just wanted to build a little bit more, I guess, in Houston opportunity. And what milestones are you looking for from Houston to incorporate more of this $3 billion potential incremental capital? I'm just trying to get a feel for timing possibilities here.

我想，只是想在休斯頓創造更多機會。您希望從休斯頓獲得哪些里程碑，以納入更多這 30 億美元的潛在增量資本？我只是想感受一下這裡的時間可能性。

Yes. Thanks again for the question, Jeremy. I mean a couple of points that I'll stress that Dave made in his prepared comments. We have had a history here now 5x since our First Day Analyst Day, 3x since our second Analyst Day of increasing our CapEx. So hopefully, we've built a track record that as we identify this capital that's in the best interest of our customers, we look to efficiently fold it in. I wouldn't, again, put a timeline on it. What we're looking at is kind of balance sheet probably 3 factors, confidence in execution. We've been significantly increasing our CapEx over the last couple of years.

是的。再次感謝杰里米的提問。我的意思是我要強調 Dave 在他準備好的評論中提出的幾點。自我們的第一天分析師日以來，我們在這裡的歷史已經增長了 5 倍，自我們增加資本支出的第二個分析師日以來已經增長了 3 倍。因此，希望我們已經建立了一個跟踪記錄，當我們確定這種資本最符合我們客戶的利益時，我們希望有效地將其折疊起來。我不會再一次在它上面放一個時間表。我們正在看的是一種資產負債表，可能有 3 個因素，對執行的信心。在過去的幾年裡，我們一直在顯著增加我們的資本支出。

We want to make sure that we have access to the materials, the crews and that we're putting away this capital effectively for our customers. And second, we always are cognizant of where we are with respect to rate increases for our customers. And so we try to balance that over the plan. And then third and finally, we look to finance the incremental capital efficiently for the benefit of our shareholders and investors. And so I wouldn't think about this as I'm not going to sign a specific timeline. I wouldn't also look at this as a series of big chunky projects. This is sort of additional routine spend that we will look to fold in when we have confidence on those 3 factors. And hopefully, we've earned the trust that we have a track record of doing so.

我們希望確保我們能夠獲得材料、工作人員，並且我們正在為我們的客戶有效地投入這筆資金。其次，我們始終清楚我們在為客戶提高利率方面所處的位置。因此，我們嘗試在計劃中平衡這一點。第三，也是最後，我們希望為股東和投資者的利益有效地為增量資本融資。所以我不會考慮這個，因為我不會簽署具體的時間表。我也不會將其視為一系列大型項目。這是一種額外的日常支出，當我們對這 3 個因素有信心時，我們會考慮將其納入。希望我們已經贏得了信任，因為我們有這樣做的記錄。

Yes. I would just like to add, I think Jason did a great job sort of covering the strategic aspects of it coming in and hit on the really important point at the end there. And then I hope that with all of you, we've developed the confidence. You have the confidence in us that we're always going to do the right thing at the right time, what's best for our customer and what's best for our investors. And I think you should think about this $3 billion and no other context than that. When we kind of identify it, we'll execute it. We'll get it in the rate base, and it will help our customers.

是的。我只想補充一點，我認為 Jason 做得很好，涵蓋了它的戰略方面，並在最後擊中了真正重要的一點。然後我希望與你們所有人一起，我們已經建立了信心。您對我們有信心，我們總是會在正確的時間做正確的事情，對我們的客戶和投資者最好。我認為你應該考慮這 30 億美元，而不是其他背景。當我們確定它時，我們將執行它。我們將在費率基礎上獲得它，這將幫助我們的客戶。

Operator, if you would, please get time for one more call.

接線員，如果可以的話，請抽出時間再打一個電話。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Our next question comes from Durgesh Chopra with Evercore.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore 的 Durgesh Chopra。

Jason, congrats. Just one quick question, and then I'll follow up with Jackie on the other one. Could you just give us what the pro forma variable debt amount would be post securitization proceeds for the dollar amount? And then as a percentage of your total debt, please?

傑森，恭喜。只是一個簡短的問題，然後我將跟進 Jackie 的另一個問題。您能否告訴我們美元金額的證券化後收益的備考可變債務金額是多少？然後佔你總債務的百分比，好嗎？

So the one point, it's for the Texas securitization because we have 2 securitizations spending the Texas guests securitization, it's $1.1 billion of incremental debt that we will pay down, and then we have the second securitization in Indiana, which is about another $360 million in proceeds that we expect kind of at the end of the third quarter. That will leave us with about $1.5 billion of variable rate debt as we enter next year. Some of that, as I said, attributable to our Texas gas businesses that we will file a rate case for in the middle of next year that helps reduce any potential long-term earnings drag from that higher level of interest costs that we'll see there. Also $1.5 billion.

所以有一點是針對德克薩斯證券化的，因為我們有 2 個證券化項目用於德克薩斯客人證券化，我們將償還 11 億美元的增量債務，然後我們在印第安納州進行第二次證券化，這大約是另外 3.6 億美元我們預計在第三季度末會收到收益。當我們進入明年時，這將為我們留下約 15 億美元的可變利率債務。正如我所說，其中一些歸因於我們的德克薩斯天然氣業務，我們將在明年年中提交利率案例，這有助於減少我們將看到的更高水平的利息成本對任何潛在長期收益的拖累那裡。還有 15 億美元。

All right, Operator. Thank you so much for the time today, everyone, for the call. This will conclude our call, and we look forward to seeing everyone at EEI.

好的，接線員。非常感謝大家今天抽空來電。我們的電話會議到此結束，我們期待在 EEI 見到大家。

This concludes CenterPoint Energy's Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Thank you for your participation.

CenterPoint Energy 的第三季度收益電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。

Thank you.

謝謝你。