Duke Energy (DUK) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending March 31, 2023

May 9, 2023 10:00 a.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Hello everyone. And welcome to the Duke Energy First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. My name is Nadia and I will co-ordinating the call today.

I would now hand over to your host, Abby Motsinger, VP of Investor Relations to begin. Abby please go ahead.

Abby Motsinger – VP of IR

Thank you, Naida. And good morning, everyone. Welcome to Duke Energy's first quarter 2023 earnings review and business update.

Leading our call today is Lynn Good, Chair, President and CEO, along with Brian Savoy, Executive Vice President and CFO.

Today's discussion will include the use of non-GAAP financial measures and forward-looking information within the meaning of securities laws. Actual results may be different than forward-looking statements, and those factors are outlined herein and disclosed in Duke Energy's SEC filings. The appendix of today's presentation includes supplemental information and disclosures, along with the reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures.

So with that, I'll turn the call over to Lynn.

Lynn Good – Chair, President and CEO

Abby. Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Today, we announced adjusted earnings per share of $1.20 for the first quarter. These results reflect a $0.22 headwind from weather with January and February ranking among the warmest winter months on record across our service territories. In fact, DEP had its warmest January and February in the last 32 years. In response, we've already taken action activating agility measures across the enterprise, which Brian will walk through with you in just a moment.

With three quarters remaining, including our strongest quarters still ahead, we are reaffirming our 2023 guidance range of $5.55 to $5.75 with a midpoint of $5.65. We're also on track to deliver our long-term EPS growth rate of 5% to 7% through 2027 off the midpoint of the 2023 range.

Before I turn to our regulated utilities, I would like to provide an update on the sale of our commercial renewables business. As you know, we have separate sales processes underway for the utility scale business and the distributed energy business. We are in the late stage of the process for both transactions and we'll look to update you in the near future. We continue to anticipate proceeds in the second half of the year.

Moving to Slide 5, we're making meaningful progress in our strategic initiatives in each of our jurisdictions. In North Carolina, we recently reached a partial settlement with public staff..., who represents DEP's industrial customers and the Duke Energy Progress rate case. With agreement on approximately $3.5 billion of forward-looking capital investments in the multi-year rate plan, the settlement represents a significant milestone on our journey to modernize recovery mechanisms in North Carolina. It positions us well to continue delivering value to customers, while supporting the cash flows of the company. The settlement also provides clarity on retail rate base of approximately $12.2 billion for the historic base case and depreciation rates that largely align with DEP's proposal.