Spire Inc (SR) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone and welcome to the Spire Inc Q4 fiscal year 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please also note today's event is being recorded.

大家早安，歡迎參加 Spire Inc 2024 財年第四季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）也請注意今天的活動正在錄製中。

At this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to Megan McPhail, Managing Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在，我想請投資人關係董事總經理 Megan McPhail 發言。請繼續。

Good morning and welcome to Spire's fiscal 2024 fourth quarter earnings call. We issued an earnings news release this morning and you may access it on our website at spireenergy.com under newsroom. There is a slide presentation that accompanies our webcast and you may download it from either the webcast site or from our website under investors and then events and presentations.

早安，歡迎參加 Spire 2024 財年第四季財報電話會議。我們今天早上發布了一份收益新聞稿，您可以在我們的網站 spireenergy.com 的新聞室下訪問它。我們的網路廣播隨附幻燈片簡報，您可以從網路廣播網站或我們的網站「投資者」、「活動」和「簡報」下載。

Before we begin, let me cover our safe harbor statement and use of non-GAAP earnings measures. Today's call including responses to questions may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

在開始之前，讓我先介紹一下我們的安全港聲明和非公認會計準則獲利指標的使用。今天的電話會議（包括對問題的答覆）可能包含 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述。

Although our forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there are various uncertainties and risk factors that may cause future performance or results to be different than those anticipated.

儘管我們的前瞻性陳述是基於合理的假設，但存在各種不確定性和風險因素，可能導致未來的績效或結果與預期不同。

These risks and uncertainties are outlined in our quarterly and annual filings with the SEC. In our comments, we will be discussing non-GAAP measures used by management when evaluating our performance and results of operations. Explanations and reconciliations of these measures to their GAAP counterparts are contained in both our news release and slide presentation.

我們向 SEC 提交的季度和年度文件中概述了這些風險和不確定性。在我們的評論中，我們將討論管理階層在評估我們的績效和經營績效時所使用的非公認會計準則衡量標準。我們的新聞稿和投影片簡報中均包含這些措施與公認會計原則對應措施的解釋和調節。

I would like to note going forward the non-GAAP measures we previously referred to as net economic earnings -- net economic earnings per share will be referred to as adjusted earnings and adjusted earnings per share.

我想指出的是，我們之前稱為淨經濟收益的非公認會計準則衡量標準——每股淨經濟收益將被稱為調整後收益和調整後每股收益。

On the call today is Steve Lindsey, President and CEO; and Steve Rasche, Executive Vice President and CFO. Also in the room today is Scott Doyle, Executive Vice President and COO; and Adam Woodard, Vice President and Treasurer.

今天參加電話會議的是總裁兼執行長 Steve Lindsey；以及執行副總裁兼財務長 Steve Rasche。今天出席會議的還有執行副總裁兼營運長 Scott Doyle；副總裁兼財務主管 Adam Woodard。

With that, I will turn the call over to Steve Lindsey. Steve?

這樣，我會將電話轉給史蒂夫林賽。史蒂夫？

Thanks, Megan and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for an update on Spire's fiscal 2024 year-end results, outlook and other developments across our businesses.

謝謝梅根，大家早安。感謝您與我們一起了解 Spire 2024 財年年終業績、前景和我們業務的其他發展的最新情況。

Before I begin, I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank our Chief Financial Officer, Steve Rasche, after 15 years of service, Steve will step down from his role as CFO on January 1, and we'll continue to serve as senior adviser until his retirement in the spring.

在開始之前，我想藉此機會感謝我們的財務長 Steve Rasche，在服務 15 年後，Steve 將於 1 月 1 日辭去財務長職務，我們將繼續擔任高級財務長顧問直到春季退休。

Steve has been instrumental to Spire's success over the years, and he leaves behind a tremendous legacy. The dedication and leadership have driven transformation across the organization and scale the company you see today. I know I speak on behalf of all of our coworkers when I extend my gratitude and say congratulations and Steve, we wish you nothing but the best.

多年來，史蒂夫對 Spire 的成功發揮了重要作用，並留下了巨大的遺產。奉獻精神和領導力推動了整個組織的轉型，並擴大了您今天看到的公司。我知道，當我表達感激之情並表示祝賀時，我代表我們所有的同事發言，史蒂夫，我們祝你一切順利。

I'm pleased to say that Adam Woodard, our current Vice President, Treasurer and CFO of Gas Utilities will succeed Steve as the new CFO. Many of you know that Steve and Adam have worked closely over the last several years, ensuring a seamless transition.

我很高興地宣布，我們現任天然氣公用事業副總裁、財務主管兼財務長 Adam Woodard 將接替 Steve 擔任新任財務長。你們中的許多人都知道，史蒂夫和亞當在過去幾年中密切合作，確保了無縫過渡。

Adam has a deep understanding of the company, industry and financial markets and has played a key role in developing our strategy since [Spire] in 2018. We are confident Adam's ability to lead us in his new role.

Adam 對公司、產業和金融市場有著深入的了解，自 2018 年 [Spire] 以來，他在製定我們的策略方面發揮了關鍵作用。我們對 Adam 領導我們擔任新角色的能力充滿信心。

Turning now to slide 4, where I'll walk through three key categories, financial and operational performance, regulatory and outlook. This morning, we reported fiscal 2024 adjusted earnings of $4.13 per share, an increase of $0.08 per share compared to a year ago. This improvement reflects higher earnings to gas utility and midstream segments partially offset by lower earnings in our gas marketing segment.

現在轉到投影片 4，我將介紹三個關鍵類別：財務和營運績效、監管和前景。今天上午，我們公佈了 2024 財年調整後每股收益 4.13 美元，較上年同期增長 0.08 美元。這項改善反映出天然氣公用事業和中游部門的收入增加，部分被我們的天然氣行銷部門的收入下降所抵消。

Our results for the fourth quarter were below expectations as a result of headwinds created by natural gas market fundamentals and higher expenses at corporate. We begin 2025, I can assure you we are striving to deliver consistent financial results in the future. Steve will provide a deeper dive into our results and outlook in a moment.

由於天然氣市場基本面和企業費用增加造成的不利因素，我們第四季的業績低於預期。從 2025 年開始，我可以向您保證，我們將努力在未來實現一致的財務表現。史蒂夫稍後將更深入地探討我們的結果和前景。

Recognizing confidence in our long-term growth plan, the Board of Directors recently approved an increase to our common dividend of 4%, bringing the annualized rate to $3.14 per share. This is our 22nd consecutive year of dividend increases, which we have continuously paid [since 1946].

董事會認識到對我們長期成長計畫的信心，最近批准將我們的普通股股息提高到 4%，使年化利率達到每股 3.14 美元。這是我們連續第22年增加股息，我們持續支付股息[自 1946 年起]。

The bottom part of this confidence is our ability to execute successfully on our capital expenditure plan. This past year, we invested $861 million across the gas utilities and gas related businesses to further enhance safety and reliability for our customers.

這種信心的最底層是我們成功執行資本支出計畫的能力。去年，我們在天然氣公用事業和天然氣相關業務領域投資了 8.61 億美元，以進一步提高客戶的安全性和可靠性。

From a regulatory perspective, we are engaged with key stakeholders to strengthen recovery mechanisms in our jurisdictions. Our goal is to achieve more consistent and constructive regulatory outcomes leading to a more sustainable financial performance.

從監管角度來看，我們與主要利害關係人合作，以加強我們管轄範圍內的復原機制。我們的目標是實現更一致和建設性的監管成果，從而實現更永續的財務表現。

A key message pertains to our financial outlook. Today, we rolled out our 10-year capital expenditure plan forward to 2034 and an increase to $7.4 billion. We also reaffirmed our long-term EPS growth target of 5% to 7% and launch fiscal 2025 earnings guidance of $4.40 to $4.60 per share.

一個關鍵訊息與我們的財務前景有關。今天，我們推出了 2034 年的 10 年資本支出計劃，並將其增加至 74 億美元。我們也重申了 5% 至 7% 的長期 EPS 成長目標，並推出了每股 4.40 美元至 4.60 美元的 2025 財年獲利指引。

Looking ahead, we have visibility into improving our earned returns in Missouri comparing to FY26, which we anticipate will help us achieve our targeted growth lines. We remain focused on delivering this driven our strategy to grow our businesses invest in infrastructure and drive continuous improvement to deliver value.

展望未來，與 2026 財年相比，我們有能力提高密蘇裡州的賺取回報，我們預計這將有助於我們實現目標成長線。我們仍然專注於實現這一驅動策略，以發展我們的業務，投資基礎設施，並推動持續改進以創造價值。

Turning to slide 5 for an update on our capital investment plan. Long-term driver of our earnings growth remains investment focused on modernizing infrastructure at our gas utilities. During fiscal 2024, our capital investment totaled $861 million, with over 80% invested in the gas utility segment.

請參閱投影片 5，以了解我們資本投資計畫的最新情況。我們獲利成長的長期驅動力仍然是對天然氣公用事業基礎設施現代化的投資。2024 財年，我們的資本投資總額為 8.61 億美元，其中超過 80% 投資於瓦斯公用事業領域。

$295 million was spent to upgrade infrastructure and additional $111 million was spent connecting new homes and businesses. We also accelerated our deployment of advanced meters to residential customers investing $184 million in FY24.

2.95 億美元用於升級基礎設施，另外 1.11 億美元用於連接新住宅和企業。我們也在 2024 財年投資 1.84 億美元，加快了向住宅客戶部署先進電錶的速度。

During the year, we installed 350,000 advanced meters, bringing the total number of customers benefiting from this technology to over 850,000. The investment in our midstream segment over the year totaled $170 million, largely for the storage expansion, and we remain on track for the additional withdrawal capacity to come online next month.

年內，我們安裝了35萬個先進電錶，使受惠於該技術的客戶總數超過85萬。我們一年來對中游部門的投資總計 1.7 億美元，主要用於儲存擴展，我們仍有望在下個月上線額外的提款能力。

During fiscal year '25, we plan to invest $790 million, representing an incremental $100 million of spend to gas utilities compared to our prior forecast. This capital plan is once again focused on reliability, new service connections and completion of Spire Missouri's advanced meter installations.

在 25 財年，我們計劃投資 7.9 億美元，與我們先前的預測相比，天然氣公用事業的支出增加了 1 億美元。該資本計劃再次側重於可靠性、新服務連接以及 Spire Missouri 先進電錶安裝的完成。

Lastly, our robust 10-year CapEx plan is now $7.4 billion with approximately 98% at the gas utilities, driving 7% to 8% rate base growth at our largest utility, Spire Missouri.

最後，我們強勁的 10 年資本支出計畫目前為 74 億美元，其中約 98% 用於天然氣公用事業，推動我們最大的公用事業公司 Spire Missouri 的利率基數成長 7% 至 8%。

Turning to slide 6 for an update on our gas utilities. Throughout the year, our employees continued to deliver for our customers, providing them energy safely and reliable with a focus on excellent service and affordability.

請參閱投影片 6，以了解我們天然氣公用事業的最新情況。在這一年裡，我們的員工繼續為客戶提供安全可靠的能源，並專注於優質的服務和實惠的價格。

Investments maintained during the year are driving benefits for customers, shareholders and the communities that we serve. On our call in July, we discussed with you the launch of a customer affordability initiative to lower our overall cost structure and improve operational efficiency across the organization.

今年維持的投資正在為客戶、股東和我們所服務的社區帶來利益。在 7 月的電話會議上，我們與您討論了啟動客戶負擔能力計劃，以降低我們的整體成本結構並提高整個組織的營運效率。

We're realizing benefits of this initiative and continue to expect to see cost savings and improved efficiencies to support our growth expectations. During fiscal year 2024, our gas utility segment benefited from lower run rate O&M expenses that were 3% better compared to the prior year and we expect FY25 run rate O&M at the utilities to be flat compared to FY24 as we continue to benefit from our cost management initiatives.

我們正在認識到這項措施的好處，並繼續期望看到成本節約和效率提高，以支持我們的成長預期。在2024 財年，我們的天然氣公用事業部門受益於較低的運行率運營和維護費用，與上一年相比減少了3%，我們預計2025 財年公用事業公司的運行率運營和維護費用將與2024 財年持平，因為我們繼續受益於我們的成本管理措施。

However, we will continue to maintain our focus on the safety and reliability of our natural gas system. For example, our average leak response time in 2024 was nearly four minutes or 13% faster than it was in 2021. On the regulatory front, constructive mechanisms across our jurisdictions are essential to ensure that we receive timely recovery of our costs associated with delivering natural gas safely and reliably.

然而，我們將繼續關注天然氣系統的安全性和可靠性。例如，我們 2024 年的平均洩漏回應時間比 2021 年快了近 4 分鐘，即快了 13%。在監管方面，我們管轄範圍內的建設性機制對於確保我們及時收回與安全可靠地輸送天然氣相關的成本至關重要。

To that end, we expect to file a rate case in Missouri by the end of the month to cover costs incurred for investment in infrastructure and technology upgrades to better serve our customers. Our top priorities in the case remain updating our cost of service rate base and rate of return.

為此，我們預計將在本月底之前在密蘇裡州提交費率申請，以支付基礎設施和技術升級投資所產生的成本，以更好地服務我們的客戶。在這種情況下，我們的首要任務仍然是更新我們的服務成本基數和回報率。

We're looking at options to improve recovery of volumetric revenue, including the impacts of both weather and conservation. We anticipate that the request paired with last week's approval to lower our purchase gas adjustment, will result in an overall build decrease for the average residential customer. We look forward to working with key stakeholders throughout the process.

我們正在尋找改善體積收入恢復的方案，包括天氣和保護的影響。我們預計，該請求與上週批准降低我們的天然氣購買量調整相結合，將導致普通住宅客戶的整體建設減少。我們期待在整個過程中與主要利益相關者合作。

I'm pleased to say that the Missouri Public Service Commission recently approved [$16.7 million] annual increase for our infrastructure rider or ISRS, which allows us to recover revenues for certain eligible projects in between rate cases. The increase was effective earlier this month and brings our revenues reflected in this rider to an annualized rate of $53.6 million.

我很高興地說，密蘇裡州公共服務委員會最近批准了我們的基礎設施附加條款或 ISRS 的年度增長 [1670 萬美元]，這使我們能夠在費率情況下收回某些符合條件的項目的收入。這一增長已於本月初生效，使我們在此附加條款中反映的收入達到年化 5,360 萬美元。

Further, in Missouri this week, we filed our first integrated resource plan or IRP with the commission. The IRP provides a blueprint for how Spire Missouri's energy will support our customers and communities in the state over the next 20 years, with the primary goal being to ensure our customers energy needs are met.

此外，本週在密蘇裡州，我們向委員會提交了第一份綜合資源計劃或 IRP。IRP 為 Spire Missouri 的能源在未來 20 年如何支持該州的客戶和社區提供了藍圖，其主要目標是確保滿足客戶的能源需求。

Moving now to a regulatory update for our Alabama operations. As a reminder, our rates in the state are updated annually and are set using a forecasted budget. We are currently in the RSE rate setting process and are working closely with the Public Service Commission staff to update rates.

現在介紹我們阿拉巴馬州業務的監管更新。請注意，我們在該州的費率每年更新一次，並根據預測預算設定。我們目前正在製定 RSE 費率，並與公共服務委員會工作人員密切合作更新費率。

To sum up, we are well positioned for success as we execute on our robust capital investment plan to support the growth and performance of our utilities and our gas related businesses. We believe in the ability of our experienced management team and employees successfully lead us into the future.

總而言之，當我們執行穩健的資本投資計劃以支持我們的公用事業和天然氣相關業務的成長和績效時，我們已經做好了成功的準備。我們相信經驗豐富的管理團隊和員工有能力成功帶領我們走向未來。

I will now hand the call over to Steve to provide a financial update.

我現在將把電話轉給史蒂夫，以提供最新的財務資訊。

Thanks, Steve, and good morning, everyone. Let's review our fiscal year '24 results and our guidance for 2025 and beyond. For the year ended September 30, 2024, we reported adjusted earnings of nearly $247 million, 8% ahead of last year.

謝謝史蒂夫，大家早安。讓我們回顧一下 24 財年的表現以及我們對 2025 年及以後的指導。截至 2024 年 9 月 30 日的年度，我們報告調整後收益近 2.47 億美元，比去年增長 8%。

On a per share basis, our earnings of $4.13 were $0.08 higher than last year. These results include our fourth quarter loss of just under $28 million or $0.54 per share, reflecting the seasonality of our businesses.

以每股計算，我們的收益為 4.13 美元，比去年增加了 0.08 美元。這些結果包括我們在第四季度虧損近 2800 萬美元或每股 0.54 美元，反映了我們業務的季節性。

Those adjusted earnings were $10 million or $0.24 better than last year but fell below our expectations coming into the quarter due to weak market conditions impacting our marketing segment, combined with slightly higher holding company interest expense.

這些調整後的收益比去年好 1000 萬美元，即 0.24 美元，但由於市場狀況疲軟影響了我們的行銷部門，加上控股公司利息支出略高，本季的收益低於我們的預期。

Now I'll focus my remaining remarks today in the full fiscal year. Looking at our business segments. Our gas utilities earned $221 million, up 10% or $20 million from last year as new customer rates in both Missouri and Alabama were offset by partial weather mitigation in Missouri and higher interest expense.

現在我將重點討論整個財年的剩餘發言。看看我們的業務部門。我們的天然氣公用事業公司獲利 2.21 億美元，比去年增長 10%，即 2000 萬美元，因為密蘇裡州和阿拉巴馬州的新客戶費率被密蘇裡州部分天氣緩解和利息支出增加所抵消。

Midstream delivered earnings of $34 million, up $19 million as we are seeing pull-through from our Salt Plains and MoGas acquisitions as well as earnings associated with our storage expansion.

Midstream 獲利 3,400 萬美元，年增 1,900 萬美元，因為我們看到 Salt Plains 和 MoGas 收購帶來的拉動以及與儲存擴張相關的盈利。

Gas marketing earned $23 million as strong market conditions last winter were offset by lower basis volatility over the last six months. As a reminder, marketing delivered solid results this year and was slightly above our initial expectations, but these results were well below last year due to the significantly favorable market conditions in fiscal year '23 that did not recur this year.

去年冬天強勁的市場狀況被過去六個月較低的基差波動所抵消，天然氣行銷收入達 2,300 萬美元。提醒一下，行銷今年取得了穩健的成果，略高於我們最初的預期，但這些結果遠低於去年，因為 23 財年明顯有利的市場條件今年沒有重現。

And finally, other corporate costs were $30 million, nearly $4 million or 11% improvement over last year, reflecting the benefit of an interest rate hedge and lower corporate costs, offset in part by [Holcomb] interest expense.

最後，其他企業成本為 3,000 萬美元，比去年提高了近 400 萬美元，即 11%，反映了利率對沖和企業成本降低的好處，部分被 [Holcomb] 利息支出所抵消。

For your reference, a detailed variance analysis of our fiscal year and fourth quarter results is included in the appendix to this presentation.

為了供您參考，本簡報的附錄中包含了我們財年和第四季業績的詳細變異數分析。

Turning to our outlook. As Steve mentioned earlier, we are reaffirming our long-term adjusted earnings per share growth target of 5% to 7%, retaining the midpoint of our original fiscal year '24 guidance range of $4.35 per share as a base.

轉向我們的展望。正如 Steve 先前提到的，我們重申 5% 至 7% 的長期調整後每股收益成長目標，並保留 24 財年最初指導範圍每股 4.35 美元的中點作為基礎。

This growth is driven by, first, 7% to 8% rate base growth and continued timely recovery via the ISRS mechanism in Missouri, coupled with a reasonable outcome in the soon-to-be filed rate case, with new rigs targeted to be effective in fiscal year '26.

這一增長的推動因素首先是 7% 至 8% 的費率基礎增長，以及通過密蘇裡州 ISRS 機制持續及時恢復，再加上即將提交的費率案件的合理結果，以及新鑽機的目標是有效在'26財政年度。

Second, equity growth in the Southeast coupled with annual ISRS resets and finally, continued focus on cost efficiency. We are launching our fiscal year '25 adjusted earnings range at between $4.40 and $4.60 per share.

其次，東南部的股票成長加上年度 ISRS 重置，最後，繼續關注成本效率。我們將 25 財年的調整後收益範圍定為每股 4.40 美元至 4.60 美元。

At the midpoint, this is a 9% growth from our actual results in '24, but falls a bit short of our growth target range at the midpoint as we work through the Missouri rate case. With a reasonable outcome and expected improvements in our earned ROE, we anticipate moving fully back into the target range for fiscal year '26 and beyond.

在中點，這比我們 24 年的實際結果增加了 9%，但在我們研究密蘇裡州利率案例時，略低於我們在中點的成長目標範圍。隨著我們獲得的 ROE 取得合理的結果和預期的改善，我們預計將在 26 財年及以後完全回到目標範圍。

Turning to our business unit guidance. We anticipate our gas utilities will earn between $238 million and $258 million next year, reflecting the combined benefits of incremental Missouri ISRS revenues and the return of normal weather, new rates in Alabama and Gulf under the RC mechanism and no increase in run rate O&M cost.

轉向我們業務部門的指導。我們預計明年天然氣公用事業公司的收入將在2.38 億至2.58 億美元之間，反映出密蘇裡州ISRS 收入增加和正常天氣恢復、阿拉巴馬州和海灣地區根據RC 機制實施的新費率以及運行費率O&M 成本沒有增加的綜合效益。

As Steve noted earlier, our fiscal year '24 operations and maintenance expenses, excluding bad debts, were 3% below last year, and our goal in fiscal year '25 is to lock in those savings and offset the impacts of other inflationary increases in wages, insurance, third-party costs, among others, with our cost efficiency initiatives. We also expect net interest expense to be lower.

正如 Steve 之前指出的，我們 24 財年的營運和維護費用（不包括壞帳）比去年低了 3%，我們 25 財年的目標是鎖定這些儲蓄並抵消其他通膨性工資增長的影響、保險、第三方成本等，以及我們的成本效率措施。我們也預計淨利息支出將會降低。

Turning to gas marketing. We anticipate adjusted earnings of $21 million to $25 million, reflecting an increase from our initial '24 expectations due to organic growth. Midstream adjusted earnings are targeted between $40 million and $46 million, reflecting the growth in both storage and pipelines.

轉向天然氣行銷。我們預計調整後收益為 2,100 萬美元至 2,500 萬美元，這反映出由於有機增長，我們最初的 24 年預期有所增加。中游調整後收益目標在 4,000 萬至 4,600 萬美元之間，反映了儲存和管道的成長。

In the storage business, we expect to see full year benefit of the storage contracts we commenced in fiscal year '24, combined with bringing the rest of the Spire Storage West capacity online in fiscal year '25. These benefits will be offset in part by higher operation costs, interest expense and depreciation.

在儲存業務方面，我們預計我們在 24 財年開始的儲存合約將帶來全年效益，同時 Spire Storage West 的其餘容量將在 25 財年上線。這些好處將被較高的營運成本、利息支出和折舊部分抵消。

On the pipeline side, we will see the full year benefit from the MoGas acquisition. We anticipate the resulting midstream business mix to be roughly 55% storage and 45% pipelines in fiscal year '25. Corporate and other, principally interest cost is anticipated to be in the range of negative $30 million to $36 million, down from last year's run rate of roughly $36 million after adjusting for the interest rate hedge benefit that is not expected to recur in fiscal year '25.

在管道方面，我們將看到 MoGas 收購帶來的全年效益。我們預計 25 財年中游業務組合將約為 55% 為儲存業務，45% 為管道業務。企業和其他主要利息成本預計將在負 3,000 萬美元至 3,600 萬美元之間，低於去年約 3,600 萬美元的運行率，在對預計不會在本財年重現的利率對沖收益進行調整後。 25.

We've also updated our three year financing plan as outlined on slide 10. After a very busy fiscal year '24, our equity needs going forward dropped to a much lower level that we'll manage with our ATM program. I would note that at 9/30, we had $75 million of forward equity sales that will settle in fiscal year '25.

我們也更新了幻燈片 10 中概述的三年融資計劃。在經歷了非常繁忙的 24 財年之後，我們未來的股本需求下降到了一個低得多的水平，我們將透過 ATM 計劃進行管理。我要指出的是，截至 9 月 30 日，我們有 7,500 萬美元的遠期股權銷售，將在 25 財年結算。

And turning to our long-term debt needs, our three year financing plan assumes refinancing of maturities and incremental debt of roughly $600 million to fund our capital plan. A debt maturity table is included in the appendix.

至於我們的長期債務需求，我們的三年融資計畫假設到期再融資和約 6 億美元的增量債務為我們的資本計畫提供資金。附錄中包含債務到期表。

And finally, no change to our credit metric or payout targets. In summary, we have a solid plan heading into fiscal year '25, and we'll remain focused on delivering against those goals. And Steve, I appreciate your kind words on my retirement next spring.

最後，我們的信用指標或支付目標沒有改變。總之，我們在進入 25 財年時制定了可靠的計劃，我們將繼續專注於實現這些目標。史蒂夫，我很感謝你對我明年春天退休的善意之言。

My decision was actually pretty easy, knowing that I'm handing off to Adam and a strong and focus by our leadership team. It's funny, I can assure you that I finally say goodbye to 6 AM flights and the 30-plus years of preparing for investor meetings with the acknowledgment that I always walk away from those meetings smarter due to your questions and suggestions.

我的決定實際上非常簡單，因為我知道我正在將工作交給 Adam 以及我們領導團隊的強大和專注。有趣的是，我可以向你保證，我終於告別了早上 6 點的航班和 30 多年來為投資者會議做的準備，並承認由於你的問題和建議，我總是更明智地離開這些會議。

What I will truly miss are the great brands across our industry and here at Spire. I look forward to seeing you all over the next few months as we roll into fiscal year '25 and rest assured, as shareholder, I will be tracking Spire's progress and success going forward.

我真正懷念的是整個產業和 Spire 的偉大品牌。我期待在接下來的幾個月裡見到大家，因為我們即將進入第 25 財年。

With that, let me turn it back over to you, Steve.

那麼，讓我把它轉回給你，史蒂夫。

Thanks, Steve. I'd like to finish with our priorities for the coming year on slide 11 as we are laser focused to achieve our targets for fiscal year '25 and beyond. Our priorities for this year are aligned in building a more resilient, efficient and sustainable company that delivers value for our customers and shareholders.

謝謝，史蒂夫。我想在投影片 11 上介紹我們來年的優先事項，因為我們將專注於實現 25 財年及以後的目標。我們今年的首要任務是建立一家更具彈性、高效和永續發展的公司，為我們的客戶和股東創造價值。

First and foremost, we are committed to delivering natural gas safely and reliably. During the year, we expect to deploy $790 million capital primarily at the gas utilities. And we are engaged with key stakeholders to achieve constructive regulatory outcomes for customers and shareholders while on strengthening regulatory recovery mechanisms.

首先，我們致力於安全可靠地輸送天然氣。今年，我們預計將主要在天然氣公用事業方面部署 7.9 億美元的資金。我們與主要利害關係人合作，為客戶和股東實現建設性的監管成果，同時加強監管恢復機制。

And lastly, we're focused on delivering our fiscal year 2025 EPS guidance range and maintaining the strength of our balance sheet. We look forward to updating you on our progress throughout the year. Thank you for joining us today, and we will now take your questions.

最後，我們致力於實現 2025 財年 EPS 指導範圍並維持資產負債表的實力。我們期待向您通報我們全年的進展。感謝您今天加入我們，我們現在將回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Richard Sunderland, JP Morgan.

理查桑德蘭，摩根大通。

Hey, good morning. And thank you for the time today.

嘿，早安。感謝您今天抽出時間。

Hey, Rich, I'm Rasche.

嘿，里奇，我是拉許。

And I guess before my questions, Steve and Adam, congratulations to both of you on the announcement and Steve, best of luck in retirement year.

我想在我提問之前，史蒂夫和亞當，祝賀你們倆宣布這一消息，史蒂夫，祝退休之年好運。

Thanks man.

謝謝夥計。

Let's see, first and foremost, the 2025 segment drivers, I'm hoping you can parse those in some finer detail particularly midstream, where it looks like you're expecting to exceed the year over year growth previously indicated there.

首先，讓我們看看 2025 年的細分市場驅動因素，我希望您能夠更詳細地解析這些驅動因素，尤其是中游行業，您預計該領域的同比增長將超過之前指出的水平。

And I guess, marketing as well. So for both of those, is this really the baseline going forward? And I guess that baseline is just ratcheted up a little bit versus what you guided to previously. Any details there would be helpful.

我想，行銷也是如此。那麼對於這兩者來說，這真的是未來的基線嗎？我想這個基線與您之前指導的相比只是稍微提高了一點。任何細節都會有幫助。

Yeah, Rich. Great question, and thanks again. Marketing is consistent with how we've handled previous years. We go back to the organic growth strategy for the marketing business, that at John, Brendan and the team drive. And we'll hopefully be positioned to take advantage of market opportunities, but -- that's why we anchored back to the original guidance for last year, which we were actually able to be in '24.

是的，里奇。很好的問題，再次感謝。行銷方式與我們前幾年的處理方式一致。我們回到約翰、布倫丹和團隊推動的營銷業務有機成長策略。我們希望能夠利用市場機會，但是 - 這就是為什麼我們回到去年的原始指導，我們實際上能夠在 24 年實現這一目標。

So that's kind of a normal organic step that we would expect in every business because we expect every business to grow. Midstream, yeah, I think you're correct. We gave some directional guidance six months ago when we were still in the process of landing the final timing of the Spire Storage West expansion and also just now starting to see the benefits of the contracts, many of which started on April 1 of this year.

因此，這是我們期望每個企業都採取的正常有機步驟，因為我們期望每個企業都能成長。中流，是的，我認為你是對的。六個月前，我們給了一些方向性指導，當時我們仍在確定 Spire Storage West 擴建的最終時間，而且現在才開始看到合約的好處，其中許多合約於今年 4 月 1 日開始。

And I think we have better clarity now into how that business is growing into, the investment returns that we've talked about with you and the rest of the investors previously. So I think the expectation is that we're getting close to where that run rate would be for that business.

我認為我們現在更清楚地了解該業務的發展情況以及我們之前與您和其他投資者討論過的投資回報。因此，我認為我們的預期是我們正在接近該業務的運作率。

Clearly, we're going to work through the rest of the expansion for Spire Storage West and some of that capacity were coming online in December of this year and then contracts generally renew in the industry overall, as you know, on [4/1].

顯然，我們將完成 Spire Storage West 的其餘擴張工作，其中一些容量將於今年 12 月上線，然後整個行業的合約通常會續簽，如您所知，[4/1]。

So we'll continue to manage that going forward. But you're right, it's a pretty good step up from where we originally guided. But a lot of that is due to us getting a better fix and clarity in the business mix. And we also just to help out didn't clarify where we see the business mix for 2025 to help you as you're doing your modeling.

因此，我們將繼續管理這一點。但你是對的，這比我們最初指導的方向邁出了相當大的一步。但這很大程度上是由於我們在業務組合方面得到了更好的解決和清晰度。我們也只是為了提供幫助，但沒有澄清我們對 2025 年業務組合的看法，以便在您進行建模時為您提供幫助。

Great. Got it. That was helpful. And then picking up the other side of that piece with the utilities realize the Missouri rate case filing is not out there yet coming shortly. But you had some commentary around how the rate case gets you back into the range for 2026 against that 5% to 7% growth.

偉大的。知道了。這很有幫助。然後，公用事業公司意識到密蘇裡州費率案件的備案尚未很快完成。但您對利率案例如何讓您回到 2026 年 5% 至 7% 的增長範圍提出了一些評論。

Could you just be clear on some of that commentary from the rate case, it sounded like you were saying a reasonable outcome returns you to 5% to 7%. Is it -- was it just the outcome gets you there or you need an uplift in the authorized ROE as well? Just want to make sure I understand the drivers there.

您能澄清一下利率案例中的一些評論嗎？是——只是結果讓你達到目標，還是你還需要提升授權的 ROE？只是想確保我了解那裡的驅動程式。

No. It's really, we're looking for a straightforward recovery -- cost of service recovery, we're behind there. And as we've talked about before, we do -- we are under earning in Missouri. So just bringing that bringing that back up closer to authorized, we feel very -- one, encouraged by our dialogue with stakeholders coming into the case, but also confident in our filing of the case that we can reach a reasonable outcome for Spire, Spire Missouri.

不。事實上，我們正​​在尋找一種直接的恢復方式——服務成本恢復，我們已經落後了。正如我們之前談到的，我們確實 - 我們在密蘇裡州的收入低於預期。因此，只要讓這一點恢復到接近授權的程度，我們就感到非常——一，我們與參與該案件的利益相關者的對話感到鼓舞，但也對我們提交案件充滿信心，我們可以為Spire、Spire達成合理的結果密蘇裡州。

But that -- we're not expecting anything -- we're not -- we're just kind on rate of return or returning capital return and cost of service return to get us into that range.

但是，我們沒有期待任何事情，我們沒有，我們只是對回報率或資本回報率和服務成本回報率感興趣，以使我們進入這個範圍。

Okay. Understood. And then just one final one for me. I know there's been attention on some of the weather impacts in recent years. It looks like at slide 9, you're saying a return to normal weather for 2025. So I just want to confirm, one, '25, the outlook assumes normal weather across the utilities. And two, just curious how weather has been trending to date since the start of your fiscal year?

好的。明白了。然後是我的最後一件事。我知道近年來一些天氣影響引起了人們的注意。看起來在幻燈片 9 中，您說 2025 年將恢復正常天氣。所以我只想確認一下，一，25 年，前景假設公用事業部門天氣正常。第二，只是想知道自本財年開始以來迄今為止天氣趨勢如何？

Yeah. So yes, that is the assumption is normalized weather. We have -- and a functioning weather normalization mechanism. We do -- that is something that we've -- as Steve mentioned in his remarks, is something that we're focused on in the filing to fine tune that mechanism for more straightforward recovery.

是的。所以是的，這就是天氣正常化的假設。我們擁有一個運作良好的天氣正常化機制。正如史蒂夫在演講中提到的那樣，我們所做的事情是我們在文件中重點關注的事情，以微調該機制以實現更直接的恢復。

But yeah, we are assuming normalized weather. So far this year, it did -- the fall has started on a warmer than normal basis. No comment on the mechanism, how the mechanism has worked thus far.

但是，是的，我們假設天氣正常化。今年到目前為止，確實如此——秋季開始時氣溫比正常情況要溫暖。沒有對該機制以及該機制迄今為止如何運作發表評論。

Okay, great. Well, thank you for the time there. And congrats again to everyone Thank you.

好的，太好了。嗯，謝謝你抽出時間。再次恭喜大家，謝謝。

Julien Dumoulin-Smith, Jefferies.

朱利安·杜穆蘭-史密斯，杰弗里斯。

Hey, guys, it's James Ward on for Julien. Just wanted to join in --

嘿，夥計們，詹姆斯沃德替補朱利安。只是想加入--

Hey, how are you.

嘿，你怎麼樣。

Just wanted to join in first on wishing you all the best Steve in retirement and your future endeavors. And also say congratulations, Adam, on your new role, well deserved and look forward to continuing to work with you here.

只是想先祝史蒂夫退休後一切順利，並祝福您未來的事業一切順利。也要恭喜 Adam，您當之無愧的新角色，並期待繼續與您合作。

So on the debt front, the weather mechanism question was asked there earlier and then some of the segment elements we were interested in as well. So appreciate the color there. As we look at refinancing, given the recent cuts, as I said, and assumptions heading into 2025, now that we've got an election outcome, understanding limitations on potential impacts there as well in terms of leadership.

因此，在債務方面，我們早些時候提出了天氣機制問題，然後也提出了我們感興趣的一些細分要素。所以欣賞那裡的顏色。當我們考慮再融資時，正如我所說，考慮到最近的削減，以及進入 2025 年的假設，現在我們已經有了選舉結果，了解潛在影響以及領導力方面的限制。

What are you guys assuming in terms of interest rates in your guidance relative to 2024 levels or I guess, I should say, relative to current levels, both next year and then beyond (multiple speakers) at the high level.

你們在你們的指導中相對於 2024 年水平的利率有何假設，或者我猜，我應該說，相對於當前水平，無論是明年還是以後（多位發言者）高層。

No, absolutely. And James, this is Adam. On the short-term side, obviously, you've observed, we observed the Fed has started to cut. That is something that we didn't assume would happen on the short-term side we would expect in our plans to see two to three more cuts before the end of next year.

不，絕對是。詹姆斯，這是亞當。從短期來看，顯然，你已經觀察到，我們觀察到聯準會已經開始降息。這是我們沒有想到的事情會在短期內發生，我們預計在我們的計劃中會在明年底之前再削減兩到三次。

But I -- your guess is as good as mine as far as windows occur, and I think there's been some uncertainty around that. But I think a couple of more cuts would be expected. On the long-term side, we don't have a lot to do in the next 12 months. But we are pretty comfortable with the current level of longer-term rates that we're seeing right now.

但我——就視窗的出現而言，你的猜測和我的一樣好，而且我認為這方面存在一些不確定性。但我認為預計還會有更多的削減。從長期來看，未來 12 個月我們沒有太多事情要做。但我們對目前看到的長期利率水準感到非常滿意。

Terrific. That's extremely helpful. And any additional color just in terms of -- obviously, you mentioned the incremental $600 million got refinancings. Just any color around FFO to debt. You obviously have a lot of question relative to like S&P's threshold and so on that would be a final question there.

了不起。這非常有幫助。顯然，您提到了增加的 6 億美元獲得了再融資。FFO 周圍的任何顏色都屬於債務。顯然，您對標準普爾的門檻有很多疑問，這將是最後一個問題。

No, absolutely. Great question. We do continue to see progress there. I think really getting fully up in that target in a sustainable way. We're above that target with Moody's now, but on a sustainable basis, I think we'll certainly see that coming out of the rate case.

不，絕對是。很好的問題。我們確實繼續看到這方面的進展。我認為真正以可持續的方式全面實現該目標。我們現在已經超過了穆迪的目標，但在可持續的基礎上，我認為我們肯定會看到利率案例中出現這一點。

Yeah, okay. That's what we're looking at with the projections. And it seems like you're going to have a lot of question. Okay. Thank you so much guys. Really appreciate it. And congrats to everyone. Thank you.

是啊，好吧。這就是我們透過預測看到的。看來你會有很多問題。好的。非常感謝你們。真的很感激。並祝賀大家。謝謝。

Christopher Jeffrey, Mizuho Securities.

克里斯多福·傑弗裡，瑞穗證券。

Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking my question and congrats to Adam and Steve. Maybe just touching on the outlook for the legislative session upcoming in Missouri. There seem to be a few utility focused bills that could have some impacts for Spire. Just kind of can you speak about those more broadly and whether those would impact the timing of your rate case filing or any of the asks therein?

大家好。感謝您提出我的問題，並祝賀亞當和史蒂夫。也許只是觸及密蘇裡州即將舉行的立法會議的前景。似乎有一些以公用事業為重點的法案可能會對 Spire 產生一些影響。您能否更廣泛地談談這些問題，以及這些問題是否會影響您提交費率案件的時間或其中的任何要求？

Yeah. Hey Christopher, this is Scott Doyle, I'll answer your last question first. It won't impact the timing or kind of how we proceed with the rate case. What we do are working through this legislative session is clarifying future test year availability for gas utilities.

是的。嘿克里斯多福，我是史考特道爾，我先回答你的最後一個問題。它不會影響我們處理費率案件的時間或方式。我們在本次立法會議中所做的工作是澄清天然氣公用事業公司未來測試年度的可用性。

As you may recall, legislation made its way through in the last session earlier this year. And so we worked to work on the progress that was made in that legislation in advance that topic as we move through this legislative session.

您可能還記得，立法已在今年早些時候的上屆會議上獲得通過。因此，在我們進行本次立法會議時，我們致力於在該立法中取得進展，從而提前解決該主題。

Okay. Great, thanks. And then maybe just looking at the updated CapEx guide. Just kind of curious, it seems like we're kind of putting in more CapEx for '24 and '25, just how you're looking about maybe the run rate for '26 and beyond and kind of the drivers on those decisions?

好的。太好了，謝謝。然後也許只是查看更新的資本支出指南。只是有點好奇，我們似乎為 24 和 25 年投入了更多資本支出，您如何看待 26 及以後的運行率以及這些決策的驅動因素？

Yeah. Chris, it's Adam. A lot of that is driven, obviously, by a lot of our CapEx is driven by Missouri. And I think we have talked before about there -- in particular, maybe a little bit out of run rate. We're looking and focused on getting our meter replacements done in the near term.

是的。克里斯，是亞當。顯然，其中很大一部分是由密蘇裡州驅動的我們的大部分資本支出所驅動的。我想我們之前已經討論過這個問題——特別是，可能有點超出運行速度。我們正在尋找並專注於在短期內完成儀表更換。

So that has moved up kind of that CapEx growth in Missouri. And specifically, we see that getting done in '25 and getting back into kind of a more normalized 7% to 8% rate base growth, probably a little bit higher than that over the last 18 months or so, just getting the meters done. You don't want to spread that out too far out into out over time.

因此，這在某種程度上推動了密蘇裡州的資本支出成長。具體來說，我們看到在 25 年完成並恢復到更正常化的 7% 至 8% 的利率基礎成長率，可能比過去 18 個月左右的水平略高一點，只是完成了計量。隨著時間的推移，你不想將其分散得太遠。

And Chris, this is Steve. The last thing I would say is, as we're winding down the deployment of capital into the storage expansion. I think we talked earlier about roughly 98% is dedicated to utilities for the next 10 years.

克里斯，這是史蒂夫。我要說的最後一件事是，我們正在逐步減少儲存擴張的資本部署。我想我們之前討論過大約 98% 的資金將用於未來 10 年的公用事業。

And really, it goes well beyond that. We're giving you a 10 year outlook right now, but we've got a long line of sight from a capital deployment perspective. And we have good regulatory mechanisms in Missouri as well as in Alabama, which is pretty much real-time rate making. So we feel very good about our capital plan in the utilities.

事實上，它的意義遠不止於此。我們現在為您提供 10 年展望，但從資本部署的角度來看，我們有長遠的眼光。我們在密蘇裡州和阿拉巴馬州都有良好的監管機制，幾乎是即時的利率制定。因此，我們對公用事業的資本計劃感覺非常好。

Great, super helpful. Thanks, Steve and Adam.

太棒了，超級有幫助。謝謝，史蒂夫和亞當。

Thanks, Chris.

謝謝，克里斯。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Bill Appicelli, UBS.

比爾‧阿皮切利，瑞銀集團。

Hi, good morning. And congrats to Steve and Adam and go everyone else the sentiments there. Just wanted to dig into the, I guess, the Q4 results a bit. You guys have guided down full year earnings last quarter, and then you came in a little bit light of the lowered expectations for the full year.

嗨，早安。祝賀史蒂夫和亞當，也祝賀其他人的感受。我想只是想深入研究一下第四季的結果。你們在上個季度下調了全年盈利，然後又對全年預期進行了一些下調。

So I guess what happened there? Was the gas marketing? Was that -- you had modified that outlook to $27 million to $31 million for the full year and you came in at $23 million. So was that -- what fell short of expectations in Q4? Or can you share a little more color on that, please?

所以我猜那裡發生了什麼事？是天然氣行銷嗎？是這樣嗎——您將全年的前景修改為 2700 萬至 3100 萬美元，結果您的收入為 2300 萬美元。那麼，第四季有什麼未達預期的情況嗎？或是能分享更多的顏色嗎？

Yeah, Bill, and thanks for your well wishes. This is Steve. You are spot on. If you think about the businesses, the two areas in Q4 that surprise us on the negative side were primarily marketing, and it was really reflective of the market. We have seen -- and I mentioned in the prepared remarks and Adam even alluded to it as we get through October that the market has been kind of mean to use a more current term.

是的，比爾，謝謝你的祝福。這是史蒂夫。你說得對。如果你考慮業務，第四季度讓我們感到驚訝的兩個負面方面主要是行銷，它確實反映了市場。我們已經看到——我在準備好的發言中提到過，亞當甚至在十月份的時候提到過，市場對於使用更新的術語有點吝嗇。

The low commodity prices, low base is differential, it doesn't give us a lot of opportunity to create value. And that surprised us on the negative side. And I -- if we step back, if you think about marketing overall, they achieved their goal for the year actually overachieved our expectations for the year that we started the year with.

大宗商品價格低，基數低就是差價，它並沒有給我們太多創造價值的機會。這讓我們在消極方面感到驚訝。我——如果我們退一步，如果你考慮整體行銷，他們實現了今年的目標，實際上超出了我們對年初的預期。

We just had some assumption of more normalized rate of demand coming into the fourth quarter, and it didn't materialize. So we're still very pleased with where we ended up, but it clearly surprised us on the downside. And we own that one.

我們只是對第四季的需求率更加正常化做出了一些假設，但它並沒有實現。因此，我們仍然對最終的結果感到非常滿意，但它的缺點顯然讓我們感到驚訝。我們擁有那個。

The other segment was probably a couple of million dollars higher in terms of interest costs than we had expected. And I think we've got our surrounding interest expense going forward, but that also surprised us a little bit. And surprisingly, the other -- the big business segments that are a majority of our business actually performed very well this quarter, and I think that sets us up well as we think about '25 going forward.

就利息成本而言，另一部分的利息成本可能比我們的預期高出數百萬美元。我認為我們已經得到了周圍的利息支出，但這也讓我們有點驚訝。令人驚訝的是，另一個——占我們業務大部分的大型業務部門本季度實際上表現得非常好，我認為這為我們展望 25 年的未來奠定了良好的基礎。

Hey, Bill, and this is Steve, I'll follow up on Steve's comments. You got to go back to the root word and marketing is market. And there's opportunity there for some years and sometimes there might not be as much.

嘿，比爾，我是史蒂夫，我會跟進史蒂夫的評論。你必須回到字根，行銷就是市場。幾年來機會仍然存在，但有時可能沒有那麼多。

But over the last five years, they've done an unbelievable job of creating results that have allowed us to invest in our utilities and not have to go to the market for equity. So I think we think about this in the long term.

但在過去的五年裡，他們創造了令人難以置信的成果，使我們能夠投資我們的公用事業，而不必去市場上購買股權。所以我認為我們會從長遠考慮這個問題。

And so some years in some quarters, you might have some ups and downs. But if you think about the way we're structured from a utility perspective, from a midstream perspective, and that's a combination of storage and pipelines and marketing, I think we're very comfortable with the business mix that we have.

因此，有些年份的某些季度，你可能會遇到一些起伏。但如果你從公用事業的角度、中游的角度考慮我們的結構方式，即儲存、管道和行銷的結合，我認為我們對我們現有的業務組合非常滿意。

Okay. Great. And then just a follow-up question on the O&M. I think prior conversations, there was some expectation of cost savings that were going to show up in Q3 and Q4, and (technical difficulty) maybe '26. But I guess you did actually achieve better overall profile in '24, and now you're saying run rate O&M in line with '24 or '25. So is there more sort of cost saving opportunity? Or maybe just sort of address the cadence of the cost reductions and how they've showed up relative to your expectations?

好的。偉大的。然後是關於維運的後續問題。我認為在先前的對話中，人們對成本節約的預期將在第三季和第四季顯現出來，並且（技術難度）可能是「26」。但我猜你實際上在 24 年確實取得了更好的整體形象，現在你說運行率 O&M 與 24 或 25 年一致。那麼還有更多節省成本的機會嗎？或者也許只是解決成本削減的節奏以及它們相對於您的期望如何表現？

Yeah. Hey Bill, this is Scott. Yeah, just real quick on O&M, and I'll give maybe some color on kind of what's driving it and hand it back off to Adam on the guide as well. But that savings -- the initial savings and even some of the longer term savings are coming from kind of a mix of labor reductions in our corporate support functions as well as our utility leadership structure.

是的。嘿比爾，這是斯科特。是的，關於 O&M 的速度很快，我可能會給出一些關於驅動它的因素的信息，並將其交還給指南中的 Adam。但這種節省——最初的節省，甚至一些長期的節省，都來自於我們公司支援職能以及公用事業領導結構中勞動力的減少。

And then even within that, we're optimizing both our internal and external labor strategy across our full operations, whether you're talking about our construction and service activities and delivering our service or even in our call centers, how we optimize our labor strategy there as well.

即使在此範圍內，我們也在整個營運過程中優化我們的內部和外部勞動力策略，無論您是在談論我們的建築和服務活動以及提供我們的服務，還是在我們的呼叫中心，我們如何優化我們的勞動力策略那裡也有。

And then we're beginning to see some of the efficiency gains associated with technology spend that we've made here recently in the form of the meters that we're deploying as we're getting that system fully deployed and fully active.

然後，我們開始看到一些與技術支出相關的效率提升，這些技術支出最近以我們正在部署的儀表的形式出現，因為我們正在全面部署並完全啟動系統。

As Adam mentioned earlier, we'll have that system fully deployed in the St. Louis market area mid next year. And so we have opportunities coming in front of us associated with that deployment. And Adam, you may just want to comment on the guide?

正如 Adam 之前提到的，我們將在明年中期在聖路易斯市場區域全面部署該系統。因此，我們面臨著與該部署相關的機會。亞當，你可能只想對指南發表評論？

Yeah, Bill, on the guide, we're very pleased to be able to guide flat and flat O&M at the utility. Clearly, we made some progress last year that's extending into this year. But given the headwinds that we're all seeing from a cost perspective, it's something that we feel very good about. And we typically, over time, have managed below inflation, but this is kind of an extra step below that.

是的，比爾，在指南中，我們很高興能夠指導公用事業公司的扁平化和扁平 O&M。顯然，我們去年取得了一些進展，並將延續到今年。但考慮到我們從成本角度看到的不利因素，我們對此感覺非常好。隨著時間的推移，我們通常會控制在通膨以下，但這是低於通膨的額外一步。

All right, great. Thank you all very much.

好吧，太好了。非常感謝大家。

Thanks, Bill.

謝謝，比爾。

And ladies and gentlemen at this time and showing no additional questions. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Megan McPhail for any closing remarks.

女士們、先生們，此時沒有提出其他問題。我想請梅根·麥克菲爾發表結束語。

Thank you all for joining the call this morning. We look forward to speaking with many of you later today and in the coming weeks. Have a great day.

感謝大家今天早上參加電話會議。我們期待著今天晚些時候和未來幾週與你們中的許多人交談。祝你有美好的一天。

And ladies and gentlemen, with that, we'll conclude today's conference call and presentation. We do thank you for joining.

女士們、先生們，我們今天的電話會議和演示就到此結束。我們非常感謝您的加入。