Essential Utilities Inc (WTRG) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to Essential Utilities Q3 2022 Earnings Call. My name is Sarah, and I will be your coordinator for today's event. Please note this conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

您好，歡迎來到 Essential Utilities 2022 年第三季度財報電話會議。我叫莎拉，我將擔任今天活動的協調員。請注意，此會議正在錄製中。 （操作員說明）

I will now hand you over to your host, Brian Dingerdissen, today's conference. Thank you.

現在，我將把今天的會議交給主持人 Brian Dingerdissen。謝謝你。

Thanks, Sarah. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Essential Utilities third quarter 2022 earnings call. I am Brian Dingerdissen, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer at Essential.

謝謝，莎拉。大家早上好，感謝您加入我們的 Essential Utilities 2022 年第三季度財報電話會議。我是 Essential 的投資者關係副總裁兼財務主管 Brian Dingerdissen。

If you did not receive a copy of the press release, you can find it by visiting the Investor Relations section of our website at essential.co. The slides that we will be referencing, and a webcast of that event will also be found there.

如果您沒有收到新聞稿的副本，您可以訪問我們網站 essential.co 的投資者關係部分找到它。我們將引用的幻燈片以及該活動的網絡廣播也可以在那裡找到。

Here is our forward-looking statement. As a reminder, some of the matters discussed during this call may include forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Please refer to our most recent 10-Q, 10-K and other SEC filings for a description of such risks and uncertainties.

這是我們的前瞻性聲明。提醒一下，本次電話會議中討論的一些事項可能包括前瞻性陳述，這些陳述涉及風險、不確定性和其他因素，這些因素可能導致實際結果與此類前瞻性陳述明示或暗示的任何未來結果存在重大差異。有關此類風險和不確定性的描述，請參閱我們最近的 10-Q、10-K 和其他 SEC 文件。

During the course of this call, reference may be made to certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures is included at the end of the presentation and also posted in the Investor Relations section of the company's website.

在此次電話會議期間，可能會參考某些非 GAAP 財務措施。這些非 GAAP 與 GAAP 財務措施的對賬包含在演示文稿的末尾，並張貼在公司網站的投資者關係部分。

Here's our agenda for the -- call today. We'll start with Chris Franklin, our Chairman and CEO, who will discuss the highlights from the quarter and provide a company update. Next, Dan Schuller, our Executive Vice President and CFO, will discuss our financial results. Lastly, Chris will provide an update on our acquisition program and conclude the presentation with a summary of our guidance before opening the call for questions.

這是我們今天電話會議的議程。我們將從我們的董事長兼首席執行官克里斯富蘭克林開始，他將討論本季度的亮點並提供公司更新。接下來，我們的執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Dan Schuller 將討論我們的財務業績。最後，Chris 將提供我們採購計劃的最新情況，並在開始提問之前以我們的指導摘要結束演示。

With that, I will turn the call over to Chris Franklin.

有了這個，我會把電話轉給克里斯富蘭克林。

Thanks, Brian, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us.

謝謝，布萊恩，大家早上好。感謝您加入我們。

Let's start off with some highlights from the quarter. We continue our focus on the fundamentals of operational efficiency, infrastructure improvement and service-related priorities. And as a result, we had a strong third quarter with earnings per share of $0.26 and year-to-date net income growth of 11.2%. Dan will provide you some details on this in just a few moments.

讓我們從本季度的一些亮點開始。我們繼續關注運營效率、基礎設施改進和與服務相關的優先事項的基礎。因此，我們第三季度表現強勁，每股收益為 0.26 美元，年初至今淨收入增長 11.2%。 Dan 稍後會為您提供一些詳細信息。

Our commitment to investing in critical infrastructure has resulted in an investment of $719.7 million through our water, wastewater and natural gas systems in the first 9 months of the year. This compares favorably to $675.8 million from the same period in 2021. We remain on target to achieve our capital plans of approximately $1 billion of capital spending for the year.

我們對投資關鍵基礎設施的承諾導致今年前 9 個月通過我們的水、廢水和天然氣系統投資了 7.197 億美元。這比 2021 年同期的 6.758 億美元要好。我們仍然按計劃實現今年約 10 億美元資本支出的資本計劃。

Currently, we have asset purchase agreements signed for 7 municipal acquisitions, totaling nearly $365 million in purchase price. This year, 2022, we've closed 2 acquisitions, which added over 19,000 customer equivalents to our footprint. As I'll discuss later, we'll continue -- we continue to have a robust pipeline of opportunities.

目前，我們已簽署了 7 項市政收購的資產購買協議，收購價格總計近 3.65 億美元。今年，也就是 2022 年，我們完成了 2 項收購，這使我們的足跡增加了超過 19,000 名客戶。正如我稍後將討論的那樣，我們將繼續——我們將繼續擁有大量的機會。

Now just this month -- last month in October, the Board appointed Bryan Lewis to our Board. Bryan currently serves as the Chief Investment Officer for U.S. Steel Corporation, which is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Bryan is responsible for the company's global investments for both the defined contribution and defined benefit plans as well as other related programs at the company.

就在這個月——上個月的 10 月，董事會任命 Bryan Lewis 加入我們的董事會。 Bryan 目前擔任總部位於賓夕法尼亞州匹茲堡的美國鋼鐵公司的首席投資官。 Bryan 負責公司的全球投資，包括固定繳款計劃和固定福利計劃以及公司的其他相關計劃。

Prior to his appointment at U.S. Steel, Bryan managed a $30 billion pension fund for the Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System. And before that, served as Executive Director of the $20 billion Illinois State Universities Retirement System.

在 U.S. Steel 任職之前，Bryan 為賓夕法尼亞州僱員退休系統管理著 300 億美元的養老基金。在此之前，曾擔任價值 200 億美元的伊利諾伊州立大學退休系統的執行董事。

Now in addition to Bryan's professional career, he's dedicated to increasing the financial literacy and leadership presence in underrepresented populations and serves on several nonprofit boards. At the Essential Board, Bryan will serve on our Audit Committee as well as our Risk Mitigation Committee, great addition to our Board. We welcome Bryan filling an open seat.

現在，除了 Bryan 的職業生涯之外，他還致力於提高代表性不足人群的金融知識和領導能力，並在幾個非營利組織的董事會任職。在 Essential 董事會，Bryan 將在我們的審計委員會和我們的風險緩解委員會任職，這是對我們董事會的重要補充。我們歡迎 Bryan 填補空缺席位。

Now I wanted to take a moment to update you on a few other salient issues. Last week, we were informed for the second consecutive year that MSCI has upgraded our ESG rating. And it's now AA. In their upgrade, MSCI noted that Essential is a global leader in governance that we are stronger than the industry average in the environmental and social areas as well. We are really pleased with this outcome. A lot of hard work went into this and really pleased with that result.

現在我想花點時間向您介紹一些其他突出問題的最新情況。上週，我們連續第二年獲悉 MSCI 已上調我們的 ESG 評級。現在是AA。 MSCI 在升級中指出，Essential 是治理領域的全球領導者，我們在環境和社會領域的實力也高於行業平均水平。我們對這個結果非常滿意。為此付出了很多努力，並對結果感到非常滿意。

Now staying with the ESG theme, we recently announced a hydrogen pilot with the University of Pittsburgh. The partnership will study the potential of safety and -- safely and securely transporting hydrogen through natural gas systems. Now together, Peoples and Pit will conduct some in-depth research related to the technical issues involved with using natural gas pipelines to transport a blend of hydrogen and natural gas.

現在繼續 ESG 主題，我們最近宣布了與匹茲堡大學的氫氣試點。該夥伴關係將研究通過天然氣系統安全可靠地運輸氫氣的潛力。現在，Peoples 和 Pit 將一起對使用天然氣管道運輸氫氣和天然氣混合物所涉及的技術問題進行一些深入研究。

Following our research phase, the organization is expect to work together on a pilot project to test the impacts of hydrogen on Peoples natural gas distribution infrastructure. In addition, we're now a member of a consortium that is applying for federal funds to create one of the hydrogen hubs in the country.

在我們的研究階段之後，該組織有望共同開展一個試點項目，以測試氫氣對人民天然氣配送基礎設施的影響。此外，我們現在是一個財團的成員，該財團正在申請聯邦資金在該國建立一個氫氣中心。

This one would be based in the Appalachian region, 44 entities, including businesses, state governments and other organizations, have all signed on to this consortium. It will be exciting part of this to see what these hydrogen hubs around the country can do to advance hydrogen as a component of clean energy.

這個聯盟將設在阿巴拉契亞地區，包括企業、州政府和其他組織在內的 44 個實體都已簽署加入該聯盟。看到全國各地的這些氫氣中心可以做些什麼來推動氫氣成為清潔能源的組成部分，這將是令人興奮的一部分。

I shall also mention that legislation was just approved in Pennsylvania, which included $50 million in annual tax credits to incentivize hydrogen production, certainly a developing area for us to be involved in.

我還要提到的是，賓夕法尼亞州剛剛批准了一項立法，其中包括每年 5000 萬美元的稅收抵免，以激勵氫氣生產，這當然是我們參與的發展領域。

So now let's move on to some organizational announcements. You may have read that Rick Fox, our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, is retiring next month, actually, at the end of this month. I want to thank Rick for his dedication to the company and his contributions over the last 20 years. He has served as Chief Operating Officer since 2015 when I became CEO, and prior to his COO, Rick had multiple leadership roles, including Regional President and Vice President of Customer Operations.

現在讓我們繼續進行一些組織公告。您可能已經讀到，我們的執行副總裁兼首席運營官 Rick Fox 將於下個月退休，實際上是在本月底。我要感謝 Rick 在過去 20 年裡對公司的奉獻和貢獻。自 2015 年我成為首席執行官以來，他一直擔任首席運營官，在擔任首席運營官之前，里克擔任過多個領導職務，包括區域總裁和客戶運營副總裁。

Over his career, Rick has led important change at the company, including the standardization of our customer service across all states, implementing best practices and leading some of our key acquisitions and divestitures. He is also responsible for the execution of our first ever $1 billion capital budget in 2021.

在他的職業生涯中，Rick 領導了公司的重大變革，包括我們在所有州的客戶服務標準化、實施最佳實踐以及領導我們的一些關鍵收購和資產剝離。他還負責執行我們 2021 年首個 10 億美元的資本預算。

Also, Rick's work in safety, allowed our company to experience dramatic reductions in workplace injuries. His contributions are really too numerous for us to mention today.

此外，Rick 在安全方面的工作使我們公司的工傷事故大幅減少。他的貢獻實在是太多了，我們今天就不一一列舉了。

When we experience key retirements like Rick's, it often triggers some level of reflection. And most of our management team now has been together since 2015. And so we look at a few measures that demonstrate the good work we've done together over that time.

當我們經歷像里克這樣的重要退休生活時，通常會引發某種程度的反思。自 2015 年以來，我們的大部分管理團隊現在就在一起了。因此，我們查看了一些衡量標準，以證明我們在那段時間共同完成的出色工作。

And in addition to delivering annual earnings growth in line with our guidance and raising our annualized dividend, Slide 8 here demonstrates that we've grown the rate base and customer base of the company from nearly $3.5 billion and 958,000 customers to approximately $9.5 billion and 1.8 million customers over that time.

除了根據我們的指導實現年度收益增長並提高我們的年化股息外，幻燈片 8 還表明我們已經將公司的費率基礎和客戶群從近 35 億美元和 958,000 名客戶增加到大約 95 億美元和 1.8百萬客戶在那段時間。

During this time, the market cap of the company has grown from $4.5 billion to $10 billion -- and over $10 billion today. So nice, really nice outcome. This performance would not have been made possible without people like Rick Fox on the leadership team. Rick, I'd like to congratulate you on a great career, and I am happy to call you, my friend. We wish you and [Allen] great happiness in your retirement.

在此期間，該公司的市值從 45 億美元增長到 100 億美元，如今已超過 100 億美元。太好了，非常好的結果。如果領導團隊中沒有像 Rick Fox 這樣的人，就不可能有這樣的表現。瑞克，祝賀你事業有成，很高興稱呼你為朋友。我們祝愿您和 [艾倫] 退休後幸福快樂。

And now as we look to the future, we've been working diligently on our succession planning, and I'm happy to report that we have 2 strong executives that will now report directly to me, when Rick retires. Colleen Arnold, President of Aqua and Mike Huwar, President of Peoples.

現在，當我們展望未來時，我們一直在努力製定繼任計劃，我很高興地向大家報告，當 Rick 退休時，我們有 2 位強有力的高管現在將直接向我匯報。 Aqua 總裁 Colleen Arnold 和 Peoples 總裁 Mike Huwar。

Colleen has been the President of our 8 state water and wastewater utility operations since 2020, prior to becoming the first female president in the company's history. Colleen was the Deputy Chief Operating Officer reporting to Rick. Colleen joined the company in 2007 and is active in the American Water Works Association and the National Association of Water Companies.

自 2020 年以來，Colleen 一直擔任我們 8 個州的供水和污水公用事業運營總裁，之後成為公司歷史上第一位女性總裁。 Colleen 是 Rick 的副首席運營官。 Colleen 於 2007 年加入公司，活躍於美國水務協會和全國水務公司協會。

And Mike have been the President of our 3 State Natural Gas Utility Operations since 2020. Prior to becoming -- to the company, Mike had a 34-year career with Columbia Gas, where he was President and COO of Columbia's Pennsylvania and Maryland Operations since 2017.

自 2020 年以來，邁克一直擔任我們 3 個州天然氣公用事業運營部的總裁。在加入公司之前，邁克在哥倫比亞天然氣公司工作了 34 年，自從擔任哥倫比亞賓夕法尼亞州和馬里蘭州運營部的總裁兼首席運營官以來2017.

Now here on the next slide, you may have seen this that Whitney Kellett was recognized as the 2022 Philadelphia CIO of the Year. This is the annual ORBIE Award, one of the most prestigious awards for CIOs. Whitney was recently promoted to Senior Vice President of Business Transformation and is responsible for the company's technology strategies, decisions and policies in areas like cybersecurity and the protection of our customer information.

現在在下一張幻燈片上，您可能已經看到 Whitney Kellett 被公認為 2022 年費城年度 CIO。這是一年一度的 ORBIE 獎，是 CIO 最負盛名的獎項之一。 Whitney 最近晉升為業務轉型高級副總裁，負責公司在網絡安全和客戶信息保護等領域的技術戰略、決策和政策。

Whitney will also be the company's Chief Administrative Officer in 2023, when our current CIO retires. As part of our succession plan, we hired Sumit Nair to replace Whitney as the new Vice President and Chief Information Officer. Sumit will oversee our internal group of 130 IT professionals and will execute the strategic and operational imperatives that are so important to the company's operations and growth. Sumit comes with a wealth of technology experience from companies like Independence Blue Cross, De Lage Landen and IKON.

Whitney 也將在 2023 年擔任公司的首席行政官，屆時我們的現任 CIO 將退休。作為繼任計劃的一部分，我們聘請 Sumit Nair 取代 Whitney 成為新的副總裁兼首席信息官。 Sumit 將監督我們由 130 名 IT 專業人員組成的內部團隊，並將執行對公司運營和發展至關重要的戰略和運營要求。 Sumit 擁有來自 Independence Blue Cross、De Lage Landen 和 IKON 等公司的豐富技術經驗。

Lastly, I want to recognize Jean Russo, who joined the company early this fall as Vice President of Communications. In this newly elevated aided role, Jean will report directly to me and will oversee all internal and external communications across the enterprise. With growing public interest in our acquisition initiatives, Jean will bring important and focused communications council to our work. She also brings a wealth of experience, having worked on top global brands across several industries. We're really excited to have Jean, and these other executives take their new roles.

最後，我要感謝 Jean Russo，他於今年秋季初加入公司擔任傳播副總裁。在這個新提升的輔助角色中，Jean 將直接向我匯報，並將監督整個企業的所有內部和外部溝通。隨著公眾對我們的收購計劃越來越感興趣，Jean 將為我們的工作帶來重要且專注的傳播委員會。她還帶來了豐富的經驗，曾在多個行業的頂級全球品牌工作過。我們真的很高興 Jean 和其他這些高管擔任他們的新角色。

Hopefully, this brief update on our organization gives you some sense of the depth of our team, but also the new young leadership that is stepping up in the organization.

希望這個關於我們組織的簡短更新能讓您了解我們團隊的深度，以及組織中正在加強的新的年輕領導層。

So with that, let me hand it over to Dan to discuss our financial results for the quarter. Dan?

因此，讓我把它交給丹來討論我們本季度的財務業績。擔？

Thanks, Chris, and good morning, everyone.

謝謝，克里斯，大家早上好。

Moving to Slide 13. Looking at the third quarter highlights, we ended the quarter with revenues of $434.6 million, up about 20% from last year. Our Regulated Water segment contributed $301.3 million, and our Regulated Natural Gas segment contributed $119 million, with the balance coming from our limited nonregulated operations. We continue to see higher natural gas commodity prices, and therefore, purchased gas costs increased by $26.6 million year-over-year, and gross margin increased by $46.2 million.

轉到幻燈片 13。看看第三季度的亮點，我們在本季度結束時的收入為 4.346 億美元，比去年增長約 20%。我們的受監管水部門貢獻了 3.013 億美元，我們的受監管天然氣部門貢獻了 1.19 億美元，餘額來自我們有限的非監管業務。我們繼續看到天然氣商品價格上漲，因此，採購天然氣成本同比增加 2660 萬美元，毛利率增加 4620 萬美元。

The largest contributors to the increase in gross margin for the quarter were additional revenues from regulatory recoveries, increased volumes and organic and acquisition-related customer growth from our Water segment.

本季度毛利率增長的最大貢獻者是監管復甦帶來的額外收入、銷量增加以及我們水部門的有機和收購相關客戶增長。

O&M expenses increased to $151.4 million for the quarter, up from $139.4 million in the third quarter of last year. Employee-related costs, higher water production costs, recoverable costs related to our Natural Gas segment, Customer Assistance Program and other expenses were the main drivers for the quarter.

本季度的運維費用增至 1.514 億美元，高於去年第三季度的 1.394 億美元。與員工相關的成本、更高的水生產成本、與我們的天然氣部門相關的可收回成本、客戶援助計劃和其他費用是本季度的主要驅動因素。

Net income was up year-over-year from $50.5 million to $68.6 million and GAAP earnings per share increased from $0.19 to $0.26 for the quarter.

本季度淨收入從 5050 萬美元同比增長至 6860 萬美元，GAAP 每股收益從 0.19 美元增長至 0.26 美元。

Next, we'll walk through the waterfall slide, starting with revenue. As we look at the third quarter for 2022, regulatory -- revenues increased $72.8 million or approximately 20% on a GAAP basis. Regulatory recoveries were the largest driver of increased revenues since the third quarter was the first full quarter to include the new rates from the Pennsylvania water rate case.

接下來，我們將通過瀑布幻燈片，從收入開始。當我們展望 2022 年第三季度時，監管收入增加了 7280 萬美元，按 GAAP 計算增長了約 20%。監管恢復是收入增長的最大推動力，因為第三季度是第一個包含賓夕法尼亞水費案新費率的完整季度。

Next, you'll notice the recovery of higher purchased gas cost of $26.6 million due to the significant increase in natural gas commodity prices, which we've been reporting throughout the year so far.

接下來，您會注意到由於天然氣大宗商品價格的大幅上漲，採購天然氣成本增加了 2660 萬美元，到目前為止，我們一直在報告這一點。

Increased volumes and growth from our Regulated Water segment contributed an additional $15.7 million, and other provided $3.4 million towards the revenue increase, which was offset slightly by reduced volumes from our Regulated Natural Gas segment.

我們受監管的水部門的銷量增加和增長貢獻了額外的 1570 萬美元，其他業務為收入增長貢獻了 340 萬美元，這被我們受監管的天然氣部門的銷量減少所抵消。

Next, let's take a look at our operations and maintenance expenses. Looking at the operations and maintenance waterfall, expenses for the third quarter increased to $151.4 million compared to $139.4 million for the same period in 2021.

接下來我們來看一下我們的運維費用。從運營和維護瀑布來看，第三季度的支出增加到 1.514 億美元，而 2021 年同期為 1.394 億美元。

Employee-related costs added $5.2 million for the quarter and increased production costs in our Regulated Water segment added an additional $2.8 million. We continue to see year-on-year increases in production costs with the largest inflation-related expenses being in the areas of chemicals and sludge.

本季度與員工相關的成本增加了 520 萬美元，我們的 Regulated Water 部門增加的生產成本又增加了 280 萬美元。我們繼續看到生產成本逐年增加，其中與通貨膨脹相關的支出最大的是化學品和污泥領域。

The increased employee-related expenses included an accrual for onetime incentive compensation for non-officer level employees. Other items contributed $1.6 million to the increase, and much of this is the O&M expenses related to our acquired systems. The gas customer assistance program expenses, which are fully recoverable through a revenue surcharge, increased $1.4 million, and finally, bad debt increased by about $1 million.

增加的員工相關費用包括對非官員級別員工的一次性獎勵補償的應計費用。其他項目為增加貢獻了 160 萬美元，其中大部分是與我們收購的系統相關的 O&M 費用。可通過收入附加費完全收回的天然氣客戶援助計劃費用增加了 140 萬美元，最後，壞賬增加了約 100 萬美元。

So end to end, we have an increase of about $12 million year-over-year. If we subtract off the onetime incentive compensation that I mentioned, as well as the O&M costs related to growth, and the increase in the customer assistance program costs, we get to about $6 million or just over a 4% increase year-on-year. That roughly 4% increase makes sense given increased production, which added about $9.5 million in revenue, plus above average inflation in the areas of chemicals, sludge hauling and other expenses.

因此，從頭到尾，我們同比增長了約 1200 萬美元。如果我們減去我提到的一次性激勵補償，以及與增長相關的運營和維護成本，以及客戶援助計劃成本的增加，我們將達到約 600 萬美元或同比增長略高於 4% .考慮到產量增加，大約 4% 的增長是有道理的，這增加了約 950 萬美元的收入，加上化學品、污泥運輸和其他費用領域的通貨膨脹率高於平均水平。

Next, we'll spend a minute on the earnings per share waterfall. Beginning on the left side of the slide, GAAP EPS for the third quarter of 2021 was $0.19, rates and surcharges contributed $0.074 and increased volume and growth from our Regulated Water segment combined added another $0.04. These were offset by $0.03 from other items, which include increased depreciation, interest and taxes as well as $0.014 of expenses.

接下來，我們將花一分鐘時間了解每股收益瀑布。從幻燈片的左側開始，2021 年第三季度的 GAAP 每股收益為 0.19 美元，費率和附加費貢獻了 0.074 美元，我們的受監管水部門的銷量和增長加起來又增加了 0.04 美元。這些被其他項目 0.03 美元抵消，其中包括增加的折舊、利息和稅收以及 0.014 美元的費用。

The result is a GAAP EPS of $0.26 for the third quarter of 2022. We remain confident in our full year guidance and our ability to deliver on the 5% to 7% earnings growth per share expectation that we set at the beginning of the year. And presuming that we have fairly normal weather for the fourth quarter, we expect to land in the middle of our EPS guidance range of $1.75 to $1.80 for 2022.

結果是 2022 年第三季度的 GAAP 每股收益為 0.26 美元。我們對我們的全年指引和我們實現年初設定的 5% 至 7% 每股收益增長預期的能力充滿信心。假設我們第四季度的天氣相當正常，我們預計 2022 年將落在 1.75 美元至 1.80 美元的每股收益指導範圍的中間。

As always, we're watching the weather in Western Pennsylvania closely. And so far, the temperatures are a bit warmer in November following a colder than normal October.

一如既往，我們正在密切關注西賓夕法尼亞州的天氣。到目前為止，在 10 月比正常情況下更冷之後，11 月的氣溫略高一些。

Moving on to rate activity and other regulatory matters. So far in 2022, we completed rate cases or surcharge filings in our Regulated Water segment in Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and we completed a rate case in our Regulated Natural Gas segment in Kentucky. The combined total annualized revenue increase is approximately $88.8 million.

繼續進行評級活動和其他監管事項。到 2022 年為止，我們在伊利諾伊州、北卡羅來納州、俄亥俄州和賓夕法尼亞州的受監管水部門完成了費率案例或附加費備案，並在肯塔基州的受監管天然氣部門完成了費率案例。合併後的年度總收入增長約為 8880 萬美元。

Also, we currently have base rate cases or surcharge filings underway in North Carolina, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia for our Regulated Water Segment, and a surcharge filing in Kentucky for our Regulated Natural Gas segment.

此外，我們目前在北卡羅來納州、新澤西州、得克薩斯州和弗吉尼亞州為我們的受監管水部門提交了基本費率案例或附加費申請，並在肯塔基州為我們的受監管天然氣部門提交了附加費申請。

Now many of you have asked about the status of the Pennsylvania PUC on previous calls, so it's certainly worth noting that the 3 nominees have now been approved and the commission is back to full staff. We certainly see this as a positive development.

現在你們中的許多人已經在之前的電話中詢問了賓夕法尼亞 PUC 的狀態，因此值得注意的是，這 3 名被提名人現在已經獲得批准，並且該委員會已恢復到全體員工。我們當然認為這是一個積極的發展。

While we won't provide guidance until early next year, the budget and plan that we're currently finalizing result in continued strong EPS growth and improvement of our credit metrics.

雖然我們要到明年初才會提供指導，但我們目前正在敲定的預算和計劃會導致每股收益持續強勁增長並改善我們的信用指標。

While we're on the topic of credit metrics, we did establish an equity ATM program for up to $500 million in October. This gives us a mechanism to issue equity as needed as we continue to deploy a significant amount of capital to build rate base from both municipal acquisitions and capital expenditures.

雖然我們討論的是信用指標，但我們確實在 10 月份建立了一項高達 5 億美元的股權 ATM 計劃。這為我們提供了一種根據需要發行股權的機制，因為我們將繼續部署大量資金，以通過市政收購和資本支出建立利率基礎。

And with that, I'll hand it back over to Chris. Chris?

有了這個，我會把它交還給克里斯。克里斯？

All right. Thanks, Dan. Appreciate it. Let's move on to our municipal transaction activity, which, along with investing in infrastructure in our existing business, is the core of our growth strategy.

好的。謝謝，丹。欣賞它。讓我們繼續我們的市政交易活動，這與我們現有業務的基礎設施投資一起，是我們增長戰略的核心。

So in August, we announced the closing of East Whiteland Township wastewater system. This system serves nearly 8,200 customer equivalents, including residential and commercial connections in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Now to connect the dots for you, this is one of the systems served by the Tredyffrin Township trunk line we purchased in December of 2018.

所以在 8 月份，我們宣布關閉 East Whiteland Township 污水處理系統。該系統服務於近 8,200 個等效客戶，包括賓夕法尼亞州切斯特縣的住宅和商業連接。現在為您連接點，這是我們在 2018 年 12 月購買的 Tredyffrin Township 幹線服務的系統之一。

You may recall, this is the 9-mile pipeline that passes waste to the large Valley Forge sewer authority for treatment, the plant that they have, and we've already identified $17 million in infrastructure improvements in that East Whiteland area expected to be completed over the next decade.

您可能還記得，這是一條 9 英里長的管道，將廢物輸送到大型 Valley Forge 下水道管理局進行處理，這是他們擁有的工廠，我們已經確定 East Whiteland 地區預計將完成 1700 萬美元的基礎設施改進在接下來的十年裡。

We look forward to having a positive impact on this community and continuing to provide excellent service in an area where we already provide the water service. We also think there's a lot more opportunity as a result of that trunk line.

我們期待對這個社區產生積極影響，並繼續在我們已經提供供水服務的地區提供優質服務。我們還認為，這條主幹線帶來了更多機會。

As of this call, we have 7 signed asset purchase agreements pending, which together will add over 217,000 customers or customer equivalents and total nearly $365 million in purchase price. We are pleased to report that we received approval from the Illinois Commerce Commission to close the Oak Brook, Illinois, water transaction and anticipate closing this year.

截至本次電話會議，我們有 7 份已簽署的資產購買協議待定，這些協議將增加超過 217,000 名客戶或等同於客戶的客戶，購買價格總額將近 3.65 億美元。我們很高興地報告，我們已獲得伊利諾伊州商業委員會的批准，可以結束伊利諾伊州奧克布魯克的水務交易，預計將於今年結束。

Now on Slide 21, we'll take a minute to talk about DELCORA. On our last call, we indicated our optimism on this transaction based on the PUC restarting the process and the ALJ -- with the ALJ and the strong legal outcomes in our favor. And even since that time, the Delaware County Court [determined pleased] just on November 2, this month, once again found in our favor.

現在在幻燈片 21 上，我們將花一點時間來談談 DELCORA。在我們的最後一次電話會議上，我們基於 PUC 重啟流程和 ALJ 對這項交易表示樂觀 - ALJ 和強有力的法律結果對我們有利。甚至從那時起，特拉華縣法院就在本月 11 月 2 日[高興地決定]再次對我們有利。

The court determined that its previous order of September 8, 2022, are already constituted a final order that addressed the claims of all parties and thereby disposing of all the claims -- the recent claims, and we view this latest court order as a significant development in bringing this litigation closer to an end, basically saying that the agreement with DELCORA is valid and enforceable.

法院確定，其先前於 2022 年 9 月 8 日發布的命令已經構成解決所有當事方索賠的最終命令，從而處理所有索賠——最近的索賠，我們認為這一最新的法院命令是一項重大進展使這場訴訟接近尾聲，基本上是說與 DELCORA 的協議有效且可執行。

We also continue to be confident that we will close DELCORA. However, given the recently released PUC procedural schedule, we now expect to close DELCORA around midyear 2023. We also continue to hold out some hope that there's a path towards settlement. As you know, we've been at that for some time.

我們也繼續相信我們將關閉 DELCORA。但是，鑑於最近發布的 PUC 程序時間表，我們現在預計將在 2023 年年中左右關閉 DELCORA。我們也繼續對有解決途徑抱有一些希望。如您所知，我們已經這樣做了一段時間。

In the guidance we provided you at the beginning of this year, DELCORA was included in the 2023 earnings per share guidance, but we didn't indicate its level of contribution. Despite DELCORA's delay, we remain confident in our ability to achieve investor expectations in 2023.

在我們今年年初給大家的指引中，DELCORA 被納入了 2023 年的每股收益指引，但我們沒有說明它的貢獻程度。儘管 DELCORA 推遲了，但我們仍然相信我們有能力在 2023 年實現投資者的預期。

Importantly, I want to remind you that there is continued capital spending expected even after closing of DELCORA because of their requirement to upgrade the large sewer plant by 2028. We expect to provide our annual roll forward of guidance in early 2023, and details on the exact timing of the guidance will be forthcoming. I remain confident that we will be able to provide and deliver guidance in line with our historical performance based on the current draft of our multiyear financial plan.

重要的是，我想提醒您，由於 DELCORA 要求在 2028 年之前升級大型下水道廠，因此即使在關閉 DELCORA 之後，預計還會有持續的資本支出。我們預計將在 2023 年初提供我們的年度前瞻指引，以及關於指導的確切時間即將公佈。我仍然相信，我們將能夠根據我們多年財務計劃的當前草案，根據我們的歷史表現提供指導。

Now in addition to the signed municipal transactions just discussed, our pipeline of opportunities for growth remains strong and healthy. Currently, we're engaged in active discussions with municipalities and pursuing approximately 430,000 potential water and wastewater customers, as you can see on this slide.

現在，除了剛剛討論的已簽署市政交易外，我們的增長機會渠道仍然強勁而健康。目前，我們正在與市政當局進行積極討論，並尋求大約 430,000 名潛在的水和廢水客戶，正如您在這張幻燈片上看到的那樣。

While we were disappointed in the outcome of the discussion with Bucks County, we remain confident that -- and committed to our strategy and have a strong pipeline. We have professionals in each of our states that are focused on the blocking and tackling of our growth strategy, focusing on 2,500 to 25,000 customer sized acquisitions, and this has not wavered.

雖然我們對與 Bucks County 的討論結果感到失望，但我們仍然對此充滿信心 - 並致力於我們的戰略並擁有強大的管道。我們在每個州都有專業人員專注於阻止和解決我們的增長戰略，專注於 2,500 到 25,000 個客戶規模的收購，這並沒有動搖。

When larger opportunities come along, we will always pursue them, but they don't distract from the in-state teams from the more typically sized acquisitions. So they remain on track.

當更大的機會出現時，我們將始終追求它們，但它們不會分散州內團隊對更典型規模收購的注意力。所以他們保持在正軌上。

Our technical and operational expertise, our commitment to capital investment, along with long-term rate stability continue to demonstrate our value proposition to these municipal systems we're talking to.

我們的技術和運營專長、我們對資本投資的承諾以及長期的利率穩定性繼續證明我們對我們正在與之交談的這些市政系統的價值主張。

We will continue to focus on growth in all 8 states where we have water utilities and fair market value statutes are in place. With that, let me wrap up the formal remarks by reaffirming our 2022 guidance.

我們將繼續關注我們擁有自來水公司和公平市場價值法規的所有 8 個州的增長。就此，讓我通過重申我們的 2022 年指導方針來結束正式發言。

Despite the current economic conditions, we are pleased to be on track to meet the 5% to 7% earnings guidance we set for the year. And as Dan mentioned, we believe we're on track for the middle of our $1.75 to $1.80 per share guidance range. We remain confident that our 3-year earnings per share growth will be 5% to 7% through 2024.

儘管目前的經濟狀況不佳，但我們很高興能夠按計劃實現我們為今年設定的 5% 至 7% 的收益指引。正如 Dan 所提到的，我們相信我們正處於每股 1.75 美元至 1.80 美元的指導範圍中間。我們仍然相信，到 2024 年，我們 3 年的每股收益增長率將達到 5% 至 7%。

Our capital plans remain on track as we anticipate investing approximately $1 billion on regulated infrastructure this year to rehabilitate and strengthen water, wastewater and natural gas systems, and nearly $3 billion across the platform by 2024.

我們的資本計劃仍在進行中，因為我們預計今年將在受監管的基礎設施上投資約 10 億美元，以修復和加強水、廢水和天然氣系統，到 2024 年將在整個平台上投資近 30 億美元。

We continue to expect rate base growth to be between 6% to 7% for water and between 8% to 10% for natural gas, and customer growth to be between 2% and 3% on average for water and stable in natural gas.

我們繼續預計水的費率基礎增長在 6% 到 7% 之間，天然氣的增長率在 8% 到 10% 之間，水的客戶增長平均在 2% 到 3% 之間，天然氣的客戶增長穩定。

We also remain committed to our ESG targets, having reported strong progress on our second quarter call, including an estimated 14% greenhouse gas emissions reduction towards our goal of 60%, diverse supplier spend of 13% against our target of 15%, and 16% employees of color with our ultimate target of 17%. We expect to report on our continued progress again after the end of the year.

我們還繼續致力於我們的 ESG 目標，我們在第二季度的電話會議上報告了巨大的進展，包括估計減少 14% 的溫室氣體排放量以實現我們 60% 的目標，多元化供應商支出為 13% 以實現我們 15% 的目標，以及 16 % 的有色人種員工，我們的最終目標是 17%。我們希望在年底後再次報告我們的持續進展。

We are confident in our guidance because of the strong foundation that we have. And despite the various headwinds that all companies are facing in today's economic environment, we believe we have a solid and achievable plan to continue to deliver long-term shareholder value.

由於我們擁有堅實的基礎，我們對我們的指導充滿信心。儘管所有公司在當今的經濟環境中都面臨著各種不利因素，但我們相信我們有一個可靠且可實現的計劃來繼續為股東創造長期價值。

Finally, in line with past practice, we expect to present the roll forward of our guidance in early 2023. We're finalizing those plans now, and we recently presented the Board with a draft of our forward-looking financial plan. We believe that you will be pleased with the guidance that we'll provide based on that plan.

最後，根據過去的做法，我們預計將在 2023 年初推出我們的指導意見。我們現在正在敲定這些計劃，並且我們最近向董事會提交了一份前瞻性財務計劃草案。我們相信您會對我們基於該計劃提供的指導感到滿意。

That concludes our formal remarks. And with that, let me turn back to you or the operator for questions.

我們的正式發言到此結束。然後，讓我轉回給您或接線員提問。

(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from the line of Travis Miller from Morningstar.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自 Morningstar 的 Travis Miller。

You made a couple of comments there at the end, Chris. But on the muni M&A, just wondering, obviously, you've been a big shift in cost of capital here over the last, call it, 3 to even just the last month, right, but I called even the last 3 months.

克里斯，你最後發表了一些評論。但在市政併購方面，我只是想知道，很明顯，你在過去的資本成本上發生了很大的變化，稱之為 3 甚至只是上個月，對吧，但我什至在過去 3 個月都打電話了。

How is that impacting the financing side? I understand kind of the fundamental side on the muni, wonder you have more thoughts in terms of just financing those and making them accretive relative to what you've had in the past?

這對融資方面有何影響？我了解 muni 的基本面，想知道您是否有更多的想法來為這些融資並使它們相對於您過去擁有的資產增值？

Yes. And I think, listen, long-term, as you know, we finance these things accordingly with our capital structure at roughly 50-50. What it really does, I think, Travis, is it makes us think about our hurdle in order to do the transactions, we look at these and we've got hurdles. As we think about these as multiyear, often, almost always, we bring these municipal transactions in at less than full earnings power, right? They need capital investment, and they need rates.

是的。我認為，聽著，長期來看，如你所知，我們的資本結構約為 50-50，因此我們為這些事情提供相應的資金。我認為，特拉維斯，它真正做的是讓我們思考我們的障礙，以便進行交易，我們看看這些，我們有障礙。當我們將這些視為多年期時，通常，幾乎總是，我們以低於全部盈利能力的方式進行這些市政交易，對嗎？他們需要資本投資，他們需要利率。

And so therefore, we look at a multiyear look at a hurdle, and it probably nudges that hurdle a little bit further north as we think about what we need to do to do these deals. I don't think it slows our interest.

因此，我們著眼於一個多年的障礙，當我們考慮我們需要做些什麼來完成這些交易時，它可能會把這個障礙推得更遠一點。我認為這不會降低我們的興趣。

In fact, as I look at it, some of the financing challenges are not only on our side, but also on the municipal side and could actually trigger a little bit more activity. I just don't see there's just not enough federal dollars to bail these things out. And I just think there's continued opportunity for us.

事實上，正如我所看到的，一些融資挑戰不僅在我們這邊，而且在市政方面，實際上可能會引發更多的活動。我只是不認為有足夠的聯邦資金來拯救這些事情。我只是認為我們有持續的機會。

Dan, do you have anything to add to that?

丹，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes. Chris, what I might add, Travis, is just that, obviously, on the debt side, we tend to finance these initially on our revolving credit facility and then with long-term debt that we put in place. And of course, we are seeing higher costs as -- if you look at LIBOR over the past year, which is really the marker for our revolving credit facility, it's up nearly 400 basis points.

是的。克里斯，特拉維斯，我可能要補充的是，顯然，在債務方面，我們傾向於最初通過循環信貸機制為這些融資，然後通過我們設立的長期債務融資。當然，我們看到了更高的成本——如果你看看過去一年的倫敦銀行同業拆借利率，它實際上是我們循環信貸額度的標誌，它上漲了近 400 個基點。

So what that does is it creates a higher initial cost of borrowing than we finance long-term, that's a higher cost than we would have had a year, 1.5 years ago. And so it just really creates some additional lag between now and when that new acquisition comes into full earnings with a rate case.

因此，這樣做的目的是創造比我們長期融資更高的初始借貸成本，這比我們 1.5 年前一年的成本更高。因此，它確實在現在和新收購通過利率案例進入全收益之間造成了一些額外的滯後。

So period from closing the transaction to new rates, we'll see a bit more of a lag, and we model that in as we look at our pro formas and have the conversations with the investment community to decide what we're willing to accept in terms of that lag.

因此，從交易結束到新利率的這段時間，我們會看到更多的滯後，我們在查看備考時對其進行建模，並與投資界進行對話以決定我們願意接受什麼就滯後而言。

Okay. Yes. No, that's great. I appreciate that. And then one follow-up. Anything in terms of the election or new people who might come into offices in terms of fair market value, anything along those lines in other states?

好的。是的。不，那太好了。我很感激。然後是跟進。任何關於選舉或新人可能在公平市場價值方面上任的事情，在其他州有任何類似的事情嗎？

Well, I think we always focus initially on our largest state, Pennsylvania. The expectation here is that on the state level, which is what most impactful for our business, that it will be a Democrat for governor. It looks like Josh Shapiro was solidly ahead in the polls. And then it looks like the Republican legislature, both House and Senate, remain firmly in place. And that's probably a pretty nice outcome here in Pennsylvania.

好吧，我認為我們最初總是關注我們最大的州賓夕法尼亞州。這裡的期望是，在州一級，這對我們的業務影響最大，州長將由民主黨人擔任。看起來 Josh Shapiro 在民意調查中遙遙領先。然後看起來共和黨立法機構，包括眾議院和參議院，都牢牢佔據著位置。這在賓夕法尼亞州可能是一個非常好的結果。

The -- probably the impact that we will see most immediately, the Chairman of the Public Utility Commission, Gladys Dutrieuille is up for renewal or retirement, whichever she decides in the first quarter of next year, so the new governor and the Senate will have a say on who that is. It will be a Democrat, whether it's Gladys or replacement. So that's probably the first major impact of the newly elected officials. But I -- while we're hearing some noise about fair market value. At this point, all indications would be that those statutes will stay in place without too much trouble.

我們可能會立即看到的影響，公用事業委員會主席 Gladys Dutrieuille 即將續任或退休，無論她在明年第一季度做出什麼決定，因此新州長和參議院將有說說那是誰。它將是民主黨人，無論是格拉迪斯還是替代者。所以這可能是新當選官員的第一個重大影響。但是我——當我們聽到一些關於公平市場價值的聲音時。在這一點上，所有跡像都表明，這些法規將繼續存在，不會有太多麻煩。

Okay. Any states where you think the legislature or governor or whoever is in charge of doing that might institute it?

好的。您認為立法機關或州長或任何負責這樣做的人可能會在哪個州設立它？

Well, it's a good question. Beyond our states, in all 8 of our water states, we have 1 statute. It's not always call it fair market value, but we've got the ability to use a tool like fair market value. But beyond our states, there might be others. I'm just not -- I'm not familiar with where that might be added.

嗯，這是個好問題。除了我們的州，在我們所有 8 個水域州，我們都有 1 項法規。它並不總是稱為公平市場價值，但我們有能力使用像公平市場價值這樣的工具。但在我們的州之外，可能還有其他州。我只是不——我不熟悉可以添加的位置。

The next question comes from the line of Ryan Connors from Northcoast Research.

下一個問題來自 Northcoast Research 的 Ryan Connors。

So yes, I think I wanted to ask you about the interest rate environment from a different perspective in terms of returns on equity and the outlook in some of your rate proceedings and whether there's any appetite among these commissions, especially with the larger cases in North Carolina and Texas, but I guess also your early read in Pennsylvania, too?

所以是的，我想我想從不同的角度問你關於股本回報率和一些利率程序前景的利率環境，以及這些委員會是否有興趣，尤其是北方的較大案件卡羅來納州和得克薩斯州，但我想您也很早就在賓夕法尼亞州讀過書？

Is there any appetite to move ROEs up as interest rates go up? I know they held up pretty well when interest rates went down. But what's your outlook there for what will happen with ROEs going forward?

隨著利率上升，是否有意願提高股本回報率？我知道當利率下降時，它們表現得很好。但是，您對 ROE 的未來發展前景有何看法？

It's a good question, Ryan. I think that, to your point, ROEs were sticky on the way down as interest rates fell, they're likely to be somewhat sticky on the way back up. Now if we saw a consistent period with high interest rates and thus a higher cost of equity capital when you calculate that, we would obviously be making the -- making the case for higher ROEs.

這是個好問題，瑞安。我認為，就您的觀點而言，隨著利率下降，淨資產回報率在下降過程中具有粘性，在回升的過程中可能會有些粘性。現在，如果我們看到一個高利率的一致時期，因此當您計算時，權益資本成本更高，我們顯然會做出 - 為更高的 ROE 提供理由。

I don't think -- and we think that's a justifiable case if that is the economic situation at the time. I think the other thing that's important for all of us, as utilities to think about is, as we talk to our commissions, is that the utility industry is not immune from the inflation that everyone else is experiencing. And so you'll see that those conversations need to be had with regulators as well as utilities file cases going forward.

我不認為——如果當時的經濟形勢如此，我們認為這是一個合理的案例。我認為對我們所有人來說另一件重要的事情是，當我們與我們的委員會交談時，公用事業要考慮的是，公用事業行業無法免受其他所有人正在經歷的通貨膨脹的影響。所以你會看到，這些對話需要與監管機構以及未來的公用事業檔案案件進行。

Yes, I think to add to that, hopefully, what we continue to see is additional regulatory mechanisms put in place that address lag because if you don't have future test years, what they're going to find is just an inundation with rate cases in all these commissions. And so we need to continue to focus on how do we address inflation, reduce lag so that the case load isn't overwhelming to these commissions.

是的，我想補充一點，希望我們繼續看到的是解決滯後問題的額外監管機制，因為如果你沒有未來的測試年，他們會發現只是淹沒了利率所有這些委員會的案件。因此，我們需要繼續關注如何解決通貨膨脹問題，減少滯後，以免這些委員會的案件負擔過重。

Got it. Okay. And then kind of a follow-up to the prior question there by Travis.

知道了。好的。然後是對 Travis 先前提出的問題的跟進。

On the electoral scene, specifically to Pennsylvania, the Water Quality Accountability Act there, the SB 597, that seems like it had some momentum. It seems like it's kind of stalled. I don't know that it's actually come the floor. And is that something that -- is there any key leaves here suggesting that might move forward based upon the early read on the election here?

在選舉現場，特別是在賓夕法尼亞州，那裡的水質責任法案 SB 597 似乎有一些勢頭。好像有點停滯了。我不知道它實際上已經到了地板上。那是什麼——這裡是否有任何關鍵的葉子暗示可能會根據這裡對選舉的早期閱讀而向前推進？

Yes, it's a good question, Ryan. I think probably that, bill, as passed out of the Senate, which now sits in the house, probably needs some amendment to it to get advanced further.

是的，這是個好問題，瑞安。我認為，法案在參議院通過後，現在在眾議院通過，可能需要對其進行一些修正才能進一步推進。

I think we'll have to see what the committee chairmanships look like in the reformed house. But I think that bill is going to take some amendment. We've got some thoughts, and we are still hopeful we can get it passed both the House and the Senate next year.

我想我們必須看看委員會主席在改革後的房子裡是什麼樣子的。但我認為該法案將進行一些修改。我們有一些想法，我們仍然希望它能在明年在眾議院和參議院獲得通過。

Got it. Okay. And then one last one. Look, I apologize. I know you don't want to focus on Bucks County. But if you could just kind of give us your perspective, Chris, on when it didn't go your way, you mentioned there's lots of smaller and midsized deals. So it's certainly not the end of the world, but what is your quick postmortem there?

知道了。好的。然後是最後一個。看，我道歉。我知道你不想關注雄鹿縣。但如果你能給我們你的觀點，克里斯，當它沒有按照你的方式進行時，你提到有很多中小型交易。所以這肯定不是世界末日，但你在那裡的快速事後分析是什麼？

I mean, is there anything that the company learned from that process, things you may not have done differently, and things that might have changed the outcome there? Just kind of curious what your sort of thoughts are now that, that's in the rearview mirror?

我的意思是，公司是否從該過程中學到了什麼，您可能沒有做不同的事情，以及可能改變那裡結果的事情？只是有點好奇你現在的想法是什麼，那是在後視鏡裡？

Yes. But I think -- I'm not sure there is anything that the company could have done differently. As you know, at the end, release came from the commissioners basically saying that the timing wasn't appropriate. So whether something happens in the future or not is going to be up to the like of officials. But I think 2 takeaways, and I would say this holds true for most of these municipal acquisitions.

是的。但我認為——我不確定公司是否可以採取不同的做法。如您所知，最後，委員們發布了聲明，基本上是說時機不合適。所以以後會不會出什麼事，就看官員那類人了。但我認為有 2 個要點，我想說這適用於大多數市政收購。

Upfront, the seller has to identify clearly why are they selling the assets and what are they doing with the proceeds? And I do think the lack of clarity in Bucks County did hurt the prospect of ultimately completing the transaction.

在前期，賣方必須清楚地確定他們為什麼要出售資產以及他們如何使用收益？而且我確實認為雄鹿縣缺乏明確性確實損害了最終完成交易的前景。

The Bucks County has a structural deficit. They need the money. And so it would have been ideal had they said, listen, we're selling because we've got a structural deficit and we're going to hold rate for the next decade through a fund, which was the plan and that we're going to delete or pay off all county debt.

雄鹿縣存在結構性赤字。他們需要錢。因此，如果他們說，聽著，我們正在出售是因為我們存在結構性赤字，我們將通過基金在未來十年內保持利率不變，這是計劃，我們正在將刪除或還清所有縣債務。

I think those would have been powerful statements. And they just weren't made and articulated. So I would say for all the transactions that we're working through, those 2 aspects have to be clear from the seller. Why am I selling and what am I doing with the proceeds? I see time and time again where those aren't clearly articulated, and it just hurts the transaction.

我認為那些將是強有力的陳述。而且它們只是沒有被製造和表達出來。所以我想說，對於我們正在處理的所有交易，賣方必須明確這兩個方面。我為什麼要出售以及我用收益做什麼？我一次又一次地看到那些沒有明確表達的地方，這只會損害交易。

Okay. And that was -- so that was -- these are were the 2, was that the first or -- those are the 2?

好的。那是——所以那是——這些是 2，是第一個還是——那些是 2？

Those are the 2, yes.

那些是2，是的。

Listen, I think politics in Bucks County, it was pretty nicely aligned. I think the Republic and Democrats get along fairly well in Bucks County in terms of the economic conditions of accounting. So I really felt pretty good about that. And certainly, the people who were against the transaction, Ryan, you attended some of those hearings, a lot of the same people that continue to attend.

聽著，我認為雄鹿縣的政治非常一致。我認為，就會計的經濟條件而言，共和黨和民主黨在雄鹿縣相處得相當好。所以我真的感覺很好。當然，反對交易的人，瑞安，你參加了其中一些聽證會，很多人繼續參加。

One of the disappointments that I think we have is that so much misinformation was repeated at those public hearings. People were just not well informed and/or chose not to be well informed either way, but so much misinformation.

我認為我們感到失望的地方之一是在這些公開聽證會上重複了太多錯誤信息。人們只是沒有很好地了解情況和/或選擇不以任何一種方式了解情況，但錯誤信息太多了。

(Operator Instructions) The next question comes from the line of Julien Dumoulin Smith from Bank of America.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Julien Dumoulin Smith。

And congratulations to everyone on the various tenants here. Just maybe if I can kick it off here.

並祝賀這裡的各個租戶。也許我可以在這裡開始。

Just coming back to '23 and expectations, you talked about the quarter and obviously, the timing is shifting there a little bit. You've got this ATM, that's certainly fluid. And you talked about some cost pressures in the quarter. Can you give us a little bit of an update? I know you reaffirm 5% to 7% and midpoint here for '22. But how are you thinking about it over the longer term? Where do some of these shifts position you as you think about '23? Anything that just flag?

回到 23 年和預期，你談到了這個季度，顯然，時間在那裡發生了一點變化。你有這個自動取款機，它肯定是流動的。你談到了本季度的一些成本壓力。你能給我們一點更新嗎？我知道你在這裡重申 5% 到 7% 和 22 年的中點。但從長遠來看，你如何看待它？當您想到 23 世紀時，其中一些轉變將您置於什麼位置？任何只是標記的東西？

I get that you haven't launched your formal '23 process yet. But maybe early indications, how are you thinking about some of the offsets here? Maybe some additional capital spending to offset the impact of the timing for DELCORA, and the associated spend that you would have done at DELCORA as well?

我知道您還沒有啟動正式的 '23 流程。但也許是早期跡象，你如何看待這裡的一些抵消？也許一些額外的資本支出可以抵消 DELCORA 時機的影響，以及您在 DELCORA 也會做的相關支出？

I think we're looking at our budgeting now. And we're -- obviously, our 2023 budget will be approved by the Board in December. But as things look right now, and I said it in my comments, despite the continued delay in DELCORA, we remain confident in our previously discussed guidance. And so we'll have an update for you all in another month or so here. But at this point, we remain confident that we can achieve our long-term guidance that we've communicated already. Dan, anything to add.

我想我們現在正在考慮我們的預算。而且我們 - 顯然，我們的 2023 年預算將在 12 月由董事會批准。但就目前的情況來看，我在評論中說過，儘管 DELCORA 持續延遲，但我們對之前討論的指導意見仍然充滿信心。因此，我們將在大約一個月後在這里為大家提供更新。但在這一點上，我們仍然有信心能夠實現我們已經傳達的長期指導。丹，有什麼要補充的。

No, I think you covered it, Chris.

不，我想你涵蓋了它，克里斯。

Can you guys talk about some of the offsets maybe just as you think about it? I know it's in flux, so maybe just speak through some of them -- in terms of the ability to raise and adjust CapEx and/or the timing of the dilution itself as you think about clearly, some of that capital raise would have been in tandem with DELCORA itself?

你們能不能談談一些抵消，也許就像你想的那樣？我知道它在不斷變化，所以也許只是通過其中的一些來談談——就籌集和調整資本支出的能力和/或稀釋本身的時間而言，正如你清楚地考慮的那樣，一些資本籌集本來是在與 DELCORA 本身串聯？

Yes. Yes, I think you're thinking about it the right way. As we think about our capital spend, we do have some flexibility and obviously weather and our ability to execute against the capital budget gives us some flexibility there, not a ton, but there are levers we can pull there. And yes, listen, Dan, I think, discussed pretty well our equity needs. I think we covered that.

是的。是的，我認為你正在以正確的方式思考它。當我們考慮我們的資本支出時，我們確實有一些靈活性，顯然天氣和我們執行資本預算的能力給了我們一些靈活性，雖然不是很多，但我們可以在那里拉動槓桿。是的，聽著，我認為 Dan 很好地討論了我們的股權需求。我想我們涵蓋了這一點。

Yes. And I would just add too, as you think about offsets and achieving objectives, we're constantly working with our state teams to look at their controllable expenses and make sure that we're rebidding things, and we're getting the best contract with the best price.

是的。我還要補充一點，當你考慮抵消和實現目標時，我們一直在與我們的州團隊合作，研究他們的可控費用，並確保我們重新招標，我們正在與最好的價格。

And all of our state team management teams have -- they all have incentives in place that really rely on them achieving their cost metrics. So they're incentivized to help drive costs down as well.

我們所有的州團隊管理團隊都有 - 他們都有真正依賴於他們實現成本指標的激勵措施。因此，他們也受到激勵來幫助降低成本。

Got it. Excellent. And you'll roll forward your outlook with the next update too?

知道了。出色的。你也會在下一次更新中推進你的前景嗎？

Yes. We'll -- right now, our plan is to share all of our guidance just after the first of the year. And at this point, we would anticipate that, that looks like guidance we've provided in the past meeting. EPS guidance for 2023, EPS growth rate guidance, capital guidance and then the other ESG-related metrics.

是的。我們將 - 現在，我們的計劃是在今年第一天之後分享我們所有的指導。在這一點上，我們預計，這看起來像是我們在上次會議中提供的指導。 2023 年 EPS 指導、EPS 增長率指導、資本指導以及其他 ESG 相關指標。

The next question comes from the line of Gregg Orrill from UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Gregg Orrill。

So do we know what the duration of the growth rate guidance is going to be that you're going to update us on?

那麼我們知道您要向我們更新的增長率指導的持續時間嗎？

At this point, we would presume it's 3-year guidance like we've provided in the past.

在這一點上，我們假設它是我們過去提供的 3 年指導。

Okay. And then on the PFAS from -- rule from EPA, are we still looking for that this year?

好的。然後關於 PFAS 來自 - 來自 EPA 的規則，我們今年是否仍在尋找它？

December time frame, it sounds like, we expect an MCL to be established around that time. I think that's still on track.

12 月的時間框架，聽起來，我們預計 MCL 將在那個時候建立。我認為這仍在軌道上。

We currently have no further questions coming through. I will now hand you back to your host.

我們目前沒有進一步的問題。我現在將把你交還給你的主人。

Thank you all for attending. And as always, we stand ready to answer any questions, any follow-up questions you might have. Thanks again for joining us today.

謝謝大家的出席。一如既往，我們隨時準備回答任何問題，以及您可能提出的任何後續問題。再次感謝您今天加入我們。

Thank you for joining today's call. You may now disconnect your lines.

感謝您參加今天的電話會議。您現在可以斷開線路。