Earnings Call Transcript
Entergy Louisiana, LLC (ELC)
Earnings Call Transcript - ELC Q3 2024
Operator, Operator
I will be your conference operator today. I would like to welcome everyone to Entergy's Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been muted to prevent background noise. After the speakers finish their remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Now, I will turn the call over to Liz Hunter, Vice President of Investor Relations for Entergy Corporation. Liz, the floor is yours.
Liz Hunter, Vice President of Investor Relations
Good morning and thank you for joining us. We will begin today with comments from Entergy's Chair and CEO, Drew Marsh, and then Kimberly Fontan, our CFO, will review results. In an effort to accommodate everyone who has questions, we request that each person ask no more than two questions. In today's call, management will make certain forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, which are set forth in our earnings release, our slide presentation, and our SEC filings. Entergy does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Management will also discuss non-GAAP financial information. Reconciliations to the applicable GAAP measures are included in today's press release and slide presentation both of which can be found on the Investor Relations' section of our website. And now I will turn the call over to Drew.
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Thank you, Liz. Good morning everyone. We've had a very productive quarter, and we're excited to give you an update this morning. We're reporting strong financial and business results that include important progress on our growth strategy, with a significant new capital investment plan to support customer requirements. I'll start with earnings. Today, we are reporting strong quarterly adjusted EPS of $2.99. With our results to date and three quarters behind us, we are raising the bottom of the guidance range by $0.10. We're also raising our longer-term outlook, driven by the new capital investment to support higher industrial sales and growing interest in clean energy products. Our industrial sales growth story continues to be robust. With developments since Analyst Day, we now see an industrial sales compound annual growth rate of 11% to 12% through 2028, 300 basis points higher. The change is primarily due to a large new customer in Louisiana, with whom we have executed an electric service agreement. We don't disclose specific customer details without their consent, so we can't provide additional information at this time. In addition, many large industrial customers are looking to our operating companies for clean energy products to support their decarbonization goals. We are seeing strong customer interest in renewable green tariffs and nuclear clean tariffs. We're also working with stakeholders in a broader array of clean offerings, including technologies like CCS and advanced nuclear. Collectively, this means that our preliminary capital plan through 2028 is $7 billion higher than at Analyst Day, driven by new transmission as well as incremental generation investments, including renewables. We will have more details at EEI. There are several areas where we've already made progress to support growth. For example, we continue to add renewables to our system. Entergy Arkansas' Walnut Bend Solar, a 100-megawatt project that was a build-owned transfer partnership with Invenergy is now in service. Entergy Arkansas also closed on the 180-megawatt West Memphis Solar and 250-megawatt Driver Solar projects. We now have close to 800 megawatts of sold resources in service in more than 2,600 megawatts of specific projects that are in process, approved or under regulatory review. Beyond this, we continue to plan for more customer-driven renewable projects, including through a recently issued RFP aimed at Entergy Louisiana's new streamlined approval process. Since Analyst Day, we've announced four very large, efficient large-scale dispatchable generation projects, three today in Louisiana and several weeks ago in Mississippi. The 750-megawatt dual fuel combined cycle combustion turbine units will be hydrogen-ready and enable for future carbon capture and storage. To support successful execution, each of these plants is expected to use a standardized design. We have a proven track record of successfully executing large projects. Using strong, disciplined and standardized processes, we successfully built five major generation projects over the last decade, with a sixth project, the Orange County Advanced Power Station in Texas, currently on track. This experience and expertise are especially important to support the tremendous growth on the horizon. Preparing for CCS is an important part of that conversation because of the Clean Air Act Section 111B which currently requires new gas fire generation to have CCS in place by 2032. Additionally, we are in active discussions with customers who are interested in a variety of low-carbon generation solutions including CCS. As we previously discussed, Entergy Louisiana received a grant to complete a front-end engineering and design or FEED study at the Lake Charles Power Station. We are also working with Crescent's Midstream to assess the technical and financial feasibility of executing carbon capture and storage at LCPS in a manner that ensures public safety and addresses the interest of our communities. Once completed, the learnings from this work will benefit future CCS projects. Ultimately, we believe CCS is a critical technology to comply with eventual federal emissions requirements to help our customers meet their decarbonization objectives and for us to achieve our 2050 net-zero movement safely and responsibly. Another critical clean and reliable energy source is nuclear. Beyond our sizable existing fleet and capabilities, we are well positioned to evaluate and ultimately pursue new nuclear options. We are actively exploring potential power upgrades at our existing facilities that could total as much as 300 megawatts. We have an early site permit issued by the NRC in 2007 for a potential new reactor at the Grand Gulf site. We have a memorandum of understanding with Holtec to evaluate its SMR technology for use in our service area. At the same time, we are participating in several industry working groups that are evaluating other SMR technologies and potential development opportunities. Finally, we are participating in state working groups in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi that are evaluating the potential for nuclear expansion in those states. Our work in this area supports ongoing customer conversations on options that could accelerate new nuclear investments. Each of these generation technologies, solar and storage, CCS, and new nuclear, as well as potentially wind, is important to achieve reliability, affordability, and sustainability outcomes for our customers. We see significant potential customer value from each, and we are well positioned to help capture that value for our customers. We are working with a broad set of stakeholders to understand and we are confident we will address any safety, economic, social, or other concerns related to these technologies. And as with all investments, we will be disciplined in evaluating the risk and economic impacts before meaningful capital is deployed. Yesterday, Entergy Louisiana submitted its request to the LPSC for approval of a set of transmission and generation investments that will support the new customer in Louisiana. In order to support the customer's desired timeline, we've requested a decision in September next year. We know that many of you are interested in seeing this filing. It will not be available on the LPSC's website until closer to the time it is published in their bulletin on November 8th. Therefore, we have posted the public version of the application to the Regulatory & Other page on our Investor Relations' website. The application provides an overview and summary of the filing. We plan to submit a separate filing to request approval for renewable projects to support the customers' clean energy goals. This new customer will bring substantial benefits to the state and local communities as well as our existing customers and other key stakeholders. For example, this development will provide meaningful opportunities to grow our communities through jobs, new sources of tax revenue, and improved quality of life. It's bringing these benefits to a region of Louisiana that has been economically disadvantaged for decades. The project will also diversify Louisiana's economy while providing significant opportunity for future development in the state. Electric sales revenue and other contributions from this customer will cover an appropriate share of the cost to serve, including the marginal costs associated with investments needed to support this customer as well as a portion of our current costs, including investments in resilience that are so critical to Louisiana. With this approach and our ongoing focus on efficiencies, we expect to maintain competitive rates below the national average. The stakeholder engagement model that we laid out at Analyst Day was the foundation for bringing this customer to Entergy Louisiana. As an integrated utility, we can provide generation, transmission, and retail requirements together in one solution. Our deep stakeholder relationships and history can facilitate alignment among all parties, state and local government, communities, regulators, and the customer. Our solutions can also leverage existing partnerships and regulatory mechanisms to accelerate timelines. The combination of these factors allows us and our stakeholders to successfully deliver speed-to-market, which is a critical consideration for these large projects. The four macro trends I discussed at Analyst Day, onshoring clean energy, electrification, and technology, are in full force and driving strong growth in our service area. In addition to the growth already in our outlooks, we could see additional sales to large customers and associated capital investments within the outlook period. We're excited about our growth progress, and we look forward to talking to you about it at EEI. Moving beyond the growth update, I have a few more things that I want to cover. We talked about our storm preparedness both operationally and financially. We have developed and refined plans that are purposeful, repeatable, and sustainable, and we're seeing the benefits. This year, we've had two hurricanes in our service area. We talked about Beryl last quarter. Today, I will cover Francine, a Category 2 storm. To start, we are thankful that we had zero OSHA recordable injuries with more than 550,000 work hours. The headline is that we restored power to 90% of our customers within just three days, keeping customers and key stakeholders well informed throughout the restoration. This outstanding outcome was due to a combination of previous resilience investments, detailed planning and preparation, methodical and safe execution, and robust stakeholder communications. I thank all our employees for their hard work and dedication to restore power safely and as quickly as possible, so workers could go home to their families and our customers could return to their everyday lives. Kimberly will cover the cost estimates in a moment. Our storm response efforts didn't stop with our customers. We also provided mutual assistance to our neighboring utilities for Hurricanes Helene and Milton to help restore power in those communities. To that, I want to again thank our teams for the extra effort. I also want to thank the mutual assistance workers who supported our customer restoration after Francine and Beryl. Mutual assistance is unique to our industry, and it's a great example of how utilities work together for the greater good in the moments that matter. While the investments we make every day harden our system, the launch of our resilience program marks the start of a more comprehensive grid strengthening effort. After the Commission approved Entergy Louisiana's $1.9 billion accelerated resilience plan in April, we officially kicked off Phase 1 with the groundbreaking for the first project in the Lake Charles area where we will be investing $107 million to upgrade 148 miles of power lines. Many more projects are getting underway, and we expect to reach our full ramp early next year. We're making progress on establishing our formal accelerated resilience programs in other jurisdictions as well. The New Orleans City Council approved $100 million of investments over the next two years. This is in addition to the New Orleans East project selected for a DOE Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships or GRIP grant that the council approved earlier this year. We are excited to start on this phase of projects to bring the benefits of a more resilient system to our customers in New Orleans. We also reached a settlement on the first phase of Entergy Texas resilience plan, which includes $335 million of investment, $200 million of which is contingent on a grant from the Texas Energy Fund. We expect the commission to take up the settlement by year-end. In addition, two of our operating companies recently were selected for federal grants that will provide resilience benefits to our customers at a lower cost. Entergy Louisiana successfully partnered with three parishes to be selected for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities or BRIC grants that will provide $68 million in funding for projects. At nearly the same time, Entergy Texas received a $54 million GRIP award per project that will protect communities around Port Arthur, including a major port that has been previously impacted by extreme weather. Along the way, we completed several large projects this year across the system that improve our resilience and serve as proof points for our resilient efforts. The Avenue C project in New Orleans, which many of you toured at Analyst Day is now completed. You may recall that it showcased several resilience-oriented distribution technologies. The Port Bolivar and Palms elevated substations in Texas were completed before Beryl and easily withstood the effects of that storm. Notably, Port Foshan and the coastal city of Grand Isle in Louisiana maintained access to power throughout Francine after resilience investments were made there following Hurricane Ida in 2021. The progress on resilience is further evidence that a customer-first approach remains the key to achieving regulatory outcomes that benefit all stakeholders. This approach has also supported our progress on other regulatory engagements. During the past quarter, the Louisiana Public Service Commission unanimously approved several items that renewed Entergy Louisiana's formula rate plan for three years, resolved all claims against system energy, approved the sale of Louisiana's LDC business and authorized the divestiture of Louisiana's share of Grand Gulf Energy and capacity to Mississippi. Relatedly, we have requested state commission and FERC approvals to divest Louisiana share of Grand Gulf energy and capacity to Mississippi. We are targeting a January 1st effective date. New formula rate plans were effective in September for New Orleans following its normal process and for Louisiana following the Commission's approval for the three-year formula rate plan extension. These results are the foundation for the customer growth that benefits all stakeholders, which we discussed earlier, and they have not happened by accident. They are the product of the ongoing shift in the way we approach our business by embedding customer centricity and stakeholder engagement into everything we do. We've had a very successful quarter. We made steady progress across key customer operational, regulatory, and finance fronts. We're raising the bottom of our 2024 adjusted EPS guidance range and increasing our longer-term outlook as a result of our new customer-driven capital plan. By continuing to put our customers first, we remain focused on delivering premium value to each of our key stakeholders. I look forward to talking to all of you at EEI about Entergy's unique and robust growth story. Before I turn the call over to Kimberly, I want to acknowledge that this call also marks a couple of important transitions for us. First, Bill Abler is moving to a new role, leading the commercial planning and operations for our utilities. And Liz Hunter, who introduced this call is stepping into the role. Liz comes into the role with strong experience in our treasury operations, including fixed income and rating agency interactions. We are excited for both, and both will be at EEI in a little over a week as we complete our succession plan. The second transition is personally much more bittersweet. After 25 years, the last six and a half as our Utility Group President, Rod West is retiring from Entergy and today marks his last earnings call. Rod has accomplished much over his career, and recently, he has been critical to the redesign of our customer growth and stakeholder engagement efforts. He leaves us well-positioned to succeed because of the foundations he established, and much of my comments today reflect those efforts. Rod will also be with us a final time at EEI. Although given his track record, I suspect we haven't seen the last of him. I'll now turn the call over to Kimberly, who will review our financial results for the quarter as well as our long-term outlook.
Kimberly Fontan, CFO
Thank you, Drew and good morning everyone. As Drew said, we've had a strong quarter, and with the bulk of the year behind us, we are raising the bottom of our guidance range by $0.10. We've also increased our capital plan in response to stronger customer growth and continued demand for renewables. As a result, we are raising our long-term outlook starting in 2026. As you can see on Slide 5, our adjusted EPS for the quarter was $2.99. This is lower than last year as last year's results included impacts from extremely hot weather. Excluding the effects of weather, earnings for the quarter increased. Results included regulatory actions across the jurisdictions net of expense increases from our customer-centric investments, primarily higher interest and depreciation expenses. Weather-adjusted retail sales growth was 5%, with our largest increase from industrials at 10%, while residential and commercial also contributed. O&M was also a benefit this quarter, mainly due to increased flex spending in 2023. This quarter's O&M result was in line with expectations that we provided on the last call. Turning to Slide 6. Our operating cash flow remains healthy at nearly $1.6 billion, which is $157 million higher than last year. Key drivers for the increase include the timing of fuel and purchase power payments and the timing of pension contributions. Turning to credit and liquidity on Slide 7, our credit metric outlooks remain at or above agency expectations. In August, S&P upgraded SERI's senior secured credit rating from BBB to BBB+ and maintained its positive outlook as a result of the progress we made resolving outstanding litigation at SERI. S&P noted that SERI's ratings could be further upgraded when the SERI settlement with the LPSC receives FERC approval. In September, S&P changed Entergy New Orleans' outlook to stable from developing as a result of several constructive regulatory orders. As Drew mentioned, our teams had an exceptional response to Hurricane Francine, including from a cost perspective. Our current estimate is approximately $220 million to $240 million, roughly 85% of which is in Louisiana. We have begun engaging with regulators to ensure timely and efficient cost recovery. We don't expect to utilize securitization for this level of storm cost. Just as a reminder, we have $254 million in storm escrows available in Louisiana and $83 million in New Orleans. Turning to outlook. As Drew mentioned, our 2024 to 2028 capital plan has increased by $7 billion since Analyst Day to support higher industrial sales and continued customer interest in renewables. The new capital will be financed through a combination of higher operational cash flows and incremental debt and equity. We have submitted applications for $2.4 billion of loans from the DOE. These funding requests are currently in the second phase of the process and can lower our cost of debt for the benefit of our customers. Our previous plan called for $1.4 billion of equity in 2025 and 2026. We use forward contracts under the ATM to source the full amount of that need in just 10 months. Those contracts are expected to be settled and cash proceeds received in 2025 and 2026. With our latest capital plan, net of the contracted forwards, we expect our remaining equity needs to be $3 billion in 2026 to 2028. More than 80% of this is expected to close in 2027 and 2028. We can easily satisfy this need with the ATM, which remains an effective and cost-efficient tool. As I said earlier, we narrowed our 2024 adjusted EPS guidance range by raising the floor $0.10. Updated assumptions are provided on our progress against guidance slide in the appendix of our webcast presentation. We've discussed how we flex spending to benefit customers and produce steady predictable results. As a result of third quarter weather and other changes we will once again flex our spending for the remainder of the year in areas like vegetation maintenance, which improves customer experience and reduces risk. As a result of the new capital plan, we raised our adjusted EPS outlook, which are detailed on Slide 9. This year, we are giving a four-year outlook to provide a better understanding of the new sales growth, incremental capital and resulting impacts. As you can see, the out-year adjusted EPS has stepped up meaningfully with a $0.35 to $0.85 annual increase between 2026 and 2028. The Board recently approved a 6% dividend increase. We expect to maintain that growth rate throughout the outlook period. As we do this, the payout ratio will decline as we support the strong growth in the business. We believe this is a good balance of supporting growth and returning capital to our owners. Also, consistent with the higher growth we are seeing, Entergy's Board recently approved a 2-for-1 stock split. Trading on a split-adjusted basis will begin on December 13. The outlook we have shown you today is on a pre-split basis. We will begin reporting on a post-split basis starting on the fourth quarter call. Entergy's management team will be at EEI in less than two weeks, where we will give a comprehensive update that will include more details on our capital plan, our outlooks and a preview of 2025 drivers. We continue to highlight our unique and robust growth story and evidence of our success capturing growth continues to play out. We are excited about the opportunities ahead of us and look forward to seeing you at EEI. And now, the Entergy team is available to answer questions.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. Our first question today comes from Shar Pourreza with Guggenheim Partners. Shar, your line is open.
Shar Pourreza, Analyst
Hey guys.
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Morning Shar.
Shar Pourreza, Analyst
Morning Drew. Congrats obviously on a great quarter and a lot of updates. Obviously, big news on the 2026 inflection to 8% to 9% EPS growth. Can you provide color on kind of what drove such a major change. The Northern Louisiana customer deal looks huge, the 2.2 gigs of new generation and associated agreements. But have you changed kind of your probability of other load interconnections? Do you see more deals coming soon? And is the investment fully covered on the rate agreement? Or does it rely on the FRP as well? Thanks.
Kimberly Fontan, CFO
Thank you for the question. The increase planned for 2026 is backed by additional capital that enables our substantial customer growth. We already anticipate considerable growth as part of our plan based on probability. Additionally, we have specific customers that we won't add until we have signed ESAs, as Drew mentioned. This underpins our growth and the increase in EPS. I believe you had a second question that I might have missed.
Shar Pourreza, Analyst
I guess is the investment fully covered under the rate agreement? Or does it rely on the FRP as well?
Kimberly Fontan, CFO
Yes, we can't talk specifically about that particular customer, but our investments, we expect to be fully recoverable under our rate mechanisms that we have in place that continue to show progress against. Drew mentioned our Louisiana moved forward the FRP for the next three years, and we expect that to be a good use to continue to recover our investments.
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
And Shar, the punchline for that is that this customer will be covering their marginal costs. And of course, they'll pick up a portion of the fixed cost for the overall Entergy Louisiana company, which includes some of the overheads for storms and resilience investments and things like that. So, they're picking up their fair share and other customers should benefit from this new customer coming in.
Shar Pourreza, Analyst
Got it. Regarding the transfer of SERI from Louisiana to Mississippi, does that create an additional capacity requirement for Louisiana? Can you meet that need with the 3 gigawatts of solar, or is there a need for a resource adequacy backup? Also, do you have any thoughts on consolidating SERI into a single asset in Mississippi?
Kimberly Fontan, CFO
Yes. Regarding your first question, we are always monitoring capacity in relation to anticipated sales growth, and we believe we can effectively manage capacity needs for both Louisiana and Mississippi moving forward. Therefore, we do not expect any changes beyond what is already in the plan. Concerning consolidation, we are expecting the FERC to approve the transfer of the Louisiana share to Mississippi, which will add capacity to Mississippi, and we will proceed from there. However, there are no additional changes at this time.
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Yes. There's about 200 megawatts that's moving over, and that's easily managed within Entergy Louisiana's overall portfolio. There's lots of opportunities from, as you mentioned, solar, there's potential for nuclear up rates in Louisiana. And of course, there's other investments that we can make in existing assets and new generating assets that will cover maybe even the balance. But it shouldn't be that big of a lift for Entergy Louisiana.
Shar Pourreza, Analyst
Got it. Perfect. And just before I sign off, I just want to take a second and obviously, congratulate Rod. I know we know none of what we're seeing today could have kind of been done without his leadership and he's been such an integral part of Entergy's success. I mean he coined the phrase stakeholder engagement. So, I'm personally looking forward to seeing him kind of transfer his skills to another utility, God knows some could really use his skills. And obviously, big congrats to Abler he knows what it means to us. Hopefully, one day, I tell them over time, I can hit this Peloton output, but that's all I ask. See you guys soon.
Rod West, Utility Group President
Hey Shar, it's Rod. You're very kind, and I look forward to seeing you and others at EEI. Thank you.
Operator, Operator
Great. And our next question comes from the line of Nicholas Campanella with Barclays. Nicholas, your line is open.
Nicholas Campanella, Analyst
Hey thank you and first off, I'll echo Shar's comments, what a way to pass the torch and congrats to Bill and Rod, been great working with you guys. So, I just wanted to ask quickly, you kind of mentioned the growth rate is stepping up here post 2025. Can you talk about that 8% to 9% being sustainable past 2020? And what are the long-term drivers that maybe allow for that?
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
That's a great question. The factors we discussed at Analyst Day, such as onshoring and clean energy, along with electrification technology, are still very much active. We anticipate these trends will become more pronounced as we move into the next decade, especially in the areas of clean energy and electrification as society increasingly shifts towards these solutions. Our clients will need to advance their decarbonization strategies, and many are expected to ramp up their efforts in the coming years. We continue to engage with significant potential high load factor customers across various industries, not solely limited to data centers, but also including traditional industrial sectors. This is truly exciting for us. The scale of these facilities is expanding as they consider electrification in industrial applications. As you're aware, we have several major traditional industrial clients that are also growing as they enhance their energy mix. This will drive our growth well into the future, along with the advantages we've enjoyed over the past dozen years due to our location and the commodity benefits from the Gulf Coast compared to other regions globally. We expect this trend to persist and are preparing for this opportunity to materialize.
Nicholas Campanella, Analyst
Thank you for your comments. I noticed you mentioned advanced nuclear as one of the drivers. Could you elaborate on that? Will this be part of the regulated group? Also, regarding the working group with nuclear crews, will that lead to a large-scale, multi-state initiative like an AP1000 or something similar? Thank you.
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Not necessarily pointing to any specific thing. Interesting question on nuclear, certainly, that's something that we believe in. We believed in for a long time. It hasn't always been a popular belief, but we still think that it is going to be critical for us to meet our ultimate requirements, not just for us as a company, but for us as a society to meet our carbon objectives out in the future. So, we've been excited about nuclear for a long time, and we are having ongoing conversations. I went through a long list of things that we're doing. I won't repeat those. We obviously don't have anything to announce specifically today, but we are working towards that. Our group of stakeholders that I mentioned, I guess, I could broaden that piece out. It's vendors, communities, elected leaders, and our commissioners in some cases. It's a wide group of folks that have similar interest. All of them recognize all of what I call the policy benefits associated with nuclear, things like, of course, clean energy, but a large number of jobs, a large number, a big tax base, and big community contributors from a volunteer perspective. From the grid's perspective, of course, they are very good, stable assets that really hold up the grid in important ways. There's a lot of policy reasons why you would like nuclear. Of course, there are many challenges with getting past first of a kind, and that's the kind of stuff that we're talking about, how do we manage through those things to get through those first hurdles to get to where we all want to be, which is all those policy objectives that we think will help us get to net-zero in the future.
Nicholas Campanella, Analyst
All right. Thanks so much.
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Thank you, Nick.
Operator, Operator
Thanks Nick. And our next question comes from the line of Julien Dumoulin-Smith with Jefferies. Julien, your line is open.
Julien Dumoulin-Smith, Analyst
Hey, good morning team and seriously, congratulations to all. Rod, Bill, team. I mean, just kudos all around, that culminates things very nicely here, honestly. Look, maybe just following up on what Nick was just saying a second ago here. I mean as you think about the resource mix here, I mean, you mentioned a lot about solar and solar in storage hybrid resources. But again, going back to this SMR conversation that's been front and center here. I mean, is there a potential of a nuclear structure that would be ownership? Or is it more of a build on transfer? I don't want to be hold in too much, but obviously, with the amount of load growth that you guys are looking at, all the seriously considering it, I imagine.
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Yes. We're looking at a number of different structures, of course, you just have to keep in mind the scale of a nuclear project relative to the scale of some of our operating companies. It's a pretty big undertaking from a risk perspective to ask an Entergy Mississippi to build a project that could be $10 billion is bigger than their whole asset base as it exists today. Those are a real challenge, and we have to work through them in order to be successful here. So, those are some of the conversations that we're having. We haven't landed on a specific structure or anything like that. I imagine ownership would be an expectation for us simply because a long-term contract for our nuclear unit would also probably flow to our balance sheet in some important ways as well. That could be a credit challenge for us. So, ownership role ultimately, I think is important, and of course, we are experienced with that. So, we're not concerned with that particular angle.
Julien Dumoulin-Smith, Analyst
Excellent. Given the current situation, you seem to be successfully attracting large industrial resources, and now you're effectively applying that experience to data centers. To what extent do you expect to continue announcing these transformative types of customers? Is there potential for more across your various states? I hesitate to say this is the limit, especially considering how you've adapted to larger demands over the years.
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Yes, we don't think this is it. At Analyst Day, we laid out some pretty large numbers, multiple gigawatts in several different spaces where we do believe there is opportunity for us. That conversation was based on actual customer conversations. That wasn't us in the back room trying to do some math to figure out what the possible was; those were actual conversations that we're having with customers today. We do think more is possible. It doesn't mean it's all going to arrive right away. Some of these projects take years to get off the ground. However, we do think it's going to happen eventually, otherwise, we wouldn't have brought it up.
Julien Dumoulin-Smith, Analyst
All right. Fair enough guys. Thank you very much. I'll leave it there.
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Thanks Julien.
Operator, Operator
Thanks Julien. And our next question comes from the line of Ross Fowler with Bank of America. Ross, your line is open.
Ross Fowler, Analyst
Thanks Morning. And Rod and Bill, congratulations to both, look forward to seeing you both at EEI. So, just a couple of questions. One on the nuclear side, the recent Nuclear Summit hosted by the Mississippi Public Service Commission, that highlighted a lot of regulatory support for nuclear in the state. Would you say other states and jurisdictions across your service territory are aligned with that? Or how should I think about it?
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Yes, I would say there is a lot of interest in each jurisdiction on about new nuclear because of all those policy things that I was talking about a minute ago. There are formal processes and groups set up in Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana to explore. Each of them has multiple stakeholders involved, and we're excited about that. That's the way we like to operate. We like to operate with a lot of stakeholder engagement. So, that's all good. We are continuing to participate in those opportunities and those conversations going forward.
Ross Fowler, Analyst
Okay. Thank you. And then maybe on the industrial project in Northern Louisiana which you are bringing a lot more detail here a little bit over a week at EEI, but it looks like from the filing, they're going to pay for about 1.5 gigs of solar. And then can you just let us know, is this a data center or not a data center? And is this involved with the Holly Ridge East site with the Northeast site? Or is that another site up there that could be further developed? Thanks.
Rod West, Utility Group President
Yes, as is common with large projects, we typically do not disclose the type or scope of the customer until they are ready to share that information. Therefore, we are unable to provide any further details beyond what Drew mentioned in his opening statements.
Ross Fowler, Analyst
Okay, I'll wait for EEI. Thanks guys.
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Thanks Ross.
Rod West, Utility Group President
Thanks Ross.
Operator, Operator
And our next question comes from the line of Steve Fleishman with Wolfe Research. Steve, your line is open.
Steve Fleishman, Analyst
Thank you for the Halloween treat. Rod, I wish you the best, and I hope we will meet again. I want to clarify the guidance change regarding CapEx and sales. Is all of that directly related to this one customer and their spending, or are there other factors involved, or is it mainly just the one customer?
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
There is more to it, Steve. It's not just one customer. We have significant additional solar investment. We have incremental transmission investment to support our customers' needs. Obviously, a big chunk of the sales, as I said, is related to the one customer. But the capital is not just related to one customer.
Steve Fleishman, Analyst
Okay. So, it's the capital. But is the spending on the capital related to preparing the system for that additional load, or is there also some other minor aspects involved?
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Yes, there is. It's not just a little bit. It's a significant amount of other stuff when it comes to the capital, but most of that I would say, is related to that.
Steve Fleishman, Analyst
You had previously announced some new gas plants in Texas, specifically CCGTs. Is the cost approximately the same since it appears that the engineering will be quite similar to these other CCGTs?
Kimberly Fontan, CFO
Yes. As Drew mentioned, we anticipate that all designs will be standardized. The costs in Texas will vary for each site depending on the specific transmission needs, financing, and locations. However, generally, they are all in a similar range.
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
And regarding the regulatory fees, we managed to secure cash construction work in progress in Mississippi as opposed to Texas. We will also have additional details to discuss regarding Louisiana when the time comes.
Steve Fleishman, Analyst
It appears that the additional equity required to support the extra capital expenditures is quite small. I believe the amount is somewhat close to the existing $3 billion. Is this due to improved cash flows?
Kimberly Fontan, CFO
Yes, Steve, we had about $1.7 billion previously in 2027 and 2028. The way we have structured both the addition of this customer as well as the funding of the capital that we've added, the renewables, for example, go under the green tariffs that are in place in many of our jurisdictions, enables incremental cash flow that helps support the financing and enables us to put in that moderate amount of equity, as you noted.
Steve Fleishman, Analyst
Okay. And then the metrics, are you comfortably above the 14%. And have you started including the nuclear PTC and some of that stuff yet? Or is that still not included?
Kimberly Fontan, CFO
Yes, we are comfortably above the 14%. We continue to build towards 15% over the outlook period. We have not included the nuclear PTCs that we think we're eligible for them, and we think that they are credit positive as we've discussed before. In Louisiana, in their settlement, they agreed to amortize those over a period of time, which gives that credit uplift. We did include the corporate minimum tax that we previously were going to use the PTCs to assume those offsets. In our forecast, we continue to build towards 15%, and we've included the minimum tax, but not the PTC, which would give you further uplift is what we would expect.
Steve Fleishman, Analyst
Okay. Last question since you brought up new nuclear. I know you can't go into most of the details and things are still being developed. But maybe, Drew, you could just talk about how you're approaching the risk you're willing to take on when developing new nuclear? Also, these projects tend to require a lot of capital, so could you discuss project risk as well?
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Yes, that's a great question, Steve. I can't provide specific details since we're still in discussions about these matters. However, as I mentioned earlier, we must consider the company's size in relation to the investment size. Ultimately, we need to ensure we have customers who can support this level of investment, making it a customer-driven initiative. There are many stakeholders involved, including us, the communities, the states, and the customers. The dialogue will focus on how we can collectively manage the various risks to ensure we can build one or possibly multiple projects. As we explore this, particularly when it comes to new projects, we might have different discussions about risk distribution, but initially, there will be extensive conversations on how to share the risks involved.
Steve Fleishman, Analyst
Got it. Thank you very much.
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Thank you.
Operator, Operator
Thanks Steve. And our next question comes from the line of Jeremy Tonet with JPMorgan. Jeremy, your line is open.
Jeremy Tonet, Analyst
Hi, good morning.
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Good morning Jeremy.
Jeremy Tonet, Analyst
Rod, thank you very much for saving this great update for the end here. We appreciate it. We'll miss you. And Bill will miss you from your currency as well, but thank you. Maybe just moving to the business here and come back to the tariff commentary for this new customer here. Do you see this as a framework that's replicable going forward? Or is this kind of one-time in nature? Just wanted to see, I guess, your thoughts on the outlook there?
Kimberly Fontan, CFO
Good morning Jeremy. Thanks for the question. As we discussed previously, our approach focuses on ensuring that new customers contribute their fair share. We demonstrated this in Mississippi through collaboration with the governor and the legislature to ensure these customers were not only contributing based on their addition but also supporting the overall customer base. I believe this framework is something we can maintain without delving into specifics about the tariff. This principle guides our strategy regarding these customers. We see it as replicable and effective, especially with the stakeholder engagement that Drew mentioned, which ensures that business partners as well as state and community partners recognize the advantages these customers bring to all involved.
Jeremy Tonet, Analyst
Wonderful. Thank you. And then just moving back to the nuclear side real quick here. Just wanted to see, I guess, as you think about the uprates here specifically, how long do you expect this evaluation to take? Is this about having new customers that cover the upgrade cost in their tariff or just thinking about gating items or timeline to moving forward on the uprate specifically?
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
It depends on the specific plant and the upgrade. There are multiple projects that can provide different megawatt outputs. Some are relatively easy to pursue, and we are currently working on them. Others are much more difficult and costly, requiring additional customer support. The potential varies. Most of these upgrades are located in Arkansas and Louisiana, and there are no opportunities at Grand Gulf, as we completed a significant upgrade there about 15 years ago.
Jeremy Tonet, Analyst
Got it. That's helpful. And again, Rob, we'll miss you. Thanks.
Andrew Marsh, Chair and CEO
Thanks Jeremy.
Rod West, Utility Group President
Operator, thank you for running the call. Goodbye everyone.
Operator, Operator
Thank you, Rod. And that does conclude our Q&A session. Ms. Hunter, I will now turn the call back over to you to close us out.
Liz Hunter, Vice President of Investor Relations
Thank you, Greg and thanks to everyone for participating this morning. Our quarterly report on Form 10-Q is due to the SEC on November 11th and provides more details and disclosures about our financial statements. Events that occur prior to the date of our 10-Q filing that provide additional evidence of conditions that existed at the date of the balance sheet would be reflected in our financial statements in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Also, as a reminder, we maintain a webpage as part of Entergy's Investor Relations website called Regulatory and Other Information, which provides key updates of our regulatory proceedings and important milestones on our strategic execution. While some of this information may be considered material information, you should not rely exclusively on this page for all relevant company information. And this concludes our call. Thank you very much.