Good day, and thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Third Quarter 2022 Unitil Earnings Conference Call. At this time all participants’ are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers’ there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Todd Diggins, Director of Finance. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss Unitil Corporation's third quarter 2022 financial results. Speaking on the call today will be Tom Meissner, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Bob Hevert, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. We will discuss financial and other information on this call. As we mentioned in the press release announcing today's call, we have posted information, including a presentation to the Investors section of our website at unitil.com. We will refer to that information during this call. Moving to slide two, the comments made today about future operating results or events are forward-looking statements under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted. Statements made on this call should be considered together with cautionary statements and other information contained in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other documents we have filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of today, and we assume no obligation to update them. This presentation contains non-GAAP financial measures. The company's supplemental information more fully describes these non-GAAP financial measures and includes a reconciliation to the nearest GAAP financial measures. The company believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful in evaluating its performance. With that, I will now turn the call over to Chairman, President and CEO, Tom Meissner.

Great. Thanks, Todd. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for being with us today. I'm going to begin on slide four, where today we announced net income of $0.5 million or $0.03 per share for the third quarter of 2022. Through the first nine months of this year, net income was $26.9 million or $1.68 per share. This represents an increase of $0.26 per share over the same nine month period of 2021 and is supported by higher adjusted gross margins and successful New Hampshire rate case outcomes. As noted in prior presentations, we view sustainability as a critical underpinning of our long-term success. And I'm pleased to share that we have recently published our annual sustainability and responsibility report. This report can be found at unitil.com and highlights the progress we have made and the steps we are taking to meet our goals. We remain resolute in achieving what we have pledged and we'll share additional details about our progress later in the call. Our capital spending plan remains on track, and we're excited to announce that we have submitted a utility-scale solar filing to the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission requesting a public interest determination. I will speak more about that project in a moment. In order to accommodate the company's capital expenditure and growth profile, we have increased our short-term borrowing capacity, securing additional liquidity in the years ahead. The last point I'd like to make on this slide is that we continue to excel in all areas of our business, and I'm proud to note that we were recently recognized as one of New Hampshire's best company work for as part of business New Hampshire Magazine's 2022 annual ranking. Moving now to slide five, we provide some additional information on the utility-scale solar request we filed with…

Thank you, Tom, and good morning, everyone. Beginning on Slide nine, for the third quarter of 2022, earnings per share were $0.03. On a year-to-date basis, net income increased $5.3 million or $0.26 per share, compared to the same period in 2021. This represents an 18% year-over-year increase, driven by higher sales margins supported by successful New Hampshire rate case outcomes, partially offset by higher operating expenses. Contributing to the year-over-year earnings increase was approximately $0.11 per share attributed to recoupment activity with the New Hampshire rate cases. As a reminder, recruitment is a regulatory treatment in which permanent rate case awards are reconciled back to the effective date of the temporary rate award. Turning now to Slide 10, for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, electric adjusted gross margin was $76.6 million, an increase of $3.2 million or 4.4%, compared to the same period of 2021. The increase in electric margin reflects higher distribution rates and customer growth. Commercial and industrial unit sales increased 1.1% and customers increased by 734 reflecting additions in both the residential and commercial customer classes. You may recall our electric division is now fully decoupled, which removes the variability of weather and other factors can have on revenue. Moving to the company's gas operations. For the nine months ended September 30, adjusted gross margin was $100.6 million, an increase of $8.4 million or 9.1%, compared to the same period of 2021. The increase in gas margin reflects higher rates, customer growth and colder winter weather. We added a total of 1,154 gas customers, compared to the same period last year. In Maine, our only non-decoupled service area, weather-normalized unit sales increased 1%. Moving on to Slide 11, we provide an earnings bridge, comparing year-to-date 2022 results to 2021. As noted earlier, year-to-date 2022…

Great. Thanks, Bob. Ending on slide 14, the first nine months of 2022 are proven to be busy and highly successful for our company. We expect this momentum to carry forward through year-end. We're well positioned operationally and financially to navigate higher energy prices in volatile financial markets. In the year-end earnings call, we will provide additional updates to our outlook, including our five year forecast for capital spending as well as dividend policy. With that, I'll turn it back to Todd.

Great. Thanks, Tom. That wraps up the material in this call. Thank you for attending. I will now turn the call over to the operator who will coordinate questions.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] I'm not showing any questions in the queue, sir. I will give it one more second. Our question comes from [indiscernible] with Bloomberg. Please proceed. Please check your mute button. Ms. [indiscernible] your line is open. I'm sorry, sir. It seems like there is some technical difficulties on their part. And I'm not showing any further questions, sir.

Okay, that's fine. I appreciate everyone attending the event today, and we look forward to more updates in the future.

Thank you, everyone, for attending. You may now disconnect. Have a wonderful day.