NorthWestern Energy Group Inc (NWE) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good Friday afternoon, and thank you for joining NorthWestern Corporation's Financial Results and Webcast for the year ending December 31, 2022. My name is Travis Meyer. I'm the Director of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations Officer for NorthWestern. Joining us on the call today to walk you through the results are Brian Bird, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Crystal Lail, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

週五下午好，感謝您加入 NorthWestern Corporation 截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日的年度財務業績和網絡廣播。我的名字是 Travis Meyer。我是 NorthWestern 的公司財務總監和投資者關係官。總裁兼首席執行官 Brian Bird 今天與我們一起參加電話會議，向您介紹結果；副總裁兼首席財務官 Crystal Lail。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

NorthWestern's results have been released and the release is available on our website at northwesternenergy.com. We also released our 10-K premarket this morning. Please note that the company's press release, this presentation, comments by presenters and responses to your questions may contain forward-looking statements. As such, I'll direct you to the disclosures contained in our SEC filings and the safe harbor provisions included on the second slide in this presentation.

NorthWestern 的結果已經發布，可在我們的網站 northwesternenergy.com 上查閱。我們今天早上還發布了我們的 10-K 上市前。請注意，公司的新聞稿、本演示文稿、主持人的評論和對您問題的回答可能包含前瞻性陳述。因此，我將向您介紹我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中包含的披露信息以及本演示文稿第二張幻燈片中包含的安全港條款。

Please also note this presentation includes non-GAAP financial measures. Please see the non-GAAP disclosures, definitions and reconciliations also included in the presentation today. The webcast is being recorded. The archived replay of today's webcast will be available for 1 year beginning at 6:00 p.m. Eastern today and can be found in the financial results section of our website. With that, I'll hand the microphone over to NorthWestern's President and CEO, Brian Bird.

另請注意，本演示文稿包括非 GAAP 財務措施。請參閱今天的演示文稿中還包含的非 GAAP 披露、定義和調節。正在錄製網絡廣播。今天的網絡廣播的存檔重播將從下午 6:00 開始提供 1 年。今天東部，可以在我們網站的財務結果部分找到。有了這個，我將把麥克風交給 NorthWestern 的總裁兼首席執行官 Brian Bird。

Thanks, Travis. I think many of us would agree, 2022 was a challenging year in many fronts, but we also had some very good outcomes in '22. From an operational performance standpoint, we maintained a safe and reliable service while reaching new all-time system peaks for both our electric and gas businesses in 2022. We also had significant storm response, both in South Dakota with 2 that occurred during May and with substantial flooding in both Montana and Yellowstone National Park. Our employees did such a great job responding to that. We were acknowledged by EEI for our response there.

謝謝，特拉維斯。我想我們中的許多人都會同意，2022 年在許多方面都是充滿挑戰的一年，但我們在 22 年也取得了一些非常好的成果。從運營績效的角度來看，我們保持了安全可靠的服務，同時我們的電力和天然氣業務在 2022 年達到了歷史新高。我們還對南達科他州的風暴做出了重大響應，其中 2 次發生在 5 月，2 次發生在蒙大拿州和黃石國家公園發生嚴重洪水。我們的員工對此做出了很好的回應。我們在那裡的回應得到了 EEI 的認可。

We are also one of the very few utilities with improved JD Power Customer Satisfaction scores in 2022 and most improved for both electric and gas among the West Midsized peers. We were recognized by Newsweek as one of America's most responsible companies, 1 of the 13 of the EEI companies acknowledged by Newsweek there. We also had very good regulatory execution. The rate case continues to progress well in Montana, and we received interim rates in October.

我們也是 2022 年 JD Power 客戶滿意度得分提高的極少數公用事業公司之一，並且在 West Midsized 同行中電力和天然氣方面的得分提高最多。我們被《新聞周刊》評為美國最負責任的公司之一，是《新聞周刊》承認的 13 家 EEI 公司之一。我們也有很好的監管執行。費率案在蒙大拿州繼續取得良好進展，我們在 10 月份收到了臨時費率。

We also had our largest capital investment year ever at $580 million invested in 2022, and most importantly, we did that safely. We announced our Net Zero by 2050 at the beginning of 2022 and have since published our TCFD and SASB aligned Sustainability Report. And lastly, from a reliability and affordability standpoint, and I'd argue sustainability standpoint, we negotiated an agreement with Avista to transfer our Colstrip ownership to us of 222 megawatts effective December 31, 2025, for a zero purchase price.

我們還在 2022 年投資了 5.8 億美元，這是有史以來最大的資本投資年度，最重要的是，我們安全地做到了這一點。我們在 2022 年初宣佈到 2050 年實現淨零排放，並發布了與 TCFD 和 SASB 一致的可持續發展報告。最後，從可靠性和可負擔性的角度，以及我認為可持續性的角度來看，我們與 Avista 談判達成協議，從 2025 年 12 月 31 日起，以零購買價格將我們的 Colstrip 所有權轉讓給我們 222 兆瓦。

And regarding Colstrip, why Colstrip? When I think about that, again, I would say reliability, affordability and sustainability was an extremely important acquisition, or I'd say, transfer of ownership. Reliable, it's a known asset to us. We've been in Colstrip for decades. It's been a hugely reliable resource for Montana customers in the past. It's going to help us avoid lengthy planning, permitting and construction of any new facility that's going to reduce our reliance on imported power and exposure to volatile markets.

關於 Colstrip，為什麼選擇 Colstrip？當我想到這一點時，我會再次說可靠性、可負擔性和可持續性是一項極其重要的收購，或者我會說，所有權轉讓。可靠，這是我們的已知資產。我們已經在 Colstrip 工作了幾十年。過去，它一直是蒙大拿州客戶非常可靠的資源。這將幫助我們避免任何新設施的冗長規劃、許可和建設，這將減少我們對進口電力的依賴和對動盪市場的敞口。

It's an in-state and on-system asset, mitigating any transmission constraints to import power and adds critical long-duration 24/7 on-demand generation when we need it most. It's affordable. 222 megawatts of capacity for zero, no upfront costs, and we know it has stable operating costs. We had to build on an equivalent new build today of 222 megawatts, to be approximately $500 million. This is a substantial win for our customers. And on operating costs that we are known and reasonable and certainly have been a discount to market prices we've seen as of late.

它是一種州內和系統內資產，可以減輕任何輸電限制以輸入電力，並在我們最需要的時候增加關鍵的長時間 24/7 按需發電。這是負擔得起的。 222 兆瓦的容量為零，沒有前期成本，而且我們知道它具有穩定的運營成本。我們必須在今天 222 兆瓦的等效新建築上建造，大約需要 5 億美元。這對我們的客戶來說是一個巨大的勝利。在我們已知且合理的運營成本上，肯定比我們最近看到的市場價格有折扣。

And lastly, sustainable. We are certainly committed to our Net Zero goal by 2050. And one could argue with us that you're procuring more coal here. But from our perspective, with the addition of the Yellowstone County plant and this incremental Colstrip ownership, we have actually closed that capacity deficit through the end of this decade, and that will help us think through from a longer-term perspective, what can we do in the future at the Colstrip site or nearby from a noncarbon long-duration alternatives.

最後，可持續。我們當然致力於到 2050 年實現我們的淨零目標。有人可能會與我們爭辯說你在這裡採購了更多的煤炭。但從我們的角度來看，隨著黃石縣工廠的增加和 Colstrip 所有權的增加，我們實際上已經在本十年末消除了產能不足，這將幫助我們從更長遠的角度思考，我們能做什麼將來在 Colstrip 站點或附近使用非碳長期替代品進行。

And so we and our partners that are moving forward with Colstrip are already speaking about those potential opportunities. And another recent Colstrip, obviously, our transmission assets are there. And we have a highly skilled labor force in Colstrip. So not only it's a sustainable in essence from a clean -- transitioning to a clean resource at some point in the future, it also is very sustainable for the community of Colstrip.

因此，我們和我們與 Colstrip 一起前進的合作夥伴已經在談論這些潛在的機會。另一個最近的 Colstrip，顯然，我們的傳輸資產在那裡。我們在 Colstrip 擁有一支技術精湛的勞動力隊伍。因此，它不僅在本質上是可持續的——在未來的某個時候從清潔資源過渡到清潔資源，而且對於 Colstrip 社區來說也是非常可持續的。

And lastly, I'd say just the action itself of taking on incremental ownership in Colstrip protects our existing 222 megawatts in Colstrip, that's extremely important to us. When I speak about Colstrip on the next slide, Slide 5, I want to demonstrate the value to you of our existing Colstrip. This chart, which you can find on our web page, will show you our generation portfolio. On a weekly basis, you can see that on our web page. This is for the Christmas week in Montana. The gray bars at the top represents our thermal, coal and natural gas. The blues are hydro, and you can see between those 2 types of resources, very consistent throughout the week. The green represents wind.

最後，我想說的是，在 Colstrip 中獲得增量所有權的行動本身保護了我們在 Colstrip 中現有的 222 兆瓦，這對我們來說非常重要。當我在下一張幻燈片 Slide 5 中談到 Colstrip 時，我想向您展示我們現有的 Colstrip 的價值。您可以在我們的網頁上找到該圖表，它將向您展示我們的發電產品組合。每週一次，您可以在我們的網頁上看到。這是為蒙大拿州的聖誕節週準備的。頂部的灰色條代表我們的熱能、煤炭和天然氣。藍調是水電，你可以在這兩種類型的資源之間看到，整個星期都非常一致。綠色代表風。

And you can see in the back half of the wind, that green was higher than the black line, which is our load. So it wins great. When the wind is blowing, we'll have excess energy, we can sell in the market and reduce our costs to our customers. But earlier in that week, particularly during high pressure systems, we had no win whatsoever. And so we are solely in the need of a capacity resource to fill in that time period. We do not have that today.

你可以在風的後半部分看到，綠色高於黑色線，這是我們的負載。所以勝率很高。刮風的時候，我們會有多餘的能源，我們可以在市場上銷售，降低我們對客戶的成本。但在那週早些時候，特別是在高壓系統期間，我們沒有取得任何勝利。因此，我們只需要容量資源來填補那個時間段。我們今天沒有。

But as you can see, it's all -- it's perfectly supply and demand, that red dotted line, which is a little more difficult to see on this chart. When we had no win during that time period, we had to procure 41% of our power in the market. And on the 22nd, we saw power prices as high as $900 a megawatt hour. The bottom of this chart shows just the value of our existing 222 megawatts on the week of December 20 to 26. The variable and fixed operating costs to run Colstrip, our existing ownership, approximately $2 million. To acquire that amount of end market purchases that we need to do in that week, same amount, 222 megawatts, $12 million on the market.

但正如你所看到的，這就是完全的供求關係，紅色虛線，在這張圖表上有點難以看清。當我們在那段時間沒有獲勝時，我們不得不從市場上採購 41% 的電力。 22 日，我們看到電價高達每兆瓦時 900 美元。該圖表的底部僅顯示我們現有 222 兆瓦電力在 12 月 20 日至 26 日這一周的價值。運營我們現有所有權的 Colstrip 的可變和固定運營成本約為 200 萬美元。為了獲得我們在那一周需要進行的終端市場採購量，相同數量，222 兆瓦，市場上 1200 萬美元。

So our existing ownership in Colstrip save customers $10 million. So it's quite clear why we'd love to have more of Colstrip to fill in days like this and can provide continued value to our customers. And with that, I'll pass it over to Crystal.

因此，我們現有的 Colstrip 所有權為客戶節省了 1000 萬美元。所以很清楚為什麼我們希望有更多的 Colstrip 來填補這樣的日子，並能為我們的客戶提供持續的價值。然後，我將把它傳遞給 Crystal。

Thanks, Brian. And before I walk you through the '22 financial results, we acknowledge it is a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend. So we appreciate your interest in joining us this afternoon, and we'll keep our comments not too lengthy. The other thing I will mention is Brian just covered the key things that we executed upon in '22 is how important that '22 was from a base and foundation for us of laying the groundwork for a strong rate case that we're working with staff and the commission and interveners on and continue on regulatory execution, but also importantly, from a credit metrics perspective, resolving our negative outlook with Moody's and continuing to enable a strong foundation for growth as we go forward.

謝謝，布萊恩。在我向您介紹 22 年的財務結果之前，我們承認這是假期週末之前的周五下午。因此，非常感謝您有興趣參加今天下午的會議，我們的評論不會太長。我要提到的另一件事是布賴恩剛剛談到了我們在 22 年執行的關鍵事情是 22 年對於我們與員工合作的強大利率案例奠定基礎的基礎和基礎是多麼重要以及監管執行的委員會和乾預者，但同樣重要的是，從信用指標的角度來看，解決了我們對穆迪的負面展望，並繼續為我們前進的增長奠定堅實的基礎。

So with that, I'll speak to our results for '22 on Slide 6, beginning with our fourth quarter results, which we closed out the Q4 of '22 at $1.16 on a GAAP basis and on a non-GAAP basis, that's $1.13. In comparison to 2021 on a GAAP basis, that's a $0.20 increase and on a non-GAAP basis, $0.09. From a full year perspective, however, we did come in just slightly to the low end or outside of our guidance range. Our guidance range was $3.20 to $3.40 initially. We did lower that as we went into closing out the year, but concluded on a GAAP basis at $3.25 as compared -- on a GAAP basis and $3.18 on a non-GAAP basis.

因此，我將在幻燈片 6 上談談我們 22 年的業績，從我們的第四季度業績開始，我們以 GAAP 基礎和非 GAAP 基礎以 1.16 美元結束了 22 年第四季度，即 1.13 美元.與 2021 年相比，按 GAAP 計算增加 0.20 美元，按非 GAAP 計算增加 0.09 美元。然而，從全年的角度來看，我們確實略微進入了低端或超出了我們的指導範圍。我們最初的指導範圍是 3.20 美元至 3.40 美元。當我們結束這一年時，我們確實降低了這一數字，但在 GAAP 基礎上得出的結論是相比之下為 3.25 美元——在 GAAP 基礎上和在非 GAAP 基礎上為 3.18 美元。

So with that, on Slide 7, I'll give you a bit of how we think about the significant drivers for the year and what we expected and what we didn't expect, you'll see our guidance range on the left-hand side of this. And to the right, the things that significantly impacted us for the year. So what was it that drove us outside of our expectations and importantly, towards the latter part of the year, and I'll speak to the storm that Brian just laid out the criticality of supply for us, the criticality of that to our customers and the work that we do, but also how that impacts us, is while we did expect to see some higher O&M, and if you'll recall in our bridge, we had $0.04 to $0.06 from a full year basis, that was a $0.20 headwind to us. And you see higher interest expense, us and our other mid-cap peers and others are seeing impacts of that. But importantly, the things that happened to us when you see volatility in the market is things like PCCAM from a 22 basis that $7.2 million of detriment to us, or $0.10.

因此，在第 7 張幻燈片上，我將向您介紹我們如何看待今年的重要驅動因素以及我們的預期和未預期的，您會在左側看到我們的指導範圍這方面。右邊是今年對我們產生重大影響的事情。那麼，是什麼讓我們超出了我們的預期，重要的是，在今年下半年，我將談到 Brian 剛剛闡述了供應對我們的重要性，對我們的客戶的重要性以及我們所做的工作，以及這對我們的影響，是在我們確實期望看到更高的 O&M，如果你還記得我們的橋樑，我們全年有 0.04 美元到 0.06 美元，這是 0.20 美元的逆風給我們。你會看到更高的利息支出，我們和我們的其他中型同行以及其他人都看到了這種影響。但重要的是，當你看到市場波動時發生在我們身上的事情就像 PCCAM 從 22 個基點開始對我們造成 720 萬美元的損失，即 0.10 美元。

And I would tell you that's sharing 90% of those costs to go to customers. But Importantly, the volatility, the impact on bill headroom, they impact our balance sheet and what we see in those small moments where we have extreme weather, and you just heard what Brian mentioned as to the price of power during those times has significant impacts to our results. And importantly, the latest of which occurred right before Christmas and at year-end when we don't have room to adjust from a results perspective.

我會告訴你，這是將 90% 的成本分攤給客戶。但重要的是，波動性，對賬單淨空的影響，它們影響我們的資產負債表以及我們在極端天氣的那些小時刻看到的，你剛剛聽到布賴恩提到的那些時期的電力價格具有重大影響我們的結果。重要的是，最近一次發生在聖誕節前和年底，當時我們沒有從結果的角度進行調整的空間。

As you also know and have followed over time, we have adjusted weather and non-GAAP [cut out] to give you an indication of our earnings power what fundamental earnings do below that. So we adjust our revenues to normal to remove weather impacts. However, we don't adjust the broader impacts to our results. Importantly, I just mentioned $0.10 of PCCAM for the year that impacted our results. But the further detriment to that is when we see severe weather like that, we not only see market prices are high, but the strain on our system and the overall operating costs at both transmission, distribution and the supply side, all go up.

正如你也知道並隨著時間的推移一直在關注的那樣，我們已經調整了天氣和非公認會計原則 [cut out] 來讓你了解我們的盈利能力，低於該水平的基本盈利情況。因此，我們將收入調整為正常，以消除天氣影響。但是，我們不會調整對結果的更廣泛影響。重要的是，我剛剛提到了影響我們結果的當年 0.10 美元的 PCCAM。但更不利的是，當我們看到這樣的惡劣天氣時，我們不僅看到市場價格高，而且我們系統的壓力以及輸電、配電和供應方面的整體運營成本都在上升。

And I would just remind you again, we take out the favorable, which would be the revenue side of that, but we don't adjust out all the things I just mentioned that also drive an impact to our results. Slide 8 gives you a look at fourth quarter financial results from a net income basis, $66.7 million compared to $51.3 million in the prior period, an improvement of $15.4 million or 30%.

我只想再次提醒你，我們剔除了有利因素，即收入方面，但我們不會調整我剛才提到的所有也會對我們的結果產生影響的因素。幻燈片 8 顯示了第四季度基於淨收入的財務結果，與上一時期的 5130 萬美元相比，增加了 1540 萬美元或 30%，為 6670 萬美元。

Slide 9 gives you a bit more detail into that look from Q4 again, a solid perspective -- or solid performance for the quarter. We did see October, November really offset themselves and being neutral from a broader weather impact and outsized impact of weather in December, as I just alluded to. And we talked about key critical days that we saw there. So you did see higher volumes driving improved margins. The other thing in the slide before we show that, and we included in our guidance this year, but the outsized impact of interim rates. That's very solid for us and back to the regulatory execution of the ability to actually earn our returns and work with the commission. That's certainly a key piece there and you see the positive side of that and margin.

幻燈片 9 再次為您提供了有關第四季度外觀的更多細節，一個可靠的視角——或者說本季度的穩健表現。正如我剛才提到的，我們確實看到 10 月、11 月確實抵消了更廣泛的天氣影響和 12 月天氣的超大影響。我們談到了我們在那裡看到的關鍵日子。所以你確實看到更高的銷量推動了利潤率的提高。在我們展示之前幻燈片中的另一件事，我們在今年的指導中包括了臨時利率的巨大影響。這對我們來說非常可靠，回到監管執行實際賺取回報和與佣金合作的能力。這肯定是那裡的關鍵部分，你會看到它的積極方面和利潤率。

And you see the offsets here of operating costs driving up and also interest expense and property taxes, the general things that we've discussed as headwinds for us and a bit of favorable income tax from a quarter perspective, closing that out at $1.16 on a GAAP basis and again, $1.13 on an adjusted non-GAAP basis.

你在這裡看到運營成本的抵消，還有利息支出和財產稅，我們討論過的一般事情對我們來說是不利因素，從一個季度的角度來看，還有一些有利的所得稅，收盤價為 1.16 美元以 GAAP 為基礎，在調整後的非 GAAP 基礎上再次為 1.13 美元。

Slide 10 gives you a look at how we approach that non-GAAP adjustment. And again, as you think about our performance year-over-year, this year, we are adjusting out favorable weather. So you see the left-hand side of this. To the right-hand side, last year, we had unfavorable weather, so we had an add-back on a GAAP-adjusted basis. For non-GAAP, $65 million compared to $55.6 million in the prior quarter.

幻燈片 10 讓您了解我們如何進行非 GAAP 調整。再一次，當你考慮我們今年的表現時，我們正在調整有利的天氣。所以你看到了這個的左側。在右側，去年我們遇到了不利的天氣，因此我們在 GAAP 調整的基礎上進行了補充。對於非美國通用會計準則，為 6500 萬美元，而上一季度為 5560 萬美元。

With that, I'll move to full year results with Slide 11. From a net income basis, closing out the year with $183 million of net income as compared with $186.8 million, which is a decrease of $3.8 million or 2% on a GAAP basis, that's $3.25 compared to $3.60 for the prior year. And again, as a reminder, that was our expectation of having a down year based on the equity that we had transacted upon late in '21 and the dilutive effect of that and in addition, setting a solid base for our rate case filing that we made in 2022.

有了這個，我將轉到幻燈片 11 的全年結果。從淨收入的角度來看，今年結束時淨收入為 1.83 億美元，而 1.868 億美元，按 GAAP 減少 380 萬美元或 2%基礎上，這是 3.25 美元，而上一年為 3.60 美元。再次提醒一下，根據我們在 21 世紀末交易的股權及其稀釋效應，我們預計今年會出現下滑，此外，我們還為我們的利率案件備案奠定了堅實的基礎2022 年製造。

So with that, on Slide 12, you see a bridge again of the key drivers there. Margin being an improvement that includes both interim rates, but also some strong results from our electric and gas business, continued customer growth and usage trends on that on top of weather, offset by higher operating and general expenses. And again, the things that impacted us in '22 no different than most of our peers, but things like fuel expenses, material expenses, insurance all of those things seeing inflationary impacts that are flowing through to us and ultimately to our customers. Also, you see the higher depreciation. And then ultimately, higher interest expense, I think I commented at Q3 that our PCCAM is the gift that keeps on giving because not only do we not recover those costs fully, they impact our balance sheet by carrying higher average revolving balances for those undercollected supply costs that we don't have a carrying charge for.

因此，在幻燈片 12 上，您再次看到關鍵驅動因素的橋樑。利潤率有所提高，既包括中期利率，也包括我們的電力和天然氣業務的一些強勁業績、持續的客戶增長和除天氣之外的使用趨勢，但被更高的運營和一般費用所抵消。再一次，在 22 年影響我們的事情與我們的大多數同行沒有什麼不同，但是像燃料費用、材料費用、保險等所有這些事情都看到了通貨膨脹的影響，這些影響正在流向我們並最終流向我們的客戶。此外，您會看到更高的折舊率。然後最終，更高的利息支出，我想我在第三季度評論說我們的 PCCAM 是不斷給予的禮物，因為我們不僅沒有完全收回這些成本，而且它們通過為那些收集不足的供應帶來更高的平均循環餘額來影響我們的資產負債表我們沒有收取持有費用的成本。

So cost of capital is no longer free as we saw the unprecedented increase in interest expense or interest rate last year, driving pressure to us ultimately at the interest expense line, you see $0.09 of headwinds in our bridge here. And then again, our property taxes, we don't recover our full amount of property taxes until we come in from a rate case, which you all know we're in the middle of. So we still continue to see drag there, and that drag was even higher than we expected initially for the year. All of that resulting in a $3.25 GAAP basis results for the year, again adjusted at $3.18. Slide 13 speaks to the margin impacts. I would remind you or highlight just a couple of things here.

因此，資本成本不再是免費的，因為我們看到去年利息支出或利率空前增加，最終在利息支出線上給我們帶來壓力，你看到我們的橋上有 0.09 美元的逆風。再一次，我們的財產稅，在我們從一個利率案件中出來之前，我們不會收回我們的全部財產稅，你們都知道我們正處於中間。因此，我們仍然繼續看到那裡的阻力，而且阻力甚至比我們今年最初的預期還要高。所有這些導致本年度 GAAP 基礎結果為 3.25 美元，再次調整為 3.18 美元。幻燈片 13 談到了利潤率的影響。我想在這裡提醒您或強調幾件事。

I mentioned solid sales and volumes across our customer classes. The other thing being interim rates, which are crucial to us and closing out '22 and offsetting some of the detrimental impact that we saw in those other areas, but obviously not enough given the amount of headwinds we saw versus the impact of those interim rates. The other thing I would just highlight here is that lower electric transmission revenue. If you recall, last year, we had an item of a deferral release there. And absent that, we were about neutral on the electrical transition. That's been a key part of our businesses. I would highlight that our rates actually decreased their but demand actually went up. So solid results there too. And then the PCCAM impact last year, $5.4 million of detriment to us. This year, $7.2 million, and that would be year-over-year $1.8 million impact.

我提到了我們客戶類別的穩定銷售和數量。另一件事是臨時利率，這對我們至關重要，可以結束 22 年並抵消我們在其他領域看到的一些不利影響，但考慮到我們看到的不利因素與這些臨時利率的影響相比，顯然還不夠.我在這裡要強調的另一件事是輸電收入較低。如果你還記得，去年，我們在那裡有一個延期發布的項目。如果沒有，我們對電氣轉換持中立態度。這是我們業務的關鍵部分。我要強調的是，我們的利率實際上下降了，但需求實際上上升了。那裡也有如此可靠的結果。然後是去年 PCCAM 的影響，給我們造成了 540 萬美元的損失。今年為 720 萬美元，同比影響為 180 萬美元。

I would also remind you that in 2021, we have filed and requested to reset the base early or outside of a rate case. The commission has denied that request. So of course, we didn't see that base reset until October 1. The other thing that I would highlight from a Q4 perspective that I didn't mention above is even with that base reset of interim rates, the application of PCCAM to us in Q4 was a significant detriment.

我還要提醒您，在 2021 年，我們已經提交並要求提前或在費率案例之外重置基數。該委員會拒絕了該請求。所以當然，我們直到 10 月 1 日才看到基準重置。從第四季度的角度來看，我要強調的另一件事是我在上面沒有提到的，即使是臨時利率的基準重置，PCCAM 對我們的應用在第四季度是一個重大的損害。

With that, closing out the year on a utility margin with an overall improvement, but again, adjusting out some of the things with interim rates and property taxes on the slide to give you additional detail. Slide 14, again, shows you our GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments. Same story for the year-to-date as it is for the quarter in the sense of favorable weather that we're adjusting out also adjusting out the correct penalty that we had talked about in Q2 and in the prior year, that was unfavorable weather.

這樣一來，今年的公用事業利潤率得到了全面改善，但再次調整了幻燈片上的一些臨時稅率和財產稅，以提供更多詳細信息。幻燈片 14 再次向您展示了我們的 GAAP 到非 GAAP 調整。今年迄今為止的情況與本季度相同，因為我們正在調整有利的天氣，也調整了我們在第二季度和前一年談到的正確的懲罰，即不利的天氣.

So an add-back with that $178.9 million or $3.18 for 2022 as compared with net income of $182.4 million or $3.51 in 2021.

因此，與 2021 年的淨收入 1.824 億美元或 3.51 美元相比，2022 年的淨收入增加了 1.789 億美元或 3.18 美元。

From a cash flow perspective, the other thing that we remain focused on is working to improve our credit metrics in our FFO. And I would tell you, we've had a really strong year from a cash flow perspective, and you can see that in the numbers on this page of significant improvement of cash from operating activities versus the prior year and think about that as selecting some of those deferred costs from the prior period.

從現金流的角度來看，我們仍然關注的另一件事是努力改善 FFO 中的信用指標。我會告訴你，從現金流的角度來看，我們度過了非常強勁的一年，你可以在本頁的數字中看到，與上一年相比，經營活動產生的現金顯著改善，並認為這是選擇一些上一期間的遞延成本。

The challenge is we continue to be -- have significant deferred costs as it relates to mostly primarily our Montana PCCAM. So you see an improvement there, but still an under-collected position that we're working to recover from customers. With that, the other thing I would just mention, and that takes you right to the guidance slide. But as you all know, and we talked about at EEI in Q3, we are not giving '23 earnings guidance until we conclude our rate case and have an outcome from that and from our commissioners as we're working that, that has outsized impact as to how we think about our growth going forward.

我們面臨的挑戰是——有大量的遞延成本，因為它主要與我們的蒙大拿 PCCAM 相關。所以你看到那裡有所改善，但我們正在努力從客戶那裡恢復的職位仍然不足。有了這個，我要提到的另一件事就是將您帶到指導幻燈片。但正如你們所知，我們在第三季度的 EEI 上談到，我們不會給出 23 年的收益指導，直到我們結束我們的利率案例並從中以及我們的專員那裡得到結果，因為我們正在努力，這產生了巨大的影響關於我們如何看待我們未來的增長。

We expect coming out of that to refresh both our long-term guidance rate and also our financing plans. But in the near term, we do expect -- most of you recall we have $75 million remaining on our ATM equity program. We do expect to issue that during 2023. We also have manageable debt issuances, but one piece that we need to refinance of $144 million late in the year, but all that consistent with our long-term guidance that we've given before, we also have a continued significant capital program. Brian talked about the execution in 2022. And I would commend our teams in what was a challenging year of supply chain challenges and the ability to get their work done to continue to execute upon what we think is critical for the system and also to continue to execute on the Yellowstone development.

我們希望由此來更新我們的長期指導率和我們的融資計劃。但在短期內，我們確實預計——你們中的大多數人還記得我們的 ATM 股權計劃還剩下 7500 萬美元。我們確實希望在 2023 年發行。我們也有可管理的債務發行，但我們需要在今年晚些時候再融資 1.44 億美元，但所有這些都符合我們之前給出的長期指導，我們也有一個持續的重要資本計劃。 Brian 談到了 2022 年的執行情況。我要讚揚我們的團隊在充滿供應鏈挑戰的充滿挑戰的一年中以及完成工作以繼續執行我們認為對系統至關重要的事情的能力，並繼續執行黃石開發。

So all of that, a significant amount of capital in '22 closed out and a continued plan for '23, in line with what you've seen from us before. And with that, I will turn it over to Brian.

因此，所有這一切，22 年的大量資金已經關閉，23 年的持續計劃與您之前從我們這裡看到的一致。有了這個，我會把它交給布賴恩。

From a capital investment perspective, I think from the last 5 years, we invested about $2.1 billion over those 5 years and obviously, heavily weighted in the back years as we embarked on building Yellowstone County plant. We're still going up about another 15%, approximately 15% going now to $2.4 billion in the next 5 years from a forecast perspective. Obviously, that investment is going to address a generation and transmission capacity constraints. We have transmission constraints on both the electric and gas side and particularly in Montana as Montana continues to grow.

從資本投資的角度來看，我認為從過去的 5 年來看，我們在這 5 年中投資了大約 21 億美元，顯然，在我們著手建設黃石縣工廠的後幾年，我們投入了大量資金。從預測的角度來看，我們仍在上漲約 15%，現在約 15% 將在未來 5 年達到 24 億美元。顯然，這項投資將解決發電和輸電能力的限制。隨著蒙大拿州的持續增長，我們在電力和天然氣方面都有傳輸限制，尤其是在蒙大拿州。

On the distribution side, certainly grid modernization is important. And from a generation standpoint, renewable energy integration and just continue to deal with the capacity constraints that we have as a company. This $2.4 billion, it does include the Yellowstone County Generating Station, and it does include some hydro upgrades that we plan to do and some maintenance of our generation, but it does not include any new plants. And with that, I take you to the next slide from a looking forward perspective.

在配電方面，電網現代化當然很重要。從一代人的角度來看，可再生能源整合只是繼續處理我們作為一家公司的產能限制。這 24 億美元確實包括黃石縣發電站，它確實包括我們計劃進行的一些水電升級和我們這一代的一些維護，但它不包括任何新工廠。然後，我將帶您從前瞻性的角度進入下一張幻燈片。

Yellowstone County certainly in those numbers we just spoke about, but I'll talk about in a minute some plans for South Dakota. Speaking Yellowstone County, we began construction early in '22, we're already in great progress there over from a spend perspective over halfway. And the current schedule anticipates a commercial operation during the first half of 2024. And so we're excited about the continued progress on the Yellowstone County plant. We actually take the Board for a tour of the construction at our April meeting in [billings].

黃石縣肯定有我們剛才談到的那些數字，但我稍後會談談南達科他州的一些計劃。說到黃石縣，我們在 22 年初開始建設，從支出的角度來看，我們已經取得了很大進展。目前的時間表預計將在 2024 年上半年進行商業運營。因此，我們對黃石縣工廠的持續進展感到興奮。實際上，我們在 [billings] 的 4 月會議上帶董事會參觀了建設。

From an electric supply resource plan, we did file our South Dakota plant in late '22 in September, and we're already talking about -- to the commission about a retire and replace candidate up in Aberdeen, somewhere in that 30 to 40-ish megawatts, continue to have a dialogue in terms of appropriate size there. So the thoughts about moving forward building the plant there is exciting for us. And again, those numbers are not in the capital we just shared.

根據電力供應資源計劃，我們確實在 9 月的 22 年底提交了我們的南達科他州工廠，我們已經在談論 - 委員會關於在阿伯丁的退休和替代候選人，在 30 到 40 的某個地方 - ish兆瓦，繼續就適當的規模進行對話。因此，關於推進在那裡建設工廠的想法對我們來說是令人興奮的。再一次，這些數字不在我們剛剛分享的首都。

Lastly, as a result of certain changes participating in wrap, thinking about IIJA and IRA, we decided to hold of filing our integrated resource plan in Montana until the end of March. We're still on track to do that at the end of the March. And we've also, of course, incorporated our news regarding Colstrip into that plan. So we feel good about progress we're making there, and we'll look forward to sharing that with you and speaking with you during the April earnings call. And with that, we'll conclude, and I'll hand it back over To Mr. Meyer.

最後，由於參與包裝的某些變化，考慮到 IIJA 和 IRA，我們決定在 3 月底之前在蒙大拿州提交我們的綜合資源計劃。我們仍有望在 3 月底做到這一點。當然，我們也將關於 Colstrip 的消息納入了該計劃。因此，我們對我們在那裡取得的進展感到滿意，我們期待與您分享並在四月份的財報電話會議上與您交談。至此，我們將結束，我將把它交還給邁耶先生。

Thank you, Brian and Crystal. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝你，布賴恩和克里斯托。 （操作員說明）

With that we will take our first call from Jamieson Ward from Guggenheim.

有了這個，我們將接聽來自古根海姆的 Jamieson Ward 的第一個電話。

Just got a couple for you. Understanding that, of course, you're not going to be issuing '23 guidance until after the rate case standard procedures you've done in prior years. You did, though, go to or opt to put out not just '23 but a full 5-year capital plan, which was great. It's helpful for modeling. Some questions around both of those and then just some differences in the slides.

剛給你一對。明白這一點，當然，在你前幾年完成的費率案例標準程序之前，你不會發布 '23 指南。不過，你確實去或選擇了不僅推出 23 年而且推出了完整的 5 年資本計劃，這很棒。對建模很有幫助。關於這兩個方面的一些問題，然後只是幻燈片中的一些差異。

So you reiterated the 3% to 6% long-term EPS growth today. But looking back at the third quarter deck and last year's 4Q deck, the base year of 2020 is missing. So I'm just wondering, is that sort of soft signaling that you're kind of reevaluating what an appropriate base would be, and that might be one of the things that gets unveiled after the rate case when you roll forward and put out your official guidance. Or was it just missing in the slide deck in 2020 stands?

所以你今天重申了 3% 到 6% 的長期每股收益增長。但是回頭看看三季度的牌組和去年四季度的牌組，2020年的基準年少了。所以我只是想知道，這種軟信號是否表明你正在重新評估合適的基礎是什麼，這可能是在你向前推進並推出你的利率案例後公佈的事情之一官方指導。還是它只是在 2020 年看台的幻燈片中不見了？

Jamieson, you have great attention to detail. That's my first comment, an excellent job of figuring out how to unmute yourself. I know we make that challenging for a Friday afternoon. But your comment is a good catch and correct. We will evaluate what is our base year. Obviously, 2020 is pretty dated at this point. And so when we do come out with updated guidance, I would expect to see a new base from us.

賈米森，你非常注重細節。這是我的第一條評論，這是一項出色的工作，可以弄清楚如何讓自己取消靜音。我知道我們在周五下午進行了挑戰。但是您的評論是一個很好的選擇並且是正確的。我們將評估什麼是我們的基準年。顯然，2020 年在這一點上已經過時了。因此，當我們確實推出更新的指南時，我希望看到我們的新基地。

Got you. Totally makes sense. Just want to check and run it by you. The second one is on rate base. And the first part of it, you've answered there. It just had to do with the $4 billion in 2020 as a base. The second part of it, though, so I think that's dealt with. The second part was when I looked at CapEx year-by-year, summed them up and pulled out the Yellowstone component from last year's '22 to '26 plan and then this year's '23 to '27 plan, it still kind of looked pretty comparable from a dollar standpoint.

明白了完全有道理。只想由您檢查並運行它。第二個是基於利率。它的第一部分，你已經在那裡回答了。它只是與 2020 年的 40 億美元作為基數有關。不過，它的第二部分，所以我認為已經解決了。第二部分是當我逐年查看資本支出時，將它們總結並從去年的 22 到 26 年計劃和今年的 23 到 27 年計劃中提取黃石組件，它看起來仍然很漂亮從美元的角度來看具有可比性。

So I'm just wondering if maybe I should be looking at it differently. But essentially, 2.2x Yellowstone for the '22 to '26 plan and 2.240x Yellowstone in the current plan, how do you get rate base growth of 4% to 5% if the dollars amount -- the dollar amount being invested stays the same, but of course, have depreciation and so on? Or is it more that it's a CAGR rather than an annual growth rate and it's sort of more back-end loaded, weighted towards more transmission opportunities? Just trying to get some color on how to best sort of understand the path you guys might see going forward since you've opted to give CapEx guidance and roll the 5-year plan today?

所以我只是想知道我是否應該以不同的方式看待它。但本質上，'22 到 '26 計劃的 2.2 倍黃石公園和當前計劃中的 2.240 倍黃石公園，如果美元數額——投資的美元數額保持不變，你如何獲得 4% 到 5% 的利率基礎增長，但當然有折舊等？或者它更多的是複合年增長率而不是年增長率，而且它更多的是後端負載，更傾向於更多的傳輸機會？自從你們今天選擇提供資本支出指導並推出 5 年計劃以來，只是想了解一下如何最好地理解你們可能看到的前進道路？

Great questions, Jamieson. We did opt to give CapEx guidance because we knew if we didn't, you would all have the questions. So we might as well, right. And how we think about that? And as the CFO sitting here, managing our credit metrics versus the CEO over there saying, we need to get after capacity, there's plenty of capital to be done. So what I would say this roll forward represents is, one, you are rolling off Yellowstone. There are some slides in the exhibit. It sounds like you've already been there that really give you that exact math of Yellowstone is incremental to what we would say as a normal run of the mill capital spend.

很好的問題，賈米森。我們確實選擇提供資本支出指導，因為我們知道如果我們不這樣做，你們都會有疑問。所以我們也可以，對吧。我們如何看待這一點？正如坐在這裡的首席財務官管理我們的信用指標，而那邊的首席執行官說，我們需要提高產能，還有大量的資本要做。所以我要說的是，這個向前滾動代表的是，一，你正在從黃石公園滾下來。展覽中有一些幻燈片。聽起來您已經去過那裡，真正讓您知道 Yellowstone 的精確數學與我們所說的工廠資本支出的正常運行相比是增量的。

And then secondly, the key piece here is we're focused on our FFO metrics. So plenty of capital will be done. But how can we do that and maintain our ethical metrics and importantly, drive affordability? Again, there's -- I would call it almost an unlimited amount of capital, if you can get the folks to get the work done. The question is, what can we do and maintain affordability to customers? How do we think about that? And then how do we think about our FFO metric? So the capital roll-forward you would see here as steady as she goes. It is indeed a CAGR. And so I would think about it in that regard as well.

其次，這裡的關鍵是我們專注於我們的 FFO 指標。所以大量的資本會做。但我們如何才能做到這一點並保持我們的道德標準，重要的是，提高負擔能力？再一次，如果你能讓人們完成工作，我會稱之為幾乎無限量的資本。問題是，我們能做些什麼來維持客戶的承受能力？我們如何看待這一點？那麼我們如何看待我們的 FFO 指標？所以你會在這裡看到的資本向前滾動和她一樣穩定。這確實是複合年增長率。所以我也會考慮這方面的問題。

One thing I'd add to that, that I think the issue with Colstrip, I think people have been concerned about our capital needs as a result of procuring something for 0 and an opportunity you may miss, if you will, from a generation investment perspective. One of the reasons we're certainly comfortable, obviously, we address that issue because we're concerned for our customers. We're going to do this in essence to reduce risk for us on our end in terms of owning Colstrip also for our customers and keep sufficient bill headroom so we can have this high level of capital and notice that this slope is not the upward hockey-stick type slope that we've seen historically for our capital plans. It's pretty relatively flat across the time period. It just demonstrates the amount of capacity investment we need to make as an organization for our growing communities.

我要補充的一件事是，我認為 Colstrip 的問題，我認為人們一直擔心我們的資本需求，因為我們以 0 的價格購買了一些東西，如果你願意的話，你可能會錯過一代投資的機會看法。我們當然感到舒服的原因之一，顯然，我們解決這個問題是因為我們關心我們的客戶。我們這樣做本質上是為了降低我們在擁有 Colstrip 方面的風險，也為我們的客戶保留足夠的賬單空間，這樣我們就可以擁有如此高水平的資本，並註意到這個斜率不是向上曲棍球-我們在歷史上為我們的資本計劃看到的棒型斜率。在整個時間段內，它相對平穩。它只是展示了我們作為一個組織需要為我們不斷發展的社區進行的能力投資量。

Got you. That's very helpful color. And it makes a lot of sense why you opted to go to the road that you did there. It definitely seems like that was the right approach to take. Last question for me, and then I'll pass it off to others in the queue. On FFO, prior metric target had been 14% to 15%. Now it's greater than 14%. Just wanted to get a sense of, a, is that for a certain period of time, and then it's back to the 14% to 15%? Is 14% just the new normal going forward? Is it dependent on whether you get things like the capital, right? Like how should we think about what moved you from the 14% to 15% down to the 14% and decided to keep it there as the new standard single level there in guidance?

明白了這是非常有用的顏色。為什麼你選擇走你在那裡的路是很有意義的。看起來這絕對是正確的方法。我的最後一個問題，然後我會將其傳遞給隊列中的其他人。在 FFO 上，之前的指標目標是 14% 到 15%。現在已經超過 14%。只是想了解一下，是不是在一段時間內，然後又回到了 14% 到 15%？ 14% 只是未來的新常態嗎？是不是要看你有沒有得到資本之類的東西，對吧？就像我們應該如何考慮是什麼讓你從 14% 到 15% 下降到 14% 並決定將它保留在那裡作為指導中的新標准單一級別？

Again, great attention to detail. I don't know that I overbought changing it from 14% to 15% to just being over 14%. I would tell you that's where we're targeting as being -- and to your point, it's unlikely that we would target to be well above that number. So 14% to 15% is probably fair to think about that, but we continue to be focused on making sure that we're maintaining. Moving our credit metric expect for that, we'll acknowledge that this year pulls out a little lower FFO than we were anticipating because of the pressures we saw at year-end, again, supply costs and how that affects our debt level. But no intent of change in tone or where we're headed between saying above 14% versus saying 14% to 15%.

再次，非常注重細節。我不知道我超買將它從 14% 更改為 15% 到剛剛超過 14%。我會告訴你，這就是我們的目標——就你的觀點而言，我們的目標不太可能遠高於這個數字。所以 14% 到 15% 可能是公平的考慮，但我們繼續專注於確保我們保持。移動我們的信用指標預期，我們將承認今年的 FFO 比我們預期的要低一些，因為我們在年底看到的壓力，供應成本以及它如何影響我們的債務水平。但沒有改變語氣的意圖，也沒有改變我們在說 14% 以上與說 14% 到 15% 之間的方向。

We'll take our next call from the line of Anthony Crowdell at Mizuho.

我們將接聽 Mizuho 的 Anthony Crowdell 的電話。

Can you hear me?

你能聽到我嗎？

We can hear you, Anthony.

我們能聽到你的聲音，安東尼。

Anthony, we could.

安東尼，我們可以。

I don't know what's -- a box keeps popping up. A box keeps popping up to unmute multiple times, but unlike Jamieson, I'll try to keep it brief. Just quickly, thoughts you're acquiring Colstrip for 0. I'm just curious, does that flow into rates or (technical difficulty).

我不知道是什麼 - 一個盒子不斷彈出。一個框不斷彈出以取消靜音多次，但與 Jamieson 不同的是，我會盡量保持簡短。很快，您以為您以 0 的價格收購了 Colstrip。我很好奇，這是否會影響費率或（技術難度）。

Well, the issue is we're acquiring Colstrip for 0, obviously, there's no upfront capital cost. So that is effective in 01/01/26. It's our intent. Of course, by the time we get to 01/01/26, we want to make sure that we get recovery of our operating costs that will start on 01/01/26. And if there's any incremental capital from a maintenance perspective, we want to have certainty of that on a going-forward basis.

嗯，問題是我們以 0 的價格收購 Colstrip，顯然，沒有前期資本成本。所以這在 26 年 1 月 1 日生效。這是我們的意圖。當然，到 01/01/26 時，我們希望確保從 01/01/26 開始收回運營成本。如果從維護的角度來看有任何增量資本，我們希望在未來的基礎上確定這一點。

I think the feedback we've seen in Montana from the governor, the U.S. -- our U.S. representatives and total delegation, the state legislature and even a former commissioner, at least, a tremendous support for Colstrip. And so we feel good about where we sit on this particular issue. And then ultimately, whatever cost we associate with Colstrip on a going-forward basis, high chance of recovery.

我認為我們在蒙大拿州從美國州長那裡看到的反饋——我們的美國代表和全體代表團、州立法機構，甚至前任專員，至少是對 Colstrip 的巨大支持。因此，我們對我們在這個特定問題上的立場感到滿意。然後最終，無論我們在前進的基礎上與 Colstrip 相關的成本是多少，恢復的可能性都很高。

Do you have the option of using Colstrip as a merchant facility to help offset some of the volatility that you're seeing in the PCCAM, as like a natural hedge that is...

您是否可以選擇使用 Colstrip 作為商業設施來幫助抵消您在 PCCAM 中看到的一些波動性，就像一種天然對沖...

Well, Anthony, I'd say this. We don't have to operate as a merchant to offset the volatility in PCCAM. We can operate it as a regulated resource to do that, right? Because we can use that. We sort of calling on the marketplace, we can operate our existing asset. And my biggest complaint about this Colstrip acquisition is we have to wait till 01/01/26 to get. I think another thing I'd just say on PCCAM, I think what Crystal's done in terms of trying to adjust what's a proper way to treat the PCCAM and how we should get proper recovery and hopefully, that gets captured in this rate case, that's going to certainly help us, too.

好吧，安東尼，我會這麼說。我們不必作為商家來抵消 PCCAM 的波動性。我們可以將其作為受監管的資源進行操作，對嗎？因為我們可以使用它。我們在某種程度上呼籲市場，我們可以運營我們現有的資產。我對此次 Colstrip 收購的最大抱怨是我們必須等到 01/01/26 才能獲得。我想我想在 PCCAM 上說的另一件事是，我認為 Crystal 在嘗試調整什麼是治療 PCCAM 的正確方法以及我們應該如何獲得適當的恢復方面做了什麼，希望在這種情況下得到體現，那就是肯定也會幫助我們。

Great. And the last one, on the FFO to debt, when do you get to 14%?

偉大的。最後一個，關於債務的 FFO，你什麼時候達到 14%？

That's a great question. And as I said, we're not giving long-term guidance, but we definitely -- the key determinant of driving our FFO improvement is this rate case outcome.

這是一個很好的問題。正如我所說，我們沒有提供長期指導，但我們肯定 - 推動我們的 FFO 改善的關鍵決定因素是這種利率案例結果。

If the rate case outcome is within expectations, do we hit 14% by year-end?

如果費率案件的結果在預期之內，我們是否會在年底前達到 14%？

Yes.

是的。

We'll take our next call from the line of Sophie Karp at KeyBanc.

我們將接聽來自 KeyBanc 的 Sophie Karp 的下一個電話。

So my first question is on the IRP, which you, I guess, slightly delayed the filing of it, and you alluded in your prepared remarks that you're evaluating options given the IRA and the Colstrip. Just was curious to kind of maybe if you could discuss what those new options are that you're seeing given the new reality under the IRA framework and your acquisition or transfer of ownership of Colstrip?

所以我的第一個問題是關於 IRP，我猜你稍微推遲了它的提交，並且你在準備好的評論中提到你正在評估給定 IRA 和 Colstrip 的選項。只是有點好奇，如果你能討論一下你在 IRA 框架下的新現實以及你對 Colstrip 所有權的收購或轉讓中看到的那些新選擇是什麼？

I think really, the 3 things that come to mind on there is, there's new capacity accreditation associated with RAP we have to take into consideration. Obviously, having Colstrip in the mix impacts the amount of capacity that we need and the type of resources potentially. And then lastly, just thinking about what the cost resources would be, IRA is one factor, but obviously, we've seen increased inflation and other things, supply chain issues impact costs in other way. So just trying to consider those things into the mix.

我認為真的，我想到的三件事是，我們必須考慮與 RAP 相關的新能力認證。顯然，混合使用 Colstrip 會影響我們需要的容量和潛在資源的類型。最後，考慮成本資源是什麼，IRA 是一個因素，但顯然，我們已經看到通貨膨脹和其他因素增加，供應鏈問題以其他方式影響成本。所以只是想把這些東西考慮進去。

And it's requiring us to do quite a bit of work to change and update this. And Sophie, it's too soon for us to tell you what we expect to see from a change perspective, the resource plan will be out here in about 1.5 months.

這需要我們做很多工作來更改和更新它。索菲，我們現在告訴你我們期望從變化的角度看到什麼還為時過早，資源計劃將在大約 1.5 個月後發布。

Okay. All right. We'll wait. And then my other question was, would you care to comment about the broadview decision? And I guess, the broader question I have is what kind of an impact would interconnect and such facilities have on your already challenged, I guess, power supply costs and I guess the calculation of the avoided cost, is that going to change in your favor, maybe with the addition of Colstrip, other resources? How should we think about this moving forward?

好的。好的。我們會等。然後我的另一個問題是，你願意對 broadview 的決定發表評論嗎？而且我想，我有一個更廣泛的問題是互連會產生什麼樣的影響，這樣的設施對你已經面臨的挑戰，我想，電力供應成本和我想避免成本的計算，是否會改變對你有利，也許加上 Colstrip，其他資源？我們應該如何考慮這一進展？

I think Colstrip certainly helps as we closed that gap and have reduced capacity requirements. Obviously, the broadview decision we're disappointed in. From our perspective, at the end of the day, this -- from an energy perspective with some of these resources, we believe, is customers -- it's energy, our customers don't necessarily need and certainly at the prices that they ultimately have to pay over the life of these contracts. And it certainly gives us less flexibility as a company to operate our portfolio of resources when more and more of these contracts are part of the mix.

我認為 Colstrip 肯定有助於我們縮小差距並降低容量要求。顯然，我們對廣泛的決定感到失望。從我們的角度來看，歸根結底，從能源的角度來看，我們相信其中一些資源是客戶 - 這是能源，我們的客戶不是必然需要，而且肯定是以他們在這些合同有效期內最終必須支付的價格。當越來越多的此類合同成為組合的一部分時，它肯定會降低我們作為一家公司運營我們資源組合的靈活性。

And I think with that, we've exhausted our queue of questions. I hand it back to Brian for any closing remarks you might have.

而且我認為，我們已經用完了我們的問題隊列。我將它交還給 Brian，請你發表任何結束語。

It's my first time of closing remarks. I should have been prepared to say something. Actually, I would just say this. I think we're very excited about kind of from a tailwind perspective. I know as an industry we've got tremendous amount of headwinds in front of us, higher inflation, higher interest costs, higher commodity costs. But as an individual company, I think from the rate case, from how we're handling our capacity issue with Yellowstone County and Colstrip, and I think the reception we've received from the state in terms of some of these decisions we made, I feel as an individual company, we've got a lot of tailwinds as well.

這是我第一次做閉幕詞。我應該準備說些什麼。其實我只想說這個。我認為我們對順風的觀點感到非常興奮。我知道作為一個行業，我們面臨著巨大的阻力，更高的通貨膨脹率、更高的利息成本、更高的商品成本。但作為一家單獨的公司，我認為從費率案例，從我們如何處理與黃石縣和科爾斯特里普的容量問題，我認為我們從國家那裡收到的關於我們做出的一些決定的接待，我覺得作為一家獨立的公司，我們也有很多順風。

So extremely excited about 2023 and where this company can go.

對 2023 年以及這家公司的發展方向感到非常興奮。

Thanks, again, for joining us on a Friday afternoon before holiday call. Please feel free to reach out to me personally if you have any questions following the call. And with that, you may now disconnect.

再次感謝您在假期電話會議前的周五下午加入我們。如果您在通話後有任何問題，請隨時親自與我聯繫。這樣，您現在就可以斷開連接了。