NorthWestern Energy Group Inc (NWE) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Rebecca, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the NorthWestern Energy second-quarter 2025 financial results webinar. (Operator Instructions)

感謝您的支持。我叫麗貝卡，今天我將擔任您的會議主持人。現在，我歡迎大家參加西北能源 2025 年第二季財務業績網路研討會。（操作員指示）

I will now turn the call over to Travis Meyer. Please go ahead.

現在我將把電話轉給崔維斯·邁耶。請繼續。

Thank you, Rebecca. Good afternoon and thank you for joining NorthWestern Energy Group's financial results webcast for the quarter ended June 30, 2025. My name is Travis Meyer, and I'm the Director of Corporate Development and Investor Relations Officer for NorthWestern. Joining us on the call today are Brian Bird, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Crystal Lail, Chief Financial Officer. They'll walk you through our results for the quarter and provide an overall update on our progress.

謝謝你，麗貝卡。下午好，感謝您收聽西北能源集團截至 2025 年 6 月 30 日的季度財務業績網路廣播。我叫崔維斯‧邁耶 (Travis Meyer)，是西北航空的企業發展總監兼投資人關係官。今天參加電話會議的有總裁兼執行長 Brian Bird 和財務長 Crystal Lail。他們將向您介紹我們本季的業績並提供我們進展的整體更新。

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 our 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 within our SEC filings and the Safe Harbor provisions included on the second slide of this presentation.

NorthWestern 的表現已發布，可在我們的網站 northwesternenergy.com 上查閱。我們今天上午也發布了 10-Q 盤前報告。請注意，我們公司的新聞稿、本簡報、演講者的評論以及對您的問題的回答可能包含前瞻性陳述。因此，我將引導您查看我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中包含的披露內容以及本簡報第二張幻燈片中包含的安全港條款。

Also note that this presentation includes non-GAAP financial measures. Please see the non-GAAP disclosures, definitions and reconciliations included in the presentation. The webcast is being recorded. The archived replay will be available shortly after the event to remain active for one year. Please visit the Financial Results section of our website to access the replay.

另請注意，本簡報包括非 GAAP 財務指標。請參閱簡報中包含的非 GAAP 揭露、定義和對帳。網路直播正在錄製中。存檔重播將在活動結束後不久提供，有效期為一年。請造訪我們網站的財務結果部分以觀看重播。

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

接下來，我將把演講交給 Brian Bird 進行開場演講。

Thanks, Travis. Recent highlights for the quarter. We have reported GAAP diluted EPS of $0.35. With some adjustments, the non-GAAP diluted EPS was $0.40 for the quarter. We're initiating our 2025 earnings guidance range of $3.53 to $3.65.

謝謝，崔維斯。本季的近期亮點。我們報告的GAAP稀釋每股收益為0.35美元。經調整後，本季非GAAP稀釋每股收益為0.40美元。我們初步預計 2025 年獲利範圍為 3.53 美元至 3.65 美元。

We're affirming our long-term rate base and earnings per share growth rate targets of 4% to 6%. We completed our acquisition of the Energy West and Cut Bank gas facilities, adding 33,000 customers and 43 valued employees. We entered into our third letter of intent with Quantica to a 500-plus megawatt data center developer. And we declared a dividend of $0.66 per share payable September 30, 2025, to shareholders of record as of September 15, 2025.

我們確認長期利率基數和每股盈餘成長率目標為 4% 至 6%。我們完成了對 Energy West 和 Cut Bank 天然氣設施的收購，增加了 33,000 名客戶和 43 名優秀員工。我們與 Quantica 簽署了第三份意向書，將合作開發 500 多兆瓦的資料中心。我們宣布向截至 2025 年 9 月 15 日登記在冊的股東派發每股 0.66 美元的股息，派息日期為 2025 年 9 月 30 日。

The NorthWestern value proposition continues. We continue to have a very strong dividend yield right around 5%. That plus with our 4% to 6% EPS growth range based upon a five-year capital of about $2.75 billion and arguing about 80% of that is in certainly noncontroversial transmission and distribution investment.

NorthWestern 的價值主張仍在繼續。我們的股息殖利率仍然非常高，約為 5%。再加上我們基於約 27.5 億美元五年資本的 4% 至 6% 的每股盈餘成長範圍，並認為其中約 80% 肯定是無爭議的輸配電投資。

On a combined basis, that gets us to a 9% to 11% total return. We do have some incremental opportunities to invest incremental capital and grow our earnings, things like data centers and new large load opportunities that we'll discuss and plus FERC regional transmission and also any incremental generating capacity or gas transmission, for instance, anything like that could get us over 11% total return.

綜合起來，我們的總回報率為 9% 至 11%。我們確實有一些增量機會來投資增量資本並增加我們的收益，例如我們將要討論的資料中心和新的大負載機會，以及聯邦能源管理委員會區域傳輸以及任何增量發電能力或天然氣傳輸，例如，任何類似的東西都可以讓我們獲得超過 11% 的總回報。

And with that, I'm going to hand it back over to Crystal for the second quarter financial review.

就這樣，我將把第二季的財務審查交還給 Crystal。

Thank you, Brian. Coming to you from sunny Bozeman here. In my comments today, I will cover our second quarter 2025 results, update you on some key regulatory proceedings. I think you all know we've been busy here in the second quarter on that front and then also provide you our 2025 outlook, which we had indicated we would provide it following the Montana rate review hearing.

謝謝你，布萊恩。來自陽光明媚的博茲曼。在今天的評論中，我將介紹我們 2025 年第二季的業績，並向您通報一些關鍵的監管程序。我想你們都知道，我們在第二季度一直忙於這方面的事情，然後還向你們提供了我們的 2025 年展望，我們曾表示，我們將在蒙大拿州利率審查聽證會後提供該展望。

So starting on slide 7. You will see that our earnings for the second quarter were $0.35 on a GAAP basis, and that's compared with $0.52 in the prior period. On an adjusted non-GAAP basis, earnings were $0.40 as compared with $0.53 in the prior period.

從第 7 張投影片開始。您會發現，我們第二季的收益以 GAAP 計算為 0.35 美元，而上一季的收益為 0.52 美元。以調整後的非公認會計準則計算，收益為 0.40 美元，而上一期間為 0.53 美元。

Obviously, a notable decline there in our second-quarter results when you think about and compare them to the prior year, certainly impacted by the lack of interim rates and timing of those decisions. But I would point out that these results are in line with our expectations and start the year where we think we need to be. I'll provide more color on that and our outlook as I get to those slides.

顯然，如果將我們的第二季業績與去年同期進行比較，就會發現其出現了顯著的下滑，這肯定是受到缺乏中期利率和決策時機的影響。但我想指出的是，這些結果符合我們的預期，並且是我們認為需要的開年結果。當我看到這些幻燈片時，我會對此和我們的展望提供更多說明。

Moving to slide 8, just to remind you then what does that look like from a year-to-date results perspective. You'll see we're pretty flat against the prior period. Our earning results for the first half with net income and EPS in line with 2024. You'll recall that we started out the year with a solid first quarter and then our year-to-date results reflect that.

移至幻燈片 8，只是為了提醒您從年初至今的結果來看這是什麼樣的。您會發現，與前一時期相比，我們的表現相當穩定。我們上半年的獲利結果，包括淨收入和每股盈餘與 2024 年持平。您會記得，我們​​今年第一季的業績表現穩健，而今年迄今的業績也反映了這一點。

Moving to slide 9 to give you a bit more detail on what happened during the quarter. You'll see the bar charts here of what are the significant drivers. Quarterly earnings were driven primarily by the key topics of rate recovery. You'll see that in the first part of the left here, offset by in the second quarter, a bit of unfavorable weather and certainly pressures at the operating cost, depreciation and interest lines, again, all in line with our expectations of where we thought we'd be here in the second quarter.

前往投影片 9，向您詳細介紹本季發生的事情。您將在這裡看到顯示重要驅動因素的長條圖。季度收益主要受利率恢復等關鍵主題的推動。您將看到，在左側的第一部分，第二季度有一些不利的天氣因素，當然還有營運成本、折舊和利息方面的壓力，所有這些都符合我們對第二季度情況的預期。

To give you a bit more detail on the margin portion of that, slide 10, you'll see that the impact of rates, both think interim rates and final rates drove $0.24 of margin improvement in the quarter. Again, that reflects the impact of the Montana rate review moving from the amount of interim results that were in there from, I think, up until late May to the adjusted interim rates that were put in at that point and then also gas rates in both South Dakota and Nebraska, again, $0.24 from the impacts of those two buckets.

為了讓您更詳細地了解利潤部分，在第 10 張投影片中，您會看到利率的影響，包括中期利率和最終利率都推動了本季利潤率提高 0.24 美元。再次，這反映了蒙大拿州費率審查的影響，我認為，從截至 5 月底的中期結果到當時調整後的中期費率，以及南達科他州和內布拉斯加州的天然氣費率，再次，這兩個因素的影響導致 0.24 美元。

In addition, I think Brian mentioned lots around transmission, but you'll see both electric and gas transmission show improved results for us. That's $0.07 on the electric transmission side and $0.02 on the gas transportation side, respectively. Those were offset by unfavorable weather and usage of $0.09 for the quarter.

此外，我認為 Brian 提到了很多有關傳輸的內容，但您會看到電力和天然氣傳輸都為我們帶來了更好的結果。其中，電力傳輸費用為 0.07 美元，天然氣運輸費用為 0.02 美元。但本季惡劣天氣和 0.09 美元的使用量抵消了這一影響。

And then also impacts of Montana property tax legislation. You'll see that's a $0.05 detriment for the quarter.We do expect that detriment to have some continuance throughout the back part of the year. Again, there was new property tax legislation enacted in the state of Montana, adjusting the amount that is collected through our bills.

還有蒙大拿州財產稅立法的影響。您會發現本季的損失為 0.05 美元。我們確實預計這種損失將在今年下半年持續下去。再次，蒙大拿州頒布了新的財產稅立法，調整了透過我們的帳單收取的金額。

In addition, the PCCAM was a detriment of $0.02 in the quarter. We talked about that last quarter that we would expect to see some continued headwinds there throughout 2025.

此外，PCCAM 本季虧損 0.02 美元。我們在上個季度談到，我們預計在 2025 年全年仍將面臨一些持續的阻力。

Moving to slide 11 to discuss our adjusted items. So I've already just mentioned on the margin slide that weather unfavorably impacted us. You'll see here that was $0.03 in the second quarter, and that compares to a $0.01 unfavorable add-back in the second quarter of 2024. So you can see a $0.02 swing there versus the prior period.

前往投影片 11 討論我們的調整項目。因此，我剛才已經在利潤幻燈片中提到天氣對我們產生了不利影響。您會看到，第二季為 0.03 美元，而 2024 年第二季的不利加回為 0.01 美元。因此，您可以看到與前一時期相比，出現了 0.02 美元的波動。

In addition, we have adjusted out the impact of a CREP penalty, and that is consistent with prior treatment of that item that when we recorded amounts related to that, we have adjusted that out. That results in adjusted earnings, as I reflected earlier, of $0.40 for the second quarter compared to $0.53 in the second quarter of 2024.

此外，我們還調整了 CREP 罰款的影響，這與先前對該項目的處理一致，當我們記錄與該項目相關的金額時，我們已經對其進行了調整。正如我之前提到的，這導致第二季的調整後收益為 0.40 美元，而 2024 年第二季的調整後收益為 0.53 美元。

Moving to slide 12. We talked about on our first quarter call; our financing plans remain unchanged from that. We'd also discussed that we had already executed upon any financing needs through the year. So our debt financing needs are taken care of.

移至投影片 12。我們在第一季電話會議上討論過；我們的融資計劃保持不變。我們也討論過，我們已經滿足了全年的所有融資需求。因此我們的債務融資需求得到了滿足。

So no changes to our view on financing for the year. And you'll see from a credit and cash flow perspective, a little bit of a dip in our cash flows for the quarter, again, reflecting the timing of that rate recovery and relief, but we expect to conclude the year above our downside threshold and are making good progress there.

因此，我們對今年融資的看法並沒有改變。從信貸和現金流的角度來看，本季度我們的現金流略有下降，這再次反映了利率復甦和緩解的時機，但我們預計今年年底的利率將高於下行門檻，並且正在取得良好進展。

Moving to slide 13 to discuss regulatory updates. I'll comment on our Montana rate review proceedings. We have previously announced a full settlement on our gas case and a partial settlement in the electric case. The remaining contested items are primarily related to the recovery of our Yellowstone generating facility and the PCCAM base.

前往投影片 13 討論監管更新。我將對我們的蒙大拿州利率審查程序發表評論。我們先前已經宣布對天然氣案達成全面和解，對電力案達成部分和解。其餘爭議事項主要與黃石發電設施和 PCCAM 基地的恢復有關。

We were pleased to be able to -- the tremendous work it took to narrow the focus of that proceeding and having a solid hearing where, I would say, largely a really impressive group of about 30 employees who represented the company and how we serve our customers very well in front of the commission. With that hearing concluded, we moved on and filed opening briefs, and we expect an outcome in the ultimate proceeding sometime in the fourth quarter.

我們很高興能夠——經過大量工作，縮小了該程序的焦點，並進行了一次紮實的聽證會，我想說，主要是一群大約 30 名員工代表了公司，他們在委員會面前很好地為客戶服務。聽證會結束後，我們繼續進行並提交了開庭陳述，我們預計最終程序將在第四季度的某個時候得出結果。

So with that hearing concluded, moving to slide 15, I'll discuss our outlook for 2025. We are pleased with our start to the year and introducing our 2025, as Brian alluded to, our non-GAAP guidance of $3.53 to $3.65. I would note that this includes some significant assumptions, and one of those is with regard to the outcome in our Montana rate review.

聽證會結束後，請翻到第 15 張投影片，我將討論我們對 2025 年的展望。我們對新的一年感到滿意，並推出了2025年的非公認會計準則指導價，正如Brian所提到的，為3.53美元至3.65美元。我想指出的是，這包含一些重要的假設，其中之一就是關於蒙大拿州利率審查結果的假設。

While we await an outcome, we are reporting revenue consistent with our settlement position, and we expect to record ultimately a final adjustment to whatever, if that's applicable, whatever the outcome in the proceeding. But I would note that, that final decision when received and again, likely in the fourth quarter of this year will be retroactive back to May 23.

在等待結果期間，我們會根據和解協議的情況報告收入，無論程序結果如何，我們預計最終都會記錄最終調整（如果適用）。但我想指出的是，收到最終決定後（可能在今年第四季），其效力將追溯至5月23日。

This guidance is consistent with our commitment to deliver on a 4% to 6% long-term earnings growth off of our base of 2024, which is $3.40. Additional key and important details are available on slide 16 for your review.

此指引與我們的承諾相符，即在2024年每股收益3.40美元的基礎上，實現4%至6%的長期獲利成長。更多關鍵重要資訊請參閱第16頁投影片，供您查閱。

Moving to slide 17 and concluding my comments, you'll see our five-year regulated capital investment expectations remain unchanged, and our execution in the first half of the year is on track. And with that, I will turn it back to Brian.

回到第17張投影片，總結一下我的發言。大家會看到，我們五年監理資本投資預期維持不變，上半年的執行情況也進展順利。接下來，我將把發言時間交還給Brian。

Thanks, Crystal. On page 19, I mentioned the Montana Wildfire Bill. I should say we should now call that Montana Wildfire Law 490 has now been passed, as you probably all well aware, had nearly unanimous support in the state. I would argue, and I think ChatGPT would agree with me, I think the Montana and Utah bills are seen as the best protection for utilities in the industry.

謝謝，Crystal。在第 19 頁，我提到了蒙大拿州野火法案。我應該說，我們現在應該宣布蒙大拿州野火法 490 已經通過，正如大家可能都清楚的那樣，該法在該州得到了幾乎一致的支持。我認為，蒙大拿州和猶他州的法案被視為對公用事業行業的最佳保護，我認為 ChatGPT 也會同意我的觀點。

The nice thing about the law itself, the very -- half the battle is the fact we no longer have to deal with strict liability in the state for any utility operations related to wildfire, strict liability cannot be applied to utility operations related to wildfire. Incrementally, we do need to get our wildfire mitigation plan ultimately approved.

這項法律本身的優點在於，我們不再需要處理與野火有關的任何公用事業營運的嚴格責任，嚴格責任不能適用於與野火有關的公用事業營運。我們確實需要逐步獲得野火緩解計畫的最終批准。

But with that approval, we will receive a negligence standard that's based on Montana-specific circumstances, not California, for instance. And more importantly to me, there would be a rebuttable presumption that the utility acted reasonably if it substantially followed the approved wildfire plan. In other words, that burden of proof, we now would rest on the plaintiffs, not on the utility.

但獲得批准後，我們將獲得基於蒙大拿州具體情況的疏忽標準，而不是加州。對我來說更重要的是，如果公用事業公司實質上遵循了批准的野火計劃，那麼就可以推定該公司採取了合理的行動。換句話說，現在舉證責任落在原告身上，而不是公用事業。

And damages associated with that, as we'd expect, we should be responsible for economic damages to property, always have been. But the protections we receive on noneconomic damages would only be a bodily injure or death occurs. And from a punitive perspective, only would come into play with clear and convincing evidence of gross negligent or intent.

正如我們所預料的，對於與此相關的損害，我們應該對財產的經濟損失負責，一直都是如此。但我們獲得的有關非經濟損失的保障僅限於發生人身傷害或死亡的情況。從懲罰的角度來看，只有在存在重大過失或故意的明確且令人信服的證據時才會發揮作用。

So we feel very, very good about this. Obviously, we like to get our wildfire plan approved in front of the commission, and we will be making that filing here shortly sometime in August. That was our number one priority from a bill perspective during the legislative session. And so that was a great outcome. Our second most important bill was Senate Bill 301, which is the transmission bill that's also law and effectively has given us a CPCN associated with our regional transmission investment.

所以我們對此感到非常非常好。顯然，我們希望我們的野火計劃能夠在委員會面前獲得批准，我們將在八月的某個時候在這裡提交申請。從法案的角度來看，這是我們在立法會議期間的首要任務。這是一個很好的結果。我們的第二重要法案是參議院第 301 號法案，這是一項輸電法案，也是一項法律，它實際上為我們提供了與區域輸電投資相關的 CPCN。

In essence, giving us better certainty or greater certainty, we can prudently invest in our utilities and get fair treatment upon receiving our CPCN. In essence, once the project is done, we could argue if we spent more than we invested more than we initially planned, obviously, that prudency comes into place. But this gives us much greater certainty as we continue to think about how we invest from a regional transmission perspective in large projects. I'll talk more about those projects in a moment.

本質上，給予我們更好的確定性或更大的確定性，我們可以謹慎地投資我們的公用事業，並在收到我們的 CPCN 時得到公平的待遇。本質上，一旦項目完成，我們可以爭辯說，如果我們的支出超過我們最初計劃的投資，顯然，謹慎的做法就得到了實施。但當我們繼續思考如何從區域傳輸的角度投資大型專案時，這給了我們更大的確定性。我稍後會詳細談論這些項目。

So great legislative outcome. I know we talked about it in the first quarter, but the second quarter is when these things became law. So I want to reiterate those two great outcomes in 2025.

立法成果如此出色。我知道我們在第一季討論過這個問題，但第二季這些事情才成為法律。因此，我想重申 2025 年的這兩個偉大成果。

Large load customers on slide 21, those are primarily data centers. And as you saw the announcement today regarding Quantica, we now have our third letter of intent in Montana. And I think what I would say here on Montana is on 1/1/26, we will go from a short position to a long position with the 592 megawatts associated with Colstrip, and I'll speak to Colstrip specifically in a moment.

投影片 21 上的大負載客戶主要是資料中心。正如您今天看到的有關 Quantica 的公告，我們現在在蒙大拿州收到了第三封意向書。我想說的是，在 1 月 1 日 26 日，關於蒙大拿州，我們將從空頭倉位轉為多頭倉位，持有與科爾斯特里普相關的 592 兆瓦電力，稍後我將專門談及科爾斯特里普。

But being in that long position has given us an opportunity to serve large load customers. And what we need to do ultimately is go arm in arm with these large load customers to go into the MPSC with a tariff that protects customers, but also certainly something that they want to, they can live with as a data center.

但處於多頭位置使我們有機會為大負荷客戶提供服務。我們最終需要做的是與這些大負荷客戶攜手並進，採用能夠保護客戶的關稅，同時肯定也是他們想要的，作為數據中心他們可以接受的。

We intend to do just that. We have some time. And these large load data centers aren't really coming into play really until 2027. So we have some time, and we plan to file in probably '26 tariffs with them to get service as a state-regulated resource, if you will.

我們正打算這麼做。我們還有一些時間。這些大負荷資料中心直到 2027 年才會真正發揮作用。所以我們還有一些時間，我們計劃向他們提交大概 26 個關稅，以獲得作為國家監管資源的服務，如果你願意的話。

But if, in fact, we are turned down from the commission for whatever reason, we intend to serve these customers on a FERC-regulated basis. So we intend to serve these customers regardless. But we certainly intend and would like to, with the support of the Montana Public Service Commission, serve them in a state-regulated basis.

但事實上，無論出於何種原因，如果我們被委員會拒絕，我們打算在聯邦能源管理委員會監管的基礎上為這些客戶提供服務。因此，無論如何我們都打算為這些客戶提供服務。但我們確實打算並願意在蒙大拿州公共服務委員會的支持下，在州政府監管的基礎上為他們提供服務。

In South Dakota, we continue to have significant interest there as well. I'll acknowledge that the lack of a sales tax certainly helps prospects or hurts prospects in South Dakota, but we still have quite a bit of interest and continue to work with hyperscalers and others there.

在南達科他州，我們也繼續保持濃厚的興趣。我承認，沒有銷售稅肯定會對南達科他州的前景有利或不利，但我們仍然有相當大的興趣，並將繼續與那裡的超大規模企業和其他人合作。

And so, we're excited about the opportunities that we're seeing in front of us on data centers. We need to capture those. And from a letter of intent perspective, I think by the time we have this next call in October, we expect to have at least one of these LOIs in place at that point in time.

因此，我們對資料中心面臨的機會感到非常興奮。我們需要捕捉這些。從意向書的角度來看，我認為到 10 月我們進行下一次電話會議時，我們預計屆時至少會有一份意向書到位。

Moving forward, on the data center process on page 22, a matter of fact, I'd argue we have increasing interest in data center requests and high-level assessments, continue moving through those processes. Letter of intent, we mentioned our third, and I'm sure you saw the press release separately on Quantica and excited we're -- and working with them. These are folks that have worked in Montana in the past with talent and at the Colstrip plant and many of their employees. So we know them well, and we're excited to work with them to move their projects forward.

繼續前進，關於第 22 頁的資料中心流程，事實上，我認為我們對資料中心請求和進階評估的興趣日益濃厚，並將繼續推進這些流程。在意向書中，我們提到了第三封，我相信您已經看到了 Quantica 的單獨新聞稿，並且很高興我們能夠與他們合作。這些人過去曾在蒙大拿州工作過，很有才華，曾在科爾斯特里普工廠工作過，還有很多員工。所以我們非常了解他們，我們很高興能與他們合作，推動他們的專案向前發展。

And I mentioned energy service agreements. We'd like the next time we talk, at least I want to see one or two in that queue count in that particular item.

我提到了能源服務協議。我們希望下次談話時，至少我希望看到隊列中有一兩個人參與該特定項目。

I mentioned regional transmission opportunities on slide 23, continue to stay very active with Grid United on North Plains Connector and our own project we're working with them on, I call the Montana, the Idaho project through Southwest Montana into Idaho and elsewhere from there, of course. We continue to look at other opportunities on our paths and also with the Colstrip transmission line itself to increase capacity. So excited about transmission opportunities, and I'd argue even more so now that we have our CPCN.

我在第 23 張幻燈片上提到了區域傳輸機會，繼續與 Grid United 在北平原連接器上保持密切合作，我們正在與他們合作開展自己的項目，我稱之為蒙大拿州，愛達荷州項目通過蒙大拿州西南部進入愛達荷州，當然，從那裡到其他地方。我們將繼續尋找我們道路上的其他機會以及科爾斯特里普輸電線路本身來增加容量。我對傳輸機會感到非常興奮，而且我認為現在我們有了 CPCN，這種興奮就更加強烈了。

Regarding incremental Colstrip capacity, a little bit of history on Colstrip for a second. And you might recall when we acquired the Avista piece, we were definitely short from a resource adequacy perspective and that incremental 222 megawatts fits perfectly into our portfolio to serve our existing customers and actually helped us achieve resource adequacy on 1/1/26.

關於 Colstrip 容量的增量，我們先來介紹一下 Colstrip 的一些歷史。您可能還記得，當我們收購 Avista 股份時，從資源充足性角度來看，我們確實存在短缺，而增量的 222 兆瓦非常適合我們的產品組合，可以為現有客戶提供服務，並且實際上幫助我們在 2026 年 1 月 1 日實現了資源充足性。

In addition, we bought the 370 megawatts from Puget, we will be buying on 1/1/26. That incremental 370 really helped us achieve a 55% ownership at Colstrip as a whole. And I think many of you are well aware, many of those owners didn't intend to be in Colstrip long term. And so, we believe that 55% ownership actually protected the plant from being shut down.

此外，我們從 Puget 購買了 370 兆瓦，我們將於 2026 年 1 月 1 日購買。這370的增量確實幫助我們實現了Colstrip整體55%的所有權。我想你們很多人都很清楚，很多股東原本不打算長期持有Colstrip。因此，我們認為 55% 的所有權實際上保護了工廠免於關閉。

Having said that, when we made those decisions, a couple of things weren't necessarily well known at the time. We didn't know the federal actions that have been taken that have certainly helped Colstrip from a viability standpoint and a cost perspective on a going forward.

話雖如此，當我們做出這些決定時，有幾件事當時並不一定為人所知。我們不知道聯邦政府採取了哪些行動，這些行動從生存能力和成本角度來看確實對科爾斯特里普有所幫助。

That has certainly been a tailwind. And obviously, the ability to serve large load customers at data centers weren't much of a thing when we were negotiating this. So this is just a great opportunity for us to continue to stay engaged in Colstrip.

這無疑是個順風。顯然，當我們談判此事時，資料中心為大負載客戶提供服務的能力並不是什麼大問題。因此，這對我們來說是一個繼續參與 Colstrip 的絕佳機會。

And ultimately, as we've mentioned before, we see Colstrip as an energy hub and a great opportunity for us to continue to operate that plant until we can find something that's cleaner and provides the same dispatch characteristics sometime in the future. And we're excited to working with the Colstrip community and the state of Montana to ultimately see that come to fruition.

最後，正如我們之前提到的，我們將科爾斯特里普視為一個能源中心，對我們來說是一個很好的機會，可以繼續運營該工廠，直到我們能夠找到更清潔、並在未來某個時候提供相同調度特性的能源。我們很高興能與科爾斯特里普社區和蒙大拿州合作，最終實現這一目標。

And with that, from a conclusion standpoint, I mean, I think it's a pretty good quarter. I think we're in pretty good shape on a year-to-date basis and feel good about where we are from a year-end guidance perspective. And I think, as Crystal pointed out, we've been working on a lot of things for the quarter and continue to move the ball in terms of improving shareholder value for our shareholders. Thank you very much.

從結論的角度來看，我認為這是一個相當不錯的季度。我認為從今年迄今為止的情況來看，我們的狀況相當不錯，從年終指導的角度來看，我們對目前的狀況感到滿意。我認為，正如 Crystal 指出的那樣，我們本季一直在做很多事情，並將繼續努力提高股東價值。非常感謝。

And I guess we'll go to Mr. Meyer to ask about questions.

我想我們會去找邁耶先生詢問一些問題。

I think we'll open the queue up for questions.

我想我們會開放提問隊列。

(Operator Instructions) Jeremy Tonet, JPMorgan.

（操作員指示）摩根大通的 Jeremy Tonet。

This is actually Aidan Kelly on for Jeremy. Yeah. So just on the data center front, could you offer an updated sense on the potential timing to sign ESAs for the three data centers that are currently under LOIs? Are you waiting on a transmission service agreement study to wrap up at this point? Or are there any other gating items here to move these projects forward?

這實際上是艾丹凱利 (Aidan Kelly) 為傑里米 (Jeremy) 表演的。是的。那麼，就資料中心方面而言，您能否就目前處於意向書 (LOI) 下的三個資料中心簽署 ESA 的潛在時機提供最新資訊？您是否正在等待傳輸服務協定研究完成？或者有其他限制項目可以推動這些項目向前發展嗎？

Yeah. We're wrapping up on a transmission service issue side in the first two. And I'd argue those are certainly in earlier stages from an LOI since we just signed Quantica, if you will, here recently. And so, as I mentioned earlier, I think by the time we have this call in October, I'd like to think at least one of the either Atlas or Sabey will be an ESA, haven't signed ESA by that point in time. I'd like to think both of them will, very confident at least one of them.

是的。我們正在結束前兩個環節傳輸服務問題的工作。我認為這些肯定處於意向書的早期階段，因為我們最近剛剛簽署了 Quantica。因此，正如我之前提到的，我認為到 10 月我們召開這場電話會議時，Atlas 或 Sabey 中至少有一個會成為 ESA，但那時還沒有簽署 ESA。我希望他們兩個都會這樣做，至少有一個人會這樣做。

Understood. Understood. That's good to hear. And then I guess just with this pipeline kind of expanding today, could you speak to how you are thinking about addressing load requirements like in the scenario that this data center interest develops beyond existing capacity?

明白了。明白了。聽到這個消息真好。然後我想，隨著今天這種管道的擴展，您能否談談您如何考慮解決負載需求，例如在資料中心興趣超出現有容量的情況下？

I know you mentioned you would also look to work with regulators to kind of structure tariffs in '26. So maybe just curious on that end. And then also like the thoughts on the possibility to integrate more utility-owned generation in the scenario of excess demand in Montana?

我知道您提到過，您也希望與監管機構合作，在 26 年制定關稅結構。所以也許只是對此感到好奇。然後，您是否也想過在蒙大拿州需求過剩的情況下整合更多公用事業自有發電的可能性？

Yeah. I think because of the need, obviously, for speed of deliverability here, we're working with these data centers. And in fact, they are planning to build some of their own generation to serve these data centers. We want to work with them on that. And ultimately, from our ability to put those into rates, we talked to -- we have been talking to them potentially about build own transfer -- build transfer capabilities.

是的。我認為，顯然是因為需要提高交付速度，所以我們正在與這些資料中心合作。事實上，他們正計劃建造一些自己的發電設施來為這些資料中心提供服務。我們希望與他們合作。最終，從我們將其納入利率的能力來看，我們一直在與他們討論建立自己的轉移——建立轉移能力。

That allows us to demonstrate that those resources from a pre-approval perspective gives us time to ultimately get approval from the Montana Commission to actually own them. And again, if for whatever reason, if the MPSC doesn't support that, we will find a means and a FERC-regulated basis to do the same.

這使我們能夠從預先批准的角度證明這些資源使我們有時間最終獲得蒙大拿州委員會的批准來真正擁有它們。再說一次，如果出於某種原因，如果 MPSC 不支持這一點，我們就會找到一種方法和 FERC 監管的基礎來做同樣的事情。

Got it. Got it. Understood. And then maybe just one last one, if I could. Just looking at the queue count of nine customers in the data center like request stage, could you just kind of quantify, if you could, like how many are in Montana versus South Dakota?

知道了。知道了。明白了。如果可以的話，也許我只想問最後一個問題。僅查看資料中心請求階段的 9 個客戶隊列數量，您能否量化一下，例如蒙大拿州和南達科他州分別有多少個客戶？

It's a good question. I would say I think it's about the same. You could say, geez, Brian, you can't divide 9.5, you get 4.5, but I'd argue they're relatively the same.

這是個好問題。我想說我認為這是差不多的。您可能會說，天哪，布萊恩，您不能除以 9.5，您得到的是 4.5，但我認為它們相對相同。

Ross Fowler, Bank of America.

美國銀行的羅斯‧福勒。

Congrats on a good quarter and a good update here. So maybe following on Jeremy's question a little bit. Obviously, these data centers coming in by end of the next decade. Obviously, that keeps the tariff under the right tariff would help affordability. When do we flip over to that new generation needed capital being deployed?

恭喜本季取得良好業績並取得良好更新。所以也許可以稍微回答一下傑瑞米的問題。顯然，這些資料中心將在下一個十年末投入使用。顯然，將關稅保持在適當的水平將有助於提高人們的負擔能力。我們什麼時候才能轉向新一代需要部署的資本？

Like when do we drive to that sort of what you're talking about on slide 4 there, that 6% or higher growth? And is there a transmission component to that as well?

例如，我們什麼時候才能達到您在投影片 4 中談到的那種 6% 或更高的成長率？其中是否也有一個傳輸組件？

Yeah. I would say this, in essence, to serve them, there's going to be a necessary investment on our system, I'd argue, from an interconnection standpoint, from a transmission perspective. So that capital being deployed relatively quickly during this process. If, in fact, from a build transfer perspective, we'd like to do that as soon as the generation is available to serve those customers. So that would be relatively soon.

是的。我想說的是，從本質上講，為了為他們服務，我認為從互連的角度、從傳輸的角度，我們的系統必須進行必要的投資。因此，資本在此過程中可以相對較快地部署。事實上，從建置轉移的角度來看，我們希望在發電量可用時立即這樣做，以便為這些客戶提供服務。所以那將會相對較快。

Okay. And --

好的。和--

Sorry, Ross, just to be more clear on that point, you're seeing a 2027 timetable, and that is a bit of a ramp-up. You'll notice that much of the build of -- particularly, I'll pick on Quantica here for a minute to get to that 500 megawatts, it's going to be 2030 for them. So this is going to be, over time, a relatively build.

抱歉，羅斯，為了更清楚地說明這一點，您看到的是 2027 年的時間表，這是一個有點加快的過程。您會注意到，大部分建設工作——特別是，我會在這裡挑選 Quantica，以達到 500 兆瓦的目標，對他們來說，這將是 2030 年。因此，隨著時間的推移，這將是一個相對的建設。

But we want to be and talking particularly with Sabey and Quantica because these are large data center plans. We've had very, very good conversations about the build transfer aspects here.

但我們希望與 Sabey 和 Quantica 進行特別洽談，因為他們是大型資料中心計畫。我們就這裡的構建轉移方面進行了非常非常好的對話。

Yeah. And if I understand Quantica correctly, I mean, it was created three days ago, but this is backed by private equity, right? It's backed by [MCAP] investments (inaudible).

是的。如果我理解 Quantica 是正確的，我的意思是，它是三天前成立的，但它是由私募股權支持的，對嗎？它得到了[MCAP]投資的支持（聽不清楚）。

Yeah, and that's pretty. We've known -- yeah, Ross. And I know when they rolled out their plan, but we've been talking to Quantica for some time now. It's been at least six months. And we know these folks well from their talent days.

是的，很漂亮。我們知道——是的，羅斯。我知道他們何時推出他們的計劃，但我們已經與 Quantica 談了一段時間了。至少已經六個月了。我們從他們才華洋溢的時期就很了解他們了。

We met with all of Quantica and the MCAP folks early on in this process. And so we feel good about who they are and what they're going to bring to the table to Montana.

我們在這個過程的早期就與 Quantica 和 MCAP 的所有員工會面。因此，我們對他們的身份以及他們將為蒙大拿州帶來什麼感到滿意。

Fantastic. And I apologize for the feedback on this end of the line. We're having a thunderstorm role through New York right now, so there you go.

極好的。我對於這邊的回饋深表歉意。我們現在正遭遇雷暴天氣，所以就是這樣。

Nicholas Campanella, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的尼古拉斯·坎帕內拉。

So just on the DC ramp, just thanks for clarifying on like when you think you're going to get the ESAs in place. If you do get that by the third quarter, just what is the ramp of the megawatts on the system? Like what year would it hit? Is it more '27 and beyond? Could you see some uptake in '26? Just how are you kind of thinking through that?

因此，就在 DC 坡道上，感謝您澄清您認為何時會將 ESA 落實到位。如果到第三季確實實現了這個目標，那麼系統的兆瓦數將會成長多少？它會在哪一年發生？是不是更接近 27 年及以後的水平？您認為 26 年會出現一些成長嗎？您是怎麼考慮這個問題的？

Yeah. I would say that the stuff in '26 is going to be relatively small, just in essence, from a construction standpoint, whatever megawatts are needed there. So I would stay focused on '27.

是的。我想說的是，從建設的角度來看，26 年的規模相對較小，無論那裡需要多少兆瓦。所以我會繼續關注 27 年。

Appreciate it. And then just can you kind of anticipate handling the Colstrip cost once you acquire the facility in '26? I know that there's some pending processes, and we have some variability about how that will get kind of captured in the rates.

非常感謝。那麼，當您在 26 年收購該設施後，您能否預期處理 Colstrip 成本？我知道有一些待決的流程，而且對於如何在利率中體現這些流程，我們仍有一些不確定性。

But if you were able to keep that merchant, is that an option? And how do you feel about the growth rate in that scenario?

但是如果你能夠保留該商人，這是一個選擇嗎？您對這種情況下成長率有何看法？

Yeah. Nick, I'll take a stab at it, and Brian will clean up on this one. Your question is excellent as to our -- where we're headed with Colstrip. I would just say two things related to that. One, there's -- as you guys know, we've entered into two transactions, one to take Avista portion and another to take Puget.

是的。尼克，我會嘗試一下，布萊恩會解決這個問題。您的問題非常好，關於我們與 Colstrip 的合作方向。我只想說兩件與此相關的事情。首先，正如你們所知，我們已經達成了兩項交易，一項是收購 Avista 部分，另一項是收購 Puget。

The Avista portion, we believe, is needed to serve existing customers, at least a portion of that and expect to make a filing here sometime in Q3 to propose a process to get us really to the next rate review to recover those costs. The Puget megawatts wouldn't be needed to -- as you look at our load today to serve regulated load, this kind of goes back to what Brian was addressing with our ability to serve large load. We expect to serve large load, whether it's Montana regulated or FERC regulated, we want to make sure we leave our options open at the Montana Commission well.

我們認為，Avista 部分需要為現有客戶提供服務，至少是其中的一部分，並預計將在第三季的某個時候提交文件，提出一個流程，讓我們真正進入下一次費率審查，以收回這些成本。不需要普吉特兆瓦——當你看到我們今天的負載來服務受控負載時，這有點回到了布萊恩所說的我們服務大負載的能力。我們希望滿足大負荷需求，無論是蒙大拿州監管還是聯邦能源管理委員會監管，我們都希望確保蒙大拿州委員會能夠提供足夠的選擇。

And I think the comment earlier alluded to a tariff that can help affordability for others. We absolutely believe there's a path for that. But if the commission doesn't want to go down that road, we're certainly keeping and working to have our FERC-regulated approach open to be able to serve out of that what would be the Puget tranche.

我認為之前的評論提到了可以幫助其他人負擔得起的關稅。我們絕對相信有一條路可以實現這一點。但如果委員會不想走這條路，我們肯定會保持並努力保持我們的聯邦能源管理委員會監管方式的開放，以便能夠從中提供普吉特部分的補貼。

So again, to deliver from a data center perspective, whether it be Montana regulated or the Puget piece that might be FERC regulated. All that being said, I say we do expect to make a filing here in this quarter to address recovery of some of those Colstrip costs.

因此，再次從資料中心的角度來交付，無論是蒙大拿州監管的還是普吉特地區可能受聯邦能源管理委員會監管的。話雖如此，我想說我們確實希望在本季度提交一份文件，以解決部分 Colstrip 成本的追償問題。

Brian, anything you'd add there?

Brian，您還有什麼要補充的嗎？

No, that's great. Thanks.

不，那太好了。謝謝。

At this time, there are no further questions. I will now turn the call back over to Brian Bird for closing remarks.

目前，沒有其他問題。現在我將把電話轉回 Brian Bird 做結束語。

Closing remarks from my perspective, a continued progress on a lot of fronts, what we've done from a wildfire perspective, both operationally and from a legislative standpoint, extremely proud of that, extremely proud of the ability -- the company's ability to address our capacity shortfall and put us in a long position, particularly in the generation front. Certain good movement on the data center.

最後，從我的角度來看，我們在許多方面都取得了持續的進展，從野火的角度來看，無論是在運營還是立法的角度，我們對此都非常自豪，對公司能夠解決產能不足問題並讓我們處於長期地位的能力感到非常自豪，特別是在發電方面。資料中心的某些良好動向。

Ultimately, we need to get a good outcome on the rate review and continue to move forward and provide returns in line with your expectations. So I appreciate your interest today and going forward. Thank you.

最終，我們需要在利率審查中取得良好的結果，並繼續前進並提供符合您期望的回報。因此，我感謝您今天以及今後的關注。謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。