埃克西爾能源 (XEL) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Hello. And welcome to the Xcel Energy second-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. My name is George. And I'll be the coordinator for today's event. Please note, this conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

你好。歡迎參加 Xcel Energy 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。我的名字是喬治。我將擔任今天活動的協調員。請注意，本次會議正在錄製中。（操作員說明）

I'd now like to hand the call over to your host, Mr. Paul Johnson, Vice President, Treasurer and Investor Relations to begin this conference. Please go ahead, sir.

現在我想將會議轉交給東道主、財務主管和投資者關係副總裁保羅·約翰遜先生，以開始本次會議。請繼續，先生。

Thank you. Good morning. And welcome to Xcel Energy's 2024 second quarter earnings call. Joining me today are Bob Frenzel, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer; and Brian Van Abel, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In addition, we have other members of the management team in the room to answer questions if needed.

謝謝。早安.歡迎參加 Xcel Energy 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。今天與我一起出席的有董事長、總裁兼執行長鮑伯‧弗倫澤爾 (Bob Frenzel)；以及執行副總裁兼財務長 Brian Van Abel。此外，如果需要的話，我們還有管理團隊的其他成員在房間裡回答問題。

This morning, we will review our 2024 second quarter results and highlights and share recent business developments. Slides that accompany today's call are available on our website.

今天上午，我們將回顧 2024 年第二季業績和亮點，並分享近期業務發展。今天電話會議附帶的幻燈片可在我們的網站上找到。

As a reminder, some comments made during today's call may contain forward-looking information. Significant factors that could cause results to differ from those anticipated are described in our earnings release and SEC filings.

提醒一下，今天的電話會議中發表的一些評論可能包含前瞻性資訊。我們的收益報告和 SEC 文件中描述了可能導致結果與預期不同的重要因素。

Today, we'll also discuss certain metrics that are non-GAAP measures. Information on comparable GAAP measures and reconciliations are included in our earnings release.

今天，我們也將討論某些非公認會計原則衡量指標。有關可比較 GAAP 衡量標準和調整的資訊包含在我們的收益發布中。

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Bob.

這樣，我現在將把電話轉給鮑伯。

Thank you, Paul, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. I'm pleased to report that the company delivered another quarter of solid operational and financial progress. Our long-term business model remains robust. We continue to deploy capital for the benefit of our customers and communities. We enable a future powered by cleaner fuels and a more resilient and intelligent grid. We partner with stakeholders to encourage economic development, and we provide products and services capable of meeting our customers' most important needs.

謝謝你，保羅，大家早安。感謝您今天加入我們。我很高興地報告，該公司又一個季度實現了穩健的營運和財務進展。我們的長期業務模式仍然穩健。我們繼續為了客戶和社區的利益而部署資本。我們打造一個由更乾淨的燃料和更具彈性和智慧的電網提供動力的未來。我們與利害關係人合作，鼓勵經濟發展，並提供能夠滿足客戶最重要需求的產品和服務。

In the most recent quarter, we invested $1.7 billion in resilient and reliable energy infrastructure. We delivered earnings per share of $0.54 for our owners. We provided industry-leading storm response and strong customer reliability, despite challenging weather conditions for our customers. We accelerated our wildfire risk reduction measures to enable safer and more resilient communities.

最近一個季度，我們在有彈性且可靠的能源基礎設施上投資了 17 億美元。我們為所有者帶來了 0.54 美元的每股收益。儘管天氣條件對我們的客戶來說充滿挑戰，但我們仍提供了業界領先的風暴響應和強大的客戶可靠性。我們加快了減少野火風險的措施，使社區變得更安全、更有復原力。

Xcel Energy's commitment to our communities and investors is anchored by our core investment thesis as an integrated pure-play utility and a clean energy leader. For more than two decades, we've been a leading provider of wind energy to our customers, and we were the first US energy company to commit to a carbon-free electric future.

Xcel Energy 對社區和投資者的承諾以我們作為綜合性純公用事業公司和清潔能源領導者的核心投資理念為基礎。二十多年來，我們一直是客戶風能的領導供應商，我們是第一家致力於實現無碳電力未來的美國能源公司。

We delivered our earnings guidance for 19 straight years, one of the best records in our industry, and we look to make it 20 this year. We have a long-term and transparent growth plan, making investments in clean generation, new and enhanced energy grids and economic development programs to support our community's vitality.

我們連續 19 年發布獲利指引，這是業界最好的記錄之一，我們希望今年能達到第 20 年。我們制定了長期、透明的成長計劃，對清潔發電、新型和增強型能源網以及經濟發展計劃進行投資，以支持我們社區的活力。

In 2020, our continuous improvement programs have saved $400 million in recurring O&M expense, while improving operating outcomes and reducing enterprise risk. Our steel for fuel strategy delivered more than $4 billion in customer fuel-related savings since 2017.

2020 年，我們的持續改善計畫節省了 4 億美元的經常性維運費用，同時改善了營運成果並降低了企業風險。自 2017 年以來，我們的鋼鐵燃料策略為客戶節省了超過 40 億美元的燃料相關費用。

This discipline, alongside support of state and federal policies, enables us to reduce emissions and keep residential electric and natural gas bills 28% and 14% below the industry average and growth well below the rate of inflation. With our 11,000-plus employees' commitment to serving customers, we're $0.14 ahead of 2023 year-to-date earnings. And as a result, we are reaffirming our 2024 earnings guidance.

這項紀律，加上州和聯邦政策的支持，使我們能夠減少排放，並使住宅電力和天然氣費用分別低於行業平均 28% 和 14%，增長遠低於通​​貨膨脹率。由於我們 11,000 多名員工致力於為客戶提供服務，我們比 2023 年迄今的盈利提前了 0.14 美元。因此，我們重申 2024 年獲利指引。

During the quarter, we continued our progress on our clean energy transition through multiple resource planning and RFP processes. We issued an RFP for 1,600 megawatts of wind, solar, storage, and hybrid resources in the upper Midwest. These are due in September, and we expect commission decisions in 2025.

本季度，我們透過多種資源規劃和 RFP 流程繼續在清潔能源轉型方面取得進展。我們針對中西部北部地區 1,600 兆瓦的風能、太陽能、儲存和混合資源發布了 RFP。這些將於 9 月到期，我們預計委員會將於 2025 年做出決定。

We now have active RFPs for over 4,000 megawatts of resources in the Upper Midwest. In Mexico and Texas, commissions approved 418 megawatts of company-owned solar generation that's expected to be in service between 2026 and 2027. And last week, we issued an RFP and SPS seeking 3,100 megawatts of accredited capacity, which could ultimately yield more than 5,000 megawatts of renewables and firm dispatchable generation. Bids are due in January of '25, and we expect commission approval in 2026.

目前，我們已針對中西部北部地區超過 4,000 兆瓦的資源發出了活躍的 RFP。在墨西哥和德克薩斯州，委員會批准了該公司自有的 418 兆瓦太陽能發電，預計將於 2026 年至 2027 年投入使用。上週，我們發布了 RFP 和 SPS，尋求 3,100 兆瓦的認可容量，最終可能產生超過 5,000 兆瓦的可再生能源和固定可調度發電。投標截止日期為 25 年 1 月，我們預計委員會將於 2026 年獲得批准。

Last quarter, I discussed a number of initiatives that Xcel Energy is taking to reduce wildfire risk. I'm incredibly proud of what our team has been able to accomplish in a short amount of time. Since March, we've developed a capability to deliver enhanced daily wildfire safety operations across the enterprise as well as the ability to conduct proactive public safety power shutoff as evidenced by recent events in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico during threatening conditions.

上個季度，我討論了 Xcel Energy 為降低野火風險所採取的一系列措施。我對我們的團隊在短時間內所取得的成就感到無比自豪。自3 月以來，我們已經開發出在整個企業範圍內提供增強的日常野火安全操作的能力，以及主動關閉公共安全電源的能力，科羅拉多州、德克薩斯州和新墨西哥州最近在威脅條件下發生的事件就證明了這一點。

We've accelerated pole inspections, including replacing Priority 1 and Priority 2 poles across our system. We're expanding visual coverage with our Pano AI-enabled camera system to over 50,000 square miles in Colorado, enabling first responders access to critical information, including precision triangulation and fire locations. And we've accelerated deployment of Technosylva's risk modeling system and expect it to have it operational enterprise-wide by the end of the year.

我們加快了電線桿檢查速度，包括更換整個系統中優先 1 和優先 2 的電線桿。我們正在將支援 Pano AI 的攝影機系統的視覺覆蓋範圍擴大到科羅拉多州超過 50,000 平方英里的範圍，使急救人員能夠獲取關鍵信息，包括精確三角測量和火災位置。我們已經加快了 Technosylva 風險建模系統的部署，並預計到今年年底將能夠在整個企業範圍內運作。

We recently filed an updated Colorado wildfire mitigation plan that integrates industry experience, incorporates evolving risk assessment methodologies, adds new technology and expands the scope, pace, and scale of our programs to reduce wildfire risk. The plan has four primary programs that include enhanced situational awareness, the improved meteorology, area risk mapping and modeling, artificial intelligence cameras and continuous monitoring.

我們最近提交了一份更新的科羅拉多州野火緩解計劃，該計劃整合了行業經驗，納入了不斷發展的風險評估方法，增加了新技術，並擴大了我們減少野火風險計劃的範圍、速度和規模。該計劃有四個主要項目，包括增強態勢感知、改進氣象、區域風險測繪和建模、人工智慧攝影機和持續監控。

Operational mitigations that include enhanced power line safety settings and public safety, power shutoff capabilities. System resiliency through increased asset assessment and remediation, pole replacements, line rebuilds, targeted undergrounding, and vegetation management and improved coordination, technology and real-time data sharing with customers and other stakeholders as well as PSPS resiliency rebates. We expect to file resiliency plans with SPS that will include wildfire mitigation later this year and are developing formal wildfire mitigation plans for the rest of our states.

營運緩解措施包括增強電力線安全設定和公共安全、電源關閉功能。透過增加資產評估和修復、電線桿更換、線路重建、有針對性的地下工程和植被管理以及改進與客戶和其他利益相關者的協調、技術和即時數據共享以及 PSPS 彈性回扣來提高系統彈性。我們預計將在今年稍後向 SPS 提交包括野火緩解在內的防災計劃，並正在為我們其他州制定正式的野火緩解計劃。

Finally, we're working with stakeholders at both the state and federal level on legislation to enhance the safety of our communities from evolving weather risks, while protecting the financial integrity of companies that provide these essential services.

最後，我們正在與州和聯邦層面的利益相關者合作制定立法，以增強我們社區的安全，免受不斷變化的天氣風險的影響，同時保護提供這些基本服務的公司的財務完整性。

Moving to economic development. We're seeing a material shift in long-term electric demand on our system after several years of relatively flat sales growth. Our current five-year electric sales forecast assumes approximately 3% annual growth. Nearly half of that growth is driven by electrification of oil and natural gas production, electric vehicle adoption and beneficial electrification, economic growth and increasing customer counts. The remainder of that growth is driven by contracted and high-probability data center load, including previously announced deals of Meta and Microsoft in Minnesota and QTS in Colorado as well as others.

轉向經濟發展。經過幾年相對平穩的銷售成長後，我們看到系統的長期電力需求發生了重大變化。我們目前的五年電力銷售預測假設年增長率約為 3%。其中近一半的成長是由石油和天然氣生產的電氣化、電動車的採用和有益的電氣化、經濟成長和客戶數量的增加所推動的。其餘的成長是由合約和高機率資料中心負載推動的，包括先前宣布的明尼蘇達州 Meta 和微軟、科羅拉多州 QTS 等公司的交易。

We believe this forecast is now conservative, given a pipeline of data center requests totaling 6,700 megawatts by 2030. If all of the data center requests came to fruition, our data center sales CAGR would be over 9%. We continue working through the request and plan on updating our sales and capital investment forecast on the third quarter call.

考慮到 2030 年資料中心需求總量將達到 6,700 兆瓦，我們認為這項預測現在還算保守。如果所有資料中心請求都能實現，我們的資料中心銷售額複合年增長率將超過 9%。我們將繼續處理請求並計劃在第三季電話會議上更新我們的銷售和資本投資預測。

Xcel Energy is strategically positioned to secure economic data center load with high-quality partners due to our access to low-cost renewable generation, the availability of water and fiber infrastructure, unencumbered land and our speed to market. At the same time, we'll continue to focus on the impacts to all customers, ensuring we have both economic contracts and system resources to provide safe, clean, and reliable power to our communities.

由於我們能夠獲得低成本的再生能源發電、水和光纖基礎設施的可用性、不受阻礙的土地以及我們的上市速度，Xcel Energy 的戰略定位是確保高品質合作夥伴的經濟資料中心負載。同時，我們將繼續關注對所有客戶的影響，確保我們擁有經濟合約和系統資源，為我們的社區提供安全、清潔和可靠的電力。

During the quarter, there were two regulatory outcomes that provide for cleaner and more resilient electric and natural gas distribution system. First, Colorado passed a bill that enables qualified electric utilities to make necessary distribution investments with timely recover to achieve state policy goals, including transportation and building electrification and enabling distributed energy resources. This was the result of extensive stakeholder process supported by the Colorado Energy office, our IBEW labor partners, environmental advocates, NRDC and WRA as well as the Colorado Solar and Storage Association and others.

本季出現了兩項監管成果，提供了更清潔、更具彈性的電力和天然氣分配系統。首先，科羅拉多州通過了一項法案，使合格的電力公司能夠進行必要的配電投資並及時恢復，以實現州政策目標，包括交通和建築電氣化以及啟用分散式能源。這是科羅拉多州能源辦公室、我們的 IBEW 勞工合作夥伴、環保倡議者、NRDC 和 WRA 以及科羅拉多州太陽能和儲存協會等支持的廣泛利益相關者流程的結果。

Second, the Colorado Commission approved the modified clean heat plant, which establishes a starting point for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our natural gas distribution system. Full year budget of up to $441 million was approved, which sets funding primarily for beneficial electrification and natural gas efficiency. We look forward to working with the stakeholders and regulators to implement these initiatives to meet our long-term sustainability goals in Colorado.

其次，科羅拉多州委員會批准了改造後的清潔熱電廠，這為減少天然氣分配系統中的溫室氣體排放奠定了起點。高達 4.41 億美元的全年預算獲得批准，其中資金主要用於有益的電氣化和天然氣效率。我們期待與利害關係人和監管機構合作實施這些舉措，以實現我們在科羅拉多州的長期永續發展目標。

Finally, we recently released our 19th sustainability report. We're proud of our history at Xcel Energy. And as we look forward, we're committed to delivering the essential energy services our customers value and need, while driving positive change that supports the environment and communities.

最後，我們最近發布了第 19 份永續發展報告。我們為 Xcel Energy 的歷史感到自豪。展望未來，我們致力於提供客戶重視和需要的基本能源服務，同時推動支持環境和社區的積極變革。

I'm deeply appreciative and thankful for the commitment and hard work of our employees and partners to deliver a clean energy future. We remain relentless in our pursuit of our vision and will continue to deliver long-term value to our shareholders, an affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy for the communities in which we live and work.

我對我們的員工和合作夥伴為創造清潔能源未來所做的承諾和辛勤工作表示深深的讚賞和感謝。我們將繼續不懈地追求我們的願景，並將繼續為我們的股東創造長期價值，為我們生活和工作的社區提供負擔得起的、可靠的和可持續的能源。

With that, I'll turn it over to Brian.

有了這個，我會把它交給布萊恩。

Thanks, Bob. And good morning, everyone. Starting with our financial results. Xcel Energy had earnings of $0.54 per share for the second quarter of 2024 compared to $0.52 per share in 2023. The most significant earnings drivers for the quarter included the following. Revenues from electric rate cases and riders to recover capital investments combined to increase earnings by $0.26 per share. Higher AFUDC increased earnings by $0.04 per share. And revenues from natural gas rate cases increased earnings by $0.02 per share.

謝謝，鮑伯。大家早安。從我們的財務表現開始。Xcel Energy 2024 年第二季的每股盈餘為 0.54 美元，而 2023 年的每股盈餘為 0.52 美元。本季最重要的獲利驅動因素包括以下內容。電費案件和附加險的收入以收回資本投資，使每股收益增加 0.26 美元。AFUDC 較高，每股盈餘增加 0.04 美元。天然氣費率案件帶來的收入使每股收益增加了 0.02 美元。

Offsetting these positive drivers were higher depreciation and amortization decreased earnings by $0.18 per share, reflecting our capital investment programs. Higher interest charges decreased earnings by $0.07 per share. Higher O&M expenses decreased earnings by $0.04 per share, and other factors combined to reduce earnings by $0.01 per share.

較高的折舊和攤銷使每股收益減少 0.18 美元，抵消了這些積極的推動因素，這反映了我們的資本投資計劃。較高的利息費用使每股收益減少了 0.07 美元。較高的營運和維護費用使每股收益減少了 0.04 美元，而其他因素綜合起來使每股收益減少了 0.01 美元。

Turning to our sales discussion. Year-to-date weather and leap year adjusted electric sales decreased by 0.4% and natural gas sales increased by 0.4%. We're updating our 2024 forecast to reflect a 1% increase for electric sales, with expected increases in C&I load in the second half of the year. Longer term, we continue to see robust demand in our C&I sector, driven by data center loads in Minnesota and Colorado, along with oil and natural gas electrification and SPS.

轉向我們的銷售討論。年初至今，經過天氣和閏年調整後，電力銷量下降了 0.4%，天然氣銷量增加了 0.4%。我們正在更新 2024 年預測，以反映電力銷售成長 1%，以及預計下半年工商業負荷增加。從長遠來看，在明尼蘇達州和科羅拉多州資料中心負載以及石油和天然氣電氣化和 SPS 的推動下，我們繼續看到工商業行業的強勁需求。

During the quarter, we continued to make progress on a relatively light rate case calendar. In June, we reached an uncontested settlement in our Minnesota natural gas case, providing a $46 million rate increase based on a 9.6% ROE and a 52.5% equity ratio. The final commission decision is expected by year-end.

在本季度，我們繼續在相對較低的利率案件日曆上取得進展。6 月，我們在明尼蘇達州天然氣案件中達成了無爭議的和解，根據 9.6% 的股本回報率和 52.5% 的股本比率，加息 4600 萬美元。委員會的最終決定預計將在年底做出。

In our Colorado natural gas rate case, we received intervener testimony in July. There's a settlement deadline at the end of August, with hearing scheduled for September. We expect a commission decision in the fourth quarter.

在我們的科羅拉多州天然氣費率案例中，我們於 7 月收到了乾預者的證詞。和解截止日期為八月底，聽證會定於九月舉行。我們預計委員會將在第四季做出決定。

And in July, the Texas Commission approved our $13 million distribution rider request. This represents our first distribution rider request in Texas, and we expect it will allow us to reduce the frequency of future rate cases.

7 月，德州委員會批准了我們 1300 萬美元的配送附加請求。這是我們在德克薩斯州的第一個配送騎手請求，我們希望這將使我們能夠減少未來費率案件的頻率。

We also continue to make progress on the claims process for the Smokehouse Creek wildfire. We've received 141 claims, of which 43 have been settled, which we view as a positive and constructive outcome. 21 lawsuits have also been filed. In addition, there is no change to our estimate of our accrued liability of $215 million. As a reminder, we have approximately $500 million of excess liability insurance coverage for the fire.

我們也在 Smokehouse Creek 野火的索賠流程上繼續取得進展。我們已收到 141 起索賠，其中 43 起已解決，我們認為這是積極且建設性的結果。也提出了21起訴訟。此外，我們對 2.15 億美元的應計負債的估計沒有變化。謹此提醒，我們為火災提供了約 5 億美元的超額責任保險。

Finally, we are reaffirming our 2024 earnings guidance range of $3.50 to $3.60 per share, which is consistent with our long-term EPS growth objective of 5% to 7%. In addition, we've updated key assumptions to reflect the latest information, which are detailed in our earnings release.

最後，我們重申 2024 年每股盈餘指引範圍為 3.50 美元至 3.60 美元，這與我們 5% 至 7% 的長期 EPS 成長目標一致。此外，我們還更新了關鍵假設以反映最新信息，這些信息在我們的收益發布中進行了詳細介紹。

With that, I'll wrap up with a quick summary. We continue to expect to deliver 2024 earnings within our guidance range as we have for the past 19 years. We're executing on our capital investment plan, including clean generation, transmission and distribution to support reliability and resiliency and economic development to support our communities.

至此，我將快速總結一下。我們繼續預計 2024 年的盈利將保持在我們過去 19 年的指導範圍內。我們正在執行我們的資本投資計劃，包括清潔發電、輸電和配電，以支持可靠性和彈性以及經濟發展，以支持我們的社區。

We're proactively enhancing our wildfire mitigation actions to manage the risk to our systems and to protect our customers from extreme weather. We remain confident we can deliver long-term earnings growth at or above the top end of our 5% to 7% range starting in 2025.

我們正在積極加強野火緩解行動，以管理我們系統的風險並保護我們的客戶免受極端天氣的影響。我們仍有信心從 2025 年開始實現長期獲利成長達到或高於 5% 至 7% 範圍的上限。

This concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, we'll now take questions.

我們準備好的演講到此結束。接線員，我們現在開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Jeremy Tonet, JPMorgan.

（操作員指示）Jeremy Tonet，摩根大通。

Hi. Good morning.

你好。早安.

Hey. Good morning, Jeremy.

嘿。早上好，傑里米。

I just wanted to start off with the wildfires, if I could, and risk mitigation there. How do you think system risk stands now? How do you expect it to, I guess, improve over time with the wildfire mitigation plan? Is work kind of even across the system? Or are there certain parts in focus? And then finally, it seems like there's some fires in Colorado right now. Just wondering if any of your equipment was involved in any way.

如果可以的話，我只想從野火開始，並減輕那裡的風險。您認為目前系統風險狀況如何？我想，隨著時間的推移，您預計野火緩解計畫會如何改善？整個系統的工作是否均勻？或者說有哪些部分是重點關注的？最後，科羅拉多州現在似乎發生了一些火災。只是想知道您的任何設備是否以任何方式參與其中。

Yeah. I appreciate the question. Look, as I said in my prepared remarks, I'm really proud of what we're going to accomplish on the operational side to provide the real-time risk reduction that we need today to give us the time to make the necessary enhancements and system resiliency and hardening for our system over time.

是的。我很欣賞這個問題。看，正如我在準備好的發言中所說，我對我們將在運營方面取得的成就感到非常自豪，以提供我們今天所需的實時風險降低，使我們有時間進行必要的改進和隨著時間的推移，我們的系統的系統彈性和強化。

Clearly, we're further ahead in Colorado. We just filed our second wildfire mitigation plan, and we've been working on the first one for over four years. But that shouldn't be taken as anything other than a huge focus that we also have in Texas and in New Mexico around our plans there.

顯然，我們在科羅拉多州遙遙領先。我們剛剛提交了第二個野火緩解計劃，第一個計劃我們已經工作了四年多。但這不應該被視為除了我們在德克薩斯州和新墨西哥州的計劃之外的一個巨大焦點。

Our capability to do wildfire safety operations and PSPS exists on a daily basis across the entire enterprise, which drives real-time risk reduction. We're benefited as a company by all the hard work of the people that have come in front of us in California. We expect to dramatically reduce our wildfire risk based on their experiences and doing some of the lessons learned from all of those organizations.

我們在整個企業中每天都有進行野火安全操作和 PSPS 的能力，這推動了即時風險降低。作為一家公司，我們受益於加州前輩們的辛勤工作。我們希望根據他們的經驗並吸取所有這些組織的一些教訓，大幅降低我們的野火風險。

They've been more than accommodating and helping us and others across the country. Clearly, the need is there and evident, and we think there's a real supportive backdrop in our states to help us pursue these necessary investments to continue to risk reduce our business.

他們不僅為我們和全國各地的其他人提供了包容和幫助。顯然，這種需求是存在的，而且是顯而易見的，我們認為我們各州有真正的支持背景，可以幫助我們進行這些必要的投資，以繼續降低我們的業務風險。

And Jeremy, this is Brian. Good morning. Just on the second part of your question about the current fires in Colorado, there's -- our assets were more than a mile away from any of those believed ignition points..

傑里米，這是布萊恩。早安.就你關於科羅拉多州目前火災的問題的第二部分來說，我們的資產距離任何一個被認為的著火點都超過一英里。

Got it. That's all very helpful. Thank you for that. And then just wanted to pivot here a little bit to the data center opportunity. As you outlined there, it seems like the opportunities are accelerating from when you last discussed it with the market.

知道了。這一切都非常有幫助。謝謝你。然後只是想稍微轉向一下資料中心的機會。正如您在那裡概述的那樣，與您上次與市場討論時相比，機會似乎正在加速出現。

Just wondering if you could frame that a bit more what you're seeing and where across your footprint that's happening. And just any more color would be helpful.

只是想知道你是否可以更多地描述你所看到的以及在你的足跡中發生的情況。任何更多的顏色都會有幫助。

Yes, Jeremy. Bob again. Look, we're really excited about what we're seeing. Obviously, we believe we have a very attractive service territory across all eight of our states for different reasons in all of them. But when we speak with hyperscalers and other data center developers, we have what they're looking for, low-cost clean energy, access to fiber, access to water, and other infrastructure, human capital, land that makes us attractive.

是的，傑瑞米。又是鮑伯。看，我們對所看到的感到非常興奮。顯然，我們相信，出於不同的原因，我們在所有八個州都擁有非常有吸引力的服務區域。但當我們與超大規模企業和其他資料中心開發商交談時，我們擁有他們正在尋找的東西：低成本清潔能源、光纖、水和其他基礎設施、人力資本、土地，這些使我們具有吸引力。

Right now, we're seeing most of opportunities materialize in the Minnesota and Colorado footprint. But our deeper backlog, I would say, is across all of our service territories in all of our states. I don't know if I got all of your questions.

目前，我們看到大部分機會都在明尼蘇達州和科羅拉多州實現。但我想說，我們更深層的積壓工作遍布我們所有州的所有服務區域。我不知道我是否回答了你所有的問題。

Yes, Jeremy. I can just expand on that a little bit. If you could pop the slide that we put in our earnings release today, which is updated from the data center slide that we had a couple of months ago. You can see it's a significant increase in the customer requests. As Bob said, the biggest opportunity was in Minnesota. Now it's growing. We're seeing significant opportunity in Colorado now and even expanding outside of Minnesota, into Wisconsin and South Dakota.

是的，傑瑞米。我可以稍微擴充一下。您可以打開我們今天發布的收益報告中的幻燈片嗎？您可以看到客戶請求顯著增加。正如鮑勃所說，最大的機會在明尼蘇達州。現在它正在增長。我們現在在科羅拉多州看到了巨大的機會，甚至擴展到明尼蘇達州以外的威斯康辛州和南達科他州。

And so we're working closely internally with our economic development team. We think about it -- as we're updating our long-term sales forecast right now, which will roll out in Q3. Our long-term sales forecast right now is in the 2% to 3% range. I would expect that to look more like the 4% to 5% range. And our base long-term sales forecast when we roll that out as we incorporate some of these high probability loads into our 5-year guidance.

因此，我們正在與我們的經濟發展團隊進行內部密切合作。我們正在考慮這個問題，因為我們現在正在更新長期銷售預測，該預測將在第三季推出。我們目前的長期銷售預測在 2% 至 3% 範圍內。我預計這看起來更像是 4% 到 5% 的範圍。當我們將其中一些高機率負載納入我們的 5 年指導時，我們推出了我們的基本長期銷售預測。

This is just another good example about how we look to proactively work with our commissions. The Minnesota Commission here in Minnesota has publicly stated they're going to have planning sessions around how do we accommodate and meet this both economic development opportunity for our communities and also how do we provide benefit to all of our current customers and create more opportunity for investment.

這只是我們如何積極與委員會合作的另一個好例子。明尼蘇達州的明尼蘇達委員會已公開表示，他們將召開規劃會議，討論我們如何適應和滿足我們社區的經濟發展機會，以及我們如何為所有現有客戶提供利益並為他們創造更多機會。

And Jeremy, I think this is part of a much broader theme that I've been talking about as it pertains to our company. If you put those criteria that data centers are looking at today, I would suggest that's true for almost any energy-intensive industry, and our view that they're at some point going to overly co-locate in parts of the country where energy costs are lower and green energy could be cleaner, and that sits right across the footprint that we straddle.

傑里米，我認為這是我一直在談論的與我們公司相關的更廣泛主題的一部分。如果您考慮資料中心今天正在考慮的這些標準，我認為這對於幾乎所有能源密集型行業都是如此，並且我們認為它們在某些時候將過度集中在能源成本較高的國家部分地區更低，綠色能源可以更清潔，而這正好位於我們跨越的足跡上。

And so as you look at stuff like hydrogen and clean energy production, if we get to direct their capture as a means of carbon mitigation, you could see a lot of that headquartering itself or locating itself on our backyard as well as other manufacturing probably where transportation isn't as critical.

因此，當你看看氫和清潔能源生產等東西時，如果我們將它們的捕獲作為減少碳排放的一種手段，你可以看到很多這樣的總部本身或位於我們的後院以及其他製造業可能在那裡交通並不那麼重要。

I think all of those are economic development opportunities that are not in our forecast, but areas that we think should beneficially accrue to the parts of the country that we serve.

我認為所有這些都是我們預測之外的經濟發展機會，但我們認為應該為我們所服務的國家地區帶來有益的領域。

Got it. Great to hear. Big numbers there. Congrats. I'll leave it there. Thanks.

知道了。很高興聽到。那裡的數字很大。恭喜。我會把它留在那裡。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Carly Davenport, Goldman Sachs.

卡莉·達文波特，高盛。

Hey. Good morning. Thanks so much for taking my questions.

嘿。早安.非常感謝您回答我的問題。

Hey. Good morning, Carly.

嘿。早安，卡莉。

Good morning. Wanted to just follow up on a couple of Jeremy's questions there. Maybe just first on the wildfire front. Is there any sort of feedback from stakeholders you can share so far on the wildfire mitigation plan you filed in Colorado?

早安.我想跟進傑里米的幾個問題。也許只是先在野火前線。到目前為止，您是否可以分享任何利益相關者對您在科羅拉多州提交的野火緩解計劃的任何反饋？

And then you had mentioned plans to file additional wildfire mitigation or system resiliency plans in other states. Can you just talk about what forms that might take and where you're most focused in the near term?

然後您提到了在其他州提交額外的野火緩解或系統彈性計劃的計劃。您能否談談可能採取哪些形式以及您近期最關注的領域？

Yes. Hey, Carly. This is Brian. It's now early in the process in the wildfire mitigation plan filing in Colorado. We're just starting to see some discovery requests. But overall, we think about the work and the scope we're getting from, call it, the first responders and the community has been positive.

是的。嘿，卡莉。這是布萊恩.科羅拉多州野火緩解計畫的備案目前處於早期階段。我們剛開始看到一些發現請求。但總的來說，我們考慮了我們的工作和範圍，第一個響應者和社區都是正面的。

Our investment in the Pano AI cameras is already -- there's been some recent articles where it has helped identify fires not started by the utility, but helped work very proactively with the first responders to get them out and mitigate fire risk and protect our communities and our customers. So I think overall, it has been supportive. But again, like I said, early in the process.

我們已經對Pano AI 攝影機進行了投資——最近有一些文章指出，它可以幫助識別並非由公用事業公司引發的火災，但可以幫助我們積極主動地與第一響應人員合作，將他們救出並降低火災風險並保護我們的社區和社區。所以我認為總的來說，這是支持性的。但正如我所說，在這個過程的早期。

Kind of the next kind of pivoting to your second part of the question is what we're focusing on right now is developing our system resiliency plan in Texas, which is what will incorporate our wildfire mitigation plan. So that will be later this year, and look for a similar filing in New Mexico later this year, too, and then working through what it will look like in Minnesota in the Midwest for wildfire mitigation plans. We can incorporate a lot of the wildfire mitigation plan into our multiyear rate case in Minnesota as we think about which we'll file in November of this year.

下一個轉向問題的第二部分是我們現在關注的是在德克薩斯州制定我們的系統彈性計劃，這將納入我們的野火緩解計劃。因此，這將在今年稍後進行，並在今年稍後在新墨西哥州尋找類似的文件，然後研究中西部明尼蘇達州的野火緩解計畫。當我們考慮今年 11 月提交的文件時，我們可以將許多野火緩解計畫納入明尼蘇達州的多年費率案例中。

Great. That's really helpful. Thank you for that. And then the second one was just on the load growth in the data center piece. Could you just talk a little bit about your process for working down the request into the pipeline? Or I guess, said another way, what is sort of your bar for including load in that near-term pipeline estimate, which goes into your broader load growth estimate?

偉大的。這真的很有幫助。謝謝你。第二個是關於資料中心部分的負載成長。您能否簡單談談將請求處理到管道中的流程？或者我猜，換句話說，您將負載納入近期管道估計的標準是什麼，這將納入您更廣泛的負載成長估計值？

Yeah. So if you think -- I'll give you a little bit of color. We kind of highlighted on that slide in our earnings deck is, one, we have a contract with them, for example, QTS and Meta that's included in our five-year forecast. And then we have something called near-term pipeline which, for example, maybe we've sold a parcel of land to them.

是的。所以如果你認為——我會給你一點顏色。我們在收益表中的幻燈片上強調的是，第一，我們與他們簽訂了合同，例如 QTS 和 Meta，這些合約包含在我們的五年預測中。然後我們有一些稱為近期管道的東西，例如，也許我們已經向他們出售了一塊土地。

And what we consider is 80% probability. So very high probability that it's going to come into our sales forecast within the next five years. And this is working very closely with our operating companies and our economic development team with these customers.

而我們考慮的是80%的機率。因此，它很有可能在未來五年內進入我們的銷售預測。這是我們與這些客戶的營運公司和經濟發展團隊密切合作的結果。

And then everything above that, we do not have in our sales forecast. So there's a huge opportunity above what we call 80% high probability load. And so that's a little bit of color. So as we continue to kind of march through time, you think some of the stuff that we don't view as 80% probability today becomes more of an opportunity, and we can drop into that what we included in our base forecast.

除此之外的一切，我們的銷售預測中都沒有。因此，在我們所說的 80% 高機率負載之上存在著巨大的機會。這就是一點點顏色。因此，當我們繼續在時間上前進時，你會認為今天我們認為機率不是 80% 的一些事情變得更像是一個機會，我們可以將其納入我們的基本預測中。

Got it. Okay. Thank you so much for the time.

知道了。好的。非常感謝您抽出時間。

Julien Dumoulin-Smith, Jefferies.

朱利安·杜穆蘭-史密斯，杰弗里斯。

Hey. Good morning, team. Thanks guys very much. Good to chat again.

嘿。早上好，團隊。非常感謝大家。很高興再次聊天。

Hey, Julien.

嘿，朱利安。

Thank you. Appreciate that. Absolutely. Guys, nicely done here. I got to say, lots on that pipeline. Maybe to pick up where Carly lifted off here on just kind of probability weighting here. How do you think about that filtering through your processes? For instance, I know you didn't emphasize as much the relative load growth of the SPS, for instance, in the context of data centers. But how do you think about even the numbers that you guys were throwing out there of the 5 gigawatt number getting updated here sort of pro forma for that process that you're working through right now?

謝謝。很欣賞這一點。絕對地。夥計們，這裡做得很好。我不得不說，這條管道上有很多東西。也許是為了繼承卡莉在這裡的機率加權。您如何看待流程中的過濾？例如，我知道您沒有那麼強調 SPS 的相對負載成長，例如在資料中心的環境中。但是，您如何看待您們拋出的 5 吉瓦數字，這些數字在這裡得到了更新，就像您現在正在處理的流程的形式一樣？

Effectively, as you probability weight and update with 4Q, how does that filter into the processes you already have in flight for procurement given what seems like a perhaps more pressing need to address the RFPs that would need to be necessary?

實際上，當您可能透過 4Q 進行權衡和更新時，考慮到解決必要的 RFP 的需求似乎更為迫切，那麼這將如何過濾到您已經進行的採購流程中？

Yes. Thanks, Julien. So I'll start and then Brian can add on. I think you know the company pretty well. We've generally taken a pretty conservative approach to forecasting, whether it was capital investment opportunities, in this case, sales opportunities. Our process is alive and well right now and is geared towards a comprehensive update in the third quarter earnings call.

是的。謝謝，朱利安。我先開始，然後布萊恩可以補充。我想你對這家公司很了解。我們通常採取相當保守的方法來預測，無論是資本投資機會，在本例中都是銷售機會。我們的流程目前運作良好，並準備在第三季財報電話會議上進行全面更新。

And so we'd expect for, as Brian walked through the sales funnel on Carly's question and then the update on our capital forecast, whether that's the RFP results coming into our forecast, whether that's new sales or whether that's capital needs driven by our wildfire mitigation plans, our need to serve customers to the extent that we see high probability load growth that needs investment as well as all of our resiliency and reliability plans as we roll forward in time. So expect something at the end of the third quarter into the fourth quarter from us on a fulsome enterprise-wide look at all the parameters.

因此，當布萊恩就卡莉的問題遍歷銷售漏斗，然後更新我們的資本預測時，我們預計，無論是 RFP 結果進入我們的預測，無論是新的銷售還是由我們的野火驅動的資本需求緩解計劃，我們需要為客戶提供服務，因為我們看到需要投資的高機率負載成長，以及我們及時推進的所有彈性和可靠性計劃。因此，預計我們將在第三季末到第四季對整個企業範圍內的所有參數進行全面的研究。

Julien, just let me add to that a little bit. If we think about all the RFPs we have in flight, for example, Minnesota, we have multiple RFPs in flight, while we're looking at this potential new load that's rapidly evolving. So we have that opportunity, as we go through these RFPs and we're in a resource plan filing with the Minnesota Commission, which we provided kind of what we call a base view, but also in electrification in a high load view. So we have processes in flight that helps us move quickly on the stuff and secure resources and work with our stakeholders.

Julien，讓我補充一點。如果我們考慮我們正在執行的所有 RFP，例如，明尼蘇達州，我們有多個正在執行的 RFP，同時我們正在考慮這個正在快速發展的潛在新負載。因此，當我們審查這些 RFP 時，我們有這個機會，並且正在向明尼蘇達州委員會提交一份資源計劃文件，我們提供了所謂的基本視圖，但也提供了高負載電氣化視圖。因此，我們有一些正在運行的流程，可以幫助我們快速處理問題、確保資源並與利害關係人合作。

Similar in SPS, we just followed an RFP for over 3,000 megawatts of accredited capacity. Now, that was based on our resource plan in New Mexico that had a base plan, but also a high electrification plan working with all of our oil and gas customers. And that's why you see us talking about this 5,000 megawatt to 10,000 megawatt nameplate capacity range in SPS because we see that load up there, we're working with our oil and gas customers. So SPS is much more of an electrification in the oil and gas industry. Down there, we're in Colorado, Minnesota, in the Midwest is much more of a potential data center opportunity.

與 SPS 類似，我們只是遵循了超過 3,000 兆瓦認可容量的 RFP。現在，這是基於我們在新墨西哥州的資源計劃，該計劃有一個基本計劃，但也有一個與我們所有石油和天然氣客戶合作的高電氣化計劃。這就是為什麼您會看到我們在 SPS 中談論 5,000 兆瓦至 10,000 兆瓦的銘牌容量範圍，因為我們看到了那裡的負載，我們正在與石油和天然氣客戶合作。因此，SPS 更像是石油和天然氣產業的電氣化。在那裡，我們在科羅拉多州、明尼蘇達州、中西部地區更有潛在的資料中心機會。

Excellent, guys. Thank you. And then maybe on the other side of this, nicely done in Colorado on some of this legislative effort here. How do you think about the time line and implementation of that legislation? Just given the sub 8% earned ROE on a trailing basis, how do you think about that improving said number of 50 basis points or what have you from the legislation here over time?

太棒了，夥計們。謝謝。也許在另一方面，科羅拉多州在一些立法工作上做得很好。您如何看待該立法的時間表和實施？鑑於過去的 ROE 低於 8%，您如何看待上述 50 個基點的改善，或者隨著時間的推移，您從這裡的立法中得到了什麼？

Julien, and maybe I'll just take a step back and just say this is a really good piece of legislation now supported by a broad coalition of stakeholders. And as we think about it, it's really kind of how do we help advance state policy around beneficial electrification, whether that's electrification of the transport sector, electrification of home heating. And so worked with a very broad group of stakeholders to get support and passage of this legislation.

Julien，也許我會退後一步，只是說這是一項非常好的立法，現在得到了廣泛的利益相關者聯盟的支持。正如我們所思考的，這實際上是我們如何幫助推進有關有益電氣化的國家政策，無論是交通部門的電氣化，還是家庭供暖的電氣化。因此，我們與非常廣泛的利害關係人群體合作，以獲得這項立法的支持和通過。

As I think about it, there is a distribution system plan that we'll file in November in Colorado, which is really kind of the basis of this legislation. And think of it almost a resource plan for the distribution system, about their capacity investments we need to make and how do we think about the different levels of penetration and how it accelerated some of this can be. And so we'll file that in November, work through that. And so there's a -- the full rider will be implemented in 2026 around the investments needed to kind of drive our distribution system forward.

我認為，我們將於 11 月在科羅拉多州提交一份分配系統計劃，這確實是這項立法的基礎。並將其視為分銷系統的資源計劃，關於我們需要進行的容量投資，以及我們如何考慮不同程度的滲透以及它如何加速其中的一些。因此，我們將在 11 月提交該文件，並解決該問題。因此，完整附加條款將於 2026 年圍繞著推動我們的分銷系統向前發展所需的投資實施。

And now, when we think about from an earned ROE perspective, we've earned about 8% approximately in Colorado over the past year -- few years. So this will really help us drive a significant closure of that gap, as we think about it, as we go through kind of, like I said, 2026 when it's fully implemented. But we also have other investments in Colorado. As we think about the renewable investments we're making and the transition investments that we're making to help drive state policy and achieve our decarbonization goals of the state, that could concur recovery, too. And so as those investments ramp up, that will help close that gap, too.

現在，當我們從賺取的 ROE 角度考慮時，我們在過去幾年中在科羅拉多州賺取了約 8% 左右。因此，正如我們所想，這將真正幫助我們顯著縮小這一差距，就像我說的，到 2026 年全面實施時。但我們在科羅拉多州還有其他投資。當我們考慮我們正在進行的可再生能源投資以及我們正在進行的過渡投資以幫助推動國家政策並實現國家的脫碳目標時，這也可能會帶來復甦。因此，隨著這些投資的增加，這也將有助於縮小這一差距。

Awesome. Nicely done guys. Speak to you soon.

驚人的。幹得好，夥計們。很快就和你說話。

Sophie Karp, KeyBanc.

索菲·卡普，KeyBanc。

Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. I have a question on the -- going back to the data centers trend. So I guess, is there a point at which this incremental loan growth and the acceleration of sales trends translates into the earnings growth? And at what point would you be comfortable on sort of making that leap?

你好。早安.感謝您回答我的問題。我有一個關於數據中心趨勢的問題。所以我想，這種增量貸款成長和銷售趨勢加速是否會在某個點轉化為獲利成長？什麼時候你會願意實現這項飛躍？

Yes. Sophie, as I think about it, right, I think about this data center opportunity in two ways. One is really getting the contracts right and having the data centers -- having -- adding new data centers provide benefit to all of our customers on the system. And that's really important to demonstrate benefit, going to the commission with the contract that demonstrates benefit to our current customers.

是的。蘇菲，正如我所想，對，我從兩個方面考慮這個資料中心的機會。一是真正獲得正確的合約並擁有資料中心——擁有——添加新的資料中心可以為我們系統上的所有客戶帶來好處。這對於證明利益非常重要，透過向我們目前客戶證明利益的合約來接受委託。

Now, longer term, absolutely, there's an investment opportunity or investment we need here to support these customers. These are large loads. And so as I think about it, we're moving through the planning process right now, both from, as I talk about the sales forecast perspective and the high probability loads and how did that translate into our capital forecast. So expect a broader update from us, both on that five-year capital plan and the sales forecast plan in Q3, and that should help address your question.

現在，從長遠來看，我們絕對需要投資機會或投資來支持這些客戶。這些都是很大的負載。因此，正如我所想，我們現在正在經歷規劃過程，當我談論銷售預測角度和高機率負載以及這如何轉化為我們的資本預測時。因此，期待我們就五年資本計劃和第三季的銷售預測計劃提供更廣泛的更新，這應該有助於解決您的問題。

Got it. Thank you. And then more of a high-level question. With all this new load coming in, and I'm not sure if load is going to be interruptible or not interruptible, but do you see the need for, I guess, more gas-fired generation on your grade anytime soon? And how receptive do you think the regulators would be to those types of generation additions? Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。然後是一個更高層次的問題。隨著所有這些新負載的到來，我不確定負載是否會中斷或不可中斷，但我想，您是否認為您的等級很快就需要更多的燃氣發電？您認為監管機構對這些類型的發電增加的接受程度如何？謝謝。

Hey, Sophie. It's Bob. So look, I think that -- great questions. We sit in a resource-rich area for wind and solar. We see increasing needs for storage resources. But as evidenced by our most recent RFPs and our resource plans, we do have incremental combustion turbines that serve to back up and serve our customers to make sure that we have reliability when the wind or the sun or the storage is unavailable.

嘿，蘇菲。是鮑伯。所以看，我認為——很好的問題。我們位於風能和太陽能資源豐富的地區。我們看到對儲存資源的需求不斷增加。但正如我們最近的 RFP 和資源計劃所證明的那樣，我們確實擁有增量燃氣渦輪機，可以為我們的客戶提供支援和服務，以確保在風、陽光或儲存不可用時我們具有可靠性。

So in our most recent ERPs in Colorado, our recent resource plan up here in the Upper Midwest, we have incremental CTs coming back. And I think with increased load like of the magnitude we're talking about, we would actually see increased numbers of backup generation, almost as an insurance policy for our networks to make sure that we have reliable and affordable energy for all.

因此，在我們最近在科羅拉多州的 ERP 中，在我們最近在中西部上游的資源計劃中，我們有增量 CT 回來了。我認為，隨著負載的增加，就像我們所說的那樣，我們實際上會看到備用發電數量的增加，這幾乎是我們網路的保險政策，以確保我們為所有人提供可靠且負擔得起的能源。

But no plans to add CCGTs for now?

但目前還沒有增加 CCGT 的計畫嗎？

I'm sorry. Can you say that again?

對不起。你能再說一次嗎？

No plans to add CCGTs, combined cycle?

沒有計劃增加 CCGT、聯合循環？

No. At this point, we don't have any plans today to add any combined cycles to our network. But we have to evaluate the probability of real load and what the resource availability is to serve it. So not today, but I wouldn't say that anything is off the table.

不。目前，我們目前沒有任何計劃為我們的網路添加任何聯合循環。但我們必須評估實際負載的機率以及為其提供服務的資源可用性。所以不是今天，但我不會說任何事情都是不可能的。

Got it. Thanks so much.

知道了。非常感謝。

Gregg Orrill, UBS.

格雷格·奧裡爾，瑞銀集團。

Yeah. Hi. Thanks very much. Just regarding the -- you're working your way through the Smokehouse Fire settlements. And just kind of how are you thinking about whether -- how those are going in terms of -- are there any groups that are precedential? How do you think about kind of resolving that and moving forward, sort of timing and process?

是的。你好。非常感謝。只是關於——你正在努力穿過熏制室火災定居點。您如何思考是否存在先例群體？您如何看待解決該問題並繼續推進、時間表和流程？

Hey, Gregg. I can provide some color on that. So the 141 claims settling, and we're moving expeditiously through those and have already reached settlement on 43 of those claims. And so how I look at it, these claims have spanned, call it, a variety of items, everything from homes to agriculture buildings, to fencing, cattle feed, personal property. So it gives us a pretty good data point, while so -- well, 43 settled is not all encompassing, but it is a good data point. And I think the important point as we think about it, we reassess our liability of $250 million, and the claims so far support and help validate our accrual.

嘿，格雷格。我可以對此提供一些顏色。141 項索賠已解決，我們正在迅速處理這些索賠，並已就其中 43 項索賠達成和解。因此，在我看來，這些主張涵蓋了各種各樣的物品，從房屋到農業建築，再到柵欄、牛飼料、個人財產。因此，它為我們提供了一個非常好的數據點，雖然 43 解決方案並不能涵蓋全部內容，但它是一個很好的數據點。我認為，當我們考慮這一點時，重要的一點是，我們重新評估了 2.5 億美元的責任，迄今為止的索賠支持並幫助驗證了我們的應計收益。

Another data point, the report that received in Q2 was from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. And that report covered -- it was an economic estimate of the agricultural losses from the entire complex of fires down there. And that report -- for a value of $123 million for agriculture losses. And that report included some very large buckets, cattle, feed, agricultural structures. And so when we look at that report and that number and what we've included for our accrual, it does support our assumptions. And so that's the latest information we have through Q2, and we'll continue to try to update as we move through time.

另一個數據點是第二季收到的報告來自德州 A&M AgriLife Extension。該報告涵蓋了——這是對那裡整個火災造成的農業損失的經濟估計。該報告顯示農業損失價值 1.23 億美元。該報告包括一些非常大的水桶、牛、飼料、農業結構。因此，當我們查看該報告、該數字以及我們應計費用中包含的內容時，它確實支持我們的假設。這就是我們在第二季度掌握的最新信息，隨著時間的推移，我們將繼續嘗試更新。

Helpful. Thanks.

有幫助。謝謝。

Nick Campanella, Barclays.

尼克·坎帕內拉，巴克萊銀行。

Hey. Good morning, everyone. I hopped on late, so hopefully I'm not repeating my -- repeating others. But just -- first, just as you're progressing through Colorado Gas, what's the ability to settle this in your mind at this point? Is that something that you're open to? Or is this taking a fully litigated pass? And then I just have one follow-up. Thank you.

嘿。大家早安。我很晚才上車，所以希望我不要重複我的——重複別人的。但是，首先，當你在科羅拉多天然氣公司取得進展時，此時你有什麼能力解決這個問題？你對此持開放態度嗎？還是這是完全訴訟通過？然後我只有一個後續行動。謝謝。

Yeah. Nick, yeah, we sort of received intervenor testimony relatively recently. We have a settlement deadline of August 27. And we certainly look forward to working with our stakeholders and with the intervenors to attempt to reach a settlement.

是的。尼克，是的，我們最近收到了乾預者的證詞。我們的結算截止日期是 8 月 27 日。我們當然期待與我們的利害關係人和乾預者合作，試圖達成和解。

So we've reached settlement in the past few cases in Colorado. So we're hopeful that we can reach the settlement. We're also ready to go through the fully litigated process if we need to. That'd be hearings in middle of September and this CPUC decision by the end of the year.

所以我們已經就科羅拉多州過去的幾起案件達成了和解。因此，我們希望能夠達成和解。如果需要的話，我們也準備好完成完整的訴訟程序。九月中旬將舉行聽證會，CPUC 將在年底做出決定。

That's great. I appreciate it. And then I guess, if I could just ask on the financing quickly. I know you priced a little bit of ATM in the quarter. Is ATM the primary vehicle to use here for the rest of the year in terms of your equity needs?

那太棒了。我很感激。然後我想，我是否可以快速詢問融資事宜。我知道您在本季對 ATM 機定價了一些。就您的股本需求而言，ATM 是今年剩餘時間在這裡使用的主要工具嗎？

Yeah. The ATM will be our primary vehicle. It doesn't mean we wouldn't be opportunistic if there's a potential block. We'll also look at some of the other equity content products as we go through the time. But overall, ATM is our plan.

是的。ATM 將是我們的主要交通工具。這並不意味著如果有潛在的障礙，我們不會投機取巧。隨著時間的推移，我們還將研究一些其他股權內容產品。但總的來說，ATM 是我們的計劃。

But also, I look at where our CFO to debt is, it's at 17%. Right now we have flexibility given that we have strong credit metrics, and that's why we maintain a strong balance sheet as we have flexibility in terms of when we can look at issuing equity.

而且，我還查看了我們的 CFO 債務比率，為 17%。鑑於我們擁有強大的信用指標，目前我們具有靈活性，這就是為什麼我們保持強勁的資產負債表，因為我們何時可以考慮發行股票方面具有靈活性。

Great. Thanks a lot.

偉大的。多謝。

Travis Miller, Morningstar.

崔維斯米勒，晨星公司。

Good morning. Thank you. I wonder if there was any update on timing or plans for a Minnesota electric rate case. And then tied to that, any lessons learned or takeaways from the settlement in the gas case that could be applied to any timing or request on the electric side?

早安.謝謝。我想知道明尼蘇達州電價案件的時間或計劃是否有任何更新。與此相關的是，從天然氣案件和解中吸取的任何經驗教訓或要點可以適用於電力方面的任何時間或要求嗎？

Hey, Travis. Yeah, we're looking -- we're planning on November 1 filing for the multiyear plan on the electric side. If you remember, we're in year three of our multiyear plan right now. So we've communicated that.

嘿，崔維斯。是的，我們正在尋找 - 我們計劃在 11 月 1 日提交電力方面的多年計劃。如果你還記得的話，我們現在正處於多年計劃的第三年。所以我們已經傳達了這一點。

As we think about the gas side, no, we always look to see if we can reach a constructive settlement with the parties, and we've been able to on the gas side. So I think that's a good data point as we think about it.

當我們考慮天然氣方面時，不，我們總是希望看看是否能夠與各方達成建設性的解決方案，而我們在天然氣方面已經做到了。所以我認為這是我們考慮的一個很好的數據點。

So early days, given that we haven't made the filing yet. But I think November 1 filing, it's a longer process in Minnesota. But once we get through kind of the intervener direct testimony or robotic testimony, we'll certainly look to see if there's an opportunity to settle.

考慮到我們還沒有提交文件，現在還為時過早。但我認為 11 月 1 日提交申請，在明尼蘇達州是一個更長的過程。但一旦我們通過了乾預者的直接證詞或機器人證詞，我們肯定會看看是否有機會和解。

Great. Okay. Thanks. And then back to the data center, that 6,700 or however much it ends up being in terms of request and potential, how sensitive is that number to regulatory proceedings? Whether it's the planning process that what you're talking about was going on in Minnesota, whether it's rig cases, RFPs, how much sensitivity is that to just all regulatory proceedings?

偉大的。好的。謝謝。然後回到資料中心，6,700 或無論最終的請求和潛力是多少，這個數字對監管程序有多敏感？無論是你所談論的明尼蘇達州正在進行的規劃過程，還是鑽孔機案例、RFP，這對所有監管程序有多敏感？

Hey, Travis. It's Bob. Look, when I think about the opportunity here that's in front of us, our obligation in the company is to make sure that we're able to serve our current customers as well as our future customers and make sure that everyone is treated economically and fairly. I'll be honest, we don't have -- we're at 21 gigawatt, 22 gigawatt peak load system today. We don't have 6,000 megawatts of capacity available today. We have some, but we would need to, as part of our existing RFPs and resource plans, to add more generation to the stack.

嘿，崔維斯。是鮑伯。看，當我想到擺在我們面前的機會時，我們在公司的義務是確保我們能夠為當前的客戶以及未來的客戶提供服務，並確保每個人都受到經濟和公平的對待。老實說，我們現在沒有 21 吉瓦、22 吉瓦尖峰負載系統。我們目前沒有 6,000 兆瓦的可用容量。我們有一些，但作為我們現有 RFP 和資源計劃的一部分，我們需要在堆疊中添加更多世代。

So that would take a resource planning process and a regulatory process. I think we've proven over the last seven or eight years, our ability to do that and do that with efficiency to make sure that we can address the expanding needs of our customers and our states.

因此，這需要資源規劃流程和監管流程。我認為，在過去的七、八年裡，我們已經證明了我們有能力做到這一點，並且有效率地做到這一點，以確保我們能夠滿足客戶和各州不斷增長的需求。

So we will need generation over time. But I think we have plans and processes that are in place that allow us to speed the market to address the needs that our customers might -- our new customers might need today as well as the growth that they forecast through the end of the decade.

因此，隨著時間的推移，我們將需要一代人。但我認為我們已經制定了計劃和流程，使我們能夠加快市場發展速度，以滿足我們的客戶可能的需求——我們的新客戶今天可能需要的需求，以及他們預測到本十年末的成長。

Okay. Great. And then just real quick, transmission distribution capacity. You talked about generation capacity. Is there enough T&D? Or would that also be a constraint?

好的。偉大的。然後就是真正快速的傳輸分配能力。您談到了發電能力。是否有足夠的 T&D？或者這也會成為一個限制？

So largely, these customers are largely transmission customers, so we'll talk transmission grid needs. And we've got, again, some capacity on the grid today to meet their needs today. In all of our jurisdictions, we're expanding our transition pretty aggressively, whether it's through the MISO LRTP processes up here in the Upper Midwest and what's been approved and what's on the comment as well as the power pathway in Colorado and other transmission proceedings and fiasco. And then our work in SPS with the Southwest Power Pool to build more transmission down there.

在很大程度上，這些客戶主要是輸電客戶，所以我們將討論輸電電網的需求。我們今天再次擁有一些電網容量來滿足他們今天的需求。在我們所有的司法管轄區，我們正在非常積極地擴大我們的過渡，無論是透過中西部北部的 MISO LRTP 流程、已批准的內容、評論內容，以及科羅拉多州的電力路徑和其他傳輸程序，以及慘敗。然後我們在 SPS 與西南電力聯營公司合作，在那裡建立更多的輸電設施。

So I think we've got transmission in flight. Again, the capacity today is available, but not the full extent of the 6,700. So our goal is to make sure the transmission generation needs are ramped according to what becomes our high probability customer needs.

所以我認為我們已經在飛行中進行了傳輸。同樣，今天的容量是可用的，但不是 6,700 的全部容量。因此，我們的目標是確保輸電需求根據我們的高機率客戶需求而增加。

Got it. Okay. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

知道了。好的。非常感謝。欣賞它。

Ryan Levine, Citi.

瑞安‧萊文，花旗銀行。

Good morning. Any color you could share around rate design for the data center opportunity? In an earlier answer, you mentioned economic development opportunity. Does that signal a certain rate structure for this customer class? And on a similar vein, what role do you see VPPs impacting the ability of Xcel services data center load in Colorado and more broadly across your service territories?

早安.您可以分享有關資料中心機會的費率設計的任何顏色嗎？您在先前的回答中提到了經濟發展的機會。這是否表示該客戶類別有一定的費率結構？同樣，您認為 VPP 對科羅拉多州以及更廣泛的服務區域內 Xcel 服務資料中心負載的能力有何影響？

Ryan, you broke up on the second part of your question, but your first part of the question was -- seemed like it was around rate design as we think about these data center loads. We -- so far, we've approached it on a contract-by-contract basis, but -- and so it can be unique. But the principle is that we need to make sure that the revenue that we receive from these data centers covers being -- more than the incremental cost that comes to our system.

Ryan，你在問題的第二部分分手了，但你的問題的第一部分是——當我們考慮這些數據中心負載時，它似乎是圍繞費率設計的。到目前為止，我們已經在逐個合約的基礎上處理它，但是，因此它可以是獨一無二的。但原則是，我們需要確保從這些資料中心獲得的收入超過我們系統的增量成本。

So what I mean simply is that our current customers are not harmed by adding these. And whether that means you have a provision in the contract, that's a ratchet if they don't deliver on the load they said they're going to deliver or a take-or-pay type contract. So these are fluid conversations, but the principle is that we need to bring something to our commission that is in the best interest of our current customers.

所以我的意思很簡單，我們目前的客戶不會因為添加這些而受到傷害。無論這是否意味著合同中有一項條款，如果他們沒有按照他們所說的那樣交付，或者是照付不議類型的合同，那麼這就是一個棘輪。因此，這些都是流暢的對話，但原則是我們需要為我們的委員會帶來一些符合我們當前客戶最大利益的東西。

And if you wouldn't -- I couldn't catch up. You broke a little bit on the second part of your question. So if you could repeat it, it would be helpful.

如果你不這樣做——我就追不上。你在問題的第二部分有點崩潰了。所以如果你能重複一遍，那將會很有幫助。

Sure. What role do you see VPPs impacting the ability of Xcel to service this data center load in Colorado and across your service territories?

當然。您認為 VPP 對 Xcel 為科羅拉多州和整個服務區域的資料中心負載提供服務的能力有何影響？

Look, I think VPPs can almost be another demand-side management tool as we think about it. So we think there could be a role there. I know that as part of our distribution legislation in Colorado to do some planning and study work around VPPs. So I absolutely think they can play a role in the future.

看，我認為 VPP 幾乎可以成為我們考慮的另一個需求方管理工具。所以我們認為那裡可能會發揮作用。我知道，作為科羅拉多州分銷立法的一部分，我們將圍繞 VPP 進行一些規劃和研究工作。所以我絕對認為他們可以在未來發揮作用。

Just like if you think about some of this potential large load, could you have it on uninterruptible load, uncertainty period. So I think there's a lot of opportunity as you think about the overall umbrella of more demand side management tools to address in sort of this significant loan growth that we see in our future.

就像如果您考慮其中一些潛在的大負載，您是否可以將其置於不間斷負載、不確定期。因此，我認為，當你考慮更多需求面管理工具的整體保護傘來解決我們未來看到的這種顯著的貸款成長時，有很多機會。

And Ryan, today, we have almost 10% of our peak load in Colorado is available for demand management tools already. And so we'll continue to work with the commission and providers, as Brian said on -- with the distribution bill that we just -- that was just passed in Colorado. So there's an opportunity here, but we do have a very full demand response program already in existence in Colorado.

Ryan，今天，我們科羅拉多州尖峰負載的近 10% 已經可用於需求管理工具。因此，我們將繼續與委員會和提供者合作，正如布萊恩所說，我們剛剛在科羅拉多州通過了分配法案。所以這裡有一個機會，但我們確實在科羅拉多州已經有了一個非常全面的需求響應計劃。

Thank you. And then do you have a way of quantifying what percentage of historical wildfire risk has been reduced or will be reduced by the implementation of the current WMP? And how do you see this risk evolving in the coming years?

謝謝。那麼，您是否有辦法量化目前的理財計畫的實施已減少或將減少歷史野火風險的百分比？您如何看待未來幾年這種風險的演變？

I don't think we've got a quantitative number for you today. But as I've made in my prepared remarks, as I think about the operational mitigations that we put in place dramatically reduce real-time wildfire risk in our business, we do this on a daily basis enterprise-wide. And that affords us the time to go in and then do some of the situational awareness and some hardening and enhanced operational things that we want to do in our system.

我認為我們今天沒有為您提供量化數字。但正如我在準備好的演講中所說的那樣，當我想到我們採取的營運緩解措施大大降低了我們業務中的即時野火風險時，我們每天都會在整個企業範圍內這樣做。這使我們有時間進行一些態勢感知以及我們想要在系統中執行的一些強化和增強的操作操作。

Today, the tools we have are pretty blunt tools, and we'd like to get to more surgical use of those tools over time. And that's a big piece of what our wildfire mitigation plans do is use the operational tools we got today, make them more surgical so they're less customer impactful over time.

如今，我們擁有的工具相當生硬，隨著時間的推移，我們希望能夠更多地使用這些工具。我們的野火緩解計畫所做的很大一部分就是使用我們今天獲得的操作工具，使它們更加手術化，這樣隨著時間的推移，它們對客戶的影響就會減少。

Yeah. And Ryan, if you read our wildfire mitigation plan in Colorado, we say that there are, in WMP, investments and plan that will reduce our risk similar to that of what we see in the leading utilities in this space.

是的。Ryan，如果您閱讀了我們在科羅拉多州的野火緩解計劃，我們會說，在WMP 中，有一些投資和計劃將降低我們的風險，類似於我們在該領域領先的公用事業公司中看到的風險。

Thank you for the time.

謝謝你的時間。

Thank you, sir. We do not have any further questions at this time. I'll turn the call back to CFO, Brian Van Abel, for closing remarks. Thank you.

謝謝您，先生。目前我們沒有任何進一步的問題。我將把電話轉回給財務長布萊恩‧範‧阿貝爾 (Brian Van Abel)，讓其作結語。謝謝。

Thank you all for participating in our earnings call this morning. Please contact our Investor Relations team with any follow-up questions.

感謝大家參加今天早上的財報電話會議。如有任何後續問題，請聯絡我們的投資者關係團隊。

Thank you very much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference. We wish everyone a good day. And you may now disconnect.

非常感謝您，先生。女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。我們祝福大家都有美好的一天。您現在可以斷開連線。