Portland General Electric Co Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Shar Pourreza - Guggenheim Partners - Analyst : Good morning. I think the prefiling deadline for the upcoming long session, the state legislature is in the few weeks, sometime around December 13th. Can you speak to any preliminary discussions around wildfire legislators at this point, be it a fund like we've seen in other states or some legal protections? So maybe just a bit more color from your prepared.

Question: Shar Pourreza - Guggenheim Partners - Analyst : Got it. Perfect. And I know Maria, you touched a little bit on sort of the industrial growth. But just in light of some of the issues Intel's having, can you maybe speak to the durability of industrial growth you're seeing? 50% of that mix is semiconductors. I guess what percentage of that is Intel?

Question: Shar Pourreza - Guggenheim Partners - Analyst : Got it. And then just one last one for me. Just some commentary in the RFP docket around transmission congestion just impacting kind of your ability to interconnect sufficient resources to hit that 2030 target. Does the transmission CapEx you have in plan for '28 relieve that? Or is there more work to be due in '29 and beyond as we're thinking about that potential spend increase?

Question: Shar Pourreza - Guggenheim Partners - Analyst : Got it. Perfect. Thanks, guys. That answers it. Congrats on the results in the couple of weeks. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 25, 2024 / 3:00PM, POR.N - Q3 2024 Portland General Electric Co Earnings Call

Question: Nicholas Campanella - Barclays - Analyst : Hi. I like how they Campanella there. (laughter) So I just want to ask on the rate case. You said that you're going to settle the AUT. Just what's the ability to kind of settle cap structure, ROE, and other components at this point? Are you kind of willing to kind of take that to a fully litigated route? And then just thinking forward as we go forward in the state, do you see settlements is still something that you can continue to get done in next rate cases? Or just how should we kind of think about that? Because in my time covering the company, it's one of the few times that you haven't settled. Thank you.

Question: Nicholas Campanella - Barclays - Analyst : Okay. That's super helpful. And then I guess just you talked a little bit about managing affordability in your prepared remarks. And it's super exciting to see kind of the rate base growth continue to inflect higher, especially as you kind of add in these new CapEx opportunities. How are you kind of thinking about balancing all that as the CapEx just continues to scale higher here? Is it -- as you wrap in these RFP awards and these build-own transfers, is that purely one-for-one incremental to the CapEx plan? Is there any kind of offset in the CapEx plan to manage affordability? How should we think about that?

Question: Nicholas Campanella - Barclays - Analyst : And then my last one is just on the RFP that it sounds like you'll be filing a new one in '25. Just in terms of the process and when you eventually get to the awards, what's the timeline for capital around that? Is it late '20 -- is it end of decade or is it early 2030s? Or could any of this kind of make it into the '27, '28 window? Just trying to understand that.

Question: Nicholas Campanella - Barclays - Analyst : That's really helpful. Appreciate the time today. Have a great Friday.

Question: Michael Lonegan - Evercore - Analyst : Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. So on the RFP, you previously paid out 25% ownership that you assumed in your illustrative rate base growth example. So the final shortlist here could be towards 50% ownership, it looks like. Just wondering how you're thinking about where this positions you to land in the range of your 5% to 7% EPS growth forecast. Obviously, the additional CapEx could come with incremental equity that you've spoken to.

Question: Michael Lonegan - Evercore - Analyst : Got it. Thank you. And then secondly for me, on the pending rate case, you can see that some items, you revised your as with some like you with further request for the investment recovery mechanism and the related storage policy. Just wondering if you see an opportunity to ask for these in the next rate case. I think you've alluded to annual filings going forward.

Question: Michael Lonegan - Evercore - Analyst : Great. Thanks for the time.

Question: Travis Miller - Morningstar Inc - Analyst : Good morning. Thank you. Hi. Sticking on that rate case, and you answered a lot of questions around the settlement and what's going on there. But what do you see high level is the difference between perhaps this rate case and the settlement negotiations and the past several where you've been able to settle? Are there certain issues or certain things that have come up that are making it less possible if that's the right way to put it to settle? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 25, 2024 / 3:00PM, POR.N - Q3 2024 Portland General Electric Co Earnings Call

Question: Travis Miller - Morningstar Inc - Analyst : Okay. Okay. So more public animosity again, if it's very worth been past settlements. Is that the way to --

Question: Travis Miller - Morningstar Inc - Analyst : Okay. Statutory, is there a settlement period end? Or can you continue to try to settle throughout the oral arguments?

Question: Travis Miller - Morningstar Inc - Analyst : Okay. Perfect. And then one different subject, when these industrial customers are coming to you, the new ones and ask them for -- to get on the system, what are they saying is the reason for choosing your system, right, apart from the fact that there are a lot of semiconductors, et cetera, in that area. Is it access to the grid is really easy, the low cost of power? What are some of the things they are telling you they like about locating there?

Question: Travis Miller - Morningstar Inc - Analyst : Sure. Okay, that's great. Thanks so much.

Question: Anthony Crowdell - Mizuho Securities - Analyst : Hey. Good morning, team. Just a couple of quick questions. I appreciate all the detail. I know we've talked a lot about the tax credits. When the company gives forward year guidance or will the company start giving us how much they're assuming in ITCs for each year?

Question: Anthony Crowdell - Mizuho Securities - Analyst : Great. And then I think you spoke about earlier -- I hope I've (inaudible) -- low growth for this year. I believe it's like 2% to 2.5%, but long term, it's 2% and you're going to revisit that when you file the 2025 IRP. So does that -- and just understanding the cadence, right, if that's correct, do we

Question: Anthony Crowdell - Mizuho Securities - Analyst : Great. And I guess just my last question, I believe politically Washington State and Oregon are somewhat aligned. It appears that Washington State is getting less green. I think on this year's ballot in Washington State, there's some like -- I don't know, like anti green bill, but there's bill where they're going to ban any restriction on gas going to new buildings, may revoke some RPS standards. I'm just curious if Oregon is seeing any of that? Are you seeing the state get less green? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 25, 2024 / 3:00PM, POR.N - Q3 2024 Portland General Electric Co Earnings Call

Question: Anthony Crowdell - Mizuho Securities - Analyst : So just to recap, you're not seeing any ballot initiatives on changing any of the state's policies on renewables or green?

Question: Anthony Crowdell - Mizuho Securities - Analyst : Great. Thanks so much for taking my questions, and congrats on a good quarter.

Question: Chris Ellinghaus - Siebert Williams Shank - Analyst : Hey, everybody. Maria, customer growth has been accelerating in the last few quarters. Can you talk about where that's coming from? And is that sort of some of your new data centers, semi customers increasing employment?

Question: Chris Ellinghaus - Siebert Williams Shank - Analyst : Okay. Great. You've had a really great effort on net variable power cost this year. Can you sort of provide us a little color? You're derisking of supply effort, while the AUT gets reset every year is sort of your lengthening strategy. Should we think about you being able to be more in line with the AUT going forward? Or was this year more market-related sort of factors?

Question: Chris Ellinghaus - Siebert Williams Shank - Analyst : Okay. Great. And lastly, somebody asked about balancing cost in the RFPs. But theoretically, the data is expanding almost exponentially, and you also have electrification ahead. So when you're thinking about RFP resources and costs, do you also think about there is potentially huge load growth that continues for a pretty extended period? So do you think about the opportunity cost of getting short in that kind of environment and just wanting to add resources to prevent getting behind the curve?

Question: Chris Ellinghaus - Siebert Williams Shank - Analyst : Okay. Thanks, everybody. Appreciate it. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 25, 2024 / 3:00PM, POR.N - Q3 2024 Portland General Electric Co Earnings Call

Question: Paul Fremont - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc - Analyst : Hey, good morning. It looks like there's $55 million reduction in generation spending this year. Some of that looks like a delay and some of that seems to be offset with higher distribution and general technology spending. Can you sort of document what happened there?

Question: Paul Fremont - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc - Analyst : Great. One second. With the OPUC expected to certify the results of the RFP in November, how long is it going to take for you to actually execute the contracts so that we see showing up in your capital spending forecast?

Question: Paul Fremont - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc - Analyst : And I guess I can see sort of the second bucket B, but with respect to A, wouldn't you have sort of enough information to update after you get OPUC acknowledgment?

Question: Paul Fremont - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc - Analyst : And then aside from ITCs or tax credits, I mean, have you thought of other ways to potentially reduce the equity need of the company?

Question: Paul Fremont - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc - Analyst : And then, I mean, if you were to potentially establish a holding company, would you consider selling down a minority stake in the utility?

Question: Paul Fremont - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc - Analyst : And are settlements in Oregon, do they need to be unanimous, or could you do a partial settlement in Oregon?

Question: Paul Fremont - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc - Analyst : Well, I understand that. But I think what you said is that with a number of the more significant parties you think you're close. Why not go with the partial settlement, and wouldn't that put you in better standing going into a final OPUC decision?

Question: Paul Fremont - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc - Analyst : And then last question for me, I mean, I think the base of your EPS growth is still sort of 2022. Are there any thoughts to potentially updating that at some point in time, the base here?

Question: Paul Fremont - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc - Analyst : Thank you. Thank you very much.