Chuck Eldred
Analyst · RBC Capital Markets
Thank you, Pat and good morning everyone. Beginning on slide seven, we had an ongoing earnings of $0.40 for the second quarter of 2016 compared to $0.44 in second quarter of 2015. PNM was down $0.05, TNMP was down $0.02 and Corporate and Other was up $0.03. The earnings drivers for the second quarter of 2016 versus the second quarter of last year are available to you in the appendix. Majority of the drivers are in line with the expectations that were established when we issued guidance for this year. However, there is one item at PNM that is new. We received interest income from the IRS that resulted in an increase in ongoing EPS of $0.02 during the second quarter of 2016. Now, moving to slide eight to review load information for the quarter. Load at PNM was down 0.4% compared to the second quarter of 2015 and 0.7% year-to-date, in line with our guidance for the year of flat to down 2%. While the second quarter shows significant changes in residential and commercial, on a year-to-date basis, these customer classes are normalized and are showing that there were some tiny differences between the first and second quarter of this year. As expected, industrial is down about 7% for both second quarter and year-to-date. We are getting some traction with the state’s economic development efforts. For example, Safelite AutoGlass is opening an insurance claims and support center that is expected to employ more than 900 people in Rio Rancho. We are also seeing expansions in current businesses, particularly in healthcare. Presbyterian Rust Medical Center has opened their second medical tower; they’ve also been expanding their clinic openings and planning to build a new hospital in Santa Fe next year. As a result of these and other efforts in the area, the employment growth in Albuquerque continued its upward trend at 1.3%. For the month of June 2016 compared to June of 2015, Albuquerque had employment growth of 1.6%, even customer growth also continues to be higher than forecast at 0.7%. TNMP continues to perform well. Volumetric load was up 6.2% in second quarter of this year compared to last year. As you recall, in the first quarter, this comparison was negative 1.6%. On a year-to-date basis, these metrics blend to show 2.6% growth year-over-year, which is in line with our guidance of 2% to 3% growth for 2016. Demand-based load is also up 2.8% for the second quarter and 2.2% on a year-to-date basis. We continue to see growth in the Texas economy. Although it’s been muted by the continued low oil price environment, the employment growth, particularly in Dallas continues to increase. For example, Mary Kay recently announced they are planning to build a $100 million state-of-the-art manufacturing and R&D facility in Lewisville. We also continue to receive request for additional capacity to serve petroleum processing facilities in our service territory. These factors result in a number of our end numbers being up 1.5% compared to the forecast of 1%. On slide nine, we revised our 2016 ongoing earnings guidance last week to $1.55 to $1.65. PNM now is expected to be at $1.08 to $1.16, which reflects the delays in the rate case. We expect PNM’s load for the year to come in near the midpoint of the guidance range or down 1% compared to last year. Although we’re still waiting on the final Commission order, we’re already working hard to achieve results within the guidance range. TNMP’s range has been narrowed to reflect their business results for the first half of the year. We now expect it to be at $0.50 to $0.51. Corporate and other guidance has been updated, primarily to recognize the financing that have been put in place earlier this year with Westmoreland, which is expected to be up a total $0.05 compared to last year. Turning to slide 10, let’s review the hearing examiner’s recommendation decision in PNM general rate case. I’d like to iterate that we communicated before, we’re disappointed with the hearing examiner’s recommendation. It does not provide for the balanced treatment of needed resources for our customers and shareholders. Depending on the Commission’s final order, we may have to pursue a direct appeal to the Mexico Supreme Court. The key elements of the hearing examiner’s August 4th recommended decision are listed here. The recommendation included an ROE of 9.575% compared to our requested 10.5%. The hearing examiner also recommended that we’re not to be allowed to recover two significant capital investments, the Palo Verde 2 assets that were previously leased and our investment in balanced draft equipment which was required by our San Juan air permit. The recommendation does support our request for CWIP, the pre-paid pension asset and supports our requested depreciation rate increase. However, it recommends against the collection of Palo Verde lease and property tax expense. We see no basis for this as we have been collecting these expenses since we entered into the leases in the mid-80s. The only change that has occurred is the extension of the releases which caused the payment to be cut in half, resulting in savings of our customers of approximately $17 million per year through 2022. The next steps in the rate case will be for the parties to file their exceptions and reply to exceptions before the Commission decides the case. We plan to issue a press release or an 8-K when the Commission issues their order. After we have this information, we will update our potential earnings power through 2019. We remain committed to managing our business and recovering our capital investments, resulting in a balanced outcome for both customers and shareholders. Thank you for time this morning, and I’ll turn the call back over to Pat.