Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon, and welcome to WEC Energy Group's Conference Call for First Quarter 2024 Results. This call is being recorded for rebroadcast. In conjunction with this call, a package of detailed financial information is posted at wecenergygroup.com. A replay will be available approximately 2 hours after the conclusion of this call. Before the conference call begins, please note that all statements in the presentation, other than historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that are subject to change at any time. Such statements are based on management's expectations at the time they are made. In addition to the assumptions and other factors referred to in connection with the statements, factors described in WEC Energy Group's latest Form 10-K and subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated. During the discussions, referenced earnings per share will be based on diluted earnings per share, unless otherwise noted. And now it is my pleasure to introduce Gale Klappa, Executive Chairman of WEC Energy Group.

Live from the Heartland. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today as we review our results for the first quarter of 2024. First, I'd like to introduce the members of our management team who are here with me today. We have Scott Lauber, our President and Chief Executive; Xia Liu, our Chief Financial Officer; and Beth Straka, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. Now as you saw from our news release this morning, we reported first quarter 2024 earnings of $1.97 a share. Throughout the warmest winter in Wisconsin history, we remain laser-focused on financial discipline, operating efficiency and customer satisfaction, and we're confident that we can deliver another year of strong results in line with our guidance for 2024. As a reminder, we're guiding to a range of $4.80 to $4.90 a share for the full year. This, of course, assumes normal weather as always going forward. Switching gears now. We're off to a strong start moving forward with our ESG progress plan. It's the largest 5-year investment plan in our history, totaling $23.7 billion for efficiency, sustainability and growth. As we've discussed, the plan is based on projects that are low risk and highly executable. In the past few weeks alone, we filed with the Wisconsin Commission more than $2 billion of projects that are needed to meet customer demand across the region. In addition, just a few days ago, we announced that we plan to purchase a 90% ownership interest in the Delilah 1 solar project. Delilah is a 300-megawatt solar park in Northeast Texas. It will be the next addition to our WEC Infrastructure segment. We expect to close on Delilah with an investment of $459 million when the project goes into service, and that's currently expected by the end of June. Since the beginning of the year, we also purchased an additional 10% interest in the Samson Solar project, now that's part of the Samson and Delilah development in Northeast Texas. And we plan to increase our ownership in the Maple Flats Solar Energy Center from 80% to 90%. Just as a reminder, Maple Flats is under development in South Central Illinois. It has an offtake agreement with a Fortune 100 company for all the energy it will produce. The project should be in service by the end of this year. So to sum it up, with Delilah and with the increase in ownership of Samson and Maple Flats, we'll be investing an additional $560 million this year in our Infrastructure segment. As you recall, we're reallocating away from our operations in Illinois a total of $800 million over the 5-year period, 2024 through 2028. These high-quality zero-carbon projects clearly go a long way toward achieving that goal. And each of these projects meets our strict financial criteria. Overall, the building blocks of our capital plan show even stronger growth in our regulated electric business. And our plan fully supports our long-term earnings growth rate which we project to be in the 6.5% to 7% range on a compound average annual basis. And now turning to the regional economy. The unemployment rate in Wisconsin stands at 3%, continuing a long-running trend below the national average. In fact, Wisconsin recently reached a new record for employment, with more people working than at any other time in state history. And that includes a record number of construction jobs. That's a great sign of the growth and the potential we're seeing, particularly in what we call the I-94 corridor. To give you just one example of the new economic activity in the region. Just a few weeks ago, electronic components that are used in fiber broadband networks began rolling off the assembly line at a state-of-the-art facility developed by Sanmina Corporation. These components help form the backbone for high-speed Internet service. And we want to welcome Eli Lilly to our neighborhood. The pharmaceutical giant is purchasing a new production facility, again, in the I-94 corridor. And speaking of growth, Microsoft is moving full speed ahead on the construction of a massive data center complex in the I-94 corridor south of Milwaukee. In fact, in the next few weeks, Microsoft is planning an event here in the Milwaukee area to discuss its plans for new investments in Wisconsin. So stay tuned. And looking broadly across the landscape, I can tell you that the number of prospects looking at expanding or locating in the Milwaukee 7 region is stronger literally than at any time in the past 2 decades. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Scott for more specifics on our regulatory calendar, our capital plan and our operational highlights. Scott, all yours.

Thank you, Gale. I'd like to start with some updates on the regulatory front. In Wisconsin, we filed new rate reviews for test years 2025 and 2026 on April 12. Our request focuses on addressing 3 major areas of need. First, improving reliability and reducing outages from increased storm activity; second, supporting Wisconsin's economic growth and job creation through investments in new generation and distribution projects; and lastly, complying with the new EPA emission rules by continuing the transition from coal generation to renewables and natural gas. We expect the decision by the end of the year with new rates effective January 1, 2025. Last month, we submitted filings to the Wisconsin Commission for significant developments to support our electric generation business. Our proposed projects include 2 new sources of natural gas generation. The first request is for approval to construct 1,100 megawatts of modern simple cycle combustion turbines at our existing Oak Creek power plant site. The expected investment is $1.2 billion. To support that generation, we are proposing to build a 33-mile lateral with an expected investment of approximately $180 million. This lateral would provide firm reliability of natural gas to the Oak Creek site for those units as well as our Power the Future units that we're converting to natural gas. And to help with reliability, we are proposing a new storage facility at Oak Creek, with a planned investment of approximately $460 million. This facility would have the capacity to store 2 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas to support both our generation and our gas distribution system. In addition, we requested approval to add 128 megawatts of state-of-the-art generation using reciprocating internal combustion engines, or RICE units. We expect to invest approximately $280 million in that project near our Paris Generation Station. As a reminder, these investments are expected to earn AFUDC during the construction period. We also have smaller rate reviews in progress at our 2 Michigan utilities. Michigan Gas Utilities and Upper Michigan Energy Resources. These applications are primarily driven by our capital investments supporting reliability and safety. As you recall, our discussion last quarter on the recent developments in Illinois. There are 3 dockets we're actively engaged in at this time. First, the Illinois Commission granted us a limited rehearing focused on the request to restore $145 million for the safety modernization program in 2024. This mostly relates to emergency work, work that was in progress and work driven by public entities like the City of Chicago. This limited rehearing is now underway, and we expect to receive a final commission order by June 1. The other 2 outstanding dockets are expected to span at least a year, and we are actively involved. One is a full review of the safety modernization program and the other is an evaluation of the future of gas in Illinois. Of course, we'll keep you updated on any further developments. Now turning to our capital plan. We're making good progress on a number of regulated projects in support of affordable, reliable and clean energy. Our Ixonia LNG storage facility is now in service; this additional 1 Bcf of storage will be necessary during the extreme weather events we see here in Wisconsin. Also, the Wisconsin Commission has approved our purchase of 100 megawatts of additional capacity at West Riverside Energy Center. We expect to invest approximately $100 million to add this capacity to our electric business in the second quarter. At the same time, we're continuing the efforts to phase out older, less efficient coal generation. In fact, I'm happy to report that we're on track to retire Units 5 and 6 of our Oak Creek power plant later this month. These changes support our goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It's a busy and strong start to the year. Our capital plan is robust and highly executable, and we continue to focus on the fundamentals of our business. With that, I'll turn things back to Gale.

Scott, thank you very much. Now as you may recall, our Board of Directors at its January meeting raised our quarterly cash dividend by 7%. This marks, ladies and gentlemen, the 21st consecutive year that our company will reward shareholders with higher dividends. The increase is consistent with our policy of paying out 65% to 70% of our earnings in dividends and underscores our confidence in delivering a bright, sustainable future. Next up, Xia will provide us with more details on our financial results for the quarter and our guidance for Q2. Xia?

Thank you, Gale. Our 2024 first quarter earnings of $1.97 per share increased $0.36 per share compared to the first quarter of 2023. Our earnings package includes a comparison of first quarter results on Page 12. I'll walk through the significant drivers. Starting with our utility operations. Our earnings were $0.28 higher compared to the first quarter of 2023. Weather had an estimated $0.07 negative impact quarter-over-quarter. As noted earlier, this past winter was the warmest in Wisconsin history. The milder weather, along with $0.09 from higher depreciation and amortization, interest expense and day-to-day O&M expenses were more than offset by the following positive variances. Timing of fuel expense was a $0.09 increase quarter-over-quarter. Our fuel was in a positive recovery position at the end of Q1 this year, compared to an under-recovered position at the end of Q1 last year. Rate base growth contributed $0.35 to earnings quarter-over-quarter. This includes the rate increases from Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. One thing to note, as I mentioned on our year-end call, with the rate design changes at Peoples Gas, base revenues are even more concentrated in the first and fourth quarters when natural gas usage is the highest and this earnings shift is a significant driver for the quarter. Looking ahead, we'll see the opposite shift in Q2 and Q3. Before I turn to earnings at the Other segment, let me briefly discuss our weather-normal sales. You can find our sales information on Page 9 of the earnings package. While weather was historically mild in the quarter, our weather-normal gas and electric deliveries were both relatively flat and overall in line with our forecast. However, on the electric side, our residential and small commercial and industrial segments are currently ahead of forecast. Now at our Energy Infrastructure segment, earnings increased $0.02 in the first quarter of '24 compared to the first quarter of '23. Production tax credits were higher quarter-over-quarter resulting from production at our Samsung and Sapphire Sky renewable generation projects, both of which were acquired in February 2023. Finally, you'll see that earnings at our Corporate and Other segment rose $0.06, primarily driven by timing of tax. In closing, as Gale mentioned earlier, we are reaffirming our '24 earnings guidance of $4.80 to $4.90 per share, assuming normal weather for the rest of the year. To offset the mild first quarter weather impact, we're implementing a variety of initiatives. For example, we now expect our 2024 day-to-day O&M to be 3% to 5% higher than '23 versus our previous expectation of 6% to 7% higher. The lion's share of the reduction is expected to come in the second half of the year. For the second quarter, we're expecting a range of $0.60 to $0.64 per share. This accounts for April weather and assumes normal weather for the rest of the quarter. As a reminder, we earned $0.92 per share in the second quarter last year. While the Q2 guidance range is lower, if you combine Q1 actual and Q2 guidance, we expect to be $0.04 to $0.08 ahead of the first quarter of '23. With that, I'll turn it back to Gale.

Great. Thank you, Xia. And now a final note. We did some quick math this morning. And today marks the 87th time that I've had the privilege of hosting an analyst call, starting back in the day at Brand X and then continuing through the past 21 years here at WEC. Together, we've covered a lot of history and a ton of progress. I can tell you that your thoughtful questions and your thorough analysis have helped us to build and sustain a premier company on a mission that truly matters. And for that, I'm grateful. Going forward on these calls, you'll be hearing from Scott and Xia; they are ready, and it's their time to shine. And operator, we're now ready for the question-and-answer portion of the call.

Thank you for your insightful questions and analysis that have played a significant role in our journey over the past 21 years at WEC. I appreciate your contributions to our mission. Moving forward, Scott and Xia will be taking the lead during these calls. We are now ready to begin the question-and-answer segment.

It's actually James speaking for Shar. So the first point is that the $400 million of equity in your current 5-year plan was included to adjust utility equity layers? In your ongoing Wisconsin rate cases, you're requesting 53.5% equity or 50 basis points above what you currently indicate the levels to be. Could we expect to see additional equity allocated to the current plan to adjust those utilities up by that 50 basis points?

I think the short answer is no, Shar. I'm thinking of Shar in a closet somewhere. Xia, go ahead.

I mean, we filed for 53.5%. We hope to receive 53.5%. If that's the case, we'll look at the equity. But right now, we haven't changed the equity plan.

Got it. There's no change now, but if you were to get it, there's the possibility, it's not already included in the plan, I guess, is really what you just clarify.

No, but I wouldn't model in at this stage of the game or even after we get it, I wouldn't necessarily model in an increase in equity beyond that.

And I think when you look at it and you look at the details of our filing and the regulatory ratio, it's about the same as it is this year. Right now, you got to look at the financial and the regulatory ratios.

Yes. Did that help, James?

Perfect. Very clear. Absolutely. And then one more also on the rate cases. In your last set of Wisconsin cases, the settlements that you negotiated didn't quite hold up as filed, even though those in prior cases had. Given that precedent, but also that you have a new slate of commissioners in office, how should we think about settlements in Wisconsin today? And kind of what are some of the pushes and takes and maybe how should we think about potential timing for a settlement, if any, in these cases? And that's all I got.

Very good. Well, a couple of thoughts on your questions about settlements and timing. First of all, I think that our current Chair of the commission, Summer Strand, has publicly stated that she's very open to stakeholder input and would certainly be open to discussions on settlement. So I think essentially, the door is open for negotiations at the appropriate time. And then in terms of timing itself, historically, the best time for really candid and thorough discussions comes after the staff audit is complete. Scott, when would you expect on this particular case, the staff audit to come out, mid-summer, maybe?

Probably near the end of summer, at the end of summer.

And of course, a final decision is not statutorily required until December in this case. So there's a window between the time of the staff audit and commission deliberations for all the appropriate stakeholders to get together. I hope that helps.

We will take our next question from Steve Fleishman with Wolfe Research.

Gale, it's great to finally connect. I appreciate all 87 of those calls; I've either listened to or read the transcripts of each one. I wish you the best, but I'm not letting you off without answering some questions. You mentioned the upcoming Microsoft announcement, and I understand there have been some announcements already. Could you provide more detail on what else might be discussed? Is there an expansion in the build-out they are considering? Also, from a supply standpoint, are you the main supplier for all their electricity? How are you ensuring you do this at the right margins, and how should we think about the tariff margin and potential CapEx?

Yes. Terrific. Great question, Steve. I mean, first of all, to answer your second question, yes, we will be the supplier for all of the energy that Microsoft will need at their site inside the Wisconsin Technology Park, which, as you know, is about 20 miles south of our headquarter city. In terms of what's changed, what's different? I mean, Microsoft early on in their whole process here in Wisconsin acquired 315 acres of property adjacent to the area that Foxconn is developing in that technology park. So what you see in our current 5-year capital plan is the generation that we expect to need to add to essentially serve what is being built, and it's being built quickly. My gosh, there are like 10 to 12 cranes active, the construction site is incredibly active right now. But it's active on the first 315 acres Microsoft has developed. So we're thinking about that pending ongoing discussions with Microsoft as kind of the first phase because Microsoft has now acquired substantial additional acreage. In fact, they control 1,345 acres now in that technology park. And they're clearly working very hard and have discussions with our folks every single week on as they develop their plans for the rest of that development. And I think we'll hear more from Microsoft on their broader plan for Wisconsin here in the next few weeks. So I hope that helps. And how are we planning to make sure we're serving their needs? I mean, literally, their technical folks and ours are in weekly discussions, very encouraging. Hope that responds, Steve.

Yes, that's great. Can you remind me how much capital is allocated in your plan to invest in the first 315 acres?

Yes. Essentially, there is significant economic growth in that area as we have discussed. In the capital plan, we aim to address what we observe on the ground. This is based on actual data, not speculation about future growth. We have information from Microsoft dating back to November, as well as insights from HARIBO, Eli Lilly, and others. We have added 1,400 megawatts of dispatchable capacity to the plan.

Okay. I have another question about Illinois. The order from late last year was disappointing, but the staff on rehearing seemed okay. So I feel that the commission will likely be reasonable there. More importantly, there has been significant labor pushback regarding the work reductions. Is that affecting how the state views your business?

Well, I'll ask Scott to give his view on this as well. From my observation, Steve, I would say that every intervener has taken a position. As you say, the staff is supportive of the work continuing that we asked to have allowed to be continued and to be recovered. Virtually all of the intervenors have suggested that at least some amount of work continue. But this is the first time on our rehearing that this particular commission is going to make a decision. So time will tell, but we won't have to wait long. Scott, I believe we're looking at probably the end of May.

Yes, we should have an update by the end of May or early June regarding the decision. I know that safety and reliability are their main priorities. We often hear discussions about safety and reliability in the context of natural gas as well. I am optimistic about a favorable decision, but we'll see what unfolds.

And Steve, my gut tells me that there's an element of practicality, just Midwest practicality here as it relates to making sure that, that system stays safe.

We will take our next question from Neil Kalton with Wells Fargo Securities.

So anyway, a question just kind of following on some of the earlier conversation on the new generation that you're adding about 1,400 megawatts. I understand that's for what you see on the ground. At that point in time, what will the reserve margins look like? Basically, what I'm trying to get at is there seems like there's a lot of additional activity that could happen. And what would be your ability to serve or would we be looking at new generation requirements if that were to come online?

The 1,400 megawatts are based on the demand forecast we had when we created the 5-year plan, which we introduced in November. This plan aims to achieve what we refer to as a balanced reserve margin, ensuring we meet the capacity requirements expected of us while getting accredited by MISO. Essentially, if we observe additional economic development and projects in the upcoming months, as I believe we will, that will indicate a need for more construction. Scott?

You're exactly correct, Gale. As we continue to look at it, and we did size our plan with the required reserve margins, looking at the seasonal capacity that's required from the Midwest operator here. So any additional load, we will need some generation to make sure we have that capacity available.

So stay tuned. There'll be a new update coming in the fall.

We will take our next question from Durgesh Chopra with Evercore ISI.

Gale, do you have any concerns about the speed at which the data center deployment is expected to happen? I'm considering how quickly they're building and the ongoing discussions you mentioned compared to your construction timeline, including getting approvals and overcoming various challenges that need to be addressed to ensure generation is in place. Is that a concern for you?

Just in terms of the amount of time it takes to get approvals. Is that what you're referring to, Durgesh?

Yes. Just the generation, whatever distribution assets you need, the approvals and just the expedited timeline of these hyperscalers.

Yes. That's a good question. I would break it down into three parts. The first part is the availability of equipment. We're fortunate that we have already placed several orders for essential transmission and distribution equipment that we'll need. Secondly, in this technology park, we can build certain distribution and transmission assets without a long approval process, so that's already in progress. The third aspect is regulatory approval. In Wisconsin, obtaining the CPCN, or approval to build generation facilities, can take up to a year. However, I believe that the staff and commissioners in Wisconsin understand the need for urgency, and the governor has assured Microsoft that the state will take the necessary steps to facilitate their success. Clearly, there is a lot of work ahead, but we're off to a good start. The regulatory support should be strong to ensure we meet the needs of Foxconn and Microsoft. Scott?

I agree, Gale. And I think the other key is we have the site selection at the Oak Creek site for a significant part of our assets. And we've done a lot of the filings already. So really, things are moving ahead very quickly. But we've got a process in place in the orders placed, which is good.

Yes. Scott is actually making a very good point about site selection. I mean we've had a power generation campus at Oak Creek literally for the last 70 years. We have buffer property there. We have a property that will easily house, particularly the combustion turbines that Scott talked about earlier. The 1,100 megawatts of combustion turbines that will be an important part of the next addition of assets that we need to have. I hope that responds, Durgesh.

That is very, very helpful. I appreciate all the color there. Maybe can I just quickly follow up on Illinois, the limited rehearing. Is there a potential for settlement there? Can you settle with the parties potentially those Part A and Part B? Does it have to be 0 or 145? Or can it be sort of a spend number, which is in between?

No, it can be a spend number anywhere in between. There really is in this limited rehearing process, if you will. There's really no avenue for settlement. But you're right, it's not a binary thing. It's not 0 or 145. The commissioners can use judgment on any number from 0 to 145 or in between.

We will take our next question from Carly Davenport with Goldman Sachs.

Maybe just to start, I wanted to just ask on the electric sales this quarter, you walked through some of the weather impacts, but anything else that you flag driving some of the C&I load for the quarter, particularly for the larger customers there? And then as you just think about some of these economic development opportunities, how you think about really that timing for an inflection in load growth?

We've already asked Xia to provide some important details, especially regarding the significant industrial activity we observed in Q1. Let me mention two quick points. First, despite the mild weather, I advise you to view the weather-normalized sales figures with some skepticism. Our industry's weather normalization methods do not hold up well when the conditions deviate significantly from the norm. Therefore, consider our Q1 weather-normalized numbers as more precise than accurate. Secondly, as you may have seen in our plans, we are projecting an increase in annual energy sales starting in 2026. Historically, we've grown at about 0.5% to 0.7% in annual kilowatt hour sales, but we've raised that projection to 4.5% to 5% based on what we observed last November. I anticipate that this number may increase further when we update the plan in the fall, given the developments since we prepared the plan last year. Now, regarding specifics about Q1 and the industrial sector, Xia?

In Q1, the weather-normalized LC&I electric sales decreased by 1.8%, which was below our expectations. We analyzed the details and found that the decline was primarily due to a couple of specific customers, one from the primary metal sector and another from the paper sector. One of these customers is in the process of significantly expanding their presence in the area, making Q1 more of a transitional phase for them. Therefore, this is largely a timing issue. If we exclude these customers, LC&I sales would have been 0.4% higher compared to Q1 last year. Overall, we are not concerned about the trend in LC&I sales.

Got it. Okay. That's super helpful. Maybe if I could just squeeze one more in. You referenced the new EPA rules in terms of some spend there in the Wisconsin rate cases just filed. I guess, do you expect those new rules to have any impact on the views on gas capacity additions going forward or the capital needs associated with that?

No. It's a good question. And the short answer is no, compared to what we filed. And I will say a real shout out to our generation and environmental planning folks. They've done a great job of anticipating the new EPA rules. And Scott, based on everything we've seen that's come out in the last couple of weeks, we're right on track.

No, our plan that we filed and the plan we have in our 5-year plan lines up right in line with the EPA rules that just came out were finalized. So I'm very happy to see that come together.

And we will take our next question from Anthony Crowdell with Mizuho.

Congratulations and best of luck and best of luck to Shar in the closet also. So great news all around. I guess also Neil and Steve's question, I apologize if you answered it, just I guess you talked about you have an adequate reserve margin in the service territory and if a large data center hyperscale that comes in, and they eat up that entire reserve margin and now the generations need to get back. Just on the allocation of cost for the data center moving in there and maybe eating up that reserve margin, does the rest of this jurisdiction bear the cost of now building back up the reserve margin?

No, and I'm glad you asked the question because we should be very clear about that. First of all, Microsoft has repeatedly stated that they want to and will pay their fair share. We are working on a specific rate for them that will include several components. They will essentially have to pay for the generation capacity needed. They will also contribute a small amount for distribution, covering the investment that serves them. Energy will be a pass-through, similar to many of our large industrial customers who are on what we refer to as real-time pricing. We are developing very specific components of a rate. It's not significantly different from what we are doing for other large industrial customers.

We are developing a plan, and as Gale mentioned, they are committed to contributing their fair share. I wouldn't describe it as affecting our reserve margins. Some of this is supported by builders. We constantly review our strategy to ensure we maintain the right reserve margin while considering economic development, which has influenced some of the generation here. Therefore, I don't believe it has impacted anything negatively; it's just additional support for everyone involved.

And then, Anthony, as you know well because you've been around a long time, when you have substantial kilowatt hour sales growth, that actually is helpful to your customer base. Because it spreads those additional costs over a much broader base of kilowatt hour sales. So there's also, as we work our way through this, remember that 4.5% to 5% increase that we're projecting in annual kilowatt hour sales starting in '26. That's also going to be helpful as well to our overall customer base.

Got it. And then if I could just one follow-up. Steve's question earlier about maybe some of the pushback in Illinois from the labor group. I'm just wondering, do you believe labor still has maybe the same, I don't know political leverage is the right term, but the same maybe sway that they've had in years past? Do you think it's more or just kind of the same? And I'll leave it there.

Anthony, it's very hard to tell. I mean, incrementally one way or the other. But I will say this, labor has and will continue to have, I believe, a strong voice in Illinois, and they are passionate about the need for us to continue the safety modernization program.

And we will take our next question from Paul Patterson with Glenrock Associates.

Congratulations. So I guess my question is the future of gas. You brought it up. And I know it's kind of early procedurally, but any sense as to when that might be wrapped up in Illinois?

A long time. What is going on right now and started a couple of months ago is really what they would call a scoping phase. So they're having almost weekly meetings to identify and get broad input on all the different sub subjects or sub subject matters that should have broad discussion from all the stakeholders going forward. So the scoping itself, I think, is going to take until mid-summer. Our guess is probably when do you think Scott, at least a year.

Yes. The scoping phase is expected to conclude around the end of August, followed by another year for the investigation and any resulting policy. One important aspect of the ICC's work is ensuring that all voices are heard in this process. They are involving many people to address various issues and circumstances, striving for a comprehensive approach.

I noticed that one of the environmental groups mentioned recently that they believe there needs to be a very long transition period and that natural gas will play a significant role for an extended time. I found this perspective to be both practical and encouraging.

Yes. I also think that since much of your capital expenditure focuses on safety, it likely does not affect your current investments in the business. If you consider...

I think that's reasonably accurate, Paul.

Okay. Recently, we've heard a lot of officials discussing enhanced grid enhancement technologies. I'm curious about how your company, as an industry leader, views the deployment of these technologies and their potential impact on the industry in the long term. What role do you see this playing in your business?

Well, it's early days, Paul, but I think the first application might be in transmission. What do you think, Scott?

Yes. We're going to have a lot of technology on the system. So it's hard to decide what exactly new technology will be coming, but we have a lot of automation that we put on the system that you can really see are very effective when there is a storm that rolls through. So I think the technology will continue to improve and I think transmission and whether you do dynamic line ratings and stuff, you're going to continue to see the benefits of technology. And I think just like anything else, it continues to evolve here and we get better and better at it.

In the near term, as Scott mentioned the dynamic line ratings, I think it's important to pay attention to that because it could be very helpful. However, there's a lot of research and development underway to enhance both reliability and stability. I hope that provides you with a broad answer to the question, Paul.

Absolutely. I appreciate it. Once again, congratulations, and good luck.

Thank you, Paul. You take care. All right. Well, folks, that concludes our conference call for today. Thank you so much for taking part. If you have more questions, feel free to contact Beth Straka. She can be reached at (414) 221-4639. So long, everybody.

And ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.