Unitil Corp (UTL) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Q4 2023 earnings Unitil earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Todd Deacon, Chief Accounting Officer. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持，歡迎參加 2023 年第四季的 Unitil 收益電話會議。（操作員說明）再次。請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。現在我想將會議交給首席會計官 Todd Deacon 發言。請繼續。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss Unitil Corporation's fiscal year 2023 results. Speaking on the call today will be Tom Meissner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Dan Hurst, act Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Also with us today is Bob Evans, President and Chief Administrative Officer, and Chris Goulding, Vice President of Finance and Regulatory, who will discuss financial and other information on this call.

早安，感謝您加入我們討論 Unitil Corporation 2023 財年業績。董事長兼執行長湯姆·邁斯納 (Tom Meissner) 和代理高級副總裁、財務長兼財務主管 Dan Hurst 在今天的電話會議上發表講話。今天與我們在一起的還有總裁兼首席行政官鮑勃·埃文斯(Bob Evans) 以及財務和監管副總裁克里斯·古爾丁(Chris Goulding)，他們將在本次電話會議上討論財務和其他資訊。

As we mentioned in the press release announcing today's call, we have posted information, including a presentation to the Investors section of our website at unitil.com. We will we will refer to that information during this call.

正如我們在宣布今天電話會議的新聞稿中提到的，我們已經發布了信息，包括向我們網站unitil.com 的投資者部分進行的演示。我們將在本次電話會議中參考該資訊。

Moving to Slide 2. The comments made today about future operating results or events are forward-looking statements under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted. Statements made on this call should be considered together with cautionary statements and other information contained in our most financial annual report on Form 10 K and in other documents we have filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of today, and we assume no obligation to update them.

轉到投影片 2。今天對未來營運績效或事件的評論屬於 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款下的前瞻性陳述。前瞻性陳述本質上涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與預測有重大差異。本次電話會議中所做的陳述應與我們在 10 K 表格上的大部分財務年度報告以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交或提供的其他文件中包含的警告性陳述和其他資訊一起考慮。前瞻性陳述僅代表今天的情況，我們不承擔更新這些陳述的義務。

This presentation contains non-GAAP financial measures. The accompanying supplemental information more fully describes these non-GAAP financial measures and includes a reconciliation to the nearest GAAP financial measures. The company believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful in evaluating its performance.

本簡報包含非公認會計準則財務指標。隨附的補充資訊更全面地描述了這些非 GAAP 財務指標，並包括與最接近的 GAAP 財務指標的調整。該公司相信這些非公認會計準則財務指標有助於評估其績效。

With that, I will now turn the call over to Chairman and CEO, Tom Meissner.

現在，我將把電話轉給董事長兼執行長湯姆‧邁斯納 (Tom Meissner)。

Great. Thanks, Todd. Good morning and thanks, everyone, for joining us today. Beginning on Slide 4. Today, we announced another strong year of results with net income of $45.2 million or $2.82 per share, representing an increase of $0.23 per share or 8.9% over 2022. This increase was once again above our long-term guidance of 5% to 7%, which we are reaffirming today. We also fully earned our authorized returns on a consolidated basis with return on equity of 9.5% as we closed the books on 2023. I'm pleased to report that we had another successful year and delivered outstanding results across every facet of our business, both financially and operationally, while advancing the strategies that will provide long-term sustainable growth.

偉大的。謝謝，托德。早安，感謝大家今天加入我們。從投影片 4 開始。今天，我們宣布了另一個強勁的年度業績，淨利潤為 4520 萬美元，即每股 2.82 美元，比 2022 年每股增長 0.23 美元，即增長 8.9%。這一增幅再次高於我們今天重申的 5% 至 7% 的長期指引。我們也完全獲得了合併基礎上的授權回報，截至 2023 年結帳時股本回報率為 9.5%。我很高興地向大家報告，我們又度過了成功的一年，在財務和營運方面的業務各個方面都取得了出色的成果，同時推進了可實現長期可持續增長的戰略。

I'm going to pass it over to Dan, who will take us through the details of our fiscal year results.

我將把它交給丹，他將向我們詳細介紹我們的財政年度表現。

Before I wrap up with the recap of our financial and operational achievements and our commitment to deliver consistent, sustainable shareholder value, Dan.

在我總結我們的財務和營運成就以及我們對提供一致、可持續的股東價值的承諾之前，丹。

Thank you, Tom. Good morning, everyone. I'll begin on Slide 5. As Tom mentioned, we announced fiscal year 2023 net income of 50 45.2 million or $2.82 per share. Net income increased 3.8 million or $0.23 per share compared to the same period in 2022. This earnings growth was supported by higher distribution rates and customer growth, partially offset by higher operating expenses.

謝謝你，湯姆。大家，早安。我將從幻燈片 5 開始。正如 Tom 所提到的，我們宣布 2023 財年淨利為 50.452 百萬美元，即每股 2.82 美元。與 2022 年同期相比，淨利潤增加 380 萬美元，即每股 0.23 美元。這種獲利成長得益於較高的分銷率和客戶成長，但部分被較高的營運費用所抵消。

Turning to slide 6, I will discuss our electric and gas adjusted gross margins beginning with electric operations for the 12 months ended December 31st, 2023, electric adjusted gross margin was 104.1 million, an increase of 5.3 million or 5.4% compared to the corresponding period in 2022. This increase primarily reflects higher distribution rates and customer growth. Electric unit sales were down for both residential and commercial industrial classes as a result of differences in actual weather compared to normal weather and lower average usage, partially offset by customer growth. The Company's electric distribution revenues are substantially decoupled, which eliminates the dependency of distribution revenue on the volume of electricity sales for the year ended December 31st, 2023, we estimate that revenue decoupling supported electric margin by approximately $0.13. We continue to expect future electric customer growth to be consistent with the historical annual growth trend of approximately 0.5%.

轉向幻燈片6，我將討論我們的電力和天然氣調整後毛利率，從截至2023年12月31日止12個月的電力業務開始，電力調整後毛利率為1.041億美元，較同期增加530萬美元或5.4% 2022年。這一成長主要反映了更高的分銷率和客戶成長。由於實際天氣與正常天氣的差異以及平均使用量較低，住宅和商業工業類別的電力銷量均下降，但部分被客戶成長所抵消。該公司的配電收入基本上是脫鉤，這消除了截至2023年12月31日止年度配電收入對售電量的依賴，我們估計收入脫鉤支持電力利潤率約為0.13美元。我們繼續預期未來電力客戶成長將與約 0.5% 的歷史年成長趨勢一致。

Moving to gas operations for the 12 months ended December 31st, 2023, gas adjusted gross margin was 154.5 million, an increase of 10.6 million or 7.4% compared to fiscal year 2022. This increase primarily reflects higher distribution rates in large part due to the higher rates resulting from the northern Maine rate case, which took effect earlier than expected. As we discussed during the second quarter call, new rates for the northern Maine rate case were originally expected in the first quarter of 2024. However, as discussed on our third quarter call, the Maine Public Utilities Commission approved a comprehensive settlement in our gas base rate case proceeding in late September, and new rates took effect in Maine on October first, 2023. Gas margin also increased due to customer growth as we added approximately 950 gas customers to our system in Maine, which is our only non decoupled service area, weather-normalized sales increased 3% compared to fiscal year 2022. Winter weather during 2023 was warmer than normal. And based on weather data collected in the Company's gas service areas. On average, there was 6.5% fewer effective degree days in fiscal year 2023 compared to fiscal year 2022. For fiscal year 2023, we estimate that revenue decoupling supported gas margin by approximately $0.33 per share.

截至2023年12月31日的12個月內，天然氣業務的天然氣調整後毛利率為1.545億美元，比2022財年增加1,060萬美元，即7.4%。這一增長主要反映了較高的分配率，這在很大程度上是由於緬因州北部的稅率案例生效時間早於預期而導致的較高的分配率。正如我們在第二季電話會議中所討論的那樣，緬因州北部的新利率最初預計在 2024 年第一季公佈。然而，正如我們在第三季度電話會議上討論的那樣，緬因州公用事業委員會於9 月下旬批准了我們的天然氣基本費率案件的全面和解，新費率於2023 年10 月1 日在緬因州生效。由於客戶成長，天然氣利潤率也有所增加，因為我們在緬因州的系統中增加了約950 個天然氣客戶，這是我們唯一的非脫鉤服務區域，與2022 財年相比，天氣正常化銷售額增長了3%。2023 年冬季天氣比正常溫暖。並基於在公司燃氣服務區域收集的天氣資料。平均而言，2023 財年的有效學位天數比 2022 財年減少了 6.5%。對於 2023 財年，我們估計收入脫鉤使天然氣利潤率提高了每股約 0.33 美元。

Moving to slide 7, we provide an earnings bridge comparing fiscal year 2023 results to 2022. For fiscal year 2023, adjusted gross margin increased 15.9 million as a result of higher distribution rates and customer growth, partially offset by warmer winter weather in 2023 and by the recognition in the second quarter of 2022 of 2.4 million in higher rates resulting from the Company's New Hampshire gas base rate case. As a reminder, the results for 2022 included the recognition of recoupment amounts related to the Company's New Hampshire electric and gas rate case orders, which positively affected margin in 2022. Recruitment is a regulatory treatment in which permanent rate case awards are reconciled back. The effective date of the temporary rate award. Operating and maintenance expenses increased $1.9 million, largely due to higher utility operating costs, higher professional fees and higher labor costs. This change represents a 2.6% increase in operating maintenance, operating and maintenance expenses in 2023 compared to 2022, which is lower than inflation over the same period. Depreciation and amortization increased by 4.8 million, reflecting higher levels of utility plant and service and higher amortization of rate case and other deferred costs. Taxes other than income taxes increased by 2.6 million due to higher property taxes and higher utility plant service and higher payroll taxes. Interest expense increased 3.2 million, reflecting higher interest expense on short-term borrowings, partially offset by higher interest income on certain regulatory assets. Other expense decreased $2.4 million, largely due to lower retirement benefit costs. And lastly, income taxes increased 2 million, reflecting higher pretax earnings as well as higher flowback of excess accumulated deferred income taxes in the first half of 2022. As a result, COMPANIES New Hampshire electric and gas rate case orders.

轉向投影片 7，我們提供了一個將 2023 財年業績與 2022 財年業績進行比較的獲利橋樑。2023 財年，由於更高的分銷率和客戶增長，調整後的毛利率增加了 1590 萬美元，部分被 2023 年溫暖的冬季天氣以及 2022 年第二季度因公司的新罕布什爾州天然氣基本費率案例。需要提醒的是，2022 年的業績包括確認與公司新罕布夏州電力和天然氣費率案件訂單相關的補償金額，這對 2022 年的利潤率產生了積極影響。招聘是一種監管處理，其中永久性費率案件獎勵會得到核對。臨時費率獎勵的生效日期。營運和維護費用增加了 190 萬美元，主要是由於公用事業營運成本、專業費用和勞動力成本上升。這項變化意味著2023年營運維護、營運和維護費用較2022年增加2.6%，低於同期通膨水準。折舊和攤銷增加了 480 萬，反映了公用設施和服務水準的提高以及費率情況和其他遞延成本攤銷的增加。由於財產稅和公用事業工廠服務費以及工資稅的增加，所得稅以外的稅款增加了 260 萬。利息支出增加 320 萬，反映短期借款利息支出增加，部分被某些監管資產利息收入增加所抵銷。其他費用減少 240 萬美元，主要是因為退休福利成本下降。最後，所得稅增加了 200 萬，反映了 2022 年上半年稅前收益的增加以及超額累計遞延所得稅的回流增加。因此，新罕布夏州公司下達了電力和天然氣費率案件訂單。

Turning to slide 8, our Fitchburg electric gas base rate proceedings are progressing as expected, and we continue to work with all parties in these dockets. The requested gross revenue increase is approximately 6.7 million for the electric division and 11.3 million for the Gas division. The requested return on equity is 10.5% for the electric division and 10.75% for the Gas division with an equity layer of 52 point 26%. The final revenue increases are expected to be net of certain revenues that are currently collected through capital trackers. We have proposed the inclusion of 2.7 million and 4.2 million of electric and gas revenues, respectively, in base rates, which are currently recovered through capital trackers. After consideration of these amounts, the net revenue increase would be approximately 4 million for the electric division and 7.1 million for the Gas division. Our electric and gas proposals also include multiyear performance-based ratemaking plans with annual inflation based revenue adjustments. Evidentiary evidentiary hearings began early February and will continue throughout this month. We will provide additional updates regarding these proceedings during our next earnings call.

轉向幻燈片 8，我們的菲奇堡電力天然氣基本費率程序正在按預期進行，我們將繼續與這些案件中的各方合作。電力部門要求的總收入成長約為 670 萬歐元，天然氣部門的總收入成長約為 1,130 萬歐元。電力部門要求的股本回報率為 10.5%，燃氣部門要求的股本回報率為 10.75%，股本層為 52 點 26%。最終的收入成長預計將扣除目前透過資本追蹤器收集的某些收入。我們建議將 270 萬美元和 420 萬美元的電力和天然氣收入分別納入基本費率中，這些收入目前透過資本追蹤器回收。考慮到這些金額後，電力部門的淨收入成長約為 400 萬美元，燃氣部門的淨收入成長約為 710 萬美元。我們的電力和天然氣提案還包括基於績效的多年費率制定計劃以及基於通貨膨脹的年度收入調整。證據聽證會於二月初開始，並將持續整個月。我們將在下次財報電話會議期間提供有關這些程序的更多更新。

Moving to Slide 9. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts required each of the electric distribution companies to develop an electric sector modernization plan, which includes, among other things, a summary of distribution system improvements to increase reliability and resiliency as well as assessments of future demand. We recently filed our final electric sector modernization plan, which addresses the investments we believe are necessary in order to assist the Commonwealth in achieving its climate goals. The submission outlines investments totaling approximately 43 million through 2028 that support distributed energy resources, electric vehicle adoption and building electrification, if approved as filed a portion of the capital spending. And this plan would represent an upward revision to our current capital investment plan. Our submission also includes a proposal for a capital tracker to recover these electric sector modernization plan investment, in addition to the electric sector monetization plan.

轉到投影片 9。麻薩諸塞州要求每個配電公司製定電力部門現代化計劃，其中包括對配電系統改進的總結，以提高可靠性和彈性，以及對未來需求的評估。我們最近提交了最終的電力部門現代化計劃，該計劃涉及我們認為必要的投資，以幫助英聯邦實現其氣候目標。提交的文件概述了到 2028 年總計約 4300 萬美元的投資，如果批准作為部分資本支出的提交，這些投資將支持分散式能源、電動車的採用和建築電氣化。該計劃將代表我們目前資本投資計劃的向上修訂。除了電力部門貨幣化計劃之外，我們提交的材料還包括一項資本追蹤機構的提案，以收回這些電力部門現代化計劃的投資。

I would also like to provide an update on the Kingston New Hampshire solar project. As discussed during previous earnings calls, the Company received a public interest determination for this facility from the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission in May 2023, the company has received most of the permits necessary to begin construction, and we expect to work at this site to commence in the first quarter of 2024.

我還想提供有關新罕布夏州金斯頓太陽能專案的最新資訊。正如之前的財報電話會議中所討論的，公司於2023 年5 月收到了新罕布什爾州公用事業委員會對該設施的公共利益決定，該公司已獲得開始施工所需的大部分許可證，我們預計在此工地開展工作於 2024 年第一季開始。

Turning to slide 10, we have updated our projected 5-year investment plan, which now totals approximately 910 million. This investment plan is nearly 50% higher than the total capital investments made over the prior five years and reflects the continued investment essential to maintaining safe and reliable electric and gas systems. In 2024, we expect capital spending to be approximately 170 million as we continue to make necessary strategic system investments.

轉向投影片 10，我們更新了預計的 5 年投資計劃，目前總額約為 9.1 億美元。該投資計畫比前五年的總資本投資高出近 50%，反映出對維護安全可靠的電力和燃氣系統至關重要的持續投資。2024年，隨著我們繼續進行必要的策略系統投資，我們預計資本支出約為1.7億美元。

As noted on the previous slide, there remains potential investment upside as we support the clean energy transition in the states we serve.

正如上一張投影片所指出的，隨著我們支持我們服務的州的清潔能源轉型，投資仍然存在潛在的上升空間。

Moving to Slide 11. We continue to maintain our investment grade credit ratings through our focus on responsibly managing managing the balance sheet and generating strong operating cash flows over the coming years. We expect operating cash flows less dividends to fund the vast majority of our financing plan with the remaining financing financing needs being met through a combination of debt and equity. This approach helps to ensure a balanced capital structure, which at the end of 2023 was comprised of 51% long-term debt and 49% equity. Maintaining our strong balance sheet and our investment grade credit ratings remain a top priority, and we believe we compare favorably to other utility companies on certain credit metrics such as FFO to debt. We have no significant debt maturities in 2024, and we do not expect any changes to our current credit rating.

轉到投影片 11。透過專注於負責任地管理資產負債表並在未來幾年產生強勁的營運現金流，我們將繼續維持我們的投資等級信用評級。我們預計營運現金流減去股利即可為我們的絕大多數融資計畫提供資金，其餘融資需求將透過債務和股權的組合來滿足。這種方法有助於確保平衡的資本結構，截至 2023 年底，資本結構由 51% 的長期債務和 49% 的股權組成。維持我們強勁的資產負債表和投資等級信用評級仍然是我們的首要任務，我們相信，我們在某些​​信用指標（例如 FFO 與債務之比）上與其他公用事業公司相比具有優勢。我們在 2024 年沒有重大債務到期，我們預計當前的信用評級不會發生任何變化。

Next, on Slide 12, I'm pleased to share that our Board of Directors has voted to increase the quarterly dividend by $0.02 per share or $0.08 per share on an annualized basis. This increase brings the 2024 dividend per share to $1.70, which is a 5% increase compared to 2023. The dividend increase reflects the continued confidence in our ability to execute on our strategic plan. We have now raised our dividend each of the past 10 years and in 2023 achieved a dividend payout ratio of 50 57%, which is within our target dividend payout ratio range of 55% to 65%. We expect to continue to be able to increase the annual dividend in line with our long-term earnings growth rate.

接下來，在投影片 12 上，我很高興地宣布，我們的董事會已投票決定將季度股息每股增加 0.02 美元，或按年化計算每股增加 0.08 美元。這一增長使 2024 年每股股息達到 1.70 美元，比 2023 年增長 5%。股息增加反映了我們對執行策略計劃的能力的持續信心。我們過去10年每年都會提高股息，到2023年，股息支付率達到50%至57%，處於我們55%至65%的目標股息支付率範圍內。我們預計將能夠繼續根據我們的長期盈利增長率增加年度股息。

I'll now turn the call back over to Tom for his.

我現在將把電話轉回給湯姆。

Thanks, Dan. Moving on to slide 13, providing safe and reliable service is something that we take great pride in. And operationally, we remain a top-tier utility in 2023. We once again, surpassed our benchmark performance levels for both electric reliability and gas emergency response time. Our customers seem to appreciate these results. And for the fourth consecutive year, we were the top ranked utility in the Northeast region for customer satisfaction and third out of 23 utilities in the eastern US. We are proud of these results and the tireless dedication of our employees we will continue to deliver the high standard of excellence that our customers and other stakeholders expect of us.

謝謝，丹。前往投影片 13，提供安全可靠的服務是我們感到非常自豪的事情。從營運角度來看，到 2023 年，我們仍然是頂級公用事業公司。我們再次超越了電力可靠性和燃氣緊急響應時間的基準性能水準。我們的客戶似乎很欣賞這些結果。我們連續第四年成為東北地區客戶滿意度排名第一的公用事業公司，並在美國東部 23 家公用事業公司中排名第三。我們為這些成果和員工的不懈奉獻感到自豪，我們將繼續提供客戶和其他利害關係人對我們的期望的高標準卓越。

Moving now to Slide 14. As I mentioned earlier, we are reaffirming our long-term guidance of 5% to 7% growth in earnings per share. We expect increases in operating and maintenance expenses to be equal to or less than broader inflationary increases, reflecting our continued focus on cost control and our ability to manage the business. On this slide, we have also provided an approximate distribution of our expected quarterly results, reflecting the seasonality of our earnings.

現在轉到投影片 14。正如我之前提到的，我們重申每股收益成長 5% 至 7% 的長期指引。我們預計營運和維護費用的成長將等於或小於更廣泛的通膨成長，這反映了我們對成本控制和管理業務能力的持續關注。在這張投影片上，我們也提供了預期季度業績的大致分佈，反映了我們收益的季節性。

Turning now to slide 15, I would like to recap some of our achievements over the past decade. Looking first at earnings, net income has more than doubled and on a per share basis, we have grown at 6% annually corresponding to the midpoint of our long-term guidance. Our rate base has also more than doubled over 10 years, growing at just over 8% annually, consistent with our long-term range. Over the past 10 years, we brought our payout ratio down from 88% in 2013 to 57% in 2023, enabling us to reinvest earnings to support our investment program. We accomplished this while increasing the dividend 17% from 2013 to 2023. We believe our track record over the last 10 years provides validation of our current guidance, which aligns closely with past results. I should also mention that these results were all on the basis of our unadjusted GAAP earnings.

現在轉向投影片 15，我想回顧一下我們在過去十年中取得的一些成就。首先看獲利，淨利潤成長了一倍多，以每股計算，我們的年增長率為 6%，相當於我們長期指導的中位數。10 年來，我們的利率基礎也增加了一倍多，每年成長略高於 8%，與我們的長期範圍一致。在過去 10 年裡，我們將派息率從 2013 年的 88% 降至 2023 年的 57%，使我們能夠將收益再投資以支持我們的投資計畫。我們在實現這一目標的同時，從 2013 年到 2023 年將股息增加了 17%。我們相信，我們過去 10 年的業績記錄驗證了我們目前的指引，該指引與過去的結果密切相關。我還應該提到的是，這些結果都是基於我們未調整的 GAAP 收益。

Turning to Slide 16. We strive to deliver consistent, sustainable shareholder value and are committed to the goals we set for ourselves. As I already mentioned, we've consistently grown earnings in line with guidance over the last decade with the past few years being above the high end of our 5% to 7% range. Our disciplined investment strategy achieved rate base growth above the midpoint of our range. And we remained committed to dividend growth even as we strategically lowered the payout to our target range of 55% to 65% to support our investment program. We've maintained our investment grade credit ratings and our credit metrics compare favorably to others in the industry. Our focus on cost control has enabled us to achieve efficiencies that resulted in O&M increases at or below inflation.

轉到投影片 16。我們努力提供一致、可持續的股東價值，並致力於實現我們為自己設定的目標。正如我已經提到的，過去十年我們的利潤持續增長，符合指導方針，過去幾年的盈利增長高於我們 5% 至 7% 範圍的上限。我們嚴謹的投資策略實現了利率基礎成長高於我們範圍的中點。儘管我們策略性地將派息降低至 55% 至 65% 的目標範圍以支持我們的投資計劃，但我們仍然致力於股息成長。我們維持了投資等級信用評級，並且我們的信用指標與業內其他公司相比具有優勢。我們對成本控制的關注使我們能夠提高效率，從而使營運和維護的成長等於或低於通貨膨脹。

We've also executed on our regulatory agenda fully earning our authorized returns on a consolidated basis while maintaining healthy relationships with our regulators, we were able to achieve settlements in our last six rate cases and implemented decoupled rate structures for the majority of our customers.

我們也執行了我們的監管議程，在合併的基礎上充分賺取了我們的授權回報，同時與監管機構保持了健康的關係，我們能夠在過去的六個費率案件中達成和解，並為大多數客戶實施了脫鉤的費率結構。

Lastly, as noted earlier, we continued to perform at an exceptional level operationally and pride ourselves on the service we provide to customers by setting clear expectations, measuring progress and holding ourselves accountable to established goals. We will continue to meet or exceed stakeholder expectations ending now on.

最後，如前所述，我們繼續保持卓越的營運水平，並透過設定明確的期望、衡量進展並對既定目標負責，為我們為客戶提供的服務感到自豪。從現在開始，我們將繼續滿足或超越利害關係人的期望。

Slide 17. 2023 was yet another exceptional year for the Company. We again delivered solid operational and financial results while delivering exceptional service to our customers, we are well positioned to be a key player in the clean energy transition and embrace the opportunities ahead. I'm very pleased with our results in 2023, and I'm optimistic and excited about what we will achieve in 2024. With that, I'll turn it back to Todd.

投影片 17。2023 年對公司來說又是不平凡的一年。我們再次實現了穩健的營運和財務業績，同時為客戶提供了卓越的服務，我們已做好充分準備，成為清潔能源轉型的關鍵參與者，並抓住未來的機會。我對 2023 年的成果感到非常滿意，對 2024 年將取得的成就感到樂觀和興奮。有了這個，我會把它轉回給托德。

Thank Don. That wraps up the materials for this call. Thank you for attending, and I will now turn the call over to the operator, who will coordinate questions.

謝謝唐。本次電話會議的資料到此結束。感謝您參加，我現在將把電話轉給接線員，接線員將協調問題。

(Operator Instructions) Shelby Tucker, RBCCM.

（操作員說明）Shelby Tucker，RBCCM。

Good morning. How you doing kind of a quick question, a quick question on, um, on natural gas in Massachusetts, there's been some policy movement towards truck, maybe potentially phasing out in natural gas as a heating source. I'm trying to get a sense of where that policy stands and also given the move we've seen in across the nation, maybe embracing natural gas a bit more given some overlap, reliability issues, any chance that the policy that we're looking at in Massachusetts could evolve over time? Thank you.

早安.你如何做一個簡單的問題，一個關於馬薩諸塞州天然氣的快速問題，有一些針對卡車的政策運動，可能會逐步淘汰天然氣作為熱源。我正在努力了解該政策的立場，並考慮到我們在全國範圍內看到的舉措，考慮到一些重疊、可靠性問題以及我們正在實施的政策的任何可能性，也許會更多地擁抱天然氣馬薩諸塞州的情況會隨著時間的推移而演變嗎？謝謝。

Hi, Shelby. This is Tom. I'll start and others can jump in. But the Department of Public Utilities did issue an order in the proceeding that was referred to as future of gas. And I think it is correct to say that over time, the Envision phasing out natural gas and phase of electrification. And one of the things I'll mention that we've tried to be clear about is we feel we're well positioned in Massachusetts because of a high overlap between our electric and gas customers. Somewhere around 90% of our gas customers also have us for electric. So from that standpoint, we're well positioned in terms of the policy. I think it's going to be slow to evolve and some realistically, we don't see that that shift to full electrification occurring very quickly. And we still have concerns about affordability and other aspects of that that we think are going to be a headwind to trying to move to electricity for heating of our customers. So I'll let others jump in in terms of responding to the question.

嗨，謝爾比。這是湯姆。我先開始，其他人也可以加入。但公用事業部確實在訴訟中發布了一項被稱為「天然氣未來」的命令。我認為，隨著時間的推移，遠景能源將逐步淘汰天然氣並進入電氣化階段，這一說法是正確的。我要提到的是，我們試圖澄清的一件事是，我們認為我們在馬薩諸塞州處於有利地位，因為我們的電力和天然氣客戶之間存在高度重疊。大約 90% 的天然氣客戶也選擇使用電力。所以從這個角度來看，我們在政策上處於有利地位。我認為它的發展將會很緩慢，而且實際上，我們並沒有看到向完全電氣化的轉變很快發生。我們仍然對負擔能力和其他方面感到擔憂，我們認為這些方面將成為我們的客戶嘗試使用電力加熱的阻力。因此，我會讓其他人介入回答這個問題。

Hey, Shelby, this is Bob. Every time I hope you can hear me. There's probably one or two other points to be made. The first is that the Commission for the excuse me, the department made clear that they really have no interest in looking at the value of existing assets or so. So we have no concern whatsoever as to the value of the existing infrastructure looking forward, the department also noted that they don't necessarily have a preferred path through decarbonization. They understand that there are multiple paths available and wants to keep those options open. Although as Tom said, there are portions of the order that specifically do look to electrification to that end, one of the things we must do under the water is an electrification demonstration project, a pilot. And so we're actively looking at a portion of our system that would be amenable to that type of study. And we think that by looking at the study, given the fact that we do have such broad overlap between gas and electric operations. And given that in Massachusetts, we've gone a long way in terms of replacing leak prone pipe. We think that this will be a very good pilot program to really understand the full costs of electrification, VERSUS decarbonize gas, for example, and using the existing system for that purpose. So we do think that the order does have some options in it to help us really explore the most cost-effective way to decarbonize In keeping with the Commonwealth's policy objectives.

嘿，謝爾比，這是鮑伯。每次我都希望你能聽到我的聲音。可能還有其他一兩點要說明。首先是委員會，對不起，該部門明確表示他們確實沒有興趣查看現有資產的價值等等。因此，我們並不擔心現有基礎設施的未來價值，該部門也指出，他們不一定有首選的脫碳路徑。他們知道有多種途徑可供選擇，並希望保持這些選擇的開放性。儘管正如湯姆所說，該命令的某些部分確實特別注重電氣化，但我們必須在水下做的事情之一是電氣化示範項目，即試點。因此，我們正在積極研究我們系統中適合此類研究的部分。我們認為，透過研究，考慮到天然氣和電力運作之間確實存在廣泛的重疊。鑑於在馬薩諸塞州，我們在更換容易洩漏的管道方面已經走了很長的路。我們認為這將是一個非常好的試點計劃，可以真正了解電氣化的全部成本，例如與脫碳天然氣相比，並為此目的使用現有系統。因此，我們確實認為該命令確實有一些選擇，可以幫助我們真正探索最具成本效益的脫碳方式，以符合英聯邦的政策目標。

Great. Thanks, Bob. Thanks, Dan.

偉大的。謝謝，鮑伯。謝謝，丹。

(Operator Instructions) And I'm showing no further questions. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

（操作員說明）我沒有再提出任何問題。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。