PPL posted third-quarter adjusted earnings of $347 million ($0.51/share) compared with $297 million ($0.44/share) for the same period last year, a 16% increase on a per-share basis.
The company increased its forecast for per-share earnings growth to 6% through 2017, based on higher-than-expected earnings from the company’s regulated operations in the U.K., CEO William Spence said. The forecast range had been 4 to 6%.
Spence also credited the projected earnings growth to more than $3 billion in annual investments in infrastructure in the U.S. and U.K.
The reporting period was the first full quarter since the Allentown, Pa., company spun off its supply division into Talen Energy.
PPL’s reported earnings for the first nine months of the year reflected a loss of $915 million ($1.36/share), primarily due to the spinoff.
Earnings from ongoing operations of PPL’s U.K. regulated segment for the quarter increased $0.01/share over the third quarter of 2014. There, lower income taxes and depreciation expenses were offset by lower utility revenues, the company said.
In PPL’s Kentucky regulated segment, earnings from ongoing operations were up $0.04/share year-over-year, mostly due to higher returns on environmental capital investments and base electricity rates. However, that segment also experienced steeper operation and maintenance expenses.
In its Pennsylvania regulated segment, PPL reported a third-quarter bump of $0.01/share compared with last year in earnings from ongoing operations. The company attributed that to larger transmission and distribution margins, partially offset by a greater depreciation, O&M expenses and income taxes.
The Public Utility Commission of Ohio should rule by the end of the year on power purchase agreements that would guarantee income to some of American Electric Power’s coal plants, CEO Nicholas Akins said in the company’s third-quarter earnings call.
The decision, Akins said, will have an impact on whether AEP decides to sell some of its merchant fleet. “The PPA is very, very important to our standing in Ohio overall, and whether we keep that portion of the generation or not.”
AEP reported operating earnings for the quarter of $521 million ($1.06/share), compared with $493 million ($1.01/share) for the same period in 2014. The “strong earnings performance” gave the company confidence to increase its 2015 earnings-per-share forecast to $3.67 to $3.77/share from $3.50 to $3.65/share, Akins said.
“We saw positive load growth in all major retail customer classes in the third quarter. While sales to the oil and gas sector and those related to the auto industry remain strong, other industrial sectors are under pressure due to the strong dollar and the weak global economy,” the CEO said.
AEP’s vertically integrated utilities reported the biggest jump in third-quarter operating earnings — $55 million compared with the same period in 2014 — reflecting the impact of favorable weather and rate outcomes, the company said.
Public Service Enterprise Group’s third-quarter operating earnings benefited from hot weather, increased investment in infrastructure and the continued low cost of natural gas, CEO Ralph Izzo said.
The Newark, N.J., company reported adjusted earnings of $403 million ($0.80/share) compared with $393 million ($0.77/share) last year.
Izzo noted that since the beginning of the year, the company’s five-year capital program has increased by 20% to $15.6 billion.
That boost in spending, he said, should drive “double digit” growth in the rate base through 2019. The company also is adding 1,300 MW of gas-fired combined-cycle capacity to PSEG Power’s generating fleet.
Public Service Electric and Gas reported operating earnings of $222 million ($0.44/share) for the third quarter compared with $200 million ($0.39) last year. The earnings were helped by warmer-than-normal weather, a slight increase in electric demand and revenue recovery on infrastructure-related investment programs. They also reflected an increase in pension expense.
After having retired about 1,800 MW in the second quarter of less efficient capacity that didn’t meet New Jersey’s environmental standards, PSEG Power reported operating earnings for the third quarter of $170 million ($0.33/share) compared with $171 million ($0.34/share) last year.
Exelon is on track to deliver its best year of earnings since 2012, CEO Christopher Crane told analysts in the company’s third-quarter earnings call.
“At the utilities, we’re set to invest $3.7 billion this year in needed infrastructure and enhancements and grid reliability and resiliency modifications, part of more than a $16 billion investment that’s planned over the next five years,” he said.
The Chicago company reported third-quarter operating earnings of $757 million ($0.83/share) compared with $676 million ($0.78/share) for the same period in 2014.
Exelon credited higher revenue from the company’s generation business, favorable weather in the Commonwealth Edison and PECO territories and lower storm costs for the Baltimore Gas and Electric territory. That was offset in part by higher contracting costs and interest payments on higher outstanding debt.
Crane highlighted three key initiatives for the year: PJM’s new Capacity Performance product; a legislative initiative to impose a customer surcharge to fund Illinois nuclear plants; and its proposed merger with Pepco Holdings Inc.
“For the 2018/2019 auction, we cleared a significant number of megawatts at higher priced zones, and these prices exceeded our own internal expectations,” he said. (See PJM Transition Auction Means Reprieve for Exelon Nukes.)
Regarding the legislation, which Exelon calls the Low Carbon Portfolio Standard, Crane expressed disappointment that more hadn’t been accomplished. However, he said, “The overall outlook for the nuclear fleet has improved as a result of policy and market factors, namely the constructive results of the capacity auction, the positive results from the Illinois Power Agency’s capacity procurement for 2016 and the long-term impact of the Environmental Protection Agency’s new carbon reduction rules.” (See Exelon-Backed Bill Proposes Surcharge to Fund Illinois Nukes.)
The proposed acquisition of PHI last week was revived by the D.C. Public Service Commission, which agreed to reconsider the deal after the companies submitted a proposed settlement reached with Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration. (See related story, DC PSC Rulings Give Exelon-PHI Merger a Shot in the Arm.)
“The deal remains an important strategic element to the future of Exelon, allowing us to shift our business mix to a more regulated and durable earnings stream,” Crane said.
CMS Energy reported third-quarter net income of $148 million ($0.53/share), a 56% increase over a year earlier.
For the first nine months, CMS has netted $417 million ($1.51/share), up 9 cents/share from last year.
CMS said the results reflected its concentration on “reinvestments in its electric and natural gas operations, affordability and transitioning to cleaner energy sources.”
The Jackson, Mich., utility adjusted its 2015 guidance by a penny from $1.86 to $1.89/share to $1.87 to $1.89/share. 2016’s full-year guidance was introduced at $1.97 to $2.01/share. CMS boosted earnings per share 7% annually between 2010 and 2014.
Consumers Energy, CMS’ principal subsidiary, has reduced natural gas costs to their lowest levels since 2001, the company reported. CMS expects an average 15% reduction in bills for residential customers over the winter as a result of abundant supply and CMS’ $400 million investment over the last five years in its gas delivery and storage system. The company said it’s committed to doubling investments on its natural gas pipeline and storage system over the next decade.
The company said it is benefiting from a rebound in Michigan’s economy. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 5% in September, the first time it has been below the U.S. average since 2000. Its GDP grew almost 14% between 2010 and 2014, the third highest in the nation behind only Texas and North Dakota.
CMS saw growth in its industrial customers in the quarter, with Chilean company Arauco announcing a new particle board manufacturing facility creating 250 jobs and General Motors adding 300 jobs as a result of expansion at its manufacturing facilities in Flint and Grand Rapids.
DTE Energy’s Profits Rise with Milder Weather
DTE Energy reported third-quarter earnings of $265 million ($1.47/share), a 70% increase from 2014’s $156 million ($0.88/share).
The Detroit utility said its higher earnings were due “to a return to a more normal level of weather and storm activity.”
DTE’s operating earnings, which exclude non-recurring items, certain mark-to-market adjustments and discontinued operations, were $252 million ($1.40/share) for the quarter, up 39% from the $181 million ($1.02/share) a year earlier.
DTE has increased its 2015 operating earnings guidance to $4.65 to $4.91/share from $4.48 to $4.72.
“This move was driven by continued strong performance within our non-utility businesses, which provided us with the platform to increase our guidance for 2015,” CFO Peter Oleksiak said in a release.
In 2016, the company expects operating earnings of about $4.93/share, consistent with a predicted 5 to 6% growth rate.
“I am really pleased with our third-quarter financial results, but I am also really pleased with a number of other recent accomplishments by the company that are important to our state, as well as the communities and customers we serve,” CEO Gerry Anderson said.
He cited DTE’s role in adding 9,500 solar panels in Ann Arbor Township, Romulus and Ypsilanti, Mich., during the quarter and progress on its proposed NEXUS natural gas pipeline, a 250-mile project that would deliver 1.5 billion cubic feet per day from eastern Ohio to southeastern Michigan.
DTE and partner Spectra Energy expect to seek FERC approval for the project in the fourth quarter. The companies already have ordered the pipe and signed contracts for engineering, procurement, construction and project management.
DTE, which reported $1.7 billion in capital expenditures for the first three quarters, expects to spend a total of $2.5 billion for 2015, down from its previous guidance of $2.6 billion.
Xcel Energy last week reported third-quarter earnings of $426 million, a 15% increase over 2014’s $369 million. Its earnings per share of 84 cents was 4 cents more than analyst projections.
Xcel, which operates in eight states, credited the results to several recent rate increases, its “ongoing, successful” regulatory initiatives and “continued cost management efforts.” The Minneapolis-based company said it resolved major regulatory proceedings in Colorado, Minnesota and San Diego and saw favorable legislation passed in Minnesota and Texas.
Xcel CEO Ben Fowke said the company is well positioned to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, pointing to its recently filed Minnesota resource plan that reduces carbon emissions by 60% from 2005 levels by 2030.
Northern States Power, Xcel’s operating company in Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas, plans to be 63% carbon-free by that time by adding 1,800 MW of wind and 1,400 MW of utility-scale solar, building a 230-MW natural gas plant in North Dakota and replacing its two Sherco coal generators with a 780-MW combined-cycle plant on their Minnesota site. The plan also assumes the operation of the Monticello and Prairie Island nuclear plants through their license expirations in the early 2030s.
“This proposal will advance our shift to renewable energy, add cleaner natural gas-powered generation to our system and allow us to protect reliability, jobs and community investments,” Fowke said during a conference call Oct. 29.
Given the good news, Xcel tightened its 2015 earnings guidance range from $2 to $2.15/share to $2.05 to $2.15/share. It also stated its 2016 earnings guidance of $2.12-$2.27/share.
“We’re very confident of reaching our targets,” Fowke said.
Xcel shares, however, closed down 47 cents to $35.56 after the earnings call.
Fowke told analysts Xcel will seek rate increases in Minnesota for the next three years, taking advantage of a new state law that allows multiyear requests — and saving legal expenses in the process.
Fowke also said Xcel has transferred about $100 million worth of Kansas and Oklahoma transmission facilities (230 miles of 345-kV transmission and associated equipment) from its Southwestern Public Service affiliate to its independent transmission companies. Xcel last year created Xcel Energy Southwest Transmission and Xcel Energy Transmission Development to compete for FERC Order 1000 projects in SPP and MISO.
“We felt it was an opportune [time] to move those assets into one of our transcos,” Fowke said. “There’s some value to having actual assets inside a transco. It gives you more gravitas when we get to the Order 1000 bidding process.”
Entergy reported a third-quarter loss of $723 million (-$4.40/share) Nov. 2, primarily as a result of the decision to close its Pilgrim and FitzPatrick nuclear plants. The New Orleans-based company’s quarterly earnings compared unfavorably with its profit of $230 million ($1.27/share) a year earlier.
Entergy has announced plans to close both nuclear plants. It says neither plant can compete in the wholesale markets due to low power prices.
Operational earnings per share rose to $1.90 from $1.68, excluding the impairment charges. However, that was still below analysts’ projected earnings of $2/share, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue fell 2.5%, from $3.46 billion in the prior-year quarter to $3.37 billion this year.
“We realize these numbers, while temporary, are disappointing,” said CEO Leo Denault during a conference call. “We remain focused on the long-term issues … and the best interests of our shareholders. In the near term, these decisions to close nuclear plants are very difficult to make, knowing the effect they have on our key stakeholders.”
Entergy updated its 2015 operational earnings guidance to $5.50 to $6.10/share, up from $5.10 to $5.90/share and more than analyst predictions of $5.30. The revised guidance reflects warmer weather and positive tax-benefit expectations, and lower fuel, refueling outage and depreciation and amortization expenses resulting from the nuclear impairments.
Offsetting that rosy outlook is Entergy’s sluggish growth in residential and industrial sales, the latter up 1.8%, far below the company’s original guidance of 4.4%.
“We’ve seen some new expansions at plants, but the ramp-ups are lower than expected,” said Theo Bunting, group president of utility operations. “We’ve seen lower volumes with our existing customers and some comeback in the petroleum-refining area in the third quarter, but we do have an existing customer going through an outage.”
Entergy executives said continued investments and favorable regulatory rulings in Arkansas and Texas remain key drivers for future growth. The company expects to close its acquisition of the Union Power Station and its four 495-MW, combined-cycle combustion turbines in southern Arkansas by year’s end.
“We need to get the Union deal done and resolve those regulatory actions,” said Executive Vice President and CFO Drew Marsh. “It’s important to get those investments into the rate base. Sales growth has been helpful, but it is really a lag.”
“We want to provide a glide path to a more consistent, predictable dividend growth,” Denault said. “In the past, we’ve taken a lumpy approach to it, raising the dividend 29 cents one year, taking a year off and then raising it 10 cents the next. Looking into the future, we hope to provide a consistent growth.”
Entergy stock closed at $68.55 after the earnings announcement, up 39 cents. However, its stock has been pummeled in 2015, losing 21.6% of its value since opening the year at $87.48.
Exelon has delayed for a year a decision on whether to mothball its Clinton reactor, the company said Thursday. CEO Chris Crane said the central Illinois plant will take part in MISO’s spring capacity auction, keeping the reactor functioning throughout the 2016/17 operating year.
The company’s decision was announced two days after MISO released a draft issues statement that acknowledged the need for design changes for retail choice states such as Illinois.
The company also cited the Illinois Power Agency’s capacity procurement for 2016 and the hope that its nuclear plants will receive a boost from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan.
“We are encouraged by MISO’s statement and the potential for market reforms that are necessary to ensure long-term reliability in Southern Illinois,” Crane said in a statement. “However, the Clinton plant remains unprofitable and more needs to be done.”
MISO currently holds its auctions in March, less than three months in advance of the June 1 start of the operating year.
For restructured states such as Illinois, the issues statement acknowledged, “MISO’s resource adequacy construct may not provide a price signal sufficiently in advance” to incent new resources or to sustain investment in existing ones.
With baseload resources retiring due to environmental rules, the growth of renewables and low natural gas prices, it said “a market that solely delivers price signals reflecting short-term excess as is the case today may become insufficient” to ensure sufficient capacity, MISO said.
“While this may pose little challenge for states with a regulated framework for making new resource investment decisions, those that depend on market prices as the primary signal may become insufficiently served by the current MISO construct in future years.”
Price Formation
In addition to highlighting the shortcomings of the current schedule, the statement also cited “year-to-year volatility and the inability to efficiently recognize the marginal reliability value of incremental capacity resources” as problems. “As a result, the price signal produced may not suffice in the future as efficient or reliable enough to serve as an investment signal in a fully competitive retail market such as Illinois.”
At the Supply Adequacy Working Group meeting Oct. 29, Jeff Bladen, MISO’s executive director of market design, said it’s too early to have a timeline for solutions, and speculation on specific solutions is “premature.”
“We wouldn’t presume to know if this can be solved in two months, six months, nine months,” he said.
The issue is a top concern within the RTO; the meeting’s operator ran out of phone lines for stakeholders seeking to listen in remotely.
FERC’s MISO liaison, Chris Miller, told the Market Subcommittee earlier in the week that the commission has not set a schedule for any action it may take in response to the Oct. 20 technical conference.
“No word on what the commission’s going to do with that information just yet,” Miller said. Post-conference comments were due Nov. 4.
Nuclear Profitability
Last year, a Chicago Tribune financial analysis found Clinton was the least profitable last year among Exelon’s six Illinois nuclear plants, which the company says have suffered due to competition from low-cost natural gas and wind generation.
The Tribune said Clinton has earned below $29/MWh in recent years while the plant’s lone reactor requires between $45 and $55/MWh to meet operating costs.
Exelon has said that three of the six nuclear stations — Clinton, Quad Cities and Byron — are unprofitable.
The company cited the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s estimate that the loss of two Illinois nuclear power stations would more than double the emissions reductions required by the Clean Power Plan.
Exelon has requested that Illinois expand its clean energy subsidies to include nuclear power alongside wind and solar energy. Those critical of the Exelon subsidies have called them a nuclear “bailout” and said they would cost ratepayers around $300 million annually in surcharges. (See Exelon-Backed Bill Proposes Surcharge to Fund Illinois Nukes.)
Exelon says its year-long delay on Clinton will also give Illinois policymakers “more time to consider policy reforms and potential legislation that will level the playing field for all forms of carbon-free electricity.”
The 28-year-old Clinton generating station has a workforce of nearly 700 and is one of DeWitt County’s largest employers.
Entergy said Monday it will close the 838-MW James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant near Syracuse, N.Y., in late 2016 or early 2017. The company blamed reduced plant revenues due to low natural gas prices, a market design that doesn’t compensate nuclear power for carbon-free emissions and high operational costs.
The decision, which was expected, was announced in conjunction with the company’s third-quarter earnings. Entergy had already announced it was taking a $1.6 billion impairment charge as it wrote down FitzPatrick and the Pilgrim nuclear plant in Massachusetts, which it is also closing. (See Entergy may Announce FitzPatrick’s Fate this Week.)
“Given the financial challenges our merchant power plants face from sustained wholesale power price declines and other unfavorable market conditions, we have been assessing each asset,” Entergy CEO Leo Denault said in a statement.
James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant (Source: Entergy)
“Entergy and New York state officials worked tirelessly over the past two months to reach a constructive and mutually beneficial agreement to avoid a shutdown but were unsuccessful,” he added. FitzPatrick, which has been operating since 1975, employs more than 600 workers.
Current and forecast power prices have fallen by about $10/MWh, costing FitzPatrick $60 million in annual revenue, the company said.
It also blamed a “flawed market design” that “fails to recognize or adequately compensate nuclear generators” for their fuel diversity and environmental benefits.
Like Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee, which Entergy closed in 2014, FitzPatrick has a high cost structure because it is a single unit. (See Entergy Closing Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.)
Entergy said it has informed NYISO and the New York Public Service Commission that it will retire the plant at the end of the current fuel cycle. Under PSC rules, closure of units 80 MW or larger will prompt a reliability study for the affected region.
Unlike other areas in New York with either inadequate generation or constrained transmission, however, FitzPatrick is located where there is excess power supply. The plant is in Central New York Zone C, which has generating capacity of 6,650 MW to meet peak summer demand of about 2,574 MW, according to NYISO.
“We’ve had NYISO do analyses on whether FitzPatrick qualifies for a reliability-must-run agreement, and that most recent analysis says that it does not,” Bill Mohl, president of Entergy Wholesale Commodities, said on a call with financial analysts.
Entergy said the plant’s nuclear decommissioning trust had a balance of $729 million as of Sept. 30, $77 million more than the minimum for license termination, according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission report earlier this year.
The trust is held by the New York Power Authority, which sold the plant to Entergy in 2000. The parties are discussing whether NYPA would transfer the decommissioning trust and the liability to Entergy or enter into a fixed-price decommissioning contract with Entergy for the amount in the trust.
With FitzPatrick’s closure, Entergy will have one generator in operation in New York state, the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said his preference is to close that facility due to its proximity to New York City.
Exelon’s proposed acquisition of Pepco Holdings Inc. has been re-energized by the D.C. Public Service Commission, which unanimously agreed to reopen the case and denied intervenor status to a group that wants to buy PHI’s district assets.
The companies also won approval of an expedited timeline for reconsideration, with closing briefs due Dec. 18.
On Oct. 30, regulators rejected a late request to intervene by D.C. Public Power, a newly formed advocacy group that has proposed to buy Pepco’s district holdings post-merger and create a non-profit utility. (See Group Proposes to Buy Pepco DC’s Assets.)
Overturf
“We are obviously disappointed with the PSC’s decision, and at this time we are evaluating our options and considering what’s next,” CEO Michael Overturf said.
Meanwhile, seven of the D.C. Council’s 13 members have sent a letter to the PSC adding their support to a settlement agreement brokered by Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration that would offer the district $78 million in public benefits.
The letter, dated Oct. 16, was not posted to the PSC site until after the commissioners voted Oct. 28 to reopen the matter. Among the signers were council members Brianne Nadeau and Brandon Todd, who previously had expressed to the PSC their opposition to the deal.
Nadeau
Nadeau posted the letter to her website, saying she had “decided to support the proposed settlement, which addresses her original concerns by protecting ratepayers through early 2019, providing assistance for low-income citizens and including a commitment to expand solar and wind power along with millions to support additional renewable energy development.”
Neither the council nor the mayor has a formal role in the decision-making process. The three-member commission unanimously rejected the merger in August, ruling that it was not in the public interest. However, Commissioner Willie Phillips issued a partial dissent, saying he was “disappointed in the loss of the many opportunities” the merger could have brought the district. (See Mayor’s Settlement Puts DC PSC on the Spot in Exelon-Pepco Deal.)
The acquisition already has been approved by FERC and regulators in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia. In Maryland, however, the Office of People’s Counsel is trying to get a court-ordered review of the PSC’s decision. That effort was joined by Attorney General Brian Frosh, who filed an amicus brief in Queen Anne’s County Circuit Court on Oct. 28.
In agreeing to reconsider the merger in the district, PSC Chairwoman Betty Ann Kane said, “We will be releasing more of the details of the process, but we are all committed to seeing that this proceeds in a manner that is open, that is transparent, that is fair and that gives the commission the information and the opportunity that it needs to make a decision on whether this proposal is in the public interest.”
While winning over a number of former critics, notably People’s Counsel Sandra Mattavous-Frye and Attorney General Karl Racine, the settlement failed to garner the support of intervenors representing environmental and green energy interests. They say the fundamental conflict between Exelon’s commitment to its merchant generation and the district’s move toward renewable energy — a concern cited by the PSC in its denial — remains.
Exelon and Pepco requested a 150-day timeline for consideration of the revised deal. If the acquisition doesn’t close by Dec. 31, Exelon must buy back $2.75 billion of debt it financed to pay for the takeover at $1.01 on the dollar, CEO Christopher Crane recently told Bloomberg. Meanwhile, the company is paying $10 million per month in interest on the bonds it sold in June.
Crane also said that Exelon might walk away from the deal if it is not approved within five months.
Power DC, a coalition of public interest groups opposed to the merger, expressed disappointment with the PSC’s decision to reconsider the merger and the approved timeline. It had asked the PSC to take until June 30 to provide ample time for public input. With more than 3,000 comments, the deal has attracted the most public participation of any issue in the PSC’s history of more than a century.
“Exelon’s latest settlement offer still does not address the fundamental conflicts of interest identified by the PSC when it rejected the merger in August,” Power DC said in a statement after the Oct. 28 vote. “We will continue to work tirelessly over the coming weeks to ensure that the people are protected from this bad deal for D.C.” (See Merger Opponents Question Pepco’s Tactics.)
Expectedly, PHI was pleased with the vote.
“The procedural schedule approved by the commission has reply briefs filed on Dec. 18, which would allow for the commission’s decision sometime in the first quarter of 2016,” said Myra Oppel, PHI’s vice president for regional communications. “The schedule affords all parties and the public a fair opportunity to present their positions and ensures that the commission has a complete record to render its decision.”
PPL posted third-quarter adjusted earnings of $347 million ($0.51/share) compared with $297 million ($0.44/share) for the same period last year, a 16% increase on a per-share basis.
