Earnings Labs

NiSource Inc. (NI)

Q1 2013 Earnings Call· Tue, Apr 30, 2013

$48.26

+0.07%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the quarter 1 2013 NiSource Earnings Conference Call. My name is Patrick, and I will be your coordinator for today. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Glen Kettering, Senior Vice President of corporate affairs. Please proceed, sir.

Glen L. Kettering

Analyst

Thank you, Patrick, and good morning, everyone. On behalf of NiSource, I'd like to welcome you to our quarterly analyst call. Joining me this morning are Bob Skaggs, President and Chief Executive Officer; Steve Smith, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Randy Hulen, Managing Director of Investor Relations. The focus of today's call is to review our financial performance for the first quarter of 2013 and to provide a business update. We'll then open the call to your questions. At times during the call, we will refer to the supplemental slides available on nisource.com. I'd like to remind you that some of the statements made on this conference call will be forward-looking and those statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the statements. Information concerning those risks and uncertainties is included in the MD&A and Risk Factors sections of our periodic SEC filings. And now, I'd like to turn the call over to Bob Skaggs.

Robert C. Skaggs

Analyst

Thanks, Glen, and good morning, and thanks for joining us. For today's agenda, we'll touch on key highlights from another solid quarter. We'll discuss our financial results and our operational highlights from each of our business units and then we'll open the call to your questions. Let's start on slide 3 in the supplemental deck that was posted online this morning. As we noted in this morning's press release, in just a few months, the NiSource team has made significant progress on a number of fronts: financial, regulatory, legislative and infrastructure investment. From a financial perspective, NiSource's first quarter results were well in line with our expectations and our full year earnings guidance of $1.50 to $1.60 per share non-GAAP. We'll provide a bit more context on our financial results in just a few moments. One of our most significant recent achievements is new Indiana legislation that improved the efficiency of the regulatory process and provides a framework for modernizing Indiana's gas and electric infrastructure. This landmark legislation dovetails nicely with NIPSCO's long-term strategy to modernize its core utility system. Another key development during the quarter was the filing of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania's unanimous rate case settlement with the Pennsylvania Commission. Among other things, that settlement reflects a $55 million revenue increase and provides more enhanced rate design. And as we noted during our year-end call in February, our team is actively executing on the FERC-approved Columbia Gas Transmission modernization program. That program includes a steady stream of infrastructure investments that'll enhance the integrity, reliability and flexibility of the Columbia Gas Transmission system. Looking across NiSource, I'd note that we're fully on track with our overall capital investment program which, you'll recall, is targeted to reach approximately $1.8 billion in 2013. And we continue to support those investments with…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And your first question comes from the line of Charles Fishman with Morningstar.

Charles J. Fishman - Morningstar Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Bob, does that new Indiana legislation -- does that cover gas distribution, too?

Robert C. Skaggs

Analyst

It covers gas distribution for the enhancements in the process and also for extensions of gas facilities into underserved areas.

Charles J. Fishman - Morningstar Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And then like if I look at -- there was a slide, which one is it? I'm sorry. It showed like future transmission projects, here it is, Slide 14 for NIPSCO. I assume some of that, if not all of it, is under FERC, but would that kind of a thing be covered too under the new legislation?

Robert C. Skaggs

Analyst

No. The legislation is primarily distribution-oriented and what I would call more routine transmission modernization as opposed to large-scale expansions or a greenfield construction of transmission. Those sorts of major projects, let's say, are the jurisdiction of MISO and, ultimately, FERC approval.

Charles J. Fishman - Morningstar Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Okay. So then like -- one other, following on with that. So like the AMR meters, those would be that tight even though that might be too early for this?

Robert C. Skaggs

Analyst

Too early for that. And that's going ultimately be recovered via rate case process or proceeding.

Charles J. Fishman - Morningstar Inc., Research Division

Analyst

But if you installed more of those AMR meters, that would be covered under the new legislation, correct?

Robert C. Skaggs

Analyst

Frankly, Charles, great question. I don't know about that issue, specifically. What I would say, I think as a good baseline is, we and the other utilities are going to have to file a 7-year program of activity. Now the Commission's going to review that program, stakeholders are going to review that program and, ultimately, have a sign-off on the composition of that program. So I think that's going to be the venue, if you will, or vehicle, that's going to be more determinative of what sort of investment and activity is in or is out.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Robert C. Skaggs

Analyst

All right, Patrick, we know it's a busy day out there in the market. We certainly, again, appreciate everybody's interest. And I'm certain we're going to field follow-up questions later. So again, thank you for your interest. Thanks for your support. We'll see you soon.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.