艾索倫電力 (EXC) 2020 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to Exelon's third quarter earnings Call. My name is Gigi, and I'll be your event specialist today. (Operator Instructions) Please note that today's webcast is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) It is now my pleasure to turn today's program over to Dan Eggers, Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance. The floor is yours.

各位好，歡迎參加 Exelon 第三季財報電話會議。我是 Gigi，今天將擔任您的活動專員。（接線員指示）請注意，今天的網路直播將被錄音。（接線員指示）現在我很榮幸將今天的議程交給企業財務資深副總裁 Dan Eggers。請開始。

Thank you, Gigi. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our third quarter 2020 earnings conference call. Leading the call today are Chris Crane, Exelon's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Joe Nigro, Exelon's Chief Financial Officer. They're joined by other members of Exelon's senior management team, who will be available to answer your questions following our prepared remarks.

謝謝你，Gigi。各位早安，感謝各位參加我們 2020 年第三季財報電話會議。今天由 Exelon 總裁兼執行長 Chris Crane，以及 Exelon 財務長 Joe Nigro 主持。其他 Exelon 高階管理團隊成員也一同參與，並將在我們的準備發言後回答各位的提問。

We issued our earnings release this morning along with the presentation, both of which can be found in the Investor Relations section of Exelon's website. The earnings release and other matters, which we discuss during today's call contain forward-looking statements and estimates that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ from our forward-looking statements based on factors and assumptions discussed in today's material and comments made during this call.

我們今天早上發布了財報新聞稿並同時提供簡報，兩者皆可在 Exelon 官網的投資人關係（Investor Relations）專區找到。財報新聞稿及我們在今天電話會議中討論的其他事項包含前瞻性陳述與估計，可能受到各種風險與不確定性影響。實際結果可能因今日資料中所討論的因素與假設，以及本次電話會議中的評論，而與我們的前瞻性陳述有所不同。

Please refer to today's 8-K and Exelon's other SEC filings for discussions of risk factors and other factors, including uncertainties surrounding the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic that may cause results to differ from management's projections, forecasts and expectations.

請參閱今日的 8-K 以及 Exelon 其他向 SEC 提交的文件中對風險因素及其他因素的討論，其中包括 COVID-19 疫情影響所帶來的不確定性，這些都可能導致結果與管理層的推估、預測與預期不同。

Today's presentation also includes references to adjusted operating earnings and other non-GAAP measures. Please refer to the information contained in the appendix of our presentation and our earnings release for reconciliations between the non-GAAP measures and the nearest equivalent GAAP measures.

今天的簡報亦包含對調整後營運盈餘及其他非 GAAP 指標的引用。請參閱簡報附錄及我們的財報新聞稿所載資訊，以取得非 GAAP 指標與最接近之 GAAP 指標之間的調節表。

I'll now turn the call over to Chris Crane, Exelon's CEO.

接下來我將把電話會議交給 Exelon 執行長 Chris Crane。

Thanks, Dan. Appreciate it. And as you can see from our release, we've had strong earnings and operational performance, while continuing to focus on the health and safety of our employees and the communities. Our GAAP basis earned $0.51 per share and non-GAAP basis earned $1.04 per share.

謝謝你，Dan。感謝。正如各位從我們的新聞稿中所看到的，我們在持續聚焦員工與社區的健康與安全之際，仍繳出強勁的獲利與營運表現。我們以 GAAP 基礎計算的每股盈餘為 0.51 美元，以非 GAAP 基礎計算的每股盈餘為 1.04 美元。

We did outperform our guidance that we had originally given at $0.80 to $0.90 per share due to some favorable weather and more cost savings coming through sooner than we anticipated Joe is going to get into the detail (technical difficulty) that I want to highlight. In August, we had a tropical storm that battered the East Coast with rain and strong winds, significant impacts to ACE, Delmarva and PECO. It was PECO's 10th largest storm on record following the 8th largest storm in June.

我們確實優於先前所提供的每股 0.80 至 0.90 美元指引，主要因為天氣較為有利，以及成本節省的效益比我們預期更早顯現。Joe 會進一步說明細節（技術問題）。我想先強調的是：8 月有一場熱帶風暴以豪雨與強風侵襲東岸，對 ACE、Delmarva 與 PECO 造成重大影響。這是 PECO 有紀錄以來第 10 大風暴，僅次於 6 月的第 8 大風暴。

Then a hurricane-like derecho tore through the ComEd service territory, spawning 13 tornadoes. Between the 2 storms, we had more than 1.5 customers lost power. We had more than 500 employees and contractors that were helping their sister utilities moving back and forth between the East and the West to try to respond to the needs of the customers.

接著，一場類似颶風的「直線風暴」（derecho）橫掃 ComEd 服務區域，並引發 13 起龍捲風。兩場風暴合計，超過 150 萬名客戶停電。我們有超過 500 名員工與承包商支援姊妹公用事業公司，在東西兩地之間往返調度，以回應客戶需求。

And despite the intensity, we were able to restore the power to our customers in record time due to the power of our Exelon Utilities platform. Our employees' quick response and collaboration made the difference for our customers. So we really want to thank our employees for their great work restoring service to customers during, not just the pandemic, but a very active storm season as we've seen.

儘管風暴強度驚人，憑藉 Exelon 公用事業平台的力量，我們仍能在創紀錄的時間內為客戶恢復供電。我們員工迅速的反應與協作，為客戶帶來關鍵差異。因此，我們非常感謝員工在疫情期間，以及我們所見到的這個非常活躍的風暴季中，為客戶恢復服務所付出的卓越努力。

As I mentioned on the last call, Exelon is committed to our values of diversity, equality and inclusion. Part of this commitment calls on our businesses and our partners to recognize these values and include women and people of color in key roles on our accounts.

如同我在上次電話會議中提到的，Exelon 致力於多元（diversity）、平等（equality）與共融（inclusion）的價值觀。此承諾的一部分，是要求我們的事業單位與合作夥伴認同這些價值，並在我們的客戶專案關鍵職務中納入女性與有色人種。

For 10 years, we've recognized partners who have excelled in this area. This year, we've included 30 companies in banking, insurance, legal, investment, professional and IT services to our 2020 diversity and inclusion honor roll.

10 年來，我們表揚在此領域表現卓越的合作夥伴。今年，我們將銀行、保險、法律、投資、專業服務與 IT 服務等領域的 30 家公司納入 2020 年多元與共融榮譽名單。

We also are committed to delivering clean energy in a clean-energy future. Exelon Foundation and Exelon selected 10 start-ups as part of the first round of $20 million in climate change investment initiatives. Beyond the financial support, Exelon will mentor the start-ups on accessing capital, structuring the business, capital allocation and meeting the regulatory requirements.

我們也致力於在潔淨能源的未來中提供潔淨能源。Exelon Foundation 與 Exelon 在 2,000 萬美元氣候變遷投資倡議的第一輪中選出 10 家新創公司。除了資金支持之外，Exelon 也將就資金取得、商業架構、資本配置以及符合法規要求等方面，為這些新創公司提供輔導。

Through this program, the Foundation will invest early in stage start-ups, working on climate change, mitigating, adapting and resilience in our service territory. 50% are minority or women owned, 60% of the projects focus on greenhouse gas mitigation and the others are on resiliency and adapting to the changing climate environment that we're living in.

透過此計畫，基金會將在我們服務區域內，對從事氣候變遷減緩、調適與韌性相關的早期新創公司進行投資。其中 50% 為少數族裔或女性擁有，60% 的專案聚焦於溫室氣體減量，其餘則著重於韌性與因應我們所處、正在變化的氣候環境之調適。

These investments will bring us a step closer to a clean-energy future by helping entrepreneurs translate their ideas for reversing climate change into practical solutions. Finally, we made the difficult decision to retire some uneconomic generation stations. Mystic generation, gas-fired station in Boston will retire in 2024 when the cost service agreement expires.

這些投資將協助創業者把扭轉氣候變遷的構想轉化為可行的解決方案，使我們更接近潔淨能源的未來。最後，我們做出艱難決定，將退役部分缺乏經濟性的發電機組。位於波士頓的 Mystic 發電（燃氣）電廠，將於 2024 年在成本服務協議到期時退役。

And very disappointingly, we announced our Dresden -- Byron and Dresden nuclear stations will retire in 2021. These plants produce 30% of the carbon-free electricity in Illinois. They provide over 1,500 good-paying full-time jobs, and they support 2,000 supplemental workers during refueling outages, most from local union halls, paying $63 million in taxes annually to support local schools, fire departments and other services in their community.

同時也非常令人失望的是，我們宣布 Byron 與 Dresden 核電廠將於 2021 年退役。這些電廠生產伊利諾州 30% 的零碳電力，提供超過 1,500 個高薪全職工作，並在換料停機期間支援 2,000 名臨時人員，多數來自當地工會派工，且每年繳納 6,300 萬美元稅款，用以支持當地學校、消防單位及社區其他服務。

Despite being among the most efficient, reliable units in the U.S. nuclear fleet, they face revenue shortfalls, declining energy prices, lack of capacity revenue and market rules that allow fossil plants to underbid clean energy resources in the PJM market auction.

儘管它們是美國核能機組中效率與可靠性名列前茅的機組，仍面臨營收缺口、能源價格下滑、容量收入不足，以及 PJM 市場拍賣規則允許化石燃料電廠以低於潔淨能源資源的價格投標等問題。

Given these losses, we have made a tough decision to shut these units down and give our employees and the host communities time to manage through the personal and economic challenges ahead.

鑑於這些虧損，我們做出艱難決定關閉這些機組，並讓員工與所在地社區有時間因應未來的個人與經濟挑戰。

Without these plants and others at risk, customers will pay $483 million in increased annual energy cost under the PJM auction structure that is about to incur. The electric sector emissions will increase by 70% and instead of growing 0-carbon energy in Illinois to reach the state's goal of clean energy will fail -- fall decades behind.

若缺少這些電廠以及其他面臨風險的電廠，依據即將生效的 PJM 拍賣架構，客戶每年將多支付 4.83 億美元的能源成本。電力部門排放將增加 70%，而伊利諾州原本要擴大零碳能源以達成州內潔淨能源目標，將無法實現——並將落後數十年。

We continue to work with interested parties on the best way to achieve these state goals, but urgent action is needed. We have to protect our consumers from higher bills, our state from dirtier air and our communities from the loss of these irreplaceable power plants and the jobs that they create.

我們持續與相關利害關係人合作，尋求達成州內目標的最佳方式，但迫切需要立即行動。我們必須保護消費者免於更高的帳單、保護本州免於更髒的空氣，並保護社區免於失去這些無可取代的電廠及其所創造的工作機會。

Turning to operations, even with the pandemic conditions, extreme storms and record heat across our territories, all our utilities have achieved first quartile operating performance in outage duration and frequency.

在營運方面，即使面臨疫情條件、極端風暴以及我們各服務區域的破紀錄高溫，我們所有公用事業公司在停電持續時間與停電頻率方面，皆達到第一四分位（first quartile）的營運表現。

Customer service remains at top quartile across all utilities with BGE, ComEd and PECO delivering service in top decile.

客戶服務在所有公用事業公司中仍維持於前四分位（top quartile），其中 BGE、ComEd 與 PECO 的服務表現更達到前十分位（top decile）。

Power dispatch match of 98.9% in renewable energy capture at 91.9%. The Constellation has also had a very strong quarter of execution, and as a result was able to increase the new business targets for the year that we talked about at trouble in the first quarter.

電力調度匹配率為 98.9%，再生能源捕捉率為 91.9%。Constellation 本季在執行面也表現非常強勁，因此得以提高我們在第一季所談到的年度新業務目標。

The nuclear performance was excellent. The plants ran at 96% for the quarter. They led the nation in 0-carbon electricity production, producing almost 38 terawatt hours of emission-free generation. Like all of our plants, Dresden and Byron ran at nearly full power through the hottest summer on record.

核能營運表現同樣出色。本季機組運轉率達 96%。我們在零碳電力產量方面領先全美，生產近 380 億度（terawatt hours）的零排放發電量。如同我們所有電廠一樣，Dresden 與 Byron 在有史以來最炎熱的夏季中，幾乎全程以接近滿載運轉。

Employees at Dresden and Byron are entirely focused on ensuring the reliability and safety of these plants through their retirement dates. The plants' forced retirement is simply hard to deal with, and it's a shame.

Dresden 與 Byron 的員工正全力確保這些電廠在退役日期前的可靠性與安全性。這些電廠被迫退役確實令人難以接受，也令人惋惜。

I'll now turn the call over to Joe for a financial update.

接下來我將把電話會議交給 Joe，請他提供財務更新。

Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Today, I will cover our third quarter results, quarterly financial updates and our hedge disclosures. I will also provide an update on our full year 2020 guidance.

謝謝你，Chris，各位早安。今天我將說明我們第三季的業績、季度財務更新以及避險揭露。我也會更新我們 2020 全年指引。

Turning to Slide 7. We earned $0.51 per share on a GAAP basis and $1.04 per share on a non-GAAP basis, which exceeded our guidance range of $0.80 to $0.90 per share.

接著看第 7 張投影片。我們按 GAAP 基礎每股盈餘為 0.51 美元，按非 GAAP 基礎每股盈餘為 1.04 美元，超出我們每股 0.80 至 0.90 美元的指引區間。

A key driver in our quarterly EPS performance for both the second and third quarters has been success in managing costs. As you may recall, on our first quarter call, we announced $250 million of savings across the organization to help offset the impacts of COVID. At that time, we expected our offices would reopen in late summer. Since then, we have pushed phase 1 of our reopening for remote-enabled workers until January of next year at the earliest.

推動我們第二季與第三季單季 EPS 表現的一項關鍵因素，是我們在成本管理方面的成功。如各位所記得，我們在第一季電話會議上宣布全公司範圍內節省 2.5 億美元，以協助抵銷 COVID 的影響。當時，我們預期辦公室將於夏末重新開放。此後，我們已將針對可遠端工作的員工之第一階段復工，至少延後至明年 1 月。

This change in expectations, along with the hard work of the organization, led to higher savings than originally anticipated.

此一預期的改變，加上組織的努力，使得節省金額高於原先預期。

For the quarter, Exelon Utilities delivered a combined $0.57 per share net of holding company expenses. Utility earnings were modestly higher relative to expectations, driven primarily by favorable O&M and taxes, earlier recognition of bad debt regulatory assets and favorable summer weather in our non-decoupled jurisdictions.

就本季而言，Exelon Utilities 在扣除控股公司費用後合計貢獻每股 0.57 美元。公用事業獲利較預期略高，主要受惠於有利的營運與維護（O&M）及稅務、較早認列呆帳監管資產，以及在我們未採用 decoupling（收入與用量脫鉤）之轄區出現有利的夏季天氣。

This was partially offset by costs related to tropical storm Isis, which hit the East Coast in August.

但部分被與熱帶風暴 Isis 相關的成本所抵銷；該風暴於 8 月侵襲東岸。

ExGen outperformed expectations for the third quarter, earning $0.47 per share. The upside was largely driven by lower O&M, where targeted savings exceeded our original expectations and were achieved sooner than planned. Additionally, favorable weather and lower cost to serve benefited our gross margin.

ExGen 第三季表現優於預期，達成每股 0.47 美元。上行主要來自較低的 O&M，其中針對性的節省超出我們原先預期，且比計畫更早達成。此外，有利的天氣與較低的供電服務成本也提升了我們的毛利。

On Slide 8, we show our quarter-over-quarter earnings walk. The $1.04 per share in the third quarter of this year was $0.12 per share higher than the third quarter of 2019. Exelon Utilities less Holdco earnings were up $0.01 per share compared to last year. The earnings growth was driven primarily by higher distribution and transmission rates associated with completed rate cases relative to the third quarter of 2019 as well as favorable weather at PECO.

在第 8 張投影片，我們展示了本季相較前一季的獲利變動橋接圖。今年第三季每股 1.04 美元，較 2019 年第三季高出每股 0.12 美元。Exelon Utilities 扣除 Holdco 後的獲利較去年增加每股 0.01 美元。獲利成長主要來自相較 2019 年第三季，已完成費率案件所帶動的較高配電與輸電費率，以及 PECO 的有利天氣。

This was partially offset by storm costs at PHI and PECO. ExGen's earnings were up $0.11 per share compared with last year, benefiting from lower O&M and higher capacity revenues.

但部分被 PHI 與 PECO 的風暴成本所抵銷。ExGen 的獲利較去年增加每股 0.11 美元，受惠於較低的 O&M 與較高的容量收入。

Turning to Slide 9. We are raising our 2020 EPS guidance range to $3 to $3.20 per share from $2.80 to $3.10 per share and are now comfortably within our original 2020 guidance range of $3 to $3.30 per share. When we revised guidance on the first quarter call, there was a great deal of uncertainty about the severity and the length of the impacts of COVID on our business.

接著看第 9 張投影片。我們將 2020 年 EPS 指引區間由每股 2.80 至 3.10 美元上調至每股 3.00 至 3.20 美元，且目前已穩健回到我們原先 2020 年指引區間每股 3.00 至 3.30 美元之內。當我們在第一季電話會議上修正指引時，對於 COVID 對我們業務影響的嚴重程度與持續時間仍存在高度不確定性。

Our updated guidance considers the strong ExGen performance to date, our successful cost management as well as the favorable weather we saw in the third quarter. We are delivering on our financial commitments, and we are confident we will be within our revised guidance range at year-end.

我們更新後的指引納入 ExGen 迄今的強勁表現、我們成功的成本管理，以及第三季所見的有利天氣。我們正在履行財務承諾，並有信心在年底落在修正後的指引區間內。

Moving to Slide 10. Looking at our Utility returns on a consolidated basis, we have dipped slightly below our consolidated 9% to 10% target range with an 8.9% trailing 12-month ROE as of the third quarter. The 20 basis point decline from last quarter was primarily due to equity infusions at BGE and ComEd to support capital investments.

移至第 10 張投影片。從合併基礎來看，我們的公用事業報酬率略低於合併 9% 至 10% 的目標區間，截至第三季的過去 12 個月 ROE 為 8.9%。較上季下降 20 個基點，主要因 BGE 與 ComEd 為支持資本投資而進行股權注入。

This calculation is backward-looking, so you should continue to see some pressure on ROEs over the next couple of quarters. This is simply due to the roll-off of better pre-COVID-19 quarters, the burden of poor first quarter weather, summer storms and the continued impact of lower treasuries on ComEd.

此一計算屬回溯性，因此未來幾季 ROE 仍可能持續承壓。這主要是因較佳的疫情前季度逐步退出比較基期、第一季不佳天氣的影響、夏季風暴，以及 ComEd 受較低美國公債殖利率持續影響所致。

Looking further into the future, we remain focused on delivering stronger returns at the utilities and supporting our growth targets.

展望更長期，我們仍專注於在公用事業端交付更強勁的報酬並支持我們的成長目標。

Turning to Slide 11. Since the last call, we had 2 major developments on the regulatory front. Pepco filed its first multiyear plan in Maryland, and PECO filed its first guest distribution case in 10 years. Pepco was the second utility in Maryland to file a multiyear plan with BGE filing the first plan in May.

接著看第 11 張投影片。自上次電話會議以來，我們在監管面有兩項重大進展。Pepco 在馬里蘭州提交了其第一份多年期計畫，而 PECO 則提交了其 10 年來第一件天然氣配電費率案件。Pepco 是馬里蘭州第二家向監管機關提交多年期計畫的公用事業公司；BGE 於 5 月提交了第一份計畫。

The filing will support capital investments in the electric distribution system made during 2019 and '20 and planned investments through March of 2024. Pepco's planned investments will continue to improve reliability and customer service, advanced technologies and investments to modernize the distribution system, support state environmental goals and provide tools to assist customers in managing their energy use.

該申請將支持 2019 年與 2020 年期間在電力配電系統上的資本投資，以及規劃至 2024 年 3 月的投資。Pepco 的規劃投資將持續提升可靠度與客戶服務、導入先進技術並投資配電系統現代化，支持州政府環境目標，並提供工具協助客戶管理其能源使用。

The filing considers the current health emergency and economic challenges in Maryland, while allowing for timely recovery of our investments that benefit our customers.

該申請亦考量馬里蘭州目前的公共衛生緊急狀況與經濟挑戰，同時允許我們對能使客戶受益之投資進行及時回收。

A few highlights from the filing include flat distribution rates for the first 2 years of the plan, partially offset in year 3. Residential electric bills are projected to be lower in 2024 than they were in 2011. Recovery of electric vehicle program cost and COVID-19 costs and inclusion of tracking performance incentive mechanisms focused on system reliability, customer service and the environment. We expect an order in May of 2021.

該申請的幾項重點包括：計畫前兩年配電費率持平，第三年部分抵銷調整；預估 2024 年住宅用電帳單將低於 2011 年；回收電動車計畫成本與 COVID-19 成本；以及納入追蹤型績效獎勵機制，聚焦系統可靠度、客戶服務與環境。我們預期將於 2021 年 5 月收到裁定。

On September 30, PECO filed a gas distribution case with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. PECO is seeking a revenue increase of $69 million for continued investments in its gas distribution system to maintain and increase safety, reliability and customer service. We expect an order in June of '21.

9 月 30 日，PECO 向賓夕法尼亞州公用事業委員會提交天然氣配電費率案件。PECO 正尋求增加 6,900 萬美元收入，以持續投資其天然氣配電系統，維持並提升安全性、可靠度與客戶服務。我們預期將於 2021 年 6 月收到裁定。

We also have several rate cases still in progress, 2 of which expect orders on -- 2 of which we expect orders on this year. In October, evidentiary hearings were conducted as part of BGE's pending multiyear rate case. As a reminder, the filing supports planned capital investments from 2020 to '23 as well as investments made in late 2019 to maintain and increased reliability and benefit customer service for our electric and gas distribution systems. We expect an order in December.

我們也仍有數件費率案件在進行中，其中 2 件我們預期將在今年收到裁定。10 月，BGE 針對其待審多年期費率案件進行了證據聽證。提醒各位，該申請支持 2020 至 2023 年的規劃資本投資，以及 2019 年底為維持並提升可靠度、並改善我們電力與天然氣配電系統客戶服務所進行的投資。我們預期將於 12 月收到裁定。

Additionally, ComEd's annual formula rate update filing is expected to be decided in December of this year. On October 14, draft proposed orders were filed by ComEd, the ICC staff and intervenors as part of the case. This filing requests a reduction in delivery rates for the third year in a row and the fifth decrease in 10 years.

此外，ComEd 的年度公式費率更新申請預計也將於今年 12 月作出決定。10 月 14 日，ComEd、ICC 工作人員及介入方在該案中提交了擬議裁定草案。該申請要求連續第三年調降輸配電費率，並為 10 年來第五次下調。

Since the formula rate has been in place, ComEd's investments in grid modernization and enabling clean energy growth have improved reliability by 70% while keeping bills lower than they were nearly a decade ago. More details on the rate cases can be found on Slides 20 through 27 of the appendix.

自公式費率實施以來，ComEd 在電網現代化與促進潔淨能源成長方面的投資，使可靠度提升 70%，同時讓帳單水準低於近十年前。更多費率案件細節可參見附錄第 20 至 27 張投影片。

Turning to Slide 12. The Utilities continue to deploy capital largely as planned for the year, investing $1.6 billion during the third quarter and year-to-date, we have spent $4.5 billion of capital at our utilities, improving our infrastructure and increasing reliability and resiliency for the benefit of our customers.

接著看第 12 張投影片。公用事業部門持續大致依年度計畫部署資本，第三季投資 16 億美元；截至目前，我們在公用事業端已投入 45 億美元資本，改善基礎設施並提升可靠度與韌性，以造福客戶。

Despite some early challenges from the pandemic, our capital plan is on track for the year. Today, I will talk about 2 projects that advance Exelon utility strategy. A key element of that strategy is involving our capabilities to anticipate and meet changing customer needs and expectations of the system.

儘管疫情初期帶來一些挑戰，我們的年度資本計畫仍按軌道推進。今天我將談兩個推進 Exelon 公用事業策略的專案。該策略的一項關鍵要素，是運用我們的能力來預判並滿足客戶需求的變化，以及對系統的期望。

The first project is Pepco's streetlight modernization project in Maryland. This project includes conversion of approximately 66,000 existing streetlights to smart LEDs and integration with a central management system. The new streetlights will send automatic notifications to the central management system, improving outage response time, maintenance efficiency and customer billing accuracy.

第一個專案是 Pepco 在馬里蘭州的路燈現代化專案。該專案包括將約 66,000 盞既有路燈更換為智慧 LED，並與中央管理系統整合。新路燈將自動向中央管理系統發送通知，提升停電應變時間、維護效率與客戶計費準確性。

Additionally, LEDs improve light quality and benefit public safety and security. This project is included in the Pepco Maryland multiyear plan filing I discussed earlier.

此外，LED 可改善照明品質，並有助於公共安全與治安。此專案已納入我先前提到的 Pepco 馬里蘭州多年期計畫申請中。

The second project is the Exelon Utilities' customer information system upgrade, which was completed on time even though it was done almost fully remotely. This is a $130 million project to upgrade BGE's customer care and billing system and implement Oracle's customer experience service cloud at BGE, ComEd and PECO. This new system will provide operational efficiencies as well as improve customer satisfaction.

第二個專案是 Exelon Utilities 的客戶資訊系統升級；該專案幾乎完全以遠端方式完成，仍如期完成。這是一項 1.3 億美元的專案，用於升級 BGE 的客戶服務與計費系統，並在 BGE、ComEd 與 PECO 導入 Oracle 的客戶體驗服務雲。此新系統將帶來營運效率，並提升客戶滿意度。

It's simply one piece of an ongoing project across the utilities to transform the customer information system. These improvements will support a platform to enable future customer benefits. Improvements will include a more personalized customer experience allowing for more efficient issue resolution and a streamlined and simplified implementation of billing for new customer offerings, such as community solar where energy is produced at different locations than the customers' residents.

這只是公用事業體系內一項持續推動之專案的一部分，旨在轉型客戶資訊系統。這些改善將支援一個平台，以促成未來的客戶效益。改善內容將包括更個人化的客戶體驗，使問題解決更有效率，並為新的客戶方案提供更精簡、簡化的帳單導入流程，例如社區太陽能（其能源在與客戶居住地不同的地點生產）。

Additionally, it will allow for faster implementation of new rate structures, bringing pricing for new services such as EV charging and storage pricing to market faster.

此外，這也將使新的費率結構能更快導入，讓電動車充電與儲能等新服務的定價更快推向市場。

Transitioning to Slide 13, we provide our gross margin update and current hedging position at ExGen. Our disclosures now reflect the impacts of the planned retirements of the Byron and Dresden nuclear plants in September and November of 2021, respectively.

接著看第 13 頁，我們提供 ExGen 的毛利更新以及目前的避險部位。我們的揭露內容現已反映 2021 年 9 月與 11 月分別計畫退役 Byron 與 Dresden 核電廠所帶來的影響。

For 2020, total gross margin is up $50 million. Open gross margin decreased $100 million, primarily due to lower spark spreads in ERCOT, partially offset by higher prices at NiHub and West Hub.

就 2020 年而言，總毛利增加 5,000 萬美元。未避險毛利減少 1 億美元，主要因 ERCOT 的火電價差（spark spreads）下降，部分被 NiHub 與 West Hub 較高的價格所抵銷。

Our mark-to-market of hedges were up $250 million due to our hedge position, which offset the decrease in open gross margin including the execution of $150 million of Power New Business. We also executed $50 million in non-Power New Business during the quarter.

由於我們的避險部位，我們的避險按市價評價（mark-to-market）增加 2.5 億美元，抵銷了未避險毛利的下降，其中包含執行 1.5 億美元的電力新業務（Power New Business）。我們也在本季執行了 5,000 萬美元的非電力新業務（non-Power New Business）。

Based on the higher load volumes associated with favorable third quarter weather and lower cost to serve across the portfolio, we are raising our 2020 new business targets by $50 million. For 2021, total gross margin is down $150 million driven by the retirements of Byron and Dresden nuclear plants, which is flowing through the open gross margin line. However, open gross margin is flat due to higher prices at West Hub, NiHub and New York Zone A.

基於第三季有利天候帶動較高的負載量，以及整體投資組合的供應成本下降，我們將 2020 年新業務目標上調 5,000 萬美元。就 2021 年而言，總毛利減少 1.5 億美元，主因 Byron 與 Dresden 核電廠退役，並反映在未避險毛利項下。然而，由於 West Hub、NiHub 與紐約 A 區（New York Zone A）價格較高，未避險毛利持平。

Mark-to-market of hedges was down $100 million due to our hedge position being down $150 million, offset by the execution of $50 million of Power New Business inside the quarter.

避險按市價評價減少 1 億美元，原因是我們的避險部位下滑 1.5 億美元，但被本季內執行 5,000 萬美元的電力新業務所抵銷。

As a reminder, the Byron and Dresden retirements are expected to be earnings and cash flow accretive. However, they are essentially flat in 2021 due to the timing of the retirements. The $150 million decrease in gross margin is offset by lower O&M, TOTI and depreciation and amortization totaling $150 million. Additionally, we remained slightly behind our ratable hedging program in 2021 by 2% to 5% when considering cross-commodity hedges.

提醒一下，Byron 與 Dresden 的退役預期將對盈餘與現金流具增益效果（accretive）。然而，由於退役時點的關係，2021 年基本上呈現持平。毛利減少的 1.5 億美元，將由較低的營運與維護（O&M）、TOTI 以及折舊與攤銷合計 1.5 億美元所抵銷。此外，若將跨商品避險（cross-commodity hedges）納入考量，我們在 2021 年的等比例避險計畫（ratable hedging program）仍略為落後 2% 至 5%。

Our hedge percentages reflect the removal of Byron and Dresden in the fall of 2021.

我們的避險比例已反映於 2021 年秋季移除 Byron 與 Dresden 的影響。

Moving on to Slide 14. Our consolidated FFO to debt is projected to be 18% for 2020, consistent with last quarter. Looking at ExGen, we are ahead of our debt-to-EBITDA target of 3.0x. For 2020, we expect it to be at 2.3x debt-to-EBITDA and 1.9x when excluding nonrecourse debt.

接著看第 14 頁。我們預估 2020 年合併 FFO 對負債比率為 18%，與上季一致。就 ExGen 而言，我們優於 3.0 倍的負債對 EBITDA 目標。2020 年我們預期負債對 EBITDA 為 2.3 倍；若排除無追索權負債（nonrecourse debt），則為 1.9 倍。

On the ratings front, Moody affirmed its existing ratings for Exelon Corporation and ComEd in the third quarter. We remain committed to maintaining a strong balance sheet and investment-grade credit ratings.

在評等方面，穆迪（Moody's）於第三季確認 Exelon Corporation 與 ComEd 的既有評等。我們仍致力於維持強健的資產負債表與投資等級信用評等。

Thank you. And I'll now turn the call back to Chris for his closing remarks.

謝謝。接下來我把電話交回 Chris，請他做結語。

Thanks, Joe. Finally, turning to Slide 15. I want to close as we do each one of these calls, with our value proposition. We are focused on growing our utilities, and now we're targeting a 7.3% rate base growth with a 6% to 8% EPS growth through 2023. We will use the free cash flow from the Genco to support the utility growth, pay down Genco debt and support the external dividend.

謝謝，Joe。最後看第 15 頁。我想如同每次電話會議一樣，以我們的價值主張作結。我們專注於推動公用事業成長，並以 2023 年前 7.3% 的費率基礎（rate base）成長，以及 6% 至 8% 的每股盈餘（EPS）成長為目標。我們將運用發電事業（Genco）的自由現金流來支持公用事業成長、償還 Genco 負債，並支撐對外股利。

We continue to optimize the value of Exelon Generation business by seeking fair compensation for our 0-emitting generation. And I have to say that many editorials and others call what we're asking for as a bailout. It's not a bailout. We're the -- the nuclear fleet is only 0-emitting fleet that does not get compensation towards value. So this is not a bailout. It's leveling the playing field.

我們持續透過為零排放發電爭取公平補償，來最佳化 Exelon Generation 業務的價值。我必須說，許多社論與其他人把我們的訴求稱為紓困（bailout）。這不是紓困。我們的——核電機組是唯一的零排放機組，卻沒有獲得其價值的補償。因此這不是紓困，而是讓競爭環境更公平。

It comes across nice and political venues or editorial venues, but the last thing it is, is a bailout, it's leveling the competitive field. We'll continue closing uneconomic plants, like we announced the retirement of Dresden, Byron and Mystic, monetizing these assets and maximizing the value through Constellation, retail and wholesale. We'll continue to sustain investment-grade credit metrics and maintain a strong balance sheet while -- and have grown our dividend annually at 5% through 2020.

在政治或社論場域聽起來或許很動聽，但它最不是的就是紓困；它是在拉平競爭場域。我們將持續關閉無經濟效益的電廠，例如我們已宣布退役 Dresden、Byron 與 Mystic，並將這些資產變現，透過 Constellation、零售與批發來極大化其價值。我們也將持續維持投資等級的信用指標並保持強健的資產負債表，同時——並且在 2020 年前每年以 5% 的幅度提高股利。

Before turning to Q&A, I want to comment on some recent news reports that Exelon is considering separating the Exelon Generation from the Utilities. As discussed recently on our last earnings call, we regularly evaluate whether our corporate structure best serves the interest of our communities, customers and our employees and also our investors. We would consider modifying that structure when we can create value and recognize those interests. The natural -- the nature of our business and the landscape that it's in has been evolving over the years. In addition, you've seen a number of competitive integrated companies in our sector that have shrunk considerably.

在進入問答之前，我想評論一些近期新聞報導，指出 Exelon 正在考慮將 Exelon Generation 與公用事業分拆。如同我們在上次法說會所討論的，我們會定期評估公司的組織架構是否最能符合我們社區、客戶與員工，以及投資人的利益。當我們能創造價值並兼顧這些利益時，我們會考慮調整該架構。我們的業務本質——以及所處的產業環境——多年來一直在演變。此外，你也看到本產業中一些具競爭力的整合型公司規模已大幅縮小。

Given those circumstances, a review of our corporate structure is underway, started earlier this year, and we have the help of outside advisers. As we continue this review, we focus on creating value, taking into account, as I've mentioned, all of our stakeholders: the investors, the employees, the customers and the communities we serve. So I want to emphasize that the separation of the companies would involve addressing some complex operational, financial and regulatory issues.

在這些情況下，我們已展開對公司架構的檢視，於今年稍早啟動，並有外部顧問協助。在持續檢視的過程中，我們聚焦於創造價值，同時如我所提及，將所有利害關係人納入考量：投資人、員工、客戶以及我們服務的社區。因此我想強調，若要分拆公司，將涉及一些複雜的營運、財務與監管議題需要處理。

No decision has been made, but we continue to do the work to determine the best outcome for our stakeholders, and we'll provide you an update on our progress on the next earnings call. So with that, operator, we can now open it up to questions.

目前尚未做出任何決定，但我們會持續進行相關工作，以判斷對利害關係人而言的最佳結果，並會在下一次法說會更新進度。那麼，接線生，我們現在可以開放提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Stephen Byrd from Morgan Stanley.

（接線生指示）我們的第一個問題來自 Morgan Stanley 的 Stephen Byrd。

I just wanted to first talk about the strategic review. And I respect that you're at, I guess, a fairly early stage of thinking through your options. But I was just trying to think about the strategy here, and I guess maybe I wanted to start with what sort of attributes or sort of risk profile would you want to achieve for your merchant fleet for ExGen to be consistent with your strategy versus sort of what risk profile would be not consistent with your strategy?

我想先談談策略性檢視。我理解你們目前應該還在相對早期的階段思考各種選項。不過我在思考這裡的策略時，想先從一個問題開始：對於 ExGen 的商業機組組合（merchant fleet），你們希望達成哪些特質或風險輪廓，才能與你們的策略一致？相對地，哪些風險輪廓會與你們的策略不一致？

I know overall, you're trying to derisk the business and provide greater stability. How do you, at a high level, think about that?

我知道整體而言，你們正試圖降低業務風險並提供更高的穩定性。從高層次來看，你們如何思考這件事？

Yes. I would wouldn't say we're at the early stages. I would say that we are in an in-depth review of the evaluation. And some of the things we look at are the cost of capital, things like that, the degradation of the Constellation business with collateral costs. There's many aspects to it that are under review right now.

是的。我不會說我們還在早期階段。我會說我們正在進行深入的評估檢視。我們目前正在檢視的面向包括資本成本等，以及 Constellation 業務因擔保品成本（collateral costs）而受到的侵蝕。現在有許多面向都在檢視之中。

But what we want to make sure is that we have 2 healthy companies, a utility business -- if we and the Board determine this is the right thing to do, 2 healthy businesses that can stand on their own and provide the support needed for the balance sheets, the customers, the employees, the shareholders as we go forward. So a lot to be taken in there. But I don't think we have pinpointed a risk profile yet that -- well, I can say we haven't pinpointed a risk profile yet that I've agreed with and the Board has agreed with.

但我們想確保的是，我們能有兩家健康的公司——如果我們與董事會判定這是正確的方向——兩個能夠獨立運作的健康事業體，並在未來為資產負債表、客戶、員工與股東提供所需的支撐。這裡面要考量的事情很多。但我不認為我們已經明確界定出一個風險輪廓——嗯，我可以說，我們尚未明確界定出一個我與董事會都同意的風險輪廓。

Understood. Is it fair to say it is an objective to try to reduce the volatility and also just to improve the viability, I guess, of that business going forward, right? That seems clear that, that's part of the strategy here?

了解。是否可以說，目標之一是試圖降低波動性，並且提升該業務未來的可行性？看起來很清楚，這是這裡策略的一部分，對嗎？

Yes. It's a free cash flow machine. And how do we optimize that to be the best that it can and produce the most on valuation side and shareholder return side. So that's kind of the focus.

是的。它是一部自由現金流機器。我們要如何把它最佳化到極致，讓它在估值面與股東報酬面產出最大化。這大概就是重點。

Yes, that makes sense. And maybe just one last one for me. More on the tactical side, thinking about your nuclear plants. You've obviously made some shutdown decisions already. But I guess we calculate that some of your remaining nuclear plants are currently or will be negative cash flow. Would you agree with that assessment?

是的，這很合理。也許我最後再問一個，偏戰術層面的，關於你們的核電廠。你們顯然已經做出一些停機決策。但我想我們推算，你們剩餘的一些核電廠目前或未來將會是負現金流。你同意這個評估嗎？

And I guess, over what time frame are you thinking about making decisions for some of the plants that look like they're negative cash flow?

另外，我想問的是，對於一些看起來是負現金流的電廠，你們是在什麼時間範圍內考慮做出決策？

You've looked at our disclosures. We've outlined the plants that are sliding into that space. A lot depends on what we do with the capacity market or the FRR and how we treat the plants is comparable with other 0 carbon-emitting plants, which they're not being treated equally right now.

你們已經看過我們的揭露。我們已經列出哪些電廠正在滑入那個區間。很大程度取決於我們在容量市場或 FRR 上怎麼做，以及我們如何對待這些電廠，是否能與其他零碳排放電廠獲得可比的待遇——而目前它們並沒有被同等對待。

So the time frame, we have to watch the auction, we have to watch the legislation. If we don't get a capacity redesign and the auctions run, you could anticipate there would be some issues coming up in the future.

所以時間框架方面，我們必須觀察拍賣結果，也必須觀察立法進展。如果我們沒有得到容量市場重新設計，而拍賣照常進行，你可以預期未來會出現一些問題。

Our next question comes from the line of Steve Fleishman from Wolfe Research.

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

Can you hear me okay?

你聽得到我嗎？

Yes, I can hear you fine.

是的，我聽得很清楚。

Great. So I guess, first, arguably, for the last year or so, you've been getting little value, if even maybe negative value for ExGen in the Exelon stock price. So the value case seems obvious, but obviously, there's probably risks and obstacles to just get through. Could you maybe just talk to what some of those are in making this decision?

很好。我想先問，過去一年左右，可以說 Exelon 的股價對 ExGen 給的價值很少，甚至可能是負值。所以價值主張看起來很明顯，但顯然要走到這一步可能有風險與障礙。你能不能談談在做這個決策時，主要有哪些風險或障礙？

Yes. I mean you can imagine, this is a complex combination of a competitive integrated. And I wouldn't get on the path of laying out each one of those, but I will tell you that when you start to look at the corporate center, splitting out the IP, splitting out the financials, splitting out the corporate organization, has a lot of design that we have to make sure we're not creating these in-synergies (sic) [dissynergies], and we do that properly.

是的。你可以想像，這是一個把競爭性業務與整合式架構混在一起的複雜組合。我不會逐一把每一項都攤開來講，但我可以告訴你，當你開始看企業中心時，把智慧財產（IP）拆分、把財務拆分、把公司組織拆分，都需要大量的設計，確保我們不會造成所謂的「反協同」（原文誤稱 in-synergies）[dissynergies]，而且要把它做對。

There's other considerations that we have to make for the employees, for the regulatory bodies to do that and it's not an easy one. Many of the competitive integrateds that have switched and split have not had the complex level of the integration or the size of the scale that we have.

另外，我們也必須為員工、監管機構等做出各種考量，這並不容易。許多已經轉型並分拆的競爭性整合公司，並沒有我們這種複雜的整合程度或規模。

If you look at our -- we have the most premier retail and wholesale trading organization, nobody that has split had anything like that. So there's value being created, but there's expense there too. So we have to watch how we do it, make sure we do it properly. There's a lot to be said about what we do for the consumer and the 0-carbon market. You haven't seen anybody that has a 0-carbon fleet like ours split-off. You've seen coal plants, you've seen gas plants, you've seen gas infrastructure split-off.

如果你看我們——我們擁有最頂尖的零售與批發交易組織，過去分拆的公司沒有任何一家有類似的配置。所以這裡有價值被創造，但也有相應的成本。因此我們必須留意執行方式，確保做得正確。關於我們對消費者以及零碳市場能做什麼，也有很多值得討論的地方。你沒有看過任何一家擁有像我們這樣零碳機組的公司進行分拆。你看過的是燃煤電廠、燃氣電廠、或天然氣基礎設施的分拆。

We have to make sure that when or if we do it, that we have the right compensation for the assets that are being spun-off. And that's not something that's been recognized by the regulators or the legislators or the administrations thus far. They recognize when they recognize solar, but they have not recognized nuclear.

我們必須確保，當我們（或如果我們）這麼做時，被分拆出去的資產能獲得適當的補償。而到目前為止，監管機構、立法機關或政府部門並沒有認可這一點。他們在認可太陽能時會給予認可，但他們沒有認可核能。

And if you look at just the state of Illinois right now, 60% of the generation is carbon-free. 90% of it's nuclear. Nuclear is the only one that's not compensated for its low carbon or 0 carbon elements. So there's a lot of different avenues we have to go down to, to get this right.

如果你只看伊利諾伊州目前的狀況，60% 的發電是無碳的，其中 90% 是核能。核能是唯一一個沒有因其低碳或零碳特性而獲得補償的。因此我們必須走很多不同的路徑，才能把這件事做對。

But as I said in the last call, the market's changing, and we have to figure out how we change with it.

但正如我在上一次電話會議所說，市場正在改變，我們必須想清楚要如何隨之改變。

Great. Just based on the comments you just made, Chris, is it fair to say that you need to get some type of decision on Illinois law, either supporting nukes or not before making this kind of business structure decision?

很好。根據你剛才的評論，Chris，是否可以說，在做出這種業務架構決策之前，你們需要先就伊利諾伊州法律是否支持核電做出某種決定？

I'll let Bill jump in here, but I would not say that, that is going to be a gating function. Bill, I don't know if you want to add anything to that?

我讓 Bill 來補充，但我不會說那會是一個關卡條件（gating function）。Bill，你要不要補充一下？

Yes. No, Chris, I agree with what you said. But Steve, you have identified a big point of sensitivity here. As Chris alluded to, we have to take into account, in considering whether to do this or not, a variety of stakeholders, including the communities we serve, our customers, employees and the like. So all of that goes into the equation of not only the substance of this, but the timing of this.

是的。不，Chris，我同意你說的。不過 Steve，你點出了一個很大的敏感點。正如 Chris 提到的，在考慮要不要做這件事時，我們必須把各種利害關係人納入考量，包括我們服務的社區、客戶、員工等等。所以這些都會納入方程式，不僅影響內容本身，也影響時點。

There's lots of ground to plow before we get to the exact decision on -- before we decide whether we're doing it or not. Number one, the Board has not decided that. And number two, if so, what the timing would be.

在我們做出是否要做的最終決定之前，還有很多工作要做。第一，董事會尚未做出決定。第二，即便要做，時點會是什麼也尚未決定。

And obviously, the FRR is relevant to that, but it's hard to -- I wouldn't put it as a gating function. It's a function that's relevant to our consideration of what's the optimal timing if we decide to do this.

而且很明顯，FRR 與此相關，但很難——我不會把它稱為關卡條件。它是一個與我們考量相關的因素，用來判斷如果我們決定要做，什麼才是最佳時點。

The only thing I would add to that is, if the plants are not profitable, they don't cover their cash needs or their earning requirements, we shut them down and -- with or without FRR. So -- and it's a business decision. Some people have called it a threat. It's not a threat. It's just a reality.

我唯一要補充的是，如果電廠不具獲利性，無法覆蓋其現金需求或獲利要求，我們就會關停它們——不論有沒有 FRR。這是一個商業決策。有些人把它稱為威脅；這不是威脅，只是現實。

When businesses don't make money on assets, they shut them down. And so we have to look at the timing of all these decisions and make sure we're doing the right thing. But the legislation is important for the value, but we have to make decisions based off of current economic conditions.

當企業在資產上賺不到錢時，就會把它關掉。因此我們必須檢視所有這些決策的時點，確保我們做的是正確的事。立法對價值很重要，但我們必須基於當前的經濟條件來做決策。

Our next question comes from the line of James Thalacker from BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO Capital Markets 的 James Thalacker。

Just 2 real quick questions. One is, I know you previously stated you conduct reviews on a regular basis. But in your prior evaluation of the corporate structure, has this process included the retention of outside advisers to help you kind of work through the process? Or is this kind of the next level of review this time around?

兩個很快的問題。第一個是，我知道你們之前說會定期進行檢視。但在你們先前對公司架構的評估中，這個流程是否包含聘請外部顧問來協助你們梳理流程？還是說這次才是更進一步的檢視層級？

No. I think we were very public. In 2017, we used outside advisers, and we did a very, very thorough evaluation. And we looked at the free cash flow coming off of Genco. And at that point, it was accretive to be able to reduce debt, be able to put equity into the Utilities and also support a reasonable dividend policy. So we've kept close advisers as we've looked through this in the past, not only on business structure but assets also.

有的。我想我們一直很公開。2017 年我們使用了外部顧問，並做了非常、非常徹底的評估。我們也檢視了 Genco 產生的自由現金流。當時，能夠用來降低負債、向公用事業注入股權資本，並支撐合理的股利政策，是具增益（accretive）的。因此過去我們在檢視這件事時一直有緊密的顧問協助，不僅是業務架構，也包括資產層面。

It's nothing that's been insular to the company. It's always been with advice from outside.

這從來不是公司內部閉門造車的事情，一直都有外部建議。

Okay. Great. I appreciate that. And just 1 last question, I guess, in just thinking, I guess, about cost allocation, as you undergo the review of the potential separation. Is there any initial guidance, I guess, you could give us on how you're thinking about the magnitude of shared services overall across the company and how potentially that falls into the regulated and ExGen buckets? And thoughts on how you sort of mitigate that as if you were to move forward, I guess?

好的，很好，謝謝。最後一個問題，我想從成本分攤的角度來看，當你們進行潛在分拆的檢視時，有沒有任何初步指引可以提供：例如公司整體共享服務的規模大概如何，以及這些成本可能如何落在受監管業務與 ExGen 兩個桶裡？以及如果要往前推進，你們如何降低這方面的影響？

I -- it's too early to go there. I will tell you that we have to be very sensitive to what falls back on the Utilities and what the Genco can manage. And so some of the cost savings that you've seen in this quarterly update is us accelerating that type of focus.

我——現在談這個還太早。我可以告訴你的是，我們必須非常敏感地處理哪些成本回落到公用事業端、以及 Genco 能承擔哪些。因此你在這次季度更新中看到的一些成本節省，是我們在加速推進這類聚焦。

Not going too far, but the Genco's done a lot. The business services organization is accelerating some stuff on technology and contracts and other things that would mitigate those costs when split. One thing about competitive integrated, you get to use the Massachusetts-modified model to spread the costs around. That's a revenue generated formula.

不會走得太遠，但發電公司（Genco）已經做了很多。業務服務組織正在加速推進一些技術、合約以及其他事項，這些在分拆後可以緩解相關成本。有一點是，在競爭性整合的架構下，你可以使用經麻州調整的模型把成本分攤開來。那是一個以收入產生為基礎的公式。

We know if or when we do a split that, that goes away. And so we have to figure out how do we keep the financials, right, keep the employee benefits programs in all the databases. I mean you can go through that list of all the complex things that we have to do. But we do understand that the regulators are not going to want to see an increase in costs because we split the company.

我們知道如果或當我們進行分拆時，那個機制就會消失。因此我們必須想辦法如何維持財務面，對吧，維持員工福利方案以及所有資料庫。我是說，你可以把我們必須做的所有複雜事項列出一長串。但我們也理解，監管機構不會希望看到因為我們分拆公司而導致成本上升。

And the owners of the Genco are going to want to make sure their -- the shareholders of the Genco are going to want to make sure that we're the most efficient. So we're working through that now, but we don't have a number yet.

而且發電公司（Genco）的所有人會希望確保他們——發電公司的股東會希望確保我們是最有效率的。所以我們正在處理這些問題，但目前還沒有數字。

Okay. I appreciate that. And just on Slide 36, you talked about -- roughly about $200 million of the $250 million on the cost savings sort of this year or coming at the ExGen level. Should we think about that as being a decent run rate going forward? Or how much of that do you think you can retain as we move into '21 and '22?

好的。我很感謝。再就第36頁投影片，你提到——大約在2.5億美元的成本節省中，有約2億美元是今年或是在ExGen層級實現的。我們是否應該把這視為未來一段時間合理的常態化水準（run rate）？或者你認為在進入2021年與2022年時，這其中有多少可以保留？

I'll let Joe jump in on that. There's travel, there are some other smaller things that we're not doing right now. But Joe, you want to take that?

我讓Joe來補充。這裡面有差旅，還有一些我們目前沒有在做的較小項目。不過Joe，你要接著說嗎？

Yes. Thank you, Chris. The -- this year, we had a goal of $250 million of O&M -- or of cost savings across the enterprise. And we're going to overachieve that by about $100 million to $125 million is our expectation. We're working through that right now. To your question about how much of that is repeatable in the future, we're in the throes of analyzing that.

是的。謝謝你，Chris。今年我們的目標是在全企業範圍內達成2.5億美元的營運與維護（O&M）——或者說成本節省。而我們預期會超額達成約1億到1.25億美元。我們正在釐清中。至於你問到未來有多少可以重複發生，我們正處於分析的關鍵階段。

To Chris' point, we've learned a lot here in the last almost 8 months, where we've been working remotely. We've had savings on travel and entertainment. We've had consulting dollar savings, training savings. We've looked at almost everything. And I think there will be things that fall to the bottom line, and we're going through that now. We would expect to provide you an update on that on our fourth quarter call, but there will be things that bleed through. We're just not ready to commit to how much of that is run rate in the future.

如同Chris所說，在過去將近8個月遠端工作的期間，我們學到了很多。我們在差旅與交際方面有節省；顧問費用也有節省；訓練費用也有節省。我們幾乎把所有項目都檢視了一遍。我認為會有一些項目會直接反映到盈餘（bottom line），我們正在處理。我們預期會在第四季電話會議時向各位更新，但確實會有一些節省會延續下去；只是我們還沒準備好承諾未來常態化水準會是多少。

Our next question comes from the line of Jeremy Tonet from JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通（JPMorgan）的Jeremy Tonet。

I just want to speak more on the strategic review. And could you speak more to the financial considerations here? And namely, would ExGen require a bunch of equity to separate from the business, if that's something you could share any details there? And how should we think about the funding needs, growth prospects at Exelon's Utilities under an independent scenario without the support from ExGen cash flows?

我想再多談一些策略檢討（strategic review）。你們能否更進一步談談這裡的財務考量？尤其是，如果要把ExGen從業務中分離出來，ExGen是否需要投入大量股權資本（equity）？如果可以分享任何細節的話。另外，在獨立情境下、沒有ExGen現金流支持時，我們應該如何看待Exelon公用事業（Utilities）的資金需求與成長前景？

Well, there's still a lot of work going on right now. I don't think we have an anticipation of that. We're still trying to figure out what level of the ratings that we keep. But Dan, do you want to take it?

嗯，目前還有很多工作正在進行。我不認為我們對此有既定預期。我們仍在釐清要維持什麼等級的信用評等。不過Dan，你要接著說嗎？

Yes. Thanks, Chris. I mean, Jeremy, I think it's a good question. Right now, I think it's probably a little early to start making calls around balance sheet and capital allocation decisions. You could imagine amongst all the factors we're considering with this review, looking at the credit metrics, working with the agencies, thinking through that is going to be an aspect.

是的，謝謝，Chris。Jeremy，我認為這是個好問題。就目前而言，我覺得現在開始對資產負債表與資本配置決策下定論可能還太早。你可以想像，在這次檢討所考量的所有因素之中，檢視信用指標、與評等機構合作並把這些問題想清楚，會是其中一個面向。

Thinking about how ExGen would use the free cash flow that's been funding the Utilities to be part of it, thinking about how the Utilities can fund their growth, both with their internally generated and retained cash flows, but also other sources of funding will all go into the decision.

也會把ExGen如何運用原本用來支援公用事業的自由現金流納入考量；同時也會思考公用事業如何為其成長提供資金，除了依靠其內部產生並留存的現金流之外，也包括其他資金來源——這些都會納入決策。

But those are -- a number of factors will go into our analysis over the coming months.

不過，接下來幾個月，我們的分析會納入——多項因素。

That's very helpful. And just wondering if you're in a position to share any feedback that you've received in Illinois with response to the retirement announcements that you put out recently?

這非常有幫助。另外想請問，你們是否能分享在伊利諾伊州，對於你們最近發布的退役（retirement）公告所收到的任何回饋？

No. There's some disappointment, as you can imagine, from the communities. There's disappointment from employees. And these are not the first nuclear plants we've had to shut down. Some will say that we'll -- we make enough money already, we should not shut them down, but that's just not the way businesses work. And so you have to work through the reaction.

沒有。可以想像，社區方面有一些失望；員工也有失望。而且這也不是我們第一次必須關閉核電廠。有些人會說我們——我們已經賺夠多了，不應該關掉，但企業運作不是這樣。所以你必須去面對這些反應。

And the 2 major constituents that are going to feel the pain here with us shutting these units down, because we're losing so much money, are the employees and the communities. If you look at the taxes and what we provide in the community as far as employment in commerce and -- it's not easy. And so you can imagine those communities are trying to figure out what they can do to support us staying -- keeping those plants open.

而在我們關閉這些機組、因為我們虧損很大之際，會跟著我們一起承受痛苦的兩大主要利害關係人是員工與社區。如果你看稅收以及我們在社區所提供的就業與商業活動等——這並不容易。所以你可以想像，那些社區正在思考他們能做些什麼來支持我們繼續——讓那些電廠維持運轉。

But haven't heard a lot from the legislative side. And I'll let Kathleen and Bill jump in on that side.

但在立法層面我們還沒有聽到太多。我也會讓Kathleen和Bill在那一塊補充。

Yes. Chris, I can jump in. I mean, as you know, the legislature is not in session. So there has been continued work on potential clean energy legislation through the governor's working group and similar efforts on both the Senate side and the House side. But until the legislature is back in session, we won't have a sense of where that's going.

好的，Chris，我可以補充。如你所知，議會目前不在會期。因此，州長工作小組以及參議院與眾議院兩邊的類似努力，仍在持續推進潛在的潔淨能源立法。但在議會重新開議之前，我們還無法判斷事情會往哪個方向走。

But I agree with you that the impact, both on the employees and the communities around the plants, as well as the sort of broader communities in Illinois are watching this because to the extent these plants shut down, what will happen is fossil plants will ramp up, and that will affect communities around the state that are already struggling with air pollution and the effects of COVID. So a lot of folks are watching it for sure.

但我同意你所說的影響：不僅對電廠周邊的員工與社區，對伊利諾伊州更廣泛的社區也有影響。因為如果這些電廠關閉，接下來會發生的是化石燃料電廠會提高出力，這將影響州內那些已經在空氣污染以及COVID影響下掙扎的社區。所以確實有很多人正在關注。

Got it. Understood. And if I could just ask one last one here. How do you see proposed multiyear plans impacting your return to 9% to 10% ROE target and the sustainability of maintaining that range?

了解。明白。如果我可以再問最後一個問題：你如何看待提議中的多年期計畫（multiyear plans）對你們回到9%到10%股東權益報酬率（ROE）目標，以及維持該區間可持續性的影響？

Yes. I'll let Calvin answer that one. We've had a couple punches in the gut this year that brought us back down with storms and some other things. But Calvin, you want to cover that?

好的。我讓Calvin回答。我們今年遭遇了幾次重擊，像是風暴和一些其他事情，讓我們又被拉回來一些。但Calvin，你要說明一下嗎？

Absolutely, Chris. What I would say is that our whole process and working with our regulators in our jurisdictions around multiyear plans was geared to really create a foundation for long-term growth and also giving transparency and accountability to our customers on how this was going.

當然，Chris。我想說的是，我們整個流程，以及在各司法管轄區與監管機構就多年期計畫合作，目的在於真正為長期成長建立基礎，同時也讓客戶對進展有透明度與可問責性。

So it is our commitment that we are going to remain in that 9% to 10%, but it's going to be done in a way where it's transparent to our customers and we're able to invest in our system for just to continue to operate a safe and reliable system. So that is the commitment, that is what we're discussing, and we are on course to meet that obligation, as you've heard in Maryland and now in D.C. with both of our utilities in Maryland and in D.C.

因此，我們承諾會維持在9%到10%的區間，但會以對客戶透明的方式來達成，並且讓我們能投資於系統，以持續營運一個安全且可靠的系統。這就是承諾，也是我們正在討論的內容；而且我們正按計畫履行這項義務，正如你在馬里蘭州所聽到的，以及現在在華盛頓特區（D.C.），我們在馬里蘭與D.C.的兩家公用事業公司都是如此。

And we already have very constructive environments in our other jurisdictions. So we're moving forward with that.

而且在其他司法管轄區，我們也已經有非常具建設性的環境。所以我們會持續推進。

Our next question comes from the line of Julien Dumoulin-Smith from Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行（Bank of America）的Julien Dumoulin-Smith。

So if I can pick up where Jeremy left off a little bit, can you talk about the balance sheet, especially under any prospects of a spin here? Just want to hear clearly from you all how you're thinking about it. The rating agencies have talked these broadly about ExGen being an investment-grade entity. If I can ask you this way, how committed are you to IG metrics under a spin? I know that you've kind of alluded to this earlier in the call, but I just want to be extra clear about this.

如果我可以接續Jeremy剛才的問題，你們能談談資產負債表嗎，特別是在任何分拆（spin）可能性之下？我想更清楚地聽你們如何思考。評等機構已經相當廣泛地談到ExGen作為投資等級（investment-grade）實體。如果我換個方式問：在分拆之下，你們對維持投資等級（IG）指標的承諾有多高？我知道你們在電話會議前面有稍微提到，但我想特別確認清楚。

And then subsequently, it seems as if in past periods, one of the calculations here has been the implications to the retail business. Can you talk about that side of the equation under any strategic shift?

接著，似乎在過去的期間裡，這裡其中一項計算一直是對零售業務的影響。你能談談在任何策略轉變下，這一端的考量嗎？

Joe and Jim, do you want to tag team that one?

Joe 和 Jim，你們要不要一起搭配回答這題？

Yes. I think, Chris, the answer to Julien's question around how committed we are to investment grade, we take our strong balance sheet and our strong investment-grade ratings that we have today, obviously, very seriously. As you mentioned, we're still in the process of evaluating what the spin would look like and all the ramifications of that. And that includes impacts to all the stakeholders you mentioned, the rating agencies being one of those and how it would impact the rating of a Genco that stand alone. But at this point, it's too early to commit to anything along those lines. And with that, I'll turn it over to Jim to talk about the retail business.

好的。我想，Chris，針對 Julien 關於我們對投資級承諾程度的問題，我們非常嚴肅地看待我們強健的資產負債表，以及我們目前擁有的強勁投資級評等。如你所提，我們仍在評估分拆會是什麼樣貌，以及其所有影響。而這也包括你提到的所有利害關係人的影響，其中之一就是信評機構，以及它將如何影響一家獨立運作的 Genco 的評等。但就目前而言，現在還太早，無法對任何這類方向做出承諾。接下來我把時間交給 Jim，請他談談零售業務。

Yes, sure. Thanks, gentlemen. And Julien, I guess, likewise, we're working through -- over the next period of time over the next few months, we're going to work with the finance team to understand and how we can continue to optimize our business. Our customer-serving business is really the large portion of our overall earnings capability for -- that we bring to the Genco and cash flow capability that we bring to the Genco. We're committed to that. We want to keep that going, and we'll work through the structures and the product structures that we need to maintain and to continue to serve those customers and then optimize the management in all the way through the spot market of managing the load and the generation output.

好的，當然。謝謝各位。Julien，我想同樣地，我們正在推進——在接下來一段時間、未來幾個月，我們會與財務團隊合作，了解我們如何能持續最佳化我們的業務。我們的客戶服務型業務，確實是我們整體獲利能力中很大的一部分——也是我們帶給 Genco 的主要獲利能力與現金流能力。我們對此是承諾的。我們希望讓它持續運作，我們也會針對需要維持並持續服務這些客戶的架構與產品架構逐步推進，並一路到現貨市場，透過負載管理與發電輸出管理來最佳化管理。

So I think we'll make sure the impacts are such a way that we can maintain that focus all on the customer and keep our products going and the growth that we see in that business.

所以我想我們會確保其影響能以一種方式呈現，使我們能維持以客戶為核心的聚焦，並讓我們的產品持續推進，以及我們在該業務中看到的成長。

And further kind of clarification, if it is. First, Chris, on carbon and the subject of how that might ultimately translate back to your all's portfolio here. How do you think the election could impact that? Clearly recognizing states' rights and a lot of these PPA programs ultimately end up -- for the state, right, there's -- to implement one way or another. Given that context, how do you think about carbon today as potentially implemented in Illinois eventually?

再進一步釐清一下，如果可以的話。首先，Chris，關於碳以及這個議題最終可能如何回到你們這裡的資產組合。你認為選舉可能會如何影響？很清楚地，考量到州權，而且許多這些 PPA 計畫最終都會——對州而言，對吧，會以某種方式落地實施。在這樣的背景下，你們今天如何看待碳在伊利諾州未來可能被實施的可能性？

So what we're trying to do is work at the state level. We have had little traction at the federal level, and it's very polarizing as you know. It doesn't matter who gets elected, it's still going to be a polarizing issue. So working it through the states and then through the markets because you've got the cross-state leakages is where we've been focused. We'll have to see what happens tomorrow and what happens in the House and the Senate, the legislative body where they want to go.

我們正在嘗試在州層級推動。我們在聯邦層級的進展不大，而且如你所知，這是非常兩極化的議題。不管誰當選，這仍然會是一個兩極化的議題。因此，我們一直聚焦在透過各州以及透過市場來推進，因為你會有跨州外溢（leakage）的問題。我們得看看明天會發生什麼，以及眾議院和參議院、也就是立法機構想往哪個方向走。

We hope they do it as a technology-neutral approach versus what some size of the house and the Senate have gone at technologies versus outcomes. But we'll have to see. We're still going to fight at the state level and the market level to make sure that we get the right valuation for our assets.

我們希望他們採取技術中立（technology-neutral）的方式，而不是像眾議院和參議院某些人那樣，針對特定技術而非結果導向。但我們得再觀察。我們仍會在州層級與市場層級持續努力，確保我們的資產能獲得正確的價值評估。

We are the largest noncarbon-producing entity with no remunerations for those assets. So -- but like I said earlier, it's nice for editorial or an editor or a politician to say we're looking for a bailout. We're looking to be able to compete with the other noncarbon that people have decided to provide a payment, a valuation for that low carbon output. But when you look at the largest noncarbon-emitting source in the country and the largest noncarbon-emitting company in the country and they're competing against other resources that are getting compensated for the value of that, it is just frustrating.

我們是最大的非碳排放實體，但這些資產卻沒有獲得任何補償。所以——但就像我先前說的，對社論作者、編輯或政治人物來說，說我們在尋求紓困（bailout）很容易。我們不是要紓困。我們只是希望能與其他非碳資源競爭——而那些資源，人們已經決定要為其低碳輸出提供付款、提供價值評估。但當你看到全國最大的非碳排放來源、以及全國最大的非碳排放公司，卻要與其他因其價值而獲得補償的資源競爭，這真的令人沮喪。

And so -- but you'll pick up the paper tomorrow and somebody will write that Exelon is looking for a bailout. We don't care about a bailout. We just want to compete. If we don't compete, we'll shut units down.

所以——但你明天翻開報紙，還是會有人寫 Exelon 在尋求紓困。我們不在乎紓困。我們只想競爭。如果我們無法競爭，我們就會關停機組。

Our next question comes from the line of Durgesh Chopra from Evercore.

我們下一個問題來自 Evercore 的 Durgesh Chopra。

Maybe just one quick one on the quarter, and then I want to go back to the strategic review. Just on the quarter, you showed this projected cash flow slide with the 2020 balance. The balance is significantly lower, like $400 million lower versus the Q2 call and your guidance is up. So just wondering what drives that.

先就本季快速問一個，然後我想回到策略檢討。就本季而言，你們展示了這張預估現金流投影片，裡面有 2020 年的餘額。這個餘額比第二季電話會議時顯著更低，大概低了 4 億美元，但你們的指引卻上調了。所以想請教是什麼因素造成的。

Yes. Chris, I can take that.

好的。Chris，我可以回答這題。

Take that Joe. Yes.

Joe 你來回答。好的。

Yes. So yes, there's a couple of things going on. Our free cash flow from our operations across the enterprise were up for the quarter. But we did see -- because of that, number one, we had an assumption of kind of less requirement for working capital needs. And then more importantly, we had some movement in cash flow on other activity related to Exelon Generation, and there were just a number of small factors that -- at normal-type quarter activity that moved the cash flow for the quarter, even though the earnings were up pretty materially versus the range we'd given last quarter.

好的。所以，是的，這裡有幾件事同時在發生。我們整個企業的營運自由現金流在本季是上升的。但我們也看到——因為這點，第一，我們假設對營運資金需求的要求會比較少。更重要的是，我們在與 Exelon Generation 相關的其他活動上，現金流有一些變動；有不少小因素——在一般季度活動的範圍內——推動了本季的現金流變化，儘管相較於我們上季給的區間，本季獲利確實有相當幅度的上升。

Okay. That's helpful. Understood. And just really quickly, Chris, you mentioned FRR not a gating factor. Maybe just to the extent that you can, could you procedurally talk about the next steps here? And if there's a time line that internally you guys are working on to get this strategic review over?

好的。這很有幫助。了解。再很快問一下，Chris，你提到 FRR 不是一個關卡因素（gating factor）。在你能分享的範圍內，你能否從程序上談談接下來的步驟？以及你們內部是否有一個時間表，來完成這次策略檢討？

Yes. I can tell you that although the FRR and the legislation is critical for the communities and the employees, we have to make our business decisions. I think we're going through the review right now and trying to evaluate the complications of the potential separation, but we wouldn't use that as the gating factor.

好的。我可以說，雖然 FRR 和相關立法對社區與員工非常關鍵，但我們必須做出商業決策。我想我們目前正在進行檢討，並嘗試評估潛在分拆的複雜性，但我們不會把那個當作關卡因素。

So once we get through the very complicated review, we'd like to provide a whole lot more color on the fourth quarter call. Not guaranteeing were done or saying we'd be done by then, but that will be the view of where we think we're heading.

所以一旦我們完成這個非常複雜的檢討，我們希望在第四季電話會議上提供更多細節。不保證到時候就完成，也不是說到時候一定會完成，但那將會是我們對於我們認為將往哪個方向走的看法。

Dan, I don't know if you want to say anything else?

Dan，我不知道你是否還想補充什麼？

No, Chris, I think you've covered it.

沒有，Chris，我想你已經都涵蓋了。

All right.

好。

At this time, I'm showing no further questions, I would like to turn the call back over to Chris Crane for closing remarks.

目前我這邊顯示沒有其他問題，我想把電話會議交回給 Chris Crane 做結語。

Yes. I just want to thank everybody for joining the call. It's a busy day. Election's going on, all kinds of concern about stability in the country. And so for us to be able to share your time, it's appreciated. I really want to thank the employees for their commitment and dedication. We've had a lot of stuff going on this year, not only the COVID, the storms, and the things that they've had to work through. And I hope that you and your families are safe and healthy. And with that, I'll close the call.

好的。我只想感謝大家參加這通電話會議。今天很忙，選舉正在進行，大家對國內穩定性也有各種擔憂。所以你們願意撥出時間讓我們分享，我們非常感激。我也非常想感謝員工的承諾與投入。今年我們遇到很多事情，不只是 COVID，還有風暴，以及他們必須處理的各種狀況。我也希望你和你的家人都平安健康。那麼我就結束今天的電話會議。