Duke Energy Corporation 2026 Q2 Earnings Call

Mike, please go ahead. Thank you, Lucas, and good morning, everyone.

Welcome to Duke Energy's second quarter 2026 earnings review and business update. Leading our call today is Harry Sideris, 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. Actual results may differ from forward-looking statements due to factors disclosed in today's materials and in Duke Energy's SEC filings. The appendix of today's presentation includes supplemental information along with a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures. With that, let me turn the call over to Harry.

Thank you, Mike, and good morning, everyone. It's great to be with you for our second quarter earnings call. Today, we announced adjusted earnings per share of $1.43, continuing our strong execution in the first half of the year. The results were driven by growth at our electric utilities as we continue to make critical infrastructure investments to meet growing customer demand in our service territories. With our largest quarter still ahead of us, we remain firmly on track to achieve our 2026 guidance range of $6.55-$6.80. We are also reaffirming our long-term earnings per share growth rate of 5%-7% through 2030, and we are more confident than ever that we will deliver in the top half of the range beginning in 2028, when we expect to see accelerated growth from the economic development projects we have secured under ESAs.

Growth continues to define our service territories. CNBC recently named Ohio the top state for business with four of our states ranked in the top 10. North Carolina was recognized as the top economy for its strong economic and job growth. To meet this record demand and to continue long-term value for our customers, communities, and shareholders, we're executing on the industry's largest regulated capital plan, deploying more than $1 billion per month. We are laser-focused on disciplined execution and responsible financial stewardship as our priority has been and always will be providing customers reliable power at the lowest possible cost. Moving to slide five. We are advancing our strategic priorities, including regulatory execution.

Last month, we were pleased to reach a comprehensive settlement with North Carolina Public Staff and other interveners in our DEC rate case, building on our long track record of collaborating with stakeholders to achieve constructive regulatory outcomes. This agreement demonstrates our commitment to cost-effectively serve our customers while continuing to support investments needed to improve reliability and modernize our generation fleet. The settlement includes a 9.8% ROE, 53% equity capital structure, and the continuation of the multi-year rate plan framework. The agreement also retains the earning sharing mechanism that allows us to earn 50 basis points above the allowed ROE, up to 10.3%. Finally, we agreed to pursue discussions with interveners to reach a substantially similar settlement framework for the DEP rate case. Discussions are ongoing, and we'll update you on the progress in the coming weeks as we prepare for the hearing scheduled for August 11th.

If approved by the commission, revised customer rates are expected to remain below the national average. We expect orders on both cases by mid-November. As outlined on slide six, we continue to use every tool we can to manage costs for our customers while delivering the high quality of service they expect. Building on the tax credit sale agreement and the DEC-DEP combination savings we highlighted in Q1, we pursued an innovative strategy for the accelerated flow back of tax credits for a Florida battery project that will go online next year. By recognizing the tax credits in one year rather than over the life of the project, we're offsetting a base rate increase for customers in 2027. We also submitted an application for Department of Energy loans in May, which could represent $ billions of customer savings through reduced interest costs on eligible projects.

We recently introduced the Customer Protection Plus commitment, which reinforces the way we've already been doing business with large customers and reflects the terms of large load tariffs progressing in our jurisdictions. Our contracts ensure large users of energy pay the costs of serving their facilities, and these projects are expected to deliver $ billions in benefits for existing customers over time. The commitment is built on three core priorities. Preserve reliability, power responsible growth, and produce shared value. It aligns with the goal of the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, which we signed in late July, joining many of the hyperscale customers we serve. We appreciate our customers' engagement and the strong alignment across industries on this timely issue. We are also proud of our longstanding track record in cost efficiency, which is driven by a culture of continuous improvement.

In 2025, we ranked third amongst our electric industry peers for non-generation O&M per customer. Our efforts to manage our cost structure strengthen our ability to deliver for both customers and shareholders. We've always put customers first. Through these long-term commitments, financial protections, and careful planning, we're working to ensure growth supports reliability and creates lasting value. Slide seven shows our continued progress on our record generation build, now on track to add 15 GW of capacity by 2031, which reflects additions from our latest 10-year site plan in Florida. Starting with regulatory updates, we recently concluded hearings in North Carolina on the 2025 Carolinas Resource Plan. With newly signed ESAs, the load forecast has increased to the high load scenario, which further confirms our view that all near-term resources in the Carolinas are needed. We expect an order from the North Carolina Commission by year-end.

As we look ahead, the Carolinas Resource Plan underscores the role nuclear will play in our all-of-the-above strategy. As the operator of the largest regulated fleet in the U.S., we continue to see significant value in our existing nuclear fleet as we complete uprates and work to extend the lives of our existing units. We have subsequent license renewals approved by the NRC for two of our plants, and we're preparing to file the SLR application for the Brunswick Nuclear Plant by the end of the year. We are also evaluating the potential for new nuclear to meet future demand. We want to continue to emphasize that additional financial protections are needed before we would propose a new nuclear project.

Any structure to advance new nuclear must address first-of-a-kind and supply chain risks, provide financial risk protections for our customers and our investors, and ensure a strong balance sheet during the construction cycle. Lastly, we're executing on the construction of new dispatchable capacity, including increasing the number of gas turbines available under our framework agreement with GE Vernova to 26 to align with the next phase of build in the IRPs. The first turbine was delivered to our Person County combined cycle site in July, and the second will be delivered later this year. Our gas portfolio has approximately five gigawatts under construction and an additional two and a half gigawatts advancing through development. We've contracted with EPC partners and we're closely monitoring construction milestones, enabling us to check and adjust in real time.

As we continue to scale, we will work with our EPCs to ensure crews can seamlessly move from one project to the next, and we're prepared to leverage operational learnings and efficiencies built throughout the construction cycle. We're moving with speed and agility to ensure we complete these projects on time and on budget, maximizing the value for those we serve. We have significant construction experience, and our scope and scale give us full confidence in our ability to execute the work ahead. With that, let me turn the call over to Brian.

Thanks, Harry. Good morning, everyone. As shown on slide eight, we continue to execute our strategy at an accelerated pace while delivering strong growth with reported and adjusted earnings per share of $1.38 and $1.43 respectively, compared with $1.25 for both reported and adjusted earnings per share in the prior year. Electric utilities and infrastructure was up $0.15, driven by continued customer growth as well as infrastructure investments to reliably serve our growing jurisdictions. These drivers were partially offset by higher depreciation expense associated with our growing asset base and higher interest expense. Gas utilities and infrastructure was largely flat year-over-year, consistent with expectations in a shoulder quarter.

Finally, the other segment was up $0.03 compared to the prior year, primarily due to the expected benefit of lower interest expense resulting from the Tennessee and Florida transaction proceeds, which have reduced holding company financing needs, as well as higher market returns. Favorable weather has also contributed to our strong results through mid-year, with a colder than normal first quarter, then quickly shifting to a hot second quarter. Our generating assets perform well during these periods of high demand, contributing positively to our results. As we look forward to the back half of the year, we may have the opportunity to reinvest some of the weather benefits back into our generating facilities to ensure these assets continue operating well for our customers. This would be consistent with our demonstrated ability to exercise O&M agility in both directions over the past several years.