Essential Utilities Inc (WTRG) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to Essential Utilities Q1 2023 Earnings Call. My name is Melissa, and I will be your coordinator for today's event. Please note, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎來到 Essential Utilities 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。我叫梅麗莎，我將擔任今天活動的協調員。請注意，此會議正在錄製中。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

I will now hand you over to your host, Renee Marquis, to begin today's conference. Thank you.

現在我將把你們交給你們的主持人蕾妮·馬奎斯，開始今天的會議。謝謝。

Thank you, Melissa. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Essential Utilities First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. Unfortunately, Brian Dingerdissen couldn't be here today because he's under the weather, so I'm filling in. I'm Renee Marquis, the Director of Investor Relations at Essential.

謝謝你，梅麗莎。大家早上好，感謝您加入我們的 Essential Utilities 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。不幸的是，Brian Dingerdissen 今天不能來這裡，因為他身體不舒服，所以我來填補空缺。我是 Essential 的投資者關係總監 Renee Marquis。

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 the webcast of this event can also be found on our website.

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和本次活動的網絡廣播也可以在我們的網站上找到。

Here is our FLS, 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 or other SEC filings for a description of such risks and uncertainties.

這是我們的 FLS，作為提醒，本次電話會議期間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明示或暗示的任何未來結果存在重大差異前瞻性陳述。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 或其他 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 on 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 財務指標。這些非 GAAP 與 GAAP 財務措施的對賬包含在演示文稿的末尾，並發佈在公司網站的投資者關係部分。

Here is our agenda for the call today. We will begin with Chris Franklin, our Chairman and CEO, who will provide an update on the company. Next, Dan Schuller, Executive Vice President and CFO, will discuss our financial results. And lastly, Chris will then provide an update on our acquisition program and conclude the presentation portion 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，他將介紹公司的最新情況。接下來，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 將提供我們的收購計劃的最新情況，並在開始提問之前總結我們的指導意見，從而結束演示部分。

With that, I'll 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, Renee. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining the call. Let's just start here with a quick mention that last week, we held our Board meeting and our Annual Meeting of Shareholders. And I'm very pleased to report that all of the items on the ballot were voted in accordance with management's recommendations. So we're very pleased with the outcome of our Annual Shareholders Meeting. All right. Let's take a quick look at the first quarter.

謝謝，芮妮。大家，早安。感謝您加入電話會議。讓我們先簡單介紹一下，上週我們召開了董事會會議和年度股東大會。我很高興地報告，選票上的所有項目都是根據管理層的建議進行投票的。因此，我們對年度股東大會的結果感到非常滿意。好的。讓我們快速回顧一下第一季度。

We reported earnings per share of $0.72, and that was despite the unusually warm weather and the challenges of inflation and interest rates. We mentioned in February that weather was warmer than normal, and similar weather patterns continued through March. Remind you that we don't currently have weather normalization in our Pennsylvania tariff, previous owners of the company never filed for it. So we're going to do it in our upcoming rate case. We're going to file a Pennsylvania natural gas rate case end of the year of this year. In that filing, we will include weather normalization.

我們報告的每股收益為 0.72 美元，這是在異常溫暖的天氣以及通貨膨脹和利率挑戰的情況下實現的。我們在 2 月份提到天氣比正常情況暖和，類似的天氣模式一直持續到 3 月份。提醒您，我們目前在賓夕法尼亞關稅中沒有天氣正常化，該公司以前的所有者從未申請過。所以我們將在即將到來的費率案例中這樣做。我們將在今年年底提交賓夕法尼亞天然氣費率案例。在該文件中，我們將包括天氣正常化。

Now if the PUC follows its precedent decisions on weather norm, then we should expect to have at the conclusion of our rate case, and that would be, call it, spring of 2024. Again, this will be the first natural gas rate case we filed in Pennsylvania under our ownership. So we need to get that work underway.

現在，如果 PUC 遵循其關於天氣規範的先例決定，那麼我們應該期望在我們的費率案例結束時，也就是 2024 年春季。同樣，這將是我們的第一個天然氣費率案例在我們的所有權下在賓夕法尼亞州提交。所以我們需要開始這項工作。

Now despite the unfavorable weather in Q1, I want to tell you that we remain confident in our ability to meet our full year earnings per share guidance of $1.85 to $1.90. We'll continue to evaluate our various options and initiatives that could help us make up for the first quarter weather. One of those initiatives was already in the plan, but it's the current sale process for our energy projects at Peoples.

現在，儘管第一季度天氣不利，但我想告訴你，我們仍然相信我們有能力實現 1.85 美元至 1.90 美元的全年每股收益指導。我們將繼續評估可以幫助我們彌補第一季度天氣影響的各種選擇和舉措。其中一項舉措已經在計劃中，但這是我們在 Peoples 的能源項目的當前銷售流程。

So you may recall that we operate the Pittsburgh Airport microgrid, another district energy project, which is downtown and a combined heat and power project at a hospital in Pittsburgh. This again was a planned process for this year, and we expect to close the sale this year. This transaction is consistent with our long-term strategy of focusing on regulated growth opportunities. In this case, we hope to continue to work with the buyer of these assets to develop new projects in the future, given the residual benefits they have for our customers and for our gas utility. All right.

所以你可能還記得我們經營匹茲堡機場微電網，這是另一個區域能源項目，它位於市中心，是匹茲堡一家醫院的熱電聯產項目。這也是今年的計劃流程，我們預計今年將完成銷售。該交易符合我們專注於受監管的增長機會的長期戰略。在這種情況下，鑑於他們為我們的客戶和我們的天然氣公用事業帶來的剩餘利益，我們希望在未來繼續與這些資產的買家合作開發新項目。好的。

Let's talk about capital work. In the first 3 months of 2023, we invested over $243.7 million in infrastructure improvements as compared to $183 million in the same period last year. Currently, we have asset purchase agreements signed for 9 municipal acquisitions totaling over $380 million in purchase price. Finally, as you may be aware, Earth Day was in April, so last month, we were excited to kick off our Second Annual Essential Earth Day series of events throughout our 10-state footprint. Really proud to mention that we had hundreds of employees participate in over 30 local volunteer events again this year.

讓我們談談資本工作。 2023 年前 3 個月，我們在基礎設施改善方面投資超過 2.437 億美元，而去年同期為 1.83 億美元。目前，我們簽署了 9 個市政收購的資產購買協議，購買價格總計超過 3.8 億美元。最後，正如您可能知道的那樣，地球日是在四月，所以上個月，我們很高興在我們 10 個州的足跡中啟動了第二屆年度基本地球日系列活動。很自豪地說，今年我們有數百名員工再次參加了 30 多個當地志願者活動。

These activities included opportunities for customer education, employee volunteerism, community engagement, and we made contributions from our company foundation to many of the environmental initiatives, all of which was centered around protecting and providing earth's most essential resources.

這些活動包括客戶教育、員工志願服務、社區參與的機會，我們從公司基金會為許多環境倡議做出了貢獻，所有這些都以保護和提供地球上最重要的資源為中心。

Finally, another announcement with big impact was made recently on PFAS. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finally proposed a maximum contaminant level or MCL for PFAS chemicals. We recognize the EPA's proposed maximum contaminant level for PFAS chemicals. You remember, these are also called forever chemicals, is an important step in protecting human health.

最後，最近就 PFAS 發布了另一項具有重大影響的公告。美國環境保護署最終提出了 PFAS 化學品的最大污染物水平或 MCL。我們認可 EPA 提議的 PFAS 化學品的最大污染物水平。你還記得嗎，這些也叫永生化學品，是保護人類健康的重要一步。

Now remember, 2020, in order to better protect the health of our customers and communities we serve, we set an industry-leading commitment to ensure all of our finished water across our entire footprint would not exceed 13 parts per trillion for multiple PFAS chemicals. And also, at that time, the EPA had a health advisory level of 70 parts per trillion for PFAS chemicals. We chose to adopt a much more stringent standard to protect the health of our customers and communities.

現在請記住，到 2020 年，為了更好地保護我們所服務的客戶和社區的健康，我們制定了行業領先的承諾，以確保我們整個足跡中的所有成品水對多種 PFAS 化學品的含量不超過萬億分之十三。而且，當時，EPA 對 PFAS 化學品的健康建議水平為萬億分之 70。我們選擇採用更嚴格的標準來保護我們客戶和社區的健康。

To my knowledge, we're the only multistate company that made such a commitment. The following year in 2021, we cut the ribbon on our new state-of-the-art environmental laboratory, which was just 1 of the 2 accredited labs and the only utility certified to test for PFAS chemicals in Pennsylvania. We believe our commitment to operational excellence, along with the experience and expertise we've gained in our PFAS mitigation work will not only help us facilitate our compliance with the new EPA standards, will also be an important part of our value proposition to municipal leaders struggling with PFAS issues.

據我所知，我們是唯一一家做出此類承諾的跨國公司。第二年，也就是 2021 年，我們為我們最先進的新環境實驗室剪彩，這只是 2 個獲得認可的實驗室之一，也是賓夕法尼亞州唯一一家獲得 PFAS 化學品測試認證的公用事業公司。我們相信，我們對卓越運營的承諾，以及我們在 PFAS 緩解工作中獲得的經驗和專業知識，不僅將幫助我們促進遵守新的 EPA 標準，還將成為我們對市政領導者價值主張的重要組成部分與 PFAS 問題作鬥爭。

Now I remind you, at the same time, we're also going to continue to advance our litigation strategy to force the polluters to pay the cleanup costs so that our customers don't bear the total cost, total burden of these costs. And of course, we will continue to cooperate and support the EPA in their efforts to ensure all Americans have safe quality drinking water.

現在我提醒你，同時，我們也將繼續推進我們的訴訟策略，迫使污染者支付清理費用，這樣我們的客戶就不會承擔這些費用的總成本，總負擔。當然，我們將繼續合作並支持 EPA 努力確保所有美國人都能獲得安全優質的飲用水。

Now as the national focus on water quality and safety continues to gain momentum, the technical and operational expertise of our people at Essential Utilities continues to be recognized. We understand our responsibilities as a provider of utility services, and it's also our responsibility to keep our customers and our communities well informed regarding their access to life sustaining resources we provide.

現在，隨著國家對水質和安全的關注不斷增強，我們 Essential Utilities 員工的技術和運營專業知識繼續得到認可。我們了解我們作為公用事業服務提供商的責任，我們也有責任讓我們的客戶和我們的社區充分了解他們獲得我們提供的維持生命的資源的情況。

We're reminded of this recently when a pipe ruptured at a chemical plant, which skewed chemicals into the Delaware River, less than 0.5 mile downstream from one of our water plants. Fortunately, our employees' quick decision to close the plant intake ensure there was no impact to our customers, and we were able to disseminate timely information, provide reassurance of the safety of our water and lend a hand to neighboring systems. I continue to be impressed with the professionalism of our team and their ability to respond so quickly to ensure there was no interruption to our customers.

最近，當一家化工廠的管道破裂時，我們想起了這一點，這使化學品傾斜進入特拉華河，距離我們的一家水廠下游不到 0.5 英里。幸運的是，我們的員工迅速決定關閉工廠進水口，確保不會對我們的客戶造成影響，並且我們能夠及時傳播信息，確保我們的用水安全並向鄰近的系統伸出援手。我仍然對我們團隊的專業精神和他們快速響應以確保我們的客戶不受干擾的能力印象深刻。

If you look at that photo in the center on this slide, you can see that latex type material floating down the left side of the picture, close to intakes along the river, and that went on for miles. This was an important operational catch by our team. And with that, let me hand it over to Dan to review the financial results.

如果您查看這張幻燈片中間的那張照片，您會看到乳膠類材料漂浮在圖片左側，靠近沿河的取水口，並持續數英里。這是我們團隊的一個重要操作捕獲。有了這個，讓我把它交給丹來審查財務結果。

Thanks, Chris, and good morning, everyone. I'll start off with some of the first quarter highlights. We had revenues for the quarter of $726.5 million, up 3.9% from $699.3 million last year. Our Regulated Water segment contributed $267.3 million and our Regulated Natural Gas segment contributed $441.3 million. The largest contributor to the increase in revenues for the quarter was a recovery of higher natural gas commodity prices and therefore, purchased gas costs increased by $28.6 million year-over-year for the first quarter.

謝謝，克里斯，大家早上好。我將從第一季度的一些亮點開始。我們本季度的收入為 7.265 億美元，比去年的 6.993 億美元增長 3.9%。我們的受管制水部門貢獻了 2.673 億美元，我們的受管制天然氣部門貢獻了 4.413 億美元。本季度收入增長的最大貢獻者是天然氣商品價格回升，因此，第一季度天然氣採購成本同比增加 2860 萬美元。

Additional revenues from regulatory recoveries, water and wastewater customer growth, and other items also contributed positively or offset materially by decreased volumes in the natural gas segment due to the warmer-than-normal temperatures that Chris mentioned a moment ago.

監管恢復、水和廢水客戶增長以及其他項目帶來的額外收入也做出了積極貢獻或被克里斯剛才提到的高於正常溫度的天然氣部門銷量下降所抵消。

O&M expenses decreased to $138 million for the quarter, down from $142.6 million in the first quarter of last year. Higher water production costs and growth from added water customers were offset by lower employee-related costs, recoverable costs related to our natural gas segment customer assistance program, improved bad debt and other items for the quarter. Net income was down year-over-year from $199.4 million to $191.4 million and GAAP EPS was $0.72 for the quarter.

本季度的運維費用從去年第一季度的 1.426 億美元降至 1.38 億美元。更高的水生產成本和增加的水客戶的增長被較低的員工相關成本、與我們的天然氣部門客戶援助計劃相關的可收回成本、本季度改善的壞賬和其他項目所抵消。淨收入同比從 1.994 億美元下降至 1.914 億美元，本季度 GAAP 每股收益為 0.72 美元。

Next, we'll walk through the waterfall slide, starting with revenue. In the first quarter of 2023, revenues increased to $27.2 million or 3.9% on a GAAP basis. You'll notice the primary drivers were the recovery of higher purchased gas costs of $28.6 million due to the significant increase in natural gas commodity prices and regulatory recoveries of $22.9 million. Customer growth from our regulated water segment, which includes both acquisitions and organic growth and other items provided an additional $6.4 million towards the revenue increase. The primary offset to these increases was decreased gas volumes of $30.5 million from our Regulated Natural Gas segment due to the warmer-than-normal winter weather.

接下來，我們將通過瀑布幻燈片，從收入開始。 2023 年第一季度，按 GAAP 計算，收入增至 2720 萬美元或 3.9%。您會注意到，主要驅動因素是由於天然氣大宗商品價格的顯著上漲和 2290 萬美元的監管回收而導致的 2860 萬美元的更高購買天然氣成本的回收。我們受監管的水部門的客戶增長，包括收購和有機增長以及其他項目，為收入增長提供了額外的 640 萬美元。由於冬季天氣比正常暖和，我們的受管制天然氣部門的天然氣量減少了 3050 萬美元，這些增長的主要抵消。

And with that, let's review the first quarter weather on the next slide. As you know, there's a strong correlation between weather and gas consumption and thus, associated revenue and typically, the majority of gas is consumed by our customers in the first and fourth quarters with the largest portion of gas being sold in the first quarter in Pennsylvania. This winter for our regulated natural gas segment, the weather in the first quarter was dramatically warmer-than-normal, with 2,330 heating degree days. This metric compares unfavorably not only in the first quarter of last year, which was colder than normal, but it also falls short of the 20-year first quarter average in Western Pennsylvania of 2,814 heating degree days. In fact, this was the warmest first quarter in the last decade and the fourth warmest first quarter since 1955.

有了這個，讓我們在下一張幻燈片上回顧第一季度的天氣。如您所知，天氣和天然氣消耗之間存在很強的相關性，因此，相關收入和通常情況下，我們的客戶在第一季度和第四季度消耗了大部分天然氣，其中最大部分天然氣在賓夕法尼亞州的第一季度銷售.今年冬天，對於我們受監管的天然氣部門，第一季度的天氣明顯比往常暖和，有 2,330 個采暖度日。這一指標不僅與去年第一季度相比不利，去年第一季度比正常情況更冷，而且也低於賓夕法尼亞州西部 20 年第一季度 2,814 個采暖度日的平均水平。事實上，這是過去十年中最熱的第一季度，也是自 1955 年以來第四個最熱的第一季度。

Next, let's move on to operations and maintenance expenses. Operations and maintenance expenses were $138 million for the first quarter, a decrease of 3.2% compared to $142.6 million for the same period in 2022. Increased production costs, including inflationary increases in chemicals purchased water and sludge hauling and expenses related to newly acquired water and wastewater customers added a combined $4.5 million. These were offset by lower employee-related costs of $2.7 million, decreased gas customer systems from expenses of $2.5 million and a decrease in other items of $2.5 million mainly related to lower maintenance expenses and a nonrecurring charge in 2022. And finally, bad debt was lower by $1.5 million.

接下來，讓我們繼續討論運營和維護費用。第一季度的運營和維護費用為 1.38 億美元，與 2022 年同期的 1.426 億美元相比下降了 3.2%。生產成本增加，包括化學品採購水和污泥運輸的通貨膨脹增加以及與新獲得的水和污泥相關的費用廢水客戶總共增加了 450 萬美元。這些被員工相關成本降低 270 萬美元、燃氣客戶系統費用減少 250 萬美元以及其他項目減少 250 萬美元所抵消，這主要與 2022 年維護費用降低和非經常性費用有關。最後，壞賬是減少了 150 萬美元。

Next, we'll spend a minute on the earnings per share waterfall. Beginning on the left side of the slide, GAAP EPS for the first quarter of 2022 was $0.76. Regulatory recoveries contributed $0.06, growth from our regulated water segment added $0.01 and reduced expenses added $0.007. These were offset by decreased volume from our Regulated Natural Gas segment of over $0.08, other items of $0.03 and decreased volume from our Regulated Water segment of $0.001. The $0.03 impact in other includes increases in interest costs and depreciation, offset by income taxes. The result is GAAP EPS of $0.72 for the first quarter of 2023.

接下來，我們將花一分鐘時間了解每股收益瀑布。從幻燈片左側開始，2022 年第一季度的 GAAP 每股收益為 0.76 美元。監管回收貢獻了 0.06 美元，我們受監管的水部門的增長增加了 0.01 美元，減少的費用增加了 0.007 美元。這些被我們的受管制天然氣部分的銷量減少超過 0.08 美元、其他項目的數量減少 0.03 美元以及我們的受管制水部分的數量減少 0.001 美元所抵消。 0.03 美元的其他影響包括利息成本和折舊的增加，被所得稅抵消。結果是 2023 年第一季度的 GAAP 每股收益為 0.72 美元。

As Chris mentioned earlier, we continue to expect to meet our annual earnings per share guidance for the year.

正如克里斯之前提到的，我們繼續期望達到我們今年的年度每股收益指導。

Moving on to regulatory activity and other matters. So far in 2023, we completed rate cases or surcharge filings in 4 of our regulated water states for the total annualized revenue increase of $3.6 million. Also, we currently have base rate cases or surcharge filings underway in North Carolina, Ohio and Texas for a regulated water segment and a surcharge filing in Kentucky for a regulated natural gas business.

繼續討論監管活動和其他事項。到 2023 年為止，我們在我們受監管的 4 個水域州完成了費率案件或附加費備案，年化總收入增加了 360 萬美元。此外，我們目前正在北卡羅來納州、俄亥俄州和得克薩斯州針對受監管的水部門提交基本費率案件或附加費申請，並在肯塔基州針對受監管的天然氣業務提交附加費申請。

As we previously indicated, we expect to raise approximately $500 million in equity or equity-linked securities this year to maintain our credit metrics where we invest capital and close municipal acquisitions. And with that, I'll hand it back over to Chris. Chris?

正如我們之前指出的那樣，我們預計今年將籌集約 5 億美元的股票或股票相關證券，以維持我們投資資本和完成市政收購的信用指標。有了這個，我會把它交還給克里斯。克里斯？

Thanks, Dan. Let's talk a little bit about the municipal transactions. Matt Rhodes and his team have been busy. As of this call, we have 8 signed asset purchase agreements for 9 systems across 4 states in which we have existing water operations. So this includes the recently announced Greenville wastewater system that has over 2,300 customer connections and also serves over 1,700 additional customers through 2 wholesale customers in the neighboring townships of West Salem and Hempfield. Collectively, these acquisitions are expected to add nearly 219,000 customers or customer equivalents and total over $380 million in purchase price.

謝謝，丹。讓我們談談市政交易。 Matt Rhodes 和他的團隊一直很忙。截至本次電話會議，我們已經簽署了 8 個資產購買協議，涉及我們現有水務業務的 4 個州的 9 個系統。因此，這包括最近宣布的格林維爾污水處理系統，該系統擁有超過 2,300 個客戶連接，還通過西塞勒姆和亨普菲爾德鄰近城鎮的 2 個批發客戶為 1,700 多個額外客戶提供服務。總的來說，這些收購預計將增加近 219,000 名客戶或同等客戶，總收購價超過 3.8 億美元。

5, and I count 2 in Frankfurt, right, 5 transactions on this slide are on track to close in Q2 or Q3 of this year, includes Shenandoah, Southern Oaks, Union Rome and Frankfort with other acquisitions expected to close in Q4 2023 and of course, some in Q1 of next year.

5，我在法蘭克福數了 2，對，這張幻燈片上的 5 筆交易有望在今年第二季度或第三季度完成，包括 Shenandoah、Southern Oaks、Union Rome 和 Frankfort，其他收購預計將在 2023 年第四季度完成，以及當然，明年第一季度會有一些。

As many of you know, progress on the DELCORA regulatory process is under a stay by the Federal Bankruptcy Court handling the bankruptcy of the city of Chester. The next hearing of the bankruptcy court is next week, May 15. Settlement discussions do continue, albeit at a slow pace, but we remain optimistic that a settlement can ultimately be reached. Importantly, our rate projections, along with the last rate projections I've seen from DELCORA continue to indicate that customer rates will be lower under our ownership when compared with DELCORA remaining independent, so this transaction remains to be good for the customers. It's probably important to reiterate again that despite the delay in DELCORA process, we still plan to meet our current earnings for the year.

正如你們許多人所知，處理切斯特市破產案的聯邦破產法院暫停了 DELCORA 監管程序的進展。破產法庭的下一次聽證會將於下週，即 5 月 15 日舉行。和解討論仍在繼續，儘管進展緩慢，但我們仍然樂觀地認為最終可以達成和解。重要的是，我們的費率預測以及我從 DELCORA 看到的最後一次費率預測繼續表明，與 DELCORA 保持獨立相比，我們擁有的客戶費率會更低，因此這項交易對客戶仍然有利。再次重申，儘管 DELCORA 流程有所延遲，但我們仍計劃實現今年的當前收益，這一點可能很重要。

I should also note that our sale of our small West Virginia gas operation remains on track in the regulatory process, and we expect to close the transaction in the third quarter of this year.

我還應該指出，我們對西弗吉尼亞州小型天然氣業務的出售在監管過程中仍在進行中，我們預計將在今年第三季度完成交易。

So in addition to the signed municipal transactions on the previous slide, we continue to see a strong and healthy pipeline of opportunities for growth. As illustrated on this slide, we are currently engaged in active discussions with municipalities pursuing over 400,000 potential water and wastewater customers. Our teams in each of our 8 water states focus on potential acquisitions that happened between 2,500 and 25,000 customers. We continue to offer many benefits beyond just the competitive purchase price, including our technical and operational expertise, commitment to spend the needed capital and make improvements and to provide long-term clean, safe, reliable utility service to the communities we serve.

因此，除了上一張幻燈片上簽署的市政交易外，我們繼續看到強勁而健康的增長機會。如本幻燈片所示，我們目前正在與市政當局進行積極討論，爭取超過 400,000 名潛在的水和廢水處理客戶。我們在 8 個水州中的每一個州的團隊都專注於發生在 2,500 到 25,000 名客戶之間的潛在收購。除了有競爭力的購買價格，我們繼續提供許多好處，包括我們的技術和運營專業知識、投入所需資金和進行改進的承諾，以及為我們服務的社區提供長期清潔、安全、可靠的公用事業服務。

So let me wrap up with a reminder of our 2023 guidance that we had previously published. As we said throughout the call, we continue to expect to meet guidance for the year. Earnings is expected to be between $1.85 and $1.90 per share with 3-year earnings per share growth of 5% to 7% through 2025. Our capital plans, including investing approximately $1.1 billion annually to rehabilitate and strengthen our water, wastewater and natural gas systems through 2025. We continue to expect that rate base growth will be between 6% to 7% for water and between 8% and 10% for natural gas and the customer growth will be between 2% and 3% on average for water and stable for natural gas.

因此，讓我提醒一下我們之前發布的 2023 年指南。正如我們在整個電話會議中所說的那樣，我們繼續期望達到今年的指導。預計每股收益在 1.85 美元至 1.90 美元之間，到 2025 年，3 年每股收益增長 5% 至 7%。我們的資本計劃包括每年投資約 11 億美元，以修復和加強我們的水、廢水和天然氣系統到 2025 年。我們繼續預計水的費率基數增長率將在 6% 至 7% 之間，天然氣的增長率將在 8% 至 10% 之間，水的客戶增長平均將在 2% 至 3% 之間，並且穩定天然氣。

Finally, we remain committed to environmental stewardship, sustainable business practices, employee safety, diversity and inclusion, enhanced customer experience, and a strong community engagement. We're supportive of the EPA's proposed new regulations on PFAS, and we'll continue to pursue our legal action against those polluters to offset our overall cost of mitigation on the PFAS side. So with that, let me conclude our formal remarks and open the line for questions. I'll turn it back to you, Melissa.

最後，我們仍然致力於環境管理、可持續商業實踐、員工安全、多樣性和包容性、增強的客戶體驗以及強大的社區參與。我們支持 EPA 提議的有關 PFAS 的新法規，我們將繼續對這些污染者採取法律行動，以抵消我們在 PFAS 方面的總體緩解成本。因此，讓我結束我們的正式發言並開始提問。我會把它還給你，梅麗莎。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from Ryan Connors of Northcoast Research.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Northcoast Research 的 Ryan Connors。

Three things from me this morning. The first is pretty quick and straightforward. Nothing in Pennsylvania right now on the rate pipeline side. DSIC filing in Pennsylvania, is that something that's contemplated for '23? Or is that you think it will be a little further out?

今天早上我做了三件事。第一個非常快速和直接。賓夕法尼亞州目前在利率管道方面一無所獲。賓夕法尼亞州的 DSIC 備案，這是 23 年考慮的事情嗎？或者你認為它會更遠一點？

Ryan, I'd anticipate that we would have DSIC filings for both water and gas in Pennsylvania later this year.

Ryan，我預計我們將在今年晚些時候在賓夕法尼亞州為水和天然氣提交 DSIC 文件。

Okay. Okay. Secondly, on the -- Chris, you mentioned the gas rate case and the weather normalization component of that, conceptually, if you're being asked, you're taking a risk like you took in the quarter where sometimes you get hit on lower volumes. Conceptually, you get paid for taking that risk, maybe with a better return on equity. So what's your thought process on the balance between asking for the weather normalization, but trying to make sure that, that doesn't end up biting you on the back end if there's going to be an argument that less risk should come with less return in terms of ROE.

好的。好的。其次，關於 - 克里斯，你提到了天然氣費率案例和天氣正常化的組成部分，從概念上講，如果你被問到，你正在冒你在這個季度所承擔的風險，有時你會受到較低的打擊卷。從概念上講，您會因承擔該風險而獲得報酬，也許還會獲得更好的股本回報率。那麼，在要求天氣正常化與確保天氣正常化之間取得平衡時，你的想法是什麼？淨資產收益率條款。

Yes. I think what we found is as you look at other utilities who currently have weather normalization in Pennsylvania, there's been no discounted return on equity. I think we would expect if the commission stays with their precedent decisions, that we would see something similar in the case that we requested.

是的。我認為我們發現，當您查看賓夕法尼亞州目前天氣正常化的其他公用事業時，沒有折現股本回報率。我認為如果委員會堅持他們的先例決定，我們會期望在我們要求的案例中看到類似的情況。

So listen, I think as you realize, as it's constructed, you will give away the upside as well as the downside. But I think when you think about water utility investors, typically people want certainty, stating this, right? And so we think weather normalization is a better outcome than taking the down swings and the upswings.

所以聽著，我想正如你所意識到的那樣，隨著它的構建，你會放棄上行和下行。但我認為當你考慮水務投資者時，通常人們想要確定性，說明這一點，對嗎？因此，我們認為天氣正常化比採取下行和上行更好的結果。

Yes. Okay. And then, lastly, I wanted to chat just a little bit about this Delaware River spill and cleanup. And congrats team there on a great job managing that issue. We're very close to that here in terms of location. And it really -- the way Aqua handled that really stood in contrast to a lot of the neighboring communities. I mean there was outright panic in a lot of the communities, not only Philadelphia, but some of the Bucks County communities as well, and you just didn't see that because I did think Aqua's communication and remediation was really tight. And so my question is, obviously, your name gets dragged through the mud a lot locally, especially in Bucks County with the with the whole acquisition attempt last year. How do you use something like this to get the message out and have you done anything locally to try to get that word out about what a great job the company does relative to not all, but to some of the local government-owned systems out there.

是的。好的。然後，最後，我想談談特拉華河的洩漏和清理。並祝賀那裡的團隊在處理該問題方面做得很好。就位置而言，我們非常接近這裡。而且它真的 - Aqua 處理的方式與許多鄰近社區形成鮮明對比。我的意思是，很多社區都出現了徹底的恐慌，不僅是費城，還有雄鹿縣的一些社區，你只是沒有看到，因為我確實認為 Aqua 的溝通和補救措施非常嚴格。所以我的問題是，很明顯，你的名字在當地經常被拖入泥潭，尤其是在去年的整個收購嘗試中，尤其是在雄鹿縣。你如何使用這樣的東西來傳達信息，你有沒有在當地做過任何事情來試圖讓人們知道這家公司相對於不是所有的，而是相對於當地政府擁有的一些系統所做的出色工作.

Yes, it's a good question. And I would say, just for clarity, say, Ryan, you live here, some others may not, when we say dragged through the mud, it's really only with regard to acquisitions. The company's operational record is stellar and our general reputation in all the communities, including Southeastern Pennsylvania is really strong. So -- but where we get into these scuffles on acquisitions, we're always looking for opportunities to tell our story. And I think a couple of things, number one, we started to get much, much more favorable press. It's a really designed strategy and I give credit to our new Vice President of Communications, Jeanne Russo, who's done a beautiful job in telling our story in a fashion that is -- I think the people really resonates with people.

是的，這是個好問題。我想說，為了清楚起見，比如說，瑞安，你住在這裡，其他一些人可能不在這裡，當我們說拖入泥潭時，這實際上只與收購有關。公司的運營記錄非常出色，我們在所有社區（包括賓夕法尼亞州東南部）的總體聲譽非常好。所以——但是當我們在收購中陷入這些混戰時，我們一直在尋找機會來講述我們的故事。我認為有幾件事，第一，我們開始獲得更多、更有利的媒體報導。這是一個真正設計好的策略，我要感謝我們新任的傳播副總裁 Jeanne Russo，她在以一種時尚的方式講述我們的故事方面做得非常出色——我認為人們真的能引起人們的共鳴。

But in this case, in particular, we had pushed down authority to the plant level. In years past, they may have had to go through the chain of command in order to shut down a plant intake. That doesn't happen anymore. Those plant operators and management teams are really, really on top of it, and that's where the decision should be made and was made in this case. So we kept that contaminant from coming into the plant. And then further, to be able to put the communication out there that was strong and steady. As you mentioned, and back to made national news, city of Philadelphia came out and suggested people may need to be in bottled water. So there was a huge run on bottled water in the city of Philadelphia and probably unnecessarily so in hindsight but I think people have grown accustomed to our style of operational response, including communications, and it was just something I'm very, very proud of in this instance.

但在這種情況下，尤其是，我們將權限下放到了工廠級別。在過去的幾年裡，他們可能不得不通過指揮鏈才能關閉工廠的進水口。那不會再發生了。那些工廠運營商和管理團隊真的非常非常了解它，這就是在這種情況下應該做出決定的地方。所以我們阻止了污染物進入工廠。然後進一步，能夠將強大而穩定的通信放在那裡。正如你提到的，回到全國新聞，費城出面建議人們可能需要飲用瓶裝水。因此，費城市的瓶裝水大量湧現，事後看來這可能是不必要的，但我認為人們已經習慣了我們的運營響應方式，包括溝通方式，這正是我非常非常自豪的事情在這種情況下。

And our next question comes from Paul Zimbardo of Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Paul Zimbardo。

Could you just give a little more quantification on some of the offsets to the very warm weather, again, DELCORA timing? I think you mentioned that there's an asset monetization in plan. Just if you could quantify that and help build up the bridge a little bit to the full year guidance.

您能否再次量化一些對非常溫暖的天氣的抵消，DELCORA 時間？我想你提到過計劃中有資產貨幣化。只是如果你能量化它並幫助建立一個通往全年指導的橋樑。

Yes. Yes. Listen, it's a process that is taking place right now. And so I can't give a whole lot of detail on the process, but there is a process to sell the CHP as well as the micro grid in -- at the airport and as well as the steam system in the city. So that's a -- it's 3 projects, we think about them as a unit, but they're not interconnected. And there is an ongoing process. So I can't give you a great deal of detail. Dan, do you have anything to add to that?

是的。是的。聽著，這是一個正在發生的過程。因此，我無法提供有關該過程的全部細節，但有一個過程可以在機場以及在城市中銷售熱電聯產和微電網以及蒸汽系統。所以這是一個 - 這是 3 個項目，我們將它們視為一個單元，但它們沒有相互關聯。並且有一個持續的過程。所以我不能給你很多細節。丹，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

I guess the only thing I'd add, Chris, is Paul, as you would expect, we're taking a really close look at our O&M expenses this year to see if there are areas where we should be optimizing. And then also being exceptionally diligent with regard to regulatory filings, whether that's a pass-through or a SIC filing being diligent with respect to those. And frankly, we've been helped by a little bit of colder than normal weather in the April time frame and into May, which has helped a little bit when we think about the significant shortfall in the first 3 months.

克里斯，我想我唯一要補充的是保羅，正如你所期望的那樣，我們正在密切關註今年的運維費用，看看是否有我們應該優化的領域。然後在監管備案方面也格外勤奮，無論是傳遞還是 SIC 備案都對這些備案勤奮。坦率地說，4 月份和 5 月份的天氣比正常情況要冷一些，這對我們有所幫助，當我們考慮前 3 個月的嚴重短缺時，這對我們有所幫助。

Okay. I understand that on the cost flex. And then shifting over to the credit side, what FFO-to-debt do you expect now for 2023? And if I read the materials right, it looks like you went to the top end of that $400 million to $500 million range, now it's all in 2023. If you could just help explain that evolution there.

好的。我知道這是在成本彈性上。然後轉向信貸方面，您現在對 2023 年 FFO 與債務的預期是多少？如果我沒看錯材料，看起來你已經達到了 4 億到 5 億美元範圍的頂端，現在都在 2023 年。如果你能幫助解釋那裡的演變。

Well, I think when you think about FFO-to-debt, you also have to keep in mind we're in the middle of repair at Peoples, too. So we're -- you're seeing a lot of our income come from the tax line. I just want you to keep that in mind as we think about how the credit agencies don't always see exactly how we see it. But our -- what we will say is our -- in our 5-year plan, our FFO-to-debt continues to move northward in a positive fashion.

好吧，我認為當你考慮 FFO 到債務時，你還必須記住我們也在 Peoples 進行維修。所以我們 - 你看到我們的很多收入來自稅收。我只是想讓你記住這一點，因為我們會考慮信用機構並不總是完全了解我們的看法。但是我們的——我們要說的是——在我們的 5 年計劃中，我們的 FFO 與債務的比率繼續以積極的方式向北移動。

Yes, that's absolutely right, Chris. And I think maybe just for clarity, what we've been told is that -- and this is widely communicated that our downgrade threshold is 12% FFO-to-debt. And if we're below that on a sustained basis, we would be having conversations with the agencies. Given what Chris mentioned about repair, we tend to have conversations with the agencies where we calculate FFO-to-debt on kind of a straight basis. And then we also add in adjustments for the fact that we've been out of rates in Pennsylvania due to repair. So rather than seeing a pickup in FFO and having the revenue associated with those earnings with that rate base, we're picking up those earnings on the tax line. So we do an adjustment for that, and we have conversations with respect to weather as well. So I think it's fair to say that the -- we have an impact here relative to weather as well as interest rates. And so we're working to offset that. And...

是的，完全正確，克里斯。而且我認為也許只是為了清楚起見，我們被告知的是 - 廣泛傳播的是我們的降級門檻是 FFO 與債務的 12%。如果我們持續低於該水平，我們將與這些機構進行對話。鑑於 Chris 提到的修復問題，我們傾向於與直接計算 FFO 與債務的機構進行對話。然後我們還添加了調整，因為我們在賓夕法尼亞州由於維修而超出了費率。因此，我們沒有看到 FFO 的回升，也沒有看到與那些與該利率基數相關的收入相關的收入，而是在稅收線上獲得這些收入。所以我們對此進行了調整，我們也就天氣進行了對話。所以我認為可以公平地說 - 我們在這裡對天氣和利率產生影響。所以我們正在努力抵消這一點。和...

And Dan, I think importantly, and this is something to think about, Paul, as we come through the Peoples rate case, right, which we filed at the end of this year, that FFO calculation becomes much more straightforward. And I think alignment with how the credit agencies see it and how we see it becomes very clear. So that's only another -- this time next year, things should return to what we would call normal. But in the meantime, there is a little bit difference in how we think about those numbers versus some of the credit agencies.

丹，我認為重要的是，這是值得考慮的事情，保羅，當我們通過我們在今年年底提交的人民利率案例時，FFO 計算變得更加直接。而且我認為與信用機構如何看待它以及我們如何看待它變得非常清楚。所以這只是另一個——明年的這個時候，事情應該會恢復到我們所說的正常狀態。但與此同時，我們對這些數字的看法與某些信貸機構的看法略有不同。

Okay. I appreciate that. And I could follow-up offline as well. But it sounds like that change is kind of in response to kind of preserve against that the rating agency trigger. Is that fair?

好的。我很感激。我也可以離線跟進。但聽起來這種變化是對評級機構觸發的某種保護措施的回應。這公平嗎？

I think it's fair that -- we're always looking at what's the right way to finance the business and these things evolve over time, and they evolve from quarter-to-quarter. And so we put a little more -- a little finer point on what we said today in terms of the amount of equity that we would look to raise.

我認為這是公平的——我們一直在研究什麼是為企業融資的正確方式，這些事情隨著時間的推移而演變，而且它們每個季度都在演變。因此，就我們希望籌集的股權數量而言，我們對今天所說的內容提出了更多 - 更精細的觀點。

Okay. Great. And then following up, since you mentioned it, I know there was that new IRS guidance on natural gas repairs tax. Just any implications or impacts on whether earnings, cash flow or anything or the like?

好的。偉大的。然後跟進，既然你提到了，我知道美國國稅局有關於天然氣維修稅的新指南。對收益、現金流或其他類似的東西有什麼影響或影響嗎？

Yes. So Paul, that literally just came out a few weeks ago and obviously been anticipated for a long time. Everyone is just trying to get their hands around it today to see what does this possibly mean and working with the various big 4 accounting firms. So let us do our work on that, and we'll get back to a later date when we know more. But it's, as I say, really early days.

是的。所以保羅，這實際上是幾週前才問世的，顯然人們期待了很長時間。今天每個人都在嘗試著手解決這個問題，看看這可能意味著什麼，並與四大會計師事務所合作。因此，讓我們就此開展工作，我們會在了解更多信息後返回。但正如我所說，現在還為時尚早。

And our next question comes from Travis Miller of Morningstar.

我們的下一個問題來自晨星的特拉維斯米勒。

Back on the Pennsylvania gas potential filing here later this year. Apart from the stuff you already discussed with the ROE, the tax issue, the weather normalization, the core part of the rate case, what are you thinking or what have the trends been since the last filing since the acquisition on stuff like O&M, capital investment, some of the other core items.

回到今年晚些時候在這裡提交的賓夕法尼亞天然氣潛力申請。除了你已經與 ROE 討論過的問題，稅收問題，天氣正常化，費率案例的核心部分，你在想什麼，或者自從上次提交 O&M、資本等東西以來的趨勢是什麼投資，其他一些核心項目。

Yes. So as you can imagine, Travis, we've made significant capital investments since the prior rate case. And as Chris noted, the prior rate case was really done before our ownership of the company. So we would see this -- and the other thing that I guess wasn't included in the last one, but we obviously will include it here is a fully projected future test year. So in this case, look for this to recover the capital that we've invested so far, the capital and expenses through that fully projected future test year to incorporate the repair benefit into the case so that, that repair is part of the -- I should say it this way, the tax -- the lower effective tax rate from repair becomes part of the revenue requirement and thus, the benefit of repair is going to the customers. And then as Chris noted, weather normalization. So those are the points I guess I would make in terms of...

是的。所以你可以想像，特拉維斯，自從之前的利率案例以來，我們已經進行了大量的資本投資。正如克里斯指出的那樣，先前的利率案例實際上是在我們擁有公司之前完成的。所以我們會看到這一點——我想還有另一件事沒有包含在最後一個中，但我們顯然會把它包括在這裡，這是一個完全預測的未來測試年。因此，在這種情況下，尋找這個來收回我們迄今為止投資的資本，通過完全預測的未來測試年的資本和費用，以將維修收益納入案例，以便維修是 -我應該這樣說，稅收——維修的較低有效稅率成為收入要求的一部分，因此，維修的好處將流向客戶。然後正如克里斯所說，天氣正常化。所以這些是我想我會在...方面提出的觀點

And obviously, any of the inflation that we've experienced, we start to pick up.

顯然，我們經歷過的任何通貨膨脹都會開始回升。

Absolutely.

絕對地。

Yes. Okay. That makes sense. And then more of a high-level conceptual question, talking about that 2% to 3% customer growth for water, flat for gas. Again, just a high level, it seems like when you build a house, you need water and gas. So wonder if you could square the difference. Are you seeing more houses electrified. Is there some kind of efficiency? I don't know. What are the thoughts there? What's the big delta?

是的。好的。這就說得通了。然後是一個更高級的概念性問題，談論水的 2% 到 3% 的客戶增長，天然氣的持平。再一次，只是一個高水平，當你蓋房子時，你似乎需要水和煤氣。所以想知道你是否可以解決差異。你看到更多的房子通電了嗎？有某種效率嗎？我不知道。那裡有什麼想法？什麼是大三角洲？

Travis, it's mainly geography. So if we talk about where we have larger organic growth, we probably have more than organic growth in Southeast Pennsylvania than Southwest. And we see that large organic growth in North Carolina, Texas, Indiana, around the Indianapolis area. So we do tend to see more building, if you will, in our service territories and no states that I just walked through.

特拉維斯，主要是地理。因此，如果我們談論有機增長較大的地方，賓夕法尼亞州東南部的有機增長可能超過西南地區。我們在北卡羅來納州、得克薩斯州、印第安納州和印第安納波利斯地區周圍看到了巨大的有機增長。因此，如果你願意的話，我們確實傾向於在我們的服務區域看到更多的建築，而不是我剛剛走過的州。

We -- I've just seen recently a couple of housing developments that were all gas in the Pittsburgh region, which says it's still growing, but not enough to really move the needle. That's why we call it steady.

我們——我最近剛剛在匹茲堡地區看到了幾個全是天然氣的住宅開發項目，這表明它仍在增長，但還不足以真正推動發展。這就是為什麼我們稱之為穩定。

Yes. And even Chris, maybe we had pulled some data recently and it's hard to get exact data in terms of housing construction and gas connections out in Western Pennsylvania but we are seeing there's still that desire to have natural gas in new construction. And so we think they're pretty well correlated out there that as you see new construction around Pittsburgh, they are gas connections.

是的。甚至克里斯，也許我們最近提取了一些數據，很難獲得賓夕法尼亞州西部的住房建設和天然氣連接方面的確切數據，但我們看到仍然希望在新建築中使用天然氣。因此，我們認為它們之間的相關性非常好，正如您在匹茲堡周圍看到的新建築一樣，它們是天然氣連接。

Okay. Very good. So no material of electrification type of trends that you're seeing?

好的。非常好。那麼，您沒有看到任何電氣化趨勢的材料嗎？

Not seeing any trends in the areas where we serve, right?

在我們服務的地區看不到任何趨勢，對嗎？

No, not at all.

一點都不。

Our next question comes from Gregg Orrill of UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Gregg Orrill。

Just wondering what sort of updates on PFAS, we should be looking for around the May 30 filings with the EPA.

只是想知道 PFAS 有什麼樣的更新，我們應該在 5 月 30 日左右向 EPA 提交文件。

Listen, I think a couple of things. One, the current reg suggests that we would have our work complete on mitigation by 2027. And I think that's going to be a stretch. And I think hopefully that gets extended a little bit. But we're running as fast as we can. It's just a big effort. Secondly, I would say this is a much bigger project or set of projects, then I think EPA is talking about it. I think they're probably coming at terms with it but they've estimated that the cost for this is nationally is somewhere around $2 billion. And I would say that's a gross underestimate. And I think that will come out as time goes along here.

聽著，我想了幾件事。第一，當前的 reg 建議我們將在 2027 年之前完成緩解工作。我認為這將是一個延伸。我認為希望能擴大一點。但是我們正在盡可能快地運行。這只是一個很大的努力。其次，我會說這是一個更大的項目或一組項目，然後我認為 EPA 正在談論它。我認為他們可能會接受它，但他們估計全國的成本約為 20 億美元。我會說這是一個嚴重的低估。而且我認為隨著時間的流逝，這將會出現。

As we look at the projects across our areas, there's concentrations. So it's not focused on systems across the platform. It's focused on key areas, areas like North Carolina, New Jersey, and it's a little spotty. So it's not like you take this and spread it over the whole customer base. But when you think about where we were at 13 parts per trillion, and the costs associated with that and now where we are at 4 parts per trillion, the MCL that EPA has announced, it's fairly dramatically different. Four parts per trillion is almost non-detect and so the costs are vastly different.

當我們審視我們所在地區的項目時，我們會發現它們很集中。所以它並不專注於跨平台的系統。它專注於關鍵地區，如北卡羅來納州、新澤西州等地區，而且有點參差不齊。所以這不像你把它傳播到整個客戶群。但是，當您考慮我們在萬億分之 13 的位置，以及與之相關的成本和現在我們在萬億分之 4 的位置時，即 EPA 宣布的 MCL，這是非常不同的。萬億分之四幾乎是不可檢測的，因此成本差異很大。

But listen, we're going to be supportive. I think the administration is going to press this one. So we don't anticipate seeing any changes we think the 4 parts probably goes, and we'll do our part to get there.

但是聽著，我們會支持的。我認為政府會對此施加壓力。因此，我們預計這 4 個部分可能不會發生任何變化，我們將儘自己的努力實現目標。

Our next question comes from Davis Sunderland of Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自貝爾德的戴維斯桑德蘭。

Good to see some updates on the pending unit transactions and the file that are going to close in the next 2 quarters roughly. Just wanted to ask high-level thoughts on any changes that have been in the pipeline, whether there have been difficulties or opportunities related to the worsening macro environment, banking stress or any difficulties you guys are seeing with maybe competitors having financing challenges or just any opportunities that may be coming in that in the pipeline?

很高興看到有關未決單位交易的一些更新以及將在接下來的兩個季度大致關閉的文件。只是想問一下高層對正在發生的任何變化的想法，是否存在與不斷惡化的宏觀環境、銀行業壓力或你們看到的任何困難有關的困難或機會，這些困難可能是競爭對手面臨融資挑戰或任何其他問題可能會帶來的機會？

Yes. I guess the news over the last several months has been an exit of what could have been a fairly large player in the space, right, NextEra decided to exit the space. So that's probably one of the interesting pieces of news. I haven't heard particular financing challenges of peers. But I think what you probably start to see is some challenges materializing in the municipal sector. And certainly, PFAS will contribute, right? We believe the PFAS issue is much larger, again, than EPA is estimating. And once the municipals find these challenges, again, assuming that enforcement will be a key element here, then there will be a lot of municipals looking for help on PFAS. And whether that's helped implementing their own solution where we might be able to help or, oh my gosh, this is so expensive, we need to exit. And so that could be a key contributor toward our acquisition program as we offer our set of solutions.

是的。我想過去幾個月的消息是該領域可能是一個相當大的參與者的退出，對，NextEra 決定退出該領域。所以這可能是有趣的新聞之一。我還沒有聽說同行有特別的融資挑戰。但我認為您可能開始看到市政部門出現了一些挑戰。當然，PFAS 會做出貢獻，對吧？我們認為 PFAS 問題比 EPA 估計的要大得多。一旦市政當局再次發現這些挑戰，假設執法將成為這裡的關鍵因素，那麼就會有很多市政當局尋求有關 PFAS 的幫助。這是否有助於實施他們自己的解決方案，我們可能會提供幫助，或者，天哪，這太昂貴了，我們需要退出。因此，當我們提供我們的解決方案集時，這可能是我們收購計劃的關鍵貢獻者。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Jonathan Reeder of Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Jonathan Reeder。

A lot of my questions have been asked, but just a few follow-ups. So I guess, given the offsetting efforts already made and the favorable Q2 weather that you kind of mentioned, how much additional work do you think you have to do to fully offset what I think was roughly $0.08 headwind from the Q1 gas volumes.

我的很多問題都被問到了，但只是跟進了一些。所以我想，考慮到已經做出的抵消努力和你提到的第二季度有利的天氣，你認為你需要做多少額外的工作才能完全抵消我認為第一季度天然氣量帶來的大約 0.08 美元的逆風。

Yes. Let me just clarify because I don't want you to overthink the impact of -- or estimate the impact of a warm -- cold, I should say, April. Think about an $0.08 weather impact in the first 3 months of the year, we might have sort of $0.01 of that coming back in the fourth quarter, maybe a little bit more, but it was just 1 month. And as you know, when you get into April, your heater just kicks on less. So it's not days as we go further towards summer, don't have as much impact as they do in January, February and March. So we have work to do here, as Chris mentioned, obviously, though, the sale of the energy projects and the O&M focus and the diligence around regulatory filings that I mentioned, all contribute to that work in terms of making up for that shortfall.

是的。讓我澄清一下，因為我不想讓你過度考慮——或估計溫暖——寒冷的影響，我應該說，四月。想想今年前 3 個月 0.08 美元的天氣影響，我們可能會在第四季度得到 0.01 美元的影響，也許更多一點，但只有 1 個月。如您所知，當您進入 4 月時，您的暖氣就開始少了。所以這不是我們進一步接近夏季的日子，不會像 1 月、2 月和 3 月那樣產生那麼大的影響。所以我們在這裡有工作要做，正如克里斯提到的那樣，顯然，能源項目的銷售和 O&M 重點以及我提到的監管文件的盡職調查，都有助於彌補這一不足。

Okay. But like the O&M decrease that we saw in Q1, was that related to you guys starting to kind of flex that muscle already? Or has that stuff not really kicked in yet?

好的。但是就像我們在第一季度看到的運維減少一樣，這是否與你們已經開始鍛煉肌肉有關？還是那些東西還沒有真正發揮作用？

I would say it's a mix. There were some other things that helped in Q1, certainly weather being warm, where you do have fewer main breaks, lower maintenance expenses. I'd say the -- some of that focus you would have seen in the first quarter, but more of that focus is to play out through the next 9 months of the year.

我會說這是一個混合體。第一季度還有一些其他因素有所幫助，當然天氣暖和，主要休息時間更少，維護費用更低。我會說 - 你會在第一季度看到的一些焦點，但更多的焦點將在今年接下來的 9 個月中發揮作用。

Got you. And then I think you kind of did allude to it that you put a finer point on the amount of equity you needed. I think you said $500 million in 2023. So kind of 2 questions on that. Does that $500 million, I guess, does that include the like $50 million to $75 million that you issued in late '22 under the ATM? And then also, what would that total look like if DELCORA slips into 2024 from a close perspective.

明白了然後我認為你確實提到了你對你需要的股權數量提出了一個更好的觀點。我想你說的是 2023 年 5 億美元。所以有兩個問題。我猜，這 5 億美元是否包括您在 22 世紀末在 ATM 下發行的 5000 萬至 7500 萬美元？然後，如果從近距離來看 DELCORA 進入 2024 年，那麼總數會是什麼樣子。

Yes. There's a lot of -- some specificity there, Ryan. Let me talk -- Jonathan, let me talk about that a little bit. So we think about kind of approximately $500 million more incremental to what we did under the ATM. So that's the first part of that. And then as we continue to evaluate our credit metrics relative to acquisitions, we'll give more clarity beyond this point. So this is what we're going to talk about, I think, leave it at that today. I mean, for the year so far, too, under the ATM, if you think about the raise, we did some last December, we did a little bit in January, but it's less than $20 million worth, it wasn't a big number.

是的。瑞安，那裡有很多 - 一些特殊性。讓我談談——喬納森，讓我談談這個。因此，我們考慮在 ATM 下所做的工作增加大約 5 億美元。這是第一部分。然後，隨著我們繼續評估與收購相關的信用指標，我們將在這一點之外提供更多的清晰度。這就是我們要討論的內容，我想，今天就到此為止。我的意思是，今年到目前為止，在 ATM 下，如果你考慮加薪，我們去年 12 月做了一些，我們在 1 月做了一些，但它的價值不到 2000 萬美元，不是很大數字。

But as we think about like, I guess, DELCORA, I mean, should we still be thinking like the M&A deals are 50-50 or because of the thought around the credit metrics, is it capitalizing at -- or the equity portion being greater than 50% now?

但正如我們所想的那樣，我想，DELCORA，我的意思是，我們是否應該仍然認為併購交易是 50-50，或者因為圍繞信用指標的思考，它是在資本化還是股權部分更大現在超過50%？

No, I think 50-50 is the right way to think about acquisitions. But I also would remind you, we have a significant CapEx program that we're running today, too. So it's capital, it's acquisitions. Think of the big dividends, big cash users, all demand that we continue to look at how we finance the business.

不，我認為 50-50 是考慮收購的正確方法。但我也要提醒你，我們今天也有一個重要的資本支出計劃。所以是資本，是收購。想想大紅利、大現金用戶，所有這些都要求我們繼續研究我們如何為企業融資。

Okay. Okay. And then lastly, did you give an estimate of what the expected proceeds from the sale of those kind of 3 Peoples projects are? Is it like anything meaningful from an equity offsetting perspective?

好的。好的。最後，您是否估計了出售此類 3 Peoples 項目的預期收益是多少？從股權抵消的角度來看，這是否有意義？

Well, we're in the midst of a process there, so we really can't comment on the -- either what we think that top line price could be or what kind of gain might be built into that.

好吧，我們正處於一個過程中，所以我們真的不能評論——無論是我們認為最高價格可能是多少，還是可能建立什麼樣的收益。

Okay. But the gain would flow through to help, I guess, hitting guidance this year. And then what are the proceeds of, yes...

好的。但我想，收益將有助於達到今年的指導。然後收益是多少，是的......

Yes. I think of it is twofold, right? There's a gain that helps from an income perspective and their proceeds that help in terms of financing the business in (inaudible) capital base by another means.

是的。我認為這是雙重的，對吧？從收入的角度來看，他們的收益有助於通過另一種方式為（聽不清）資本基礎的企業融資。

Thank you. At this time, we have no further questions. So I'd like to hand it back over to Chris Franklin for any closing remarks. Please go ahead.

謝謝。目前，我們沒有進一步的問題。所以我想把它交還給 Chris Franklin，請他發表任何閉幕詞。請繼續。

Great. Thank you, everybody. Thanks for your time today. As always, we'll remain available for questions, follow-ups at any time. Renee standing in today for Brian. Brian will be back in action soon, though. And I appreciate you being with us today. Take care.

偉大的。謝謝大家。感謝您今天的時間。一如既往，我們將隨時回答問題和跟進。 Renee 今天代表 Brian。不過，Brian 很快就會復出。我很感謝你今天和我們在一起。小心。

Thank you, everyone. At this time, you may disconnect. Hosts, you can stay on the line.

謝謝大家。這時候，你可能會斷開連接。樓主，你可以保持在線。