NorthWestern Energy Group Inc (NWE) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining NorthWestern Energy Group's financial results webcast for the quarter ended June 30, 2024. My name is Travis Meyer. I'm the Director of Corporate Development and Investor Relations Officer for NorthWestern.

下午好，感謝您觀看西北能源集團截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日的季度財務業績網絡廣播。我叫崔維斯‧邁耶。我是西北航空的企業發展總監和投資者關係官。

Joining us today to walk through the results and provide an overall update are Brian Bird, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Crystal Lail, Chief Financial Officer. (Event Instructions)

今天與我們一起了解結果並提供整體更新的是總裁兼執行長 Brian Bird；克里斯多‧萊爾 (Crystal Lail)，財務長。（活動須知）

NorthWestern's results have been released and the release is available on our website at northwesternenergy.com. We also released our 10-Q premarket this morning. Please note that this 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 financials and safe harbor provisions included in the second slide of this presentation.

西北大學的結果已經發布，該結果可在我們的網站 Northwesternenergy.com 上取得。今天早上我們也發布了 10-Q 盤前報告。請注意，該公司的新聞稿、本簡報、演示者的評論以及對您問題的答案可能包含前瞻性陳述。因此，我將引導您了解本簡報第二張投影片中包含的 SEC 財務資訊和安全港條款中包含的揭露內容。

Also, please note this presentation includes non-GAAP financial measures. Please see the non-GAAP disclosures, definitions and reconciliations also included in the presentation. Webcast is being recorded. The archived replay of today's webcast will be available for one year beginning at 6:00 PM Eastern today and can be found in the Financial Results section of our website.

另請注意，本簡報包括非公認會計準則財務指標。請參閱簡報中也包含的非 GAAP 揭露、定義和調整。網路廣播正在錄製中。今天網路廣播的存檔重播將從今天東部時間下午 6:00 開始提供一年，並且可以在我們網站的財務結果部分找到。

With that, I'll hand the presentation over to Brian Bird for opening remarks.

接下來，我將把簡報交給布萊恩伯德 (Brian Bird) 致開幕詞。

Thanks, Travis, and greetings to all of you from Great Falls, Montana, we've a Board meeting here this week, and we had an opportunity to tour some of our hydro facilities. That was great fun and I had the opportunity to meet with Energy West employees this morning here in Great Falls. So we'll talk about that a bit later.

謝謝特拉維斯，並向來自蒙大拿州大瀑布城的大家致以問候，本週我們在這裡召開了董事會會議，我們有機會參觀了我們的一些水力設施。這非常有趣，今天早上我有機會在大瀑布城會見了 Energy West 的員工。所以我們稍後再討論這個問題。

Our recent highlights, as noted on page 3, as we reported GAAP diluted EPS of $0.52, share in non-GAAP diluted EPS of $0.53, we're affirming our 2024 diluted EPS guidance of $3.42 to $3.62. We're affirming our long-term five-year rate base and earnings per share growth rate targets of 4% to 6% and we declared a dividend for the quarter of $0.65 per share payable September 30, 2024 to shareholders of record as of September 13, 2024.

如第3 頁所述，我們最近的亮點是，我們報告的GAAP 稀釋後每股收益為0.52 美元，非GAAP 稀釋後每股收益為0.53 美元，我們確認2024 年稀釋後每股收益指引為3.42 美元至3.62 美元。我們確認我們的長期五年利率基數和每股收益增長率目標為 4% 至 6%，並宣布將於 2024 年 9 月 30 日向截至 9 月份在冊的股東派發每股 0.65 美元的季度股息2024 年13日。

I'm sure that you've seen that we filed rate reviews in Montana Electric & Gas and South Dakota Natural Gas and Nebraska Natural Gas, those three jurisdictions within two months, as a matter of fact, if you consider the South Dakota Electric rate review we filed last year, it's the first time and certainly in the 20 years that we've had the Montana Power assets in the NorthWestern public service assets, certainly since that merger that we filed in all jurisdictions in this short period of time.

我相信您已經看到我們在兩個月內對蒙大拿州電力和天然氣公司、南達科他州天然氣公司和內布拉斯加州天然氣公司這三個司法管轄區進行了費率審查，事實上，如果您考慮南達科他州電力公司的費率根據我們去年提交的審查，這是20 年來我們第一次將蒙大拿電力資產納入西北公共服務資產，當然是自我們在短時間內在所有司法管轄區提交合併申請以來。

And really -- and Crystal certainly will talk about this later. It's an effort we continue to invest high levels in all jurisdictions, obviously, in a rising cost environment. We need to make these rate review filings. And we need to earn closer to our authorized rate of return. She certainly will speak to that more as well.

確實如此——克里斯托稍後肯定會談論這個。顯然，在成本不斷上升的環境下，我們繼續在所有司法管轄區進行高額投資，這是一項努力。我們需要提交這些費率審查文件。我們需要賺取更接近我們授權的報酬率。她當然也會多談論這一點。

I'll get an opportunity to talk about two strategic transactions and the first being, we've entered an agreement to acquire Energy West Montana's natural gas distribution system, serving 33,000 customers for $39 million, and we've entered an agreement to acquire Puget Sound's 370-megawatt ownership interest and Colstrip Units 3 and 4 and like the Avista transaction at no cost.

我將有機會談論兩項策略交易，第一項是，我們簽署了一項協議，收購Energy West Montana 的天然氣分配系統，以3900 萬美元的價格為33,000 名客戶提供服務，我們還簽署了一項收購Puget 的協議Sound 的 370 兆瓦所有權權益以及 Colstrip 3 號和 4 號機組以及 Avista 等都是免費交易的。

Take a look at our NorthWestern value proposition. I mean we are still providing a 5% dividend yield today. And when you consider just our base capital plan and you're going to see a 4% to 6% EPS growth on top of that, providing a 9% to 11% total growth. And when you can take into consideration incremental opportunities for transmission, incremental generating capacity, QFs or other power purchase agreement buyouts, electrification supporting economic development and like these two transactions today, we are endeavoring to grow this business and provide a better value proposition for our shareholders and much like these acquisitions provide better outcomes for our customers as well.

看看我們的西北價值主張。我的意思是我們今天仍然提供 5% 的股息收益率。當你只考慮我們的基本資本計畫時，你會看到除此之外每股盈餘成長 4% 到 6%，總成長達到 9% 到 11%。當您可以考慮輸電增量機會、增量發電量、QF 或其他購電協議收購、支持經濟發展的電氣化以及像今天的這兩筆交易一樣，我們正在努力發展這項業務，並為我們的業務提供更好的價值主張。

With that, I'm going to hand it over to Crystal to talk about the second-quarter financial results.

接下來，我將把第二季的財務表現交給 Crystal 來討論。

Thank you, Brian. In my comments today, I will discuss our financial performance for the first half of the year with focus on Q2 here and also discuss our outlook for the remainder of the year. Also, my comments will address the rate reviews that Brian alluded to, to give you a bit more detail on those and how we're thinking about them.

謝謝你，布萊恩。在今天的評論中，我將討論我們上半年的財務業績，重點關注第二季度，並討論我們對今年剩餘時間的展望。另外，我的評論將涉及布萊恩提到的費率審查，以便為您提供有關這些審查的更多詳細資訊以及我們如何考慮它們。

But importantly, I would mention that being here in Great Falls is fortuitous timing. We plan our Board meetings well in advance. Our Board likes to be out with our employees and our management team as well to happen to align with the announcement that I will turn it back to Brian to talk to you at the end is a pretty full thing.

但重要的是，我要提到的是，來到大瀑布城的時機很偶然。我們提前規劃董事會會議。我們的董事會也喜歡與我們的員工和管理團隊一起出去，並且碰巧與我將在最後將其轉回布萊恩與您交談的公告保持一致，這是一件非常充實的事情。

So with slide 6, you'll see the results that Brian alluded to, a strong financial performance in Q2 with earnings per share of $0.52, and that's compared with $0.32 in Q2 of 2023. So really significant improvement in performance there.

因此，在幻燈片 6 中，您將看到 Brian 提到的結果，第二季財務業績強勁，每股收益為 0.52 美元，而 2023 年第二季為 0.32 美元。所以那裡的性能確實有顯著的提高。

I'll take you to slide 7 for a bit more detail on the quarter results. GAAP net income of $31.7 million gave a $12.6 million improvement or 66% since 2023 on an adjusted basis, and I'll speak to that a little bit more later in detail, but the only adjustment in Q2 here is weather. So on an adjusted basis, that's $11.8 million or 58% improvement.

我將帶您查看幻燈片 7，以了解有關季度業績的更多詳細資訊。GAAP 淨利潤為 3,170 萬美元，調整後自 2023 年以來增加了 1,260 萬美元，即 66%，我稍後會詳細討論這一點，但第二季唯一的調整是天氣。因此，在調整後的基礎上，改善了 1,180 萬美元，即 58%。

Slide 8, again, most of my comments today will be addressed on the quarter, but I would be remiss to not cover our first half of the year performance, and we are pleased with that financial performance with earnings of $96.7 million or $1.58 on a GAAP basis, which is a $0.21 increase or 15%.

再次幻燈片8，我今天的大部分評論將針對本季度進行討論，但如果我不介紹我們上半年的業績，那就太失職了，我們對財務業績感到滿意，盈利為9670 萬美元，每股收益為1.58 美元。

Moving to slide 9, you see our results for the quarter and the details as to what's really driving those. You will see that the left side of this, the key driver here is really that focus on regulatory execution and outcomes, driving $0.26 of improvement from a margin perspective based off that. Those were offset in part by some operating cost pressures, including as with everyone else, labor, if you think about that piece of it embedded within the $0.05 of detriment at the OAG line and then also some cyclical planned generation maintenance. And then you also see some offsets with depreciation and interest expense, again, leading to $0.52 on a GAAP basis and $0.53 on a non-GAAP diluted basis.

前往投影片 9，您可以看到我們本季的業績以及真正推動這些業績的詳細資訊。您會看到，左側的關鍵驅動因素實際上是對監管執行和結果的關注，從基於此的利潤率角度來看，推動了 0.26 美元的改善。這些成本部分被一些營運成本壓力所抵消，包括與其他所有人一樣的勞動力成本，如果你考慮到 OAG 線路 0.05 美元的損失中包含的這一部分，以及一些週期性計劃的發電維護。然後，您還會看到折舊和利息費用的一些抵消，導致以 GAAP 計算為 0.52 美元，以非 GAAP 攤薄計算為 0.53 美元。

Slide 10 breaks out that margin detail and provides really the drivers for the quarter with $0.20 of improvement driven by regulatory outcomes. I would mention that from a volumetric perspective, that was tempered a bit by milder weather in Q2. You all know that our most shoulder season that we experienced seeing a bit lower residential usage driven by weather, somewhat offset by industrial usage overall.

投影片 10 詳細介紹了利潤率細節，並提供了本季真正的驅動因素，監管結果推動了 0.20 美元的改善。我要提到的是，從體積角度來看，第二季天氣溫和，有所緩和。大家都知道，在我們經歷的最平淡季節，受天氣影響，住宅使用量下降，但整體工業使用量在一定程度上抵消了這一影響。

You'll also note that we saw a $0.05 of contribution quarter over quarter from our Montana transmission assets. We continue to believe fundamentally, they're very strategically located and important to driving both results in this quarter, but also our growth in the future. These are also offset in part by -- if you'll recall, the QF liability adjustment that we've talked about with you many times last year, we adjusted that out, but that was a more favorable QF adjustment in Q2 2023, impacting, obviously, the quarter-over-quarter results, the absence of that favorable adjustment here.

您還會注意到，蒙大拿州輸電資產的季度貢獻為 0.05 美元。我們仍然從根本上相信，它們的地理位置非常重要，對於推動本季的業績以及我們未來的成長非常重要。這些也被部分抵消——如果您還記得的話，我們去年多次與您討論過 QF 負債調整，我們對此進行了調整，但這是 2023 年第二季度更有利的 QF 調整，影響了顯然，從季度環比的結果來看，這裡沒有出現有利的調整。

And in addition, I'd also talk about our PCCAM just briefly. You can see a detriment here from a PCCAM perspective of about a penny, the way you should think about that is that PCCAM was quite favorable to us last year in Q2 and while it was favorable here in Q2 of '24, it was less favorable, driving $0.01 deterrent.

另外，我也簡單談談我們的PCCAM。您可以從 PCCAM 的角度看到大約一分錢的損失，您應該考慮的是 PCCAM 去年第二季度對我們非常有利，雖然在 24 年第二季度對我們有利，但不太有利，駕駛威懾力為0.01 美元。

But again -- and I'll allude to, Brian is going to talk about another strategic transaction, taking out volatility for our customers and being able to serve them with own resources. It's just a critical part of being able to serve them in the right source of ways. So again, overall, from a margin utility -- utility margin improvement, the driver there is execution from regulatory outcomes.

但我會再次提到，布萊恩將談論另一項策略交易，為我們的客戶消除波動性，並能夠用自己的資源為他們服務。這只是能夠以正確的方式為他們提供服務的關鍵部分。因此，總的來說，從利潤效用——效用利潤率的提高來看，驅動因素是監管結果的執行。

Slide 11, again, many of you know us, but as we think about what we adjust out from a quarter perspective, we had a couple of noisy items, I call them, one-timers in Q1 here in Q2, you'll see only the impact of weather. I mentioned we had some milder weather in Q2. So you see only a penny of adjustment out of unfavorable weather with add back. And when you think about last year in Q2, that was compared to a $0.03 add back of unfavorable weather. So overall, you adjust that in, you have $0.53 on a non-GAAP basis compared to $0.35 on in the prior quarter, and again, that's an $0.18 improvement over 2023.

投影片11，同樣，你們中的許多人都認識我們，但當我們從季度角度考慮我們的調整時，我們有一些嘈雜的項目，我稱之為第一季度的一次性項目，第二季度的一次性項目，你會看到僅受天氣影響。我提到第二季天氣較為溫和。因此，您只能看到不利天氣帶來的一分錢的調整和加回來。當你回想去年第二季時，你會發現，與不利天氣導致的 0.03 美元的增加相比。因此，總體而言，您將其調整為，與上一季的 0.35 美元相比，按非 GAAP 基準計算，您的收入為 0.53 美元，比 2023 年增加了 0.18 美元。

Slide 12, we talked about at the end of Q1, really executing on our strategy of strengthening our balance sheet and being where we need to be from both a financing perspective and driving strength in our ability to continue investing for our customers. We had executed on our financing plan when we talked to you by the end of April, and we were also above our 14% targeted threshold for FFO and I'm happy to say we continue to be above that, and that is consistent with the guidance we've given you, maintaining strength there. So you'll see 14.8% closing out on a trailing 12-month basis, the first half of 2024, and very happy to be over that level.

投影片 12，我們在第一季末談到，真正執行我們加強資產負債表的策略，從融資角度和推動我們繼續為客戶投資的能力達到我們需要的水平。當我們在 4 月底與您交談時，我們已經執行了我們的融資計劃，而且我們也高於 FFO 14% 的目標閾值，我很高興地說我們繼續高於該閾值，這與我們給您的指導，保持那裡的力量。因此，到 2024 年上半年，您將看到過去 12 個月的收盤率為 14.8%，並且很高興能夠超過該水平。

So with that, on slide 13, you'll see our disclosures here are consistent with what we shared with you previously. We are pleased with our financial performance for the first half of the year and on track to deliver solid results for 2024, really driven by those constructive regulatory outcomes. So we're investing to be able to serve our customers. We also believe that we are uniquely positioned with no equity needs in our current capital plan, while we're still deploying substantial investment in our jurisdictions, which I'll talk more, which is my next thing to talk about, which is our regulatory filings during the quarter, really driven by what I just alluded to as our capital plan and investing on our customers' behalf.

因此，在投影片 13 上，您將看到我們此處的揭露與我們先前與您分享的內容一致。我們對上半年的財務表現感到滿意，並預計在 2024 年取得穩健的業績，這確實是在這些建設性監管成果的推動下。因此，我們進行投資是為了能夠為我們的客戶提供服務。我們也相信，我們處於獨特的地位，在我們當前的資本計劃中沒有股權需求，而我們仍在我們的司法管轄區部署大量投資，我將更多地談論這一點，這是我接下來要談論的事情，這是我們的監管本季提交的文件，實際上是由我剛才提到的我們的資本計劃和代表客戶進行投資推動的。

So with that, I will transition from discussing the impacts of the quarter to what we view as strategic to driving our growth going forward here and what we look at in the next year or so. You'll note that our teams have been busy here. And Q2, as Brian alluded to, submitting great reviews in each of our jurisdictions.

因此，我將從討論本季的影響轉向我們認為推動我們未來成長的策略以及我們在未來一年左右的展望。您會注意到我們的團隊在這裡一直很忙。第二季度，正如布萊恩所提到的，在我們每個司法管轄區提交了很好的評論。

You will also note, on slide 15, each of these filings is driven by critical capital investment to meet our customer needs and reflect our focus on while doing that, earning our returns to drive consistent growth, consistent with the strategy that we've laid out for you. We are confident in each of these cases that we can work with our intervenors and commissions to achieve constructive outcomes and continue to be able to invest in infrastructure in each of these states.

您還會注意到，在投影片15 上，這些文件中的每一項都是由關鍵資本投資驅動的，以滿足我們的客戶需求，並反映了我們在此過程中的重點，賺取回報以推動持續成長，與我們所製定的策略保持一致為你而出。我們對每一個案例都充滿信心，我們可以與我們的干預者和委員會合作，取得建設性成果，並繼續能夠投資這些州的基礎設施。

You'll note that Montana filing both electric and gas is laid out on the left-hand side of the slide. While we just concluded a rate review in Montana in late 2023, we are continuing to invest to meet our customers' needs with over $1 billion of investments since that time. So when you think about by the end of 2024, the filings includes on a measurable period. In 2023 and 2024, we will have invested $1 billion to serve customers in Montana.

您會注意到蒙大拿州的電力和天然氣備案都位於幻燈片的左側。雖然我們剛剛在 2023 年底結束了蒙大拿州的費率審查，但自那時以來，我們將繼續投資以滿足客戶的需求，投資金額已超過 10 億美元。因此，當您考慮到 2024 年底時，這些文件包括一個可衡量的時期。2023 年和 2024 年，我們將投資 10 億美元為蒙大拿州的客戶提供服務。

Importantly, in that case, we were also talking about mechanisms to help support ongoing critical needs particularly around wildfire mitigation and what we need to do to provide safe, reliable service to our customers and the importance of that to those in Montana that we serve to support Montana generation investment and also technology needed to continue to serve our customers.

重要的是，在這種情況下，我們還討論了幫助支援持續關鍵需求的機制，特別是在緩解野火方面，以及我們需要採取哪些措施為客戶提供安全、可靠的服務，以及這對我們服務的蒙大拿州客戶的重要性支持蒙大拿州發電投資以及繼續為我們的客戶提供服務所需的技術。

The other thing I would touch upon in that filing that is significant is the Yellowstone Generating Facility. It is a key part of our focus on customer affordability is that importance of owned generation. So while we are seeking to recover in this case, an investment of approximately $300 million, that investment is providing price stability and a Montana resource that is more cost-effective than the market.

我在該文件中要提到的另一件重要的事情是黃石發電設施。我們關注客戶負擔能力的關鍵部分是自有發電的重要性。因此，雖然我們正在尋求在這種情況下收回約 3 億美元的投資，但該投資提供了價格穩定且比市場更具成本效益的蒙大拿州資源。

We've talked many times about impacts in our PCCAM being on the market when we need to serve our customers most and we are really happy to be in the home stretch of bringing that facility online to serve our customers. We understand the potential for the rate impacts of that, and you'll note that the recovery of this facility is offset by a reduction in costs in our PCCAM. And importantly, it aligns the timing of that recovery with the value that customers are receiving from the facility.

當我們最需要為客戶提供服務時，我們已經多次討論過 PCCAM 上市後的影響，我們真的很高興能夠在最後階段將設施上線，為我們的客戶提供服務。我們了解其對費率影響的可能性，並且您會注意到該設施的恢復被我們 PCCAM 成本的降低所抵消。重要的是，它使恢復時間與客戶從設施中獲得的價值保持一致。

As it relates to the South Dakota and Nebraska Gas filings on the right-hand side of the slide, you'll notice in a while since we've filed in each of those jurisdictions. Lots of reasons for that, but critically, we are focused on capital investment that needs to be recovered from those customers and also being in to update the basis of rates there. And again, we certainly believe that we'll be able to work constructively and paint a very clear picture of efficient, cost-effective service and investments that are needed to serve our customers in each of those jurisdictions.

由於它與幻燈片右側的南達科他州和內布拉斯加州天然氣公司的文件相關，您很快就會注意到我們已經在每個司法管轄區提交了文件。造成這種情況的原因有很多，但最重要的是，我們專注於需要從這些客戶那裡收回的資本投資，並更新那裡的費率基礎。再次，我們當然相信我們將能夠建設性地開展工作，並描繪出為每個司法管轄區的客戶提供服務所需的高效、具有成本效益的服務和投資的清晰藍圖。

With each of these filings, we are working to develop timelines with the appropriate interveners and commissions to work through the process with them to achieve critical outcomes. You will also note importantly, back to the growth outlook slide and our outlook for 2024 earnings guidance that we do assume an amount of rate relief related to certain interim rate assumptions.

對於每一份文件，我們正在與適當的干預者和委員會一起制定時間表，與他們一起完成整個過程，以實現關鍵成果。您還會注意到，回到成長前景幻燈片和我們對 2024 年獲利指引的展望，我們確實假設與某些中期利率假設相關的一定程度的利率減免。

So with that, I will turn it back to Brian to discuss our 2Q announcements.

因此，我將把它轉回布萊恩討論我們的第二季公告。

Yes. Before I do that, I just -- on the rate reviews, I do need to say this. I said it earlier, and I want to reiterate the point. Obviously, filing in all of our jurisdictions within the last two years, really, it's important to send the appropriate price signals to our customers, but also having -- making sure we're investing the right amount of capital and spending the right amount to properly serve our customers, but being also able to earn closer to our authorized rate of return.

是的。在此之前，我只是——關於費率審查，我確實需要這麼說。我剛才已經說過了，我想重申這一點。顯然，在過去兩年內在我們所有司法管轄區提交的文件中，向我們的客戶發送適當的價格信號確實很重要，但也要確保我們投資了正確數量的資本並花費了正確的金額妥善服務我們的客戶，但也能夠賺取更接近我們授權的報酬率。

This is different than what we've done in the past. We haven't been this quick to turn around rate reviews and to try to improve our recovery. And I just want to real quick shout out to Crystal and her finance team; Cyndee Fang, the VP of Regulatory and her team and Shannon Heim, our GC and her team. It's been monumental with these folks and all the witnesses and others who support that have done to get to this point.

這與我們過去所做的不同。我們還沒有這麼快地扭轉利率審查並嘗試改善我們的復甦。我只想快速向克里斯托和她的財務團隊大聲疾呼；監管副總裁 Cyndee Fang 及其團隊以及我們的 GC 香農·海姆 (Shannon Heim) 及其團隊。對於這些人以及所有目擊者和其他支持者來說，走到這一步是具有里程碑意義的。

I just felt worth noting in light of all the activity we've got going on from that perspective. With that, on the strategic update, I'm very, very pleased to report the acquisition of Energy West and Cut Bank Natural Gas. We have covered these assets for 20 years. They have been owned by others over the time period over a larger portfolio. We always wish we can own these Montana resources and believe they belong in our portfolio at the end of the day as part of our business.

從這個角度來看我們正在進行的所有活動，我只是覺得值得注意。至此，關於策略更新，我非常非常高興地報告對 Energy West 和 Cut Bank Natural Gas 的收購。我們已經對這些資產進行了 20 年的保護。在一段時間內，它們被其他人擁有，擁有更大的投資組合。我們始終希望能夠擁有這些蒙大拿州資源，並相信它們最終屬於我們的投資組合，作為我們業務的一部分。

And we believe this -- I'll call us even a tuck-in investment, if you will, it should fit very, very nicely into our business. Many of you are well aware that we already serve Great Falls from an electric perspective. Now customers in Great Falls will receive one bill, if this is ultimately closed and approved by the Montana Commission from one provider, NorthWestern on electric, NorthWestern on gas. So we're very excited about that. We also have properties, our own business up in Cut Bank, so it should work extremely well with their employees and obviously having an addition of West Yellowstone into our business in Montana is great.

我們相信這一點——如果你願意的話，我甚至可以稱我們為一項投資，它應該非常非常適合我們的業務。你們中的許多人都清楚，我們已經從電力角度為大瀑布城提供服務。現在，如果蒙大拿州委員會最終關閉並批准來自一家提供者（西北電力公司和西北天然氣公司）的帳單，大瀑布城的客戶將收到一份帳單。所以我們對此感到非常興奮。我們在卡特班克也有房產，我們自己的業務，所以它應該與他們的員工合作得非常好，顯然，將西黃石納入我們在蒙大拿州的業務是很棒的。

So again, we're really excited to move into this transaction. We think it's adding 33,000 customers. That's approximately 15% of the gas customers we have in Montana today. So it's a nice addition to NorthWestern Energy, and it's a great, I think, add for our Montana business.

再說一次，我們非常高興能夠進行這項交易。我們認為它會增加 33,000 名客戶。這大約占我們目前蒙大拿州天然氣客戶的 15%。因此，這是西北能源公司的一個很好的補充，我認為這對我們蒙大拿州的業務來說也是一個很好的補充。

I think the only other thing I'd say about that is, again, I had a chance to meet with the employees and obviously hear something like this. It's news and you think about yourself. But at the end of the day, we're both 100-year-old companies and I think once you come to us, you have to stay with us for many, many years, not getting bounced around with other owners. And so I hope that stability is something that we'll sync in with them and as we move forward.

我想我唯一要說的就是，我再次有機會與員工會面，並且顯然聽到了類似的事情。這是新聞，你想想你自己。但歸根結底，我們都是擁有 100 年歷史的公司，我認為一旦你來到我們這裡，你就必須在我們這裡呆很多很多年，而不是與其他所有者一起跳槽。因此，我希望在我們前進的過程中，我們能夠與他們同步保持穩定。

So again, very excited about that opportunity. I'm also very excited about our ability to acquire an incremental ownership in Colstrip on slide 18, you can see as we talk about. To the far right, we mentioned reliability, affordability and sustainability. Those are the three things we try to balance each and every day as we serve our customers. And only we have that obligation to serve them. And I think this really fits into that mold well. Colstrip, we obviously have ownership in it today. Adding Avista and Puget just allows us more ownership in a reliable resource that we've had for decades. Obviously, acquiring these resources like the Avista resources at zero cost is fantastic for our customers from an affordability standpoint.

再說一遍，我對這個機會感到非常興奮。我也對我們能夠獲得幻燈片 18 上 Colstrip 增量所有權的能力感到非常興奮，您可以在我們談論時看到。在最右邊，我們提到了可靠性、可負擔性和可持續性。這是我們每天在為客戶服務時努力平衡的三件事。只有我們有義務為他們服務。我認為這確實很適合這個模式。Colstrip，我們今天顯然擁有它的所有權。添加 Avista 和 Puget 只會讓我們對數十年來擁有的可靠資源擁有更多所有權。顯然，從負擔能力的角度來看，以零成本獲取這些資源（例如 Avista 資源）對於我們的客戶來說是非常棒的。

And from a sustainability standpoint, we see Colstrip as a bridge to a future that someday in the future when something's available, that's low-carbon or carbon-free at a reasonable cost, we can invest in that and ultimately in and around Colstrip would be our desire.

從永續發展的角度來看，我們將Colstrip 視為通往未來的橋樑，在未來的某一天，當有某種東西可用時，以合理的成本提供低碳或無碳的東西，我們可以對此進行投資，最終Colstrip 及其周邊地區將我們的願望。

At one thing, I want to spend a little bit more time on Colstrip, but we'll go to '19 for a second just to talk about the facility ownership overview. We sit here today at -- we own 30% of Unit 4 or 15% of the full facility at Colstrip. With Avista, we go up to having 33 -- excuse me, 30% of the whole complex at Colstrip, but ultimately, with the Avista and the Puget piece, we'll have a total of over 800 megawatts at the facility between Units 3 and 4.

一方面，我想在 Colstrip 上多花一點時間，但我們會先回顧一下 19 年，只是談談設施所有權概述。今天我們坐在這裡——我們擁有 Colstrip 4 號機組 30% 的股份或全部設施的 15% 的股份。有了 Avista，我們將擁有 33 個——對不起，佔 Colstrip 整個綜合體的 30%，但最終，有了 Avista 和 Puget，我們將在 3 號機組之間的設施中擁有總計超過 800 兆瓦的電力和4.

We'll have 40% interest in Unit 3 and a 70% interest in Unit 4 and a 55% ownership in the facility. I do want to mention, we and Talen collectively in Unit 3 would have a 70% interest. We believe Talen has done a nice job as the operator in this facility. And we certainly hope on a longer-term basis, we can continue to partner in providing Montanans and others service from here. Our other parties that will stay in. I understand they still have regulatory issues in terms of having to exit the facility. But hopefully, again, they will continue to serve their customers much like we want to for the time that we're in here.

我們將擁有 3 號機組 40% 的權益、4 號機組 70% 的權益以及該設施 55% 的所有權。我確實想提一下，我們和 Talen 共同擁有第 3 單元 70% 的權益。我們相信 Talen 作為該設施的操作員做得很好。我們當然希望從長遠來看，我們可以繼續合作，從這裡為蒙大拿州和其他地區提供服務。我們的其他政黨將留下來。據我了解，他們在必須退出該設施方面仍然存在監管問題。但再次希望，他們將繼續像我們希望的那樣為客戶提供服務。

But it's our intent to keep Colstrip open as long as we can. And we believe that Colstrip is really a win-win for customers and shareholders. And when I say that, for customers, really think of five things that jump out at me. We are an essential service for our customers. And again, we aren't going to sacrifice reliability and affordability.

但我們的目的是盡可能長時間地維持 Colstrip 的營業。我們相信 Colstrip 確實是客戶和股東的雙贏。當我這麼說時，對於客戶來說，我真的想到了五件事。我們為客戶提供重要的服務。再說一次，我們不會犧牲可靠性和負擔能力。

This transaction provides more 24/7 energy when our customers need it the most, and they get that at zero upfront costs. This is a resource and Montana that provides crucial grid support when our customers need it most. Secondly, there's going to be less exposure to the market for our customers on peak days with high energy prices, resulting in decreased volatility in the customer bill.

這項交易可以在我們的客戶最需要的時候提供更多的 24/7 能源，而且他們可以零前期成本來獲得這些能源。這是蒙大拿州的一種資源，可以在我們的客戶最需要的時候提供關鍵的電網支援。其次，在能源價格高的高峰日，我們的客戶對市場的接觸將會減少，進而導致客戶帳單的波動性降低。

Number three, we will have more ownership in both Units 3 and 4 at Colstrip, so we can better serve our customers when maintenance is required on a unit. Number four, 55% ownership of the plant will allow us to guide the future of investment at Colstrip for our customers, what we think is in the best ins of our customers. And number five, lastly, the next best alternative to providing 370 megawatts of dispatchable capacity is a natural gas plant. And at 370 megawatts, it would cost over $700 million, and that plant would still not be available to serve customers for at least five years.

第三，我們將擁有 Colstrip 3 號和 4 號機組的更多所有權，這樣當機組需要維護時，我們就可以更好地為客戶提供服務。第四，擁有該工廠 55% 的所有權將使我們能夠為客戶指導 Colstrip 的未來投資，我們認為這對客戶來說是最好的。第五，最後，提供 370 兆瓦可調度容量的下一個最佳替代方案是天然氣發電廠。如果發電量為 370 兆瓦，成本將超過 7 億美元，而且該工廠至少在五年內仍無法為客戶提供服務。

We're going to get the Avista and Puget pieces on 1/1/2026. And to be honest, we can't wait. We wish we had them now. So we're excited about that opportunity. This is fantastic for customers. But for shareholders, this is also a great opportunity that helps us as we continue to think about how we can invest in our business for Montanans and all of our customers at the same time being able to provide a reasonable return to our shareholders.

我們將於 2026 年 1 月 1 日獲得 Avista 和 Puget 作品。老實說，我們已經等不及了。我們希望現在就擁有它們。所以我們對這個機會感到很興奮。這對客戶來說太棒了。但對於股東來說，這也是一個很好的機會，可以幫助我們繼續思考如何為蒙大拿州和所有客戶投資我們的業務，同時能夠為股東提供合理的回報。

But for shareholders specifically, number one, this additional capacity generation at no cost allows us to invest in other Montana infrastructure to meet customer needs with reduced pressure on customer bills. Number two, with 55% ownership, we will be able to guide investment in Colstrip to reliably serve our customers until cost-efficient, carbon-free alternatives are available. And yes, that may include additional pollution control equipment, depending on the rules are in effect. But that investment in pollution control equipment, we believe, will be more cost efficient than again, the alternatives we have today.

但對於股東來說，第一，這種免費的額外產能使我們能夠投資蒙大拿州的其他基礎設施，以滿足客戶的需求，同時減輕客戶帳單的壓力。第二，憑藉 55% 的所有權，我們將能夠引導對 Colstrip 的投資，以可靠地服務我們的客戶，直到出現具有成本效益的無碳替代品。是的，這可能包括額外的污染控制設備，具體取決於現行規則。但我們相信，對污染控制設備的投資將比我們今天擁有的替代方案更具成本效益。

Number three, the Puget transaction is essentially the same as the Avista deal in that Puget and Avista are responsible for their share of remediation costs. Number four, this gives us the appropriate amount of time to evaluate low-carbon or no-carbon alternatives and develop plans to replace Colstrip at the right time and the right price.

第三，Puget 交易與 Avista 交易本質上相同，Puget 和 Avista 負責各自承擔的修復成本。第四，這使我們有適當的時間來評估低碳或無碳替代品，並制定在正確的時間和正確的價格取代 Colstrip 的計劃。

Number five, this Puget capacity uniquely positions us with excess capacity now to better serve our existing customers and allows us the opportunity to enable economic growth in Montana going forward. In fact, we've had interest from large load customers who are interested in coming into Montana. Now we can say, yes, and we can be part of growth in Montana.

第五，普吉特的產能使我們現在擁有了獨特的過剩產能，可以更好地服務我們現有的客戶，並使我們有機會促進蒙大拿州未來的經濟成長。事實上，我們已經引起了有興趣進入蒙大拿州的大負載客戶的興趣。現在我們可以說，是的，我們可以成為蒙大拿州經濟成長的一部分。

Just one final thought. NWE is still committed to our net zero by 2050 goal. And you may have seen the sell side piece by Wells Fargo that was put out here recently that shows our generation portfolio was the second most carbon-free today. The progress we have already made should allow an easier carbon-free energy transition. This makes total sense when you consider all of our hydro resources and all the owned and contracted wind on our system.

只是最後一個想法。NWE 仍致力於實現 2050 年淨零目標。您可能已經看到了富國銀行最近在這裡發布的賣方文章，該文章顯示我們的發電組合是當今第二無碳的。我們已經取得的進展應該會讓無碳能源轉型變得更容易。當您考慮到我們所有的水力資源以及我們系統上所有擁有和承包的風能時，這是完全有意義的。

We see Colstrip as a bridge to a cleaner alternatives down the road and in the meantime, we are going to maintain this bridge until those other carbon-free resources like SMRs, long-duration storage and other technologies are available.

我們將 Colstrip 視為通往未來更清潔替代品的橋樑，同時，我們將維護這座橋樑，直到其他無碳資源（如 SMR、長期儲存和其他技術）可用。

And I'll said a little bit more on that than the two slides are shown, but this transaction is extremely important to our customers and NorthWestern Energy. I wanted to make sure you understood where we stood -- where we stand on that issue.

我會在兩張投影片之外多說一點，但這筆交易對我們的客戶和西北能源公司來說極為重要。我想確保您了解我們的立場——我們在這個問題上的立場。

Moving forward to Montana wildfire mitigation. I think you know we've recently come out with our Version 2.0 of our wildfire mitigation plan. And I have to tell you, I'm extremely impressed with what other company has responded in the last six months. We effectively at the start of the year, have stood up a situation awareness, deployed four different technologies and now are monitoring our system like we've never been able to do before. We've developed communication plans. We've all instituted PSPS and are ready to use it in the right appropriate times.

持續推動蒙大拿州野火緩解工作。我想您知道我們最近推出了野火緩解計劃 2.0 版。我必須告訴你，其他公司在過去六個月中的反應給我留下了深刻的印象。我們在今年年初就有效地建立了態勢感知能力，部署了四種不同的技術，現在以前所未有的方式監控我們的系統。我們已經制定了溝通計劃。我們都制定了 PSPS，並準備在適當的時候使用它。

This company has done a fantastic job from an enhanced vegetation standpoint, from operational practices, system preparedness. And I think, if not -- I believe, in line with all of our peers in the West, if not better than many, where we didn't maybe fair as well as our peers, particularly those on the coast -- the West Coast is situational awareness in the public communication piece. I think we've done a tremendous amount in the last six months to catch up on that. And we feel extremely good about the development of our plan and more so the plan, how we put in place the things to execute on that plan.

從增強植被的角度、營運實務、系統準備來看，該公司做得非常出色。我認為，如果不是——我相信，與我們所有西方同行一致，如果不是比許多同行更好，我們可能不如我們的同行公平，特別是那些在沿海地區的同行——西方Coast是公共傳播中的態勢感知部分。我認為我們在過去六個月裡做了很多工作來趕上這一點。我們對計劃的製定感到非常滿意，更重要的是，我們對計劃的製定以及我們如何落實該計劃的執行情況感到非常滿意。

And obviously, we were right smack dab in fire season right now, but we feel so much better prepared than even a year ago. And so excited about our ability to address the significant problem for our industry, let alone the Western utilities.

顯然，我們現在正處於火災季節，但我們感覺比一年前準備得更好。我們對我們解決行業重大問題的能力感到非常興奮，更不用說西方公用事業了。

With that, in conclusion, I just want to thank all of you for your continued interest in Northwestern. And with that, we'll open it up for any questions.

最後，我想感謝大家對西北大學的持續關注。這樣，我們將開放它來回答任何問題。

Great. Thank you, Brian, and thank you, Crystal. (Event Instructions) Jeremy Tonet, JPMorgan.

偉大的。謝謝你，布萊恩，謝謝你，克里斯托。（活動說明）Jeremy Tonet，摩根大通。

This is Robin Shillock on for Jeremy. So first of all, with the Yellowstone County Generating Station on track for 3Q and now two no-cost Colstrip acquisitions in the pipeline. Any updated thoughts on the timeline for a potential type of incremental CapEx opportunities that you may opt for?

這是傑里米的羅賓·希洛克。首先，黃石縣發電站第三季有望實現，而現在 Colstrip 的兩項免費收購也正在進行中。對於您可能選擇的潛在增量資本支出機會類型的時間表，有什麼最新想法嗎？

You're saying on the generation front.

你說的是一代人。

On the generation or transmission or all the above.

關於生成或傳輸或以上所有。

Well, I would tell you this. I think we have making -- been making a tremendous amount of investment in our T&D business. And matter of fact, we are looking at to investing even more in our transmission business. I think we've not seen as much regional transmission interest in Montana than we have in the whole 20 years I've been with the company. There's been a tremendous amount of opportunity above and beyond generation.

好吧，我會告訴你這一點。我認為我們已經在輸配電業務上進行了大量投資。事實上，我們正​​在考慮對我們的傳輸業務進行更多投資。我認為蒙大拿州對區域輸電的興趣還沒有我在公司工作的 20 年裡那麼多。除了這一代人之外，還有大量的機會。

But the interesting thing here, I still think even with what we're doing at Colstrip, we need to start planning to making future investments to help Montana to continue to grow. But this allows us more time and not only to properly plan but to pick the right resources on a going-forward basis.

但有趣的是，我仍然認為，即使我們在 Colstrip 所做的事情，我們也需要開始規劃未來的投資，以幫助蒙大拿州繼續發展。但這讓我們有更多的時間，不僅可以正確規劃，而且可以在未來的基礎上選擇正確的資源。

I think if you think about this company is still investing $500 million without necessarily incremental investment in generation. We're going to continue to invest at an extremely high level. But again, primarily what we need to invest to serve our customers and keep the bills at appropriate levels.

我想，如果你考慮這家公司仍在投資 5 億美元，但不一定會增加發電投資。我們將繼續以極高的水平進行投資。但同樣，主要是我們需要投資來服務我們的客戶並將帳單保持在適當的水平。

Great. And then maybe just to kind of follow up on the generation piece. You mentioned the transaction allowing for excess capacity in the state and really unlocking some economic opportunity. How specifically does the second Colstrip transaction influence your timeline for closing the generation capacity deficit in the state?

偉大的。然後也許只是為了跟進一代作品。您提到該交易允許該州產能過剩，並真正釋放了一些經濟機會。第二筆 Colstrip 交易對貴公司消除該州發電能力赤字的時間表有何具體影響？

Well, I think we even said with the Avista transaction. This certainly helps us to get to the around end of 2029 from a capacity stand. This certainly takes it into the 2030s. But I think even more importantly, it allows us to have incremental growth in Montana. There's been concerns about do you have sufficient capacity to serve incremental load. And the answer has been no.

好吧，我想我們甚至說過與 Avista 的交易。這無疑有助於我們從產能到 2029 年底左右。這肯定會帶入 2030 年代。但我認為更重要的是，它使我們能夠在蒙大拿州實現增量成長。人們擔心您是否有足夠的能力來服務增量負載。答案是否定的。

Now we can say yes. And so obviously, being able to bring on incremental load in Montana is certainly great from economic development for a state who's done a great job trying to bring more business into the state. And also, but on a longer-term basis, we now have a larger portfolio that we ultimately will have to replace with investment on a longer-term basis.

現在我們可以說是的。顯然，對於蒙大拿州來說，能夠為蒙大拿州帶來增量負荷對於經濟發展無疑是一件好事，因為該州在努力為該州帶來更多業務方面做得很好。而且，從長遠來看，我們現在擁有更大的投資組合，最終我們將不得不用更長期的投資來取代它。

So we want to grow. I think it's going to be -- if we continue to grow, it's going to be better from a cost structure for our existing customers, and we should have low cost generation for new customers to come in the state.

所以我們想要成長。我認為，如果我們繼續成長，我們現有客戶的成本結構將會更好，而且我們應該為該州的新客戶提供低成本發電。

Jamieson Ward, Jefferies.

傑米森·沃德，傑弗里斯。

I just wanted to ask with the Yellowstone County Generating Station coming online. How should we think -- and knowing that you're, of course, filing the case. How should we think about the timing delay between when you will likely stop AFUDC? And when it will enter rates? And specifically, because you mentioned before that you might do the 270-day kind of maximum wait period and then implement full rates. Is that the latest that we should see? Is that from the filing of the application? Or kind of what's the gap there when we're trying to figure out the lag relative to losing AFUDC?

我只是想問黃石縣發電廠上線了。我們該如何思考—當然，我們知道您正在立案。我們應該如何考慮您可能會停止 AFUDC 之間的時間延遲？什麼時候會輸入費率？具體來說，因為您之前提到過，您可能會執行 270 天的最長等待期，然後實施全額費率。這是我們應該看到的最新情況嗎？是提交申請後的結果嗎？或者當我們試圖找出相對於失去 AFUDC 的滯後時，那裡的差距是多少？

Jamieson, before Crystal answers that question, there's been a lot of changes this quarter for you as well. So we welcome to hear from you, Crystal, go ahead.

Jamieson，在 Crystal 回答這個問題之前，本季您也發生了很多變化。因此，我們歡迎您的來信，Crystal，請繼續。

But one thing that didn't change, Jamieson, is double mute is always a problem. But your question is how are we recovering Yellowstone, so I'll give you two pieces to that. And one of the things I didn't cover in my comments and I get too granular because I know you all love to read the hundreds of pages of our filing is we requested a bridge rate.

但有一點沒有改變，賈米森，雙重靜音始終是一個問題。但你的問題是我們如何恢復黃石公園，所以我給你兩點。我在評論中沒有提及的一件事是，我太細化了，因為我知道你們都喜歡閱讀我們數百頁的文件，那就是我們要求過渡費率。

And what that bridge does and maybe it clears -- I can make it to say that there's cost today in our PCCAM mechanism that are indeed actually higher than the cost of recovering Yellowstone. We've asked when we seek interim rates, which we've asked for by October 1, that the commission also authorized that bridge rate, which was set aside as part of the PCCAM and say that's no longer subject to sharing and would instead cover the cost of that Yellowstone facility to we get to final rate, that's the bridge. And at final rate, obviously, the outcome of the holistic decision and approval of capital and all those things would occur.

這座橋的作用也許很清楚——我可以說，今天我們的 PCCAM 機制的成本實際上高於恢復黃石公園的成本。我們要求在 10 月 1 日之前尋求臨時費率時，委員會還授權了過渡費率，該過渡費率已作為 PCCAM 的一部分保留，並表示不再需要共享，而是涵蓋我們得出最終價格的黃石設施的成本，就是這座橋。顯然，按照最終的速度，資本的整體決策和批准的結果以及所有這些事情都會發生。

So your question is, we'll turn off AFUDC and what will happen with that gap. The bridge rate, we expect to cover that. And in my comments, I did note that our guidance for the year assumes some rate relief recoveries and interim rate relief, and that's certainly a key piece of that and keep link of that as the bridge rate that we've asked for. But from a customer perspective, the thing I would tell you there is -- even with that, the market prices have come down on that PCCAM, so customers would still see somewhat of a reduction from an interim rate perspective, but that interim rate application as filed would allow us to begin to recover the cost of that while we work through the details of the case and work with interveners and the commission.

所以你的問題是，我們將關閉 AFUDC 以及這個差距會發生什麼。我們預計會涵蓋過橋費率。在我的評論中，我確實指出，我們今年的指導假設有一些利率減免復甦和臨時利率減免，這當然是其中的關鍵部分，並將其與我們要求的過渡利率保持聯繫。但從客戶的角度來看，我要告訴你的是，即便如此，PCCAM 的市場價格已經下降，因此從臨時費率的角度來看，客戶仍然會看到一定程度的下降，但臨時費率的應用提交的文件將使我們能夠在處理案件細節並與幹預者和委員會合作的同時開始收回成本。

To your comment on the 270 days, that is the statutory date and we noted on the slide there that we would be able to implement final rates, obviously, the commission had a lot going with our laws, it was a significant case, and it took quite some time to adjudicate that even from the distance between which we reached a settlement with the key interveners there and final outcomes. So we certainly anticipate if we haven't reached the final outcome by that date then we would implement rates in that 270-day time frame.

對於您對 270 天的評論，這是法定日期，我們在幻燈片上指出，我們將能夠實施最終費率，顯然，委員會與我們的法律有很大關係，這是一個重大案件，即使從我們與關鍵幹預者達成和解到最終結果之間的距離來看，我們也花了相當長的時間做出裁決。因此，我們當然預計，如果到該日期我們尚未達成最終結果，那麼我們將在 270 天的時間範圍內實施費率。

Perfect. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Yes, and a comment of lots of changes in the quarter. I'll very quickly throw this on a side, expecting kid number two in seven or eight days and then movers pick up our stuff to move us to Houston in about 30. So I couldn't agree more with you on lots going on.

完美的。非常感謝。我很欣賞這一點。是的，還有對本季許多變化的評論。我很快就會把這件事放在一邊，預計七八天內會生出第二個孩子，然後搬家工人會在大約 30 天內把我們的東西搬到休士頓。所以我在很多事情上都非常同意你的觀點。

Congrats.

恭喜。

Congrats. Happy to hear that.

恭喜。很高興聽到這個消息。

Last question I've got is just relating to the election, just the upcoming changes to the Montana PSC -- let's just assume that Jennifer Fielder keeps her seat. So fine, that leaves two districts turning over. It seemed like a bit of a unique situation since the other two districts, Republican candidates are both state senators, so they're very politically experienced. But more than that, and I would be interested in hearing the thoughts you have here on both of them joining the commission, especially since you've been in front of one of them when he was previous PSC commissioner from '05 through 2012.

我的最後一個問題與選舉有關，即蒙大拿州 PSC 即將發生的變化——我們假設詹妮弗·菲爾德 (Jennifer Fielder) 保住席位。很好，這使得兩個選區發生了翻天覆地的變化。這似乎有點獨特，因為其他兩個選區的共和黨候選人都是州參議員，因此他們在政治上經驗豐富。但更重要的是，我很想聽聽您對他們兩人加入委員會的想法，特別是因為您曾站在其中一位的前面，當時他從 05 年到 2012 年擔任前 PSC 專員。

Yes. I would say this, first of all, I think Commissioner Fielder is definitely going to be back. She's running unopposed. So that's good news, certainly from a consistency standpoint. So we know we have three of the same commissioners back -- and assuming Republicans win in both districts 2 and 3. Commissioner Mohler certainly is an experienced commissioner and will be back if he wins, and Jeff Welborn, obviously, serving in the Montana legislature is well versed on issues in the industry. And so we -- regardless of who comes out, having some consistent -- consistency of three of the five is certainly helpful.

是的。我想說的是，首先，我認為菲爾德專員肯定會回來。她毫無抵抗地奔跑。所以從一致性的角度來看，這當然是個好消息。所以我們知道我們有三個相同的委員回來了——假設共和黨在第 2 和第 3 選區都獲勝。莫勒委員無疑是一位經驗豐富的委員，如果他獲勝就會回來，而在蒙大拿州立法機構任職的傑夫·韋爾伯恩顯然非常熟悉該行業的問題。因此，無論誰出來，保持五人中三人的一致性肯定是有幫助的。

And regardless of who wins, our biggest job is to try to educate this is -- these are tough positions. These commissioners are going to learn a lot about the energy space in a short period of time. And I think people have done a really nice job. We just got to make sure the new candidates certainly come up to speed as quickly as they can. They're going to be dealing with a rate review as soon as they sit in their seats. And so regardless of who wins we're going to be certainly there to help as best we can to provide any information they need to be successful.

無論誰獲勝，我們最重要的工作就是努力教育這一點——這些都是艱難的立場。這些委員將在短時間內了解許多有關能源領域的知識。我認為人們做得非常好。我們只需確保新候選人能夠盡快跟上進度。他們一坐下就將面臨費率審查。因此，無論誰獲勝，我們都將竭盡全力提供幫助，提供他們取得成功所需的任何資訊。

Alex Mortimer, Mizuho.

亞歷克斯莫蒂默，瑞穗。

You mentioned potential pollution control equipment for Colstrip. Can you quantify what those costs might look like just in terms of scale?

您提到了 Colstrip 潛在的污染控制設備。您能否從規模上量化這些成本？

Yes. I think the -- and again, this is an estimate, but for the full plant, be approximately $400 million. And so if we have 55% of the overall complex thinking on the $200 million to $250 million range investment.

是的。我認為——再說一次，這是一個估計，但對於整個工廠來說，大約是 4 億美元。因此，如果我們對 2 億至 2.5 億美元範圍內的投資有 55% 的整體複雜思考。

Understood. And then maybe one for you, Crystal. I think another 50-basis-point improvement in FFO to debt this quarter. I think you're now about 80 basis points above that stated 14% target where do you maybe see this settling? Is there a desire for an additional cushion above that 14% level? Or I guess, where do you maybe see things leveling out?

明白了。也許還有一份適合你，克里斯托。我認為本季 FFO 負債比率將再提高 50 個基點。我認為您現在的利率比設定的 14% 目標高出約 80 個基點，您認為這種情況會穩定在什麼位置？是否需要在 14% 水平之上提供額外的緩衝？或者我猜，你可能會在哪裡看到事情趨於平穩？

Yes, that's a great question. And here's what I would say broadly about that. I think the events over the last couple of years and what you've seen impact on utility balance sheet from storm impacts and other items, having a bit of cushion is significant and being able to continue to serve customers and provide liquidity when you need it the most, and do that in an affordable manner. So we certainly want to have some cushion. So being above 14% is definitely where we want to be. We want to be in a position of strength with our balance sheet to be able to do what we need to do.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。這就是我對此的大致看法。我認為過去幾年發生的事件以及您所看到的風暴影響和其他項目對公用事業資產負債表的影響，擁有一點緩衝非常重要，並且能夠繼續為客戶提供服務並在需要時提供流動性最多，並以負擔得起的方式做到這一點。所以我們當然希望有一些緩衝。因此，超過 14% 絕對是我們想要達到的目標。我們希望我們的資產負債表處於有利地位，能夠做我們需要做的事情。

So I won't give you an exact basis point, but I would tell you that we are holding in very quickly on where we want to be and keeping ourselves some cushion to weather adverse events and significantly, again, lots of utilities have seen these. But when you're serving customers in Europe peak, the volatility in the supply markets, which we're attempting to reduce for our customers have been significant to balance sheet, but also the volatility and what may happen with access to capital markets, et cetera, always having room there. So we feel good about where we're at, but also good about making sure we maintain that cushion.

因此，我不會給您一個確切的基點，但我會告訴您，我們正在迅速堅持我們想要的目標，並為自己保留一些緩衝以應對不利事件，而且重要的是，許多公用事業公司再次看到了這些。但是，當您為歐洲高峰期的客戶提供服務時，我們試圖為客戶減少供應市場的波動性，這對資產負債表非常重要，而且波動性以及進入資本市場可能發生的情況等等等，那裡總是有空間。因此，我們對自己所處的位置感覺良好，但也很高興確保我們保持這種緩衝。

Understood. And then finally, just directionally, how should we think about as we look towards 2025 guidance, the lumpiness of earnings, I think, has been well discussed over the last couple of calls as you work through regulatory proceedings, et cetera, how should we think about maybe the glide path of earnings into 2025 within that 4% to 6% long-term growth rate?

明白了。最後，就方向而言，當我們展望2025 年指導時，我們應該如何思考，我認為，在過去幾次電話會議中，當您通過監管程序等工作時，我們已經充分討論了收益的波動性，我們應該如何考慮考慮一下到 2025 年獲利可能會在 4% 至 6% 的長期成長率內下滑嗎？

Well, Alex, you're making me lose bets over here because I said it's too soon to talk '25, and I may have heard from a couple of others on this call that we would likely get the questions. So here we are. To your point, on the lumpiness, one of the things that we alluded to in our rate filings is, we've indicated getting back to consistency of delivering on our earnings and being within that 4% to 6% is right through the path of regulatory outcomes.

好吧，亞歷克斯，你讓我在這裡輸掉了賭注，因為我說現在談論25 還為時過早，而且我可能在這次電話會議上從其他幾個人那裡聽說我們可能會收到這些問題。所以我們到了。就你的觀點而言，就波動性而言，我們在費率申請中提到的一件事是，我們已經表示，要恢復實現盈利的一致性並保持在4% 到6% 的範圍內，就必須透過以下途徑：監管結果。

Your question getting to 2025 guidance, obviously, what we just filed is incredibly critical to that. So we'll update you once we get into coming out of Q3 here, how those proceedings are advancing and how we're thinking about 2025, but those are certainly critical to being able to continue to deliver in a more consistent manner. I will acknowledge as a SMID cap being quite as consistent as maybe some of the large caps is a little harder, but we're working to reduce the lumpiness. But again, we'll have more updates for you as we can close out Q3 and began to prosecute these rate cases with our interveners and commissions and have some clarity and visibility into how those are progressing.

你的問題涉及 2025 年指導，顯然，我們剛剛提交的內容對此至關重要。因此，一旦我們進入第三季度，我們將向您通報最新情況，這些程序進展如何，以及我們如何考慮 2025 年，但這些對於能夠繼續以更一致的方式交付無疑至關重要。我承認 SMID 上限與某些大上限一樣一致，可能有點困難，但我們正在努力減少區塊度。但同樣，我們將為您提供更多更新，因為我們可以結束第三季度，並開始與我們的干預者和委員會一起起訴這些利率案件，並對這些案件的進展有一定的清晰和可見性。

Anthony Crowdell, Mizuho.

安東尼克勞德爾，瑞穗。

Alex had missed one, but maybe he was just smart enough not to ask this. So I'll try to smooth it out. And it's related to the Colstrip addition again, if I look at the regulatory jurisdiction that you have in Montana, if I look at RRA, I think they've rated second from the bottom or maybe towards the bottom?

亞歷克斯錯過了一個，但也許他很聰明，沒有問這個。所以我會盡力解決它。這又與 Colstrip 的增加有關，如果我看看蒙大拿州的監管管轄權，如果我看看 RRA，我認為他們的評級是倒數第二位，或者可能是倒數第二位？

And the thought process of -- you seem like you're adding generation that's not going to benefit -- like you invested -- like your investors, your shareholders, you kind of may be actually doing the opposite of your adding additional generation where there could have been a rate base opportunity, in a state that maybe has treated you not as balanced in some of the other states you guys operate in? And I guess that's the question of just the thought process there to even get more exposure of zero rate base investment for a state with regulation, I think politely, if I use the word challenging, that may be very polite.

你的思考過程似乎是在增加一代人，但不會受益，就像你投資的那樣，就像你的投資者、股東一樣，你實際上可能在做與增加一代人相反的事情。利率基礎機會，在一個州，也許在你們經營的其他一些州對待你們的態度並不平衡？我想這只是一個思考過程的問題，甚至可以讓一個有監管的國家獲得更多零利率基礎投資的曝光，我禮貌地認為，如果我使用「挑戰」這個詞，那可能是非常禮貌的。

I would say this, first of all, I'm going to push back maybe RRA is a little sticky like ROEs are. I mean I think you look at recent outcomes out of the Montana Commission. I think they've been severely supportive with what we're trying to do. And I think there's an alignment between what we're trying to do from a reliability and affordability standpoint with what the commission is trying to accomplish. I'd also say in my 20 years here, -- when people make -- go out of the way to bash the Montana commission, it's the same commission that approve the hydro resources.

我想說的是，首先，我要反駁一下，也許 RRA 和 ROE 一樣有點黏性。我的意思是，我認為你看看蒙大拿州委員會最近的成果。我認為他們一直大力支持我們正在努力做的事情。我認為，從可靠性和可負擔性的角度來看，我們正在努力做的事情與委員會正在努力實現的目標是一致的。我還想說，在我在這裡的 20 年裡，當人們不遺餘力地抨擊蒙大拿州委員會時，正是這個委員會批准了水力資源。

And we -- and from our perspective, if you look at the history, there's been some very good outcomes from that commission. I think what we saw in terms of -- and I've said this on previous calls, suppose we had the commission, the legislature and the governor, we think we're doing the right things for customers. And at the end of the day, that's going to be the right thing for you guys as shareholders. I think another thing to think about the amount of T&D investment we have at this company is extremely high. And like I said earlier on this call, we think we're going to need support, invest in more transmission, and if that alignment stays in place, Guess who is going to support that investment in transmission.

從我們的角度來看，如果你回顧一下歷史，你會發現委員會取得了一些非常好的成果。我認為我們所看到的——我在之前的電話會議上說過，假設我們有委員會、立法機構和州長，我們認為我們正在為客戶做正確的事情。歸根究底，這對你們股東來說是正確的事。我認為要考慮的另一件事是我們在這家公司的 T&D 投資金額非常高。就像我之前在這次電話會議上所說的那樣，我們認為我們將需要支持，投資更多的傳輸，如果這種一致性保持不變，猜猜誰將支持傳輸投資。

And so I feel very, very good about the environment we're operating in right now, regardless of what our RRA says. And again, I think if we continue to do the best thing for our customers, I think you guys are going to be rewarded as shareholders, too.

因此，無論我們的 RRA 怎麼說，我對我們現在的營運環境感覺非常非常好。再說一次，我認為如果我們繼續為客戶做最好的事情，我認為你們也將作為股東得到回報。

All right. And with that, we've exhausted our queue. Brian?

好的。就這樣，我們的隊列就排完了。布萊恩？

I just -- and again, this is a strategic moment. I think I actually appreciate that question, Anthony. And all seriousness. And when I say anything with Anthony, it's hard to always say in all seriousness, it's always fun -- to chat with the Anthony.

我只是——再說一遍，這是一個戰略時刻。我想我真的很欣賞這個問題，安東尼。一切都是嚴肅的。當我和安東尼說話時，很難總是嚴肅地說，與安東尼聊天總是很有趣。

I think this is a critical time for this company. There can be people disappointed from the shareholder perspective, there could be people disappointed from an environmental perspective. That's not lost on us. here at NorthWestern in terms of what we're doing. But again, we alone have an obligation to serve our customers. And on the coldest days of the year and the hottest days of the year, we have to serve them. And at this low cost, we are doing the right thing for them, which allows enough headroom for us to do other things that we need to do to serve those customers.

我認為這對這家公司來說是一個關鍵時刻。從股東的角度來看，人們可能會感到失望，從環境的角度來看，人們可能會感到失望。我們並沒有失去這一點。就我們在西北大學所做的事情而言。但同樣，我們有義務為客戶提供服務。而在一年中最冷的日子和一年中最熱的日子裡，我們都要為他們服務。在如此低的成本下，我們正在為他們做正確的事情，這為我們提供了足夠的空間來做我們需要做的其他事情來服務這些客戶。

And with that, I want to thank you all for your participation today. Take care.

在此，我要感謝大家今天的參與。小心。