James Lynch
Analyst · Evercore ISI. Your question please
Thank you, Eric. Much like the second quarter, our third quarter operating results reflect the positive impact of our 2019 general rate case or GRC. The increased use of California surface water supplies and a decrease in merger-related costs incurred in connection with our Connecticut Water merger. Our results also reflect the impact of reserves established against amounts recorded in our 2018 and 2019 Water Conservation Memorandum Accounts or a WCMA and higher purchase water cost from the Santa Clara Valley Water District or Valley Water. Third quarter revenue was $114 million, a $10.9 million decrease over reported third quarter 2018 revenue of $124.9 million. Net income for the third quarter was $9.5 million or $0.33 per diluted share. This compares with $15.8 million or $0.76 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2018. During the third quarter of 2019, the increased availability of surface water contributed $0.12 per share and the decrease in merger-related costs contributed $0.17 per share. These increases were offset by the change in our WCMA balance, including new reserves totaling $0.35 per share, increased water production cost of $0.10 per share and a decrease in other items of $0.06 per share. In addition, dilution due to the common equity shares we issued in December of 2018, for the Connecticut merger was $0.21 per share. On October 4, 2019, the California Public Utilities Commission or the CPUC issued two proposed resolutions for an advice letter we filed in March of 2019 for recovery of our 2018 WCMA balance. The first proposed resolution approves recovery of the 2018 WCMA, while the second, to nice balance recovery. Both proposed resolutions appear on the CPUC’s November 7, 2019 meeting agenda. As a result of the conflicting proposals, the company no longer meets the accounting probability of recovery criteria for alternative revenue programs, and as fully reserved, the $9.2 million WCMA balance as of September 30, 2019. In addition, the company has fully reserved the $1.5 million 2019 WCMA balance. Of note before consideration of the reserves, the WCMA balance for the third quarter of 2019 and year-to-date 2019 had dropped to $900,000 and $1.5 million respectively from $4.1 million and $7.1 million respectively for the same periods in 2018. This decrease was due primarily to better alignment of authorized and actual usage in the 2019 GRC coupled with better alignment of the customer rate structure with actual fixed and variable cost. As a result, we anticipate that the WCMA will have a diminished impact on our future results. Turning to our comparative analysis for the third quarter, the decrease in revenue was primarily attributable to a $13.7 million change in the WCMA, including the new reserves, which was partially offset by rate increases that added $1.3 million of new revenue compared to 2018 and $900,000 in new customer revenue along with the net change in revenue balancing and memorandum accounts of $800,000. Water production expenses increased $1.2 million during the quarter compared to the third quarter of 2018. The increase was primarily due to higher per unit costs for purchased water and power of $3.9 million, a change in the cost recovery balancing the memorandum accounts of $1.3 million and $700,000 in higher customer usage. These increases were partially offset by an increase in the use of lower cost surface water supplies of $4.6 million. Other operating expenses decreased $3.3 million during the 2019 third quarter due to a $6.5 million -- $6.7 million decrease in merger expenses related to our Connecticut Water transaction. This was partially offset by $2 million in higher general and administrative expenses, due primarily to increased integration and compensation costs, and $1.4 million in higher depreciation related to utility plant additions. Turning to the year-to-date results, 2019 revenue was $294.6 million, a 1% decrease over the same period last year. Net income for the year-to-date was $28.9 million or $1.01 per diluted share compared to $29.9 million or $1.45 per diluted share during the same period in 2018. Diluted earnings per share for the three months or the year-to-date period were impacted by an increased use of surface water that provided $0.30 per share, a decrease in merger-related cost of $0.22 per share and rate increases of $0.20 per share. In addition, certain balancing and memorandum accounts contributed $0.17 per share and interest on money market funds contributed $0.16 per share. These increases were offset by the change in our WCMA balance, including new reserves totaling $0.43 per share, a $0.20 per share increase in other production cost, a $0.15 per share decrease in water usage and an increase in depreciation and amortization costs of $0.11 per share. We also experienced an increase in various other items of $0.20 per share and dilution due to the common equity we issued in December 2018, for the Connecticut merger of $0.40 per share. The decrease in revenue was primarily attributable to the change in the WCMA of $17.2 million including the reserves, a $6 million decrease in customer usage, and a $2.1 million change due to the OII customer credits I discussed on our second quarter call. The decrease was partially offset by $10.4 million attributable to net changes in balancing and memorandum accounts, $8 million in cumulative rate increases and $2.6 million in revenue from new customers. Water production expenses decreased $200,000 in the first nine months of 2019. The decrease was primarily due to an increase in the use of lower cost surface water of $11.9 million and a $2.3 million decrease in customer water usage. This decrease was partially offset by $10.2 million of higher per unit costs for water and power, and $3.8 million net increase in cost recovery balancing and memorandum accounts. Other operating expenses increased $300,000 in the first nine months of 2019, primarily due to $4.4 million in higher depreciation expense, $4.2 million in higher general and administrative expenses and $700,000 in higher taxes other than income taxes, partially offset by a decrease of $8.9 million in CTWS merger expenses. The increase in general and administrative expenses was due primarily to annual wage increases and integration costs for the merger with CTWS. Other income and expense included $6.3 million of interest income earned on money market fund investments from the proceeds of the company’s December 2018 equity offering. Now turning to our capital expenditure program, we added $38.8 million in company-funded utility plant in the third quarter of 2019 bringing totally company funded additions year-to-date $101.1 million or approximately 70% of our planned capital spending for 2019. Our year-to-date 2019 cash flows from operations increased 24% over the same period in 2018. The increase was primarily the result of a $27.6 million increase in the collection of balancing and memorandum accounts and a $3.3 million increase in general working capital and net income after adjustment for non-cash items. These increases were partially offset by an $8 million decrease in net taxes payable and a $5.3 million decrease in previously build and accrued receivables at the end of the quarter, we had $83 million available on our bank lines of credit for short-term financing of utility plant additions and operating activities. With that I’ll stop and turn the call back over to Eric.