Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp 2026 Q2 Earnings Call

Please go ahead. Thank you, operator.

Good morning, everyone. We appreciate you attending our second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Joining me on the call today will be Rod West, Chief Executive Officer, and Rob Stefani, Chief Financial Officer, who will share prepared remarks. Following their remarks, they will be available to answer your questions along with other members of the management team during a Q&A session. To accompany today's earnings call, we have a supplemental webcast presentation available on our website, algonquinpower.com. Our financial statements and management discussion and analysis are also available on the website, as well as on SEDAR+ and EDGAR. We would like to remind you that our discussion during the call will include certain forward-looking information and non-GAAP measures. Actual results could differ materially from any forecast or projection contained in such forward-looking information.

Additionally, all net earnings information to be discussed today is for continuing operations and is attributable to the common shareholders of Algonquin. Certain material factors and assumptions were applied in making the forecasts and projections reflected in such forward-looking information. Please note and review the related disclaimers located on slide two of our earnings call presentation at the investor relations section of our website at algonquinpower.com. Please also refer to our most recent MD&A filed on SEDAR+ and EDGAR and available on our website for additional important information on these items. On the call this morning, Rod will provide a business update, and Rob will follow with the details of our financial results. We'll open the line for questions.

We kindly ask that you restrict your questions to two, then follow up with us after the call if you have any additional questions to allow others the opportunity to participate. With that, I'll turn things over to Rod.

Thanks, Brian. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Our second quarter 2026 has been another step forward for Algonquin on our path to premier. As I've stated consistently since I've arrived, a premier pure-play regulated utility earns its standing through consistent execution, a constructive regulatory compact, and disciplined financial and operational management. These attributes aim to position the company to deliver long-term sustainable value to shareholders, customers, the communities we serve, and our employees. As we will discuss in a moment, this quarter's results reflect all of those, build on the measurable progress we've made since last year, and keep us on track to meet our adjusted net earnings per share forecast for 2026 and 2027. In short, we are once again advancing toward our goal of becoming a premier pure-play regulated utility.

Taking measure of our strategic priorities for the year, I'm pleased with the progress we've made in the second quarter. On the regulatory side, we're pleased to achieve progress on, or conclusions to, several of our rate cases. The Missouri Public Service Commission determined on July 15 that we had satisfied customer service and billing performance metrics required for implementation of the previously approved Empire Electric Missouri settlement. I want to recognize the extensive and professional effort that Commission staff and our employees displayed to reach this outcome, and for the tremendous patience exhibited by our customers and shareholders as we underwent this process.

Additionally, we received a proposed decision for our California WEMA proceeding, an order approving a settlement for Empire Electric Kansas, a final order for our California water utilities, and new rate case filings at New York Water, Empire Electric Arkansas, EnergyNorth Gas, and two water utilities in Arizona. We continue to await an order on our Arizona Litchfield Park Water and Sewer rate case and continue to work towards completing new filings at Granite State Electric, Empire Electric Oklahoma, and a Missouri large load tariff before year's end. Moreover, we filed a case with FERC requesting conversion for our electric transmission projects to a projected test year versus a historic test year, including CWIP into rate base under a transmission formula rate. This rate request, though small, could set the foundation for regulatory treatment of our SPP transmission line project over the next few years. One additional update. In the second quarter, we captured approval from the Department of Energy for the reimbursement of $5 million of expenses related to an AMI grant in California that was reinstated earlier this year.

In summary, I'm pleased to see in the second quarter that we've made continued progress on this year's priority list. I do want to take a moment on slide six to address our announcement regarding the intended re-domicile of Algonquin to the United States. At a high level, we see this as an important strategic step for the company, and one that we expect will create meaningful benefits for shareholders over time. Today, over 80% of our operations are located in the United States, with less than 5% in Canada. Redomiciling to the U.S. would better align our corporate structure with our assets and where we expect to grow.

As we've discussed before, it would also support our efforts to reduce cross-border tax inefficiencies. We've described them as tax friction, and over time, we believe it would strengthen our financial profile, broaden our access to capital, and create a path to inclusion in certain U.S. equity indices and funds. From a structural standpoint, we expect to complete the redomicile to Delaware through a court-approved plan of arrangement under the Canada Business Corporations Act. We expect to establish our headquarters in Chicago, where our senior executive leadership team would be based, while maintaining our significant presence in Oakville, Ontario. I want to emphasize that this does not change how we operate our utilities, serve our customers, or satisfy our regulatory obligations.

In terms of timing, we expect to seek shareholder approval in the first half of 2027, to complete the redomicile following the receipt of the required shareholder and regulatory approvals and satisfaction of customary conditions. Overall, we believe this positions us to more effectively execute on our strategic priorities and enhance long-term shareholder value. Turning to slides seven and eight, focusing a bit more on our regulatory strategy, we continue to prioritize earlier dialogue with stakeholders to identify areas of common ground, as well as advancing more pragmatic filings. We expect this to deliver fair regulatory outcomes that allow us the opportunity to capture both recovery of reasonable costs and returns on our investments for the benefit of our customers. I'm pleased to note that in aggregate, this is playing out in a balanced manner.

In Missouri, the commission's July 15th order approved implementation of $97 million in annualized revenue adjustments effective on August 3rd. We continue to make regulatory progress in Kansas, where the Corporation Commission approved our settlement agreement for an $8.8 million revenue adjustment and a provision for 50% of wind revenues for year one. The settlement included a black box stipulation for authorized equity ratios and ROE. Out west in California, the California Public Utilities Commission issued a constructive proposed decision in our WEMA proceeding, which authorizes a $58.1 million recovery in wildfire costs, or approximately 75% of our requested recovery. Consistent with standard practices of how other California utility peers have accounted for WEMA and similar proceeding outcomes, we excluded the impact of the final outcome from our adjusted net earnings per share results.

Also in California, we received an order approving an alternate proposed decision for our Apple Valley and Park Water utility cases. For those utilities, the commission approved a combined revenue reduction of $2.7 million and a retroactive true-up to July 2025, totaling $3.1 million for that revenue reduction. In Arizona, our settlement agreement and a final decision regarding formula rate plans remains pending at Litchfield Park Water and Sewer. The ALJ issued a recommended opinion and order, and we've asked the commission for a final decision this month. For new rate cases, New York Water filed its rate case requesting a $38.1 million revenue adjustment based on a 10% return on equity and a 48% equity ratio for a proposed rate year starting May of next year.

Empire Electric Arkansas filed its rate case requesting $8.4 million based on a 10% ROE and a 53.4% cap structure with the proposed implementation date of spring of next year. EnergyNorth also recently filed its rate case with a $35.8 million rate request based on a 10.25% ROE with a 52% cap structure, and we expect to have permanent rates implemented in the summer of next year. Turning ahead to slide nine, I'll add a few comments regarding our evolving regulatory and legislative landscape. On the operations front on June 17th, we received our Certificate of Convenience and Necessity, or the CCN, from the Missouri Public Service Commission. This milestone achievement is for one of our most significant capital projects, where we're deploying 250 megawatts of new gas-fired generation to meet customer demand and Southwest Power Pool requirements.