After close on 11/25, a CPUC ALJ issued a proposed decision in the Cost of Capital applications, which will set allowed returns and capital structures for each CA utility’s respective state-regulated rate base in 2020-22. The ROEs would be unchanged for EIX (10.30%) and PCG (10.25%). SRE’s SDG&E electric would get 10.20% vs 10.15% currently. EIX’s SCE would get a 52% equity ratio (vs 48%) – in line with the other two utilities. Balancing fire and inverse risk against a lower interest environment, we see the PD as in line with expectations. The ROEs would be close to the midpoint between the utilities’ requests and intervenors’ recommendations: 115-220bp increases due largely to wildfire risk vs 150-185bp decreases. And the political backlash from recent shutoffs does not appear to have significantly impacted the PD.
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1-10 out of 61This morning, it was announced that Dutch energy company Eneco would be purchased by Mitsubishi (80%) and Chubu Electric Power (20%) for $4.1B Euros. This followed a sale process that kicked off almost a year ago, which garnered interest from the likes of Shell, KKR, Macquarie, and EDF as well (Total and Enel dropped out earlier). This got us thinking. Asian investors have already shown a keen interest in U.S. power plant investments, as seen by the readily available financing in CCGT new build. Why couldn’t one of these foreign power companies buy a U.S. IPP? Granted, Eneco is a bit different, in that it has a quasi-regulated gas and electric retail business, as well as growing investments in renewable energy that includes offshore wind. But clearly there is an interest here to diversify out of Asia. When we published our annual power supply update back in September, the number of Japanese and Korean utilities investing in U.S. gas plants was endless.
We’ve now been waiting 17 months for FERC to decide on new PJM capacity auction rules since determining its tariff was unjust/unreasonable. There have been a few false starts, but with Commissioner Glick’s recusal on the issue set to end on 11/29 and James Danly’s nomination as commissioner moving one step closer this week, we feel as though an actual order is finally upon us. In this note, we’re simply reviewing exposures to hypothetical scenarios. At the end of the day, it’s probably fair to say that EXC and VST have the most at stake here. However, it’s important to note that the PJM capacity auction is simply not as important as it used to be. EXC has the most capacity in PJM and addressing its subsidized (and non-subsidized) nuclear plants is critical in how this plays out. VST has the second most capacity in PJM, with about 25% of its EBITDA coming from energy/capacity revenues combined in the region.
FERC issued an order today in two MISO transmission ROE complaints, setting a methodology that differed from its last proposal, establishing a 9.88% base ROE and dismissing the last of the two complaints. That 9.88% base is lower than the 10.3% that FERC set a few years ago under a methodology that has since been vacated. FERC did not rule on the four New England ISO ROE complaints, as Comm. Glick – one of the three seated FERC commissioners (two vacancies) – cannot vote on those. But that base ROE also likely would decline under today’s order. Transmission makes up less than half of earnings for the impacted utilities (FTS and ES almost 40%, AEE 20%). To the negative, the base ROEs are now under 10%, which optically looks bad, given they were around 12% earlier this decade and are now in line with the 9.7% average awarded at the state level. But the MISO names will still earn about 10.4% – when including the 50bp RTO/ISO adder.
EEI the last few years has been overshadowed by shock events such as the CA fires and the Trump election win. This year was more blocking and tackling with a focus on refreshed utility capital plans that never seem to hit a ceiling. AEP, ETR, LNT, DTE, WEC, and XEL all gave new and slightly larger capital plans chock full of grid investment, renewables etc. That said, we are no longer seeing EPS growth rates go up as the law of large numbers and equity needs limit growth upside.
The annual EEI conference will be held November 10-12. Management from most of our covered companies will be there. This report is a helpful guide for investors attending and includes questions to ask each company and summary model information.
EVRG reaffirmed 2019 guidance of $2.80-$3.00 and its 5-7% growth rate through 2023 along with solid Q3 results. This was good news as investors had been concerned that the Sibley accounting issue and more expensive buybacks could have taken EVRG off course. The Board also announced a 6.3% dividend boost highlighting confidence in the current plan. EVRG stayed committed to completing its 60M share repurchase plan while also adding modestly to future ratebase. They added $150M to their MO plan on this call and suggested some modest further additions are likely to come on the YE call. We stay Outperform with a $67 PT.
It may have went under the radar, but last week FES reached a settlement with labor unions in its pending bankruptcy proceeding – resolving all issues and filing for approval at a hearing tomorrow (10/15). FES assumes all collective bargaining agreements in the settlement. We now expect the plan of reorganization to be confirmed by the judge. Once complete, the only remaining step before FES can emerge is the NRC licenses transfer for its nukes. FES filed for approval in late-April, with this typically taking 6-9 months. All appears to be on track to emerge by year-end – about one year after the last power generator came out of bankruptcy (GenOn).
Wolfe Research's Senior Utilities & Midstream Analyst Steve Fleishman hosted a webcast to discuss PCG implications, CA outages, MO regulation post-Sibley, FTS initiation, EXC and IL, election trade, and DUK legislation in NC.
Today (10/09/19) during its agenda meeting, the Missouri PSC held a case discussion regarding the accounting complaint related to Evergy’s retirement of the Sibley coal plant. At the end, the commission indicated a 3-2 vote in favor of the complainants (MECG/OPC), and against EVRG, as well as MO PSC Staff. A formal order is yet to be issued, but this is a disappointing outcome – both from a financial and regulatory perspective. Complainants had estimated O&M cost savings of $27M and Missouri’s regulation had been trending positively.
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