Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call August 6, 2024 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Brian Dingerdissen - VP, IR and Treasurer
Christopher Franklin - President and CEO
Daniel Schuller - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Ryan Connors - Northcoast Research
Durgesh Chopra - Evercore ISI
Michael Gaugler - Janney Montgomery Scott
Jonathan Reeder - Wells Fargo
Davis Sunderland - Baird

Operator

Thank you for standing by. My name is Gini and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Essential Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]

Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference over to Brian Dingerdissen. You may begin.

Brian Dingerdissen

Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us for Essential Utilities' second quarter 2024 earnings call. This is Brian Dingerdissen, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer at Essential.

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.

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

During the course of this call, reference may be made to certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of any non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures is posted in the Investor Relations section of the company's website.

We will begin the call today with Chris Franklin, our Chairman and CEO, who will provide an update on the company. And then Dan Schuller, our CFO, will provide an overview of our financial results before Chris closes the call.

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

Christopher Franklin

Thanks Brian and good morning everyone. Thanks for joining us. Let's start with some highlights from the quarter. First, we posted GAAP earnings of $0.28 per share, which really was a strong result when you consider the weather in Pittsburgh, which is our largest natural gas service area. It was about 45% warmer than normal. This, of course, resulted in significant lower gas usage and marks the second year in a row weather has been warmer than normal. You'll recall that weather normalization is a key element of our current Peoples rate case in Pennsylvania.