TXNM Energy Inc

NYSE:TXNM

Q3-2020 Earnings Call

[Operator]

[00:00:04] Good morning and welcome to the PNM Resources third quarter Twenty twenty conference call, all participants will be in a listen. Only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal conference specialist by pressing the star key, followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions, to ask a question. You may press star, then one on your touchtone phone and to withdraw your question, please press star. Then to please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Lisa Goodman, director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, ma'am. Thank you, Jack.

[Lisa Goodman, Director of Investor Relations]

[00:00:36] And thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning for the PNM Resources Third Quarter 2020 conference call. Please note that the presentation for this conference call and other supporting documents are available on our website at PNM Resources Dotcom. Joining me today are PNM Resources Chairman, President and CEO Pat Vincent on and Don, our senior vice president and Chief Financial Officer, along with other members of senior management. Before I turn the call over to Pat, I need to remind you that some of the information provided this morning should be considered forward looking statements pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We caution you that all of the forward looking statements are based upon current expectations and estimates and that PNM resources assumes no obligation to update this information. These forward looking statements also include statements regarding the potential business combination transaction between PNM resources and advocates for a detailed discussion of factors affecting PNM resources results. Please refer to our current and future annual reports on form tankas quarterly reports on Form Tinku, as well as reports on Form 8-K filed with the SEC. Additional information with respect to the proposed business combination transaction can be found in the forthcoming proxy statement, which we will file with the SEC. Information regarding the interests of participants and the solicitation of proxies in connection with the proposed transaction will be included in the proxy statement and other relevant materials. PNM Resources intends to file with the SEC, but with that I will turn the call over to pass.

[Pat Vincent-Collawn, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer]

[00:02:22] Thank you, Lisa. Good morning, everyone, and thanks to each of you for joining us today. And yes, it is the day before Halloween and I'm sure all of you were wondering what costumes we are in this year. We've been political characters, world leaders. Chuck, who is here with us today, was an incredibly convincing Kim Jong un. And we were Western characters, characters. One of our thoughts this year was posing for the ferry Back to the Future poster showing Doc telling Marty, whatever happens, don't go to Twenty twenty. But, you know, we argued over who got to be doc and who got to be Marty and who got to be Einstein. So this year, we ended up being the scariest characters we could think of.

[00:03:07] And yes, that is ourselves. So now let's begin on slide four. Our gap earnings per share in the third quarter of Twenty twenty are a dollar fifty two ongoing earnings per share are a dollar forty compared to a dollar thirty one in the third quarter of last year.

[00:03:27] Higher summer temperatures increased earnings again this quarter, including the hottest August in New Mexico in more than a century. We set aside a portion of those earnings to fund additional customer relief programs. And we'll talk more about that in a minute. And we updated our earnings guidance range to reflect our revised expectations for Twenty twenty.

[00:03:50] We are turning the midpoint of this range of 223 to to 31 per share. Don will provide more on the financial details. Last week, we announced a strategic merger with Auburn Gribbs, those companies are focused on ESG infrastructure growth and the transition to clean energy. This combination creates a larger, more diverse entity that provides TNM and Tampoe with the resources to take their next steps forward. We've structured a transaction that provides benefits to customers, communities, employees and shareholders. We expect to close in the fourth quarter of next year. In the meantime, we are focused on executing our business plan and delivering safe, reliable, affordable and sustainable energy to customers. We have carried forward our investment plan to 2024 with a continued focus on TNT infrastructure that supports a reliable, resilient grid in New Mexico and Texas. Three to five five, I'll walk through the steps for approval of the merger. We expect to file our proxy in the latter part of December with a shareholder meeting and vote in February. On the regulatory side, we are currently working on our filings for the New Mexico and Texas Commission, which should be submitted in November. This will be followed soon after by the other remaining filings. In New Mexico, we will delay our general rate review and decoupling until after we receive transaction approval from the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. We still have the ability to continue with rainmaking filings under the annual furch formula rate filing and two costs and costs filing at Tempe.

[00:05:57] Turning to slide six, all comers or cover some of our environmental, social and governance highlights for the third quarter.

[00:06:06] We continue to provide environmental leadership and lead by example with our own goals, in addition to partnering with communities and customers to make a more meaningful impact.

[00:06:18] We announced an agreement to partner with Sandia National Laboratories in R&D projects focused on energy, resiliency, clean energy and national security. Our combined expertize will advance New Mexico as a clean energy leader and help fill the technology gap in providing emissions free energy.

[00:06:42] Caring for our communities is part of our core values, and we are committed to finding big and small ways to drive positive change in the world around us. We continue to foster our relationships with tribal communities throughout New Mexico, including with our new CNN tribal fiber plan to support online learning, economic development, health care and public safety.

[00:07:09] Our teams stand ready to assist. It's how we operate.

[00:07:16] Our strongest highlight for the quarter relates to customer support. Many of our customers have been staying at home during the pandemic and record high August temperatures led to increased customer bills. Here I am set aside two million dollars of shareholder money to create its coveted customer relief programs to provide additional assistance to residential and small business customers who are behind on their electric bills.

[00:07:46] We also found a nonprofit partner that could match our donations with Kahrizak funding to make this program go twice as far.

[00:07:56] Even before this program, our focus on providing an excellent customer experience has not gone unnoticed.

[00:08:04] In recent industry rankings by J.D. Power, Pan Am was among the top electric utilities for improvement in our scores based on our response to covid-19. Before I hand things over to Don to take a look at the numbers, I want to give a special recognition to our customer experience team for the work they have done to show our best side to our customers and live our core values. With that, I will turn the presentation over to Don for the financial details.

[Don Tarry]

[00:08:36] Thank you, Pat, and good morning, everyone. I'll start on Slide eight with an overview of our dollar 40 of ongoing EPS for the third quarter compared to last year. We went into the quarter expecting a decrease due to the 10 cents of weather impact in the third quarter of twenty nineteen. Instead, we saw an increase at TNM as residential usage grew higher as more customers are staying home in response to covid related business restrictions. And as summer temperatures peaked, the cooling degree days for the quarter in total were very similar to prior years. But a greater portion of the days and usage fell into August this year. When customers usage is particularly sensitive to hot temperatures and higher seasonal rates are in effect. This decrease more than offset the decline in September, when temperatures drop below prior year levels and came in closer to normal. Denim is also benefiting year over year from the refinancing of debt at lower interest rates that we discussed last quarter. Tempe hit a new all system peak during the third quarter, but an overall decrease in cooling degree days compared to twenty nineteen offset this increase rate relief from TI cost and cost filings were offset by an increase in planned operational spending and higher depreciation and property taxes from new capital investments. Turning to slide nine, I'll cover the covid related load trends that we saw in the third quarter, as well as what we have seen in October, that PNM residential usage continues to be around five percent higher, while commercial usage continues to be down around 10 percent.

[00:10:20] At teenyboppers, increases from volumetric load continue to offset decreases in demand base load on slide 10. We have increased our twenty twenty guidance at the beginning of the month and are firmly in this range of two dollars and 23 cents to two dollars and 31 cents with a target at the midpoint of two dollars and 27 cents. The increase guidance reflects the higher load and weather experience through Q3 that refinancings and lower interest rates and a reduced level of property tax increases based on settlements with the state. As we finish out the year, planned increases in operational spending will reduce fourth quarter earnings below prior levels. We will focus on completing plant maintenance that was deferred from earlier this year, along with work on vegetation management, system outage prevention and restoration and incident response planning now turning to slide 11. We have rolled out our investment plan to twenty twenty for the five year, four point one billion plan continues to focus on transmission and distribution infrastructure investments. That are necessary to maintain maintain a reliable, secure and resilient grid and support the transition to clean energy to animes wired for the future investment continue as well as and BS investment to expand its transmission system as supported by IRKA.

[00:11:46] In fact, teenyboppers investment increased by 30 million in 2021, primarily to support the interconnections of several new and storage facilities throughout the service territory, as well as relief transmission congestion in North Texas. We previously communicated that we will be returning 114 megawatts of lease capacity at Palos Verdes in 2023, and we'll look to propose a plan for replacement power for those megawatts in the first quarter of 2021. We have also been transparent about our intention to exit the Four Corners power plant before the contract expires in 2031. We have seen significant progress on this front and we'll announce a plan soon that will bring customer savings from an earlier exit while allowing them to execute on its plan to be coal free on Slide 12 with the announcement of our merger that is expected to close next year. We are showing our earnings power for Twenty twenty and Twenty twenty, one that reflects our business until the close of the acquisition. The earnings power after that point will be realized through and grits business plans. Twenty twenty has been updated to reflect our new guidance range and a midpoint of two dollars and 27 cents as we move into 2021.

[00:13:06] Remember that EPS is calculated on the increased number of shares to reflect the December drawdown of our forward equity offering from earlier this year. Rate base at PNM Furch and GNP grows as a result of the investments in infrastructure. We have revised the financing plans to reflect the acquisition of the Western Spirit Transmission Project with short term debt until we close the merger. I'll wrap up on Slide 13 with our credit metrics. Both S&P and Moody's reported last week following our announcement that the transaction would be credit positive as S&P raised their outlook to positive for PNM Resources TNM a. and empty. The comments from the rating agencies demonstrate that the new entity will be much better equipped to provide low cost funding that will support investment growth and ultimately benefit the customers of PNM and Tenente. The larger company also provides other benefits, such as grade purchasing power for our supply chain and procurement, the ability to share best practices and other knowledge sharing opportunities. Having a broader view of the fundamental transformation that is happening with electric utilities can only help PNM and TENENTE provide better service to customers. With that, I'll turn the time back over to Pat.

[Pat Vincent-Collawn, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer]

[00:14:30] Thanks, John. I open it up for questions. Let me take one more opportunity to thank the team here at PNM Resources for continuing to perform brilliantly in these unique times. Our merger announcement adds to our special circumstances for this year, and I'm excited to provide new and bigger opportunities to our teams and proven their expertize and dedication in serving our customers. So, Chuck, please, let's open it up for questions.

[Operator]

[00:15:02] Yes, ma'am. We will now begin the question and answer session to ask a question. You may press star, then one on your touchtone phone. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys to withdraw your question, please, press star than to at this time will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Again, if you have a question, please, press star, then one.

[Pat Vincent-Collawn, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer]

[00:15:39] All right, everyone, to quiet group this morning, so thank you for joining us this morning. We look forward to seeing you all virtually during our meetings in November. Please stay healthy, stay safe and remember to vote. Thank you all.

[Operator]

[00:15:58] The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation, you may now disconnect.