Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for waiting and welcome to WEC Energy Group's Conference Call to review the 2015 Year-End Results. This call is being recorded for rebroadcast, and all participants are in a listen-only mode at this time. Before the conference call begins, I will read the forward-looking language. All statements in this presentation, other than historical facts, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which 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 statement, factors described in WEC Energy Group's and Integrys Holding's latest Form 10-Ks 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. After the presentation, the conference will be open to analysts for questions and answers. In conjunction with this call, WEC has posted on its website a package of detailed financial information at wecenergygroup.com. A replay of our remarks will be available approximately two hours after the conclusion of this call. And now, it's my pleasure to introduce Mr. Gale Klappa, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of WEC Energy Group. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Helane, thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today as we review our results for calendar year 2015. As you know, we formed WEC Energy Group on June 29 when we closed our acquisition of Integrys. So today's report reflects two full quarters as a combined company. I'll update our progress on a number of major initiatives in just a…

Thank you, Gale. As Gale mentioned, in 2015, our adjusted earnings grew to $2.73 compared with $2.65 a share for 2014. Our adjusted earnings exclude the Integrys company's earnings and the impacts of the acquisition. They are also adjusted for the shares issued in connection with the merger. To facilitate comparisons with last year, my discussion of 2015 results will focus primarily on legacy Wisconsin Energy. The earnings packet placed on our website this morning includes the results of the Integrys companies and has a full GAAP to adjusted reconciliation. First, I'll focus on operating income for Wisconsin Energy and then discuss other income, interest expense and income taxes. Our consolidated operating income for the full year 2015 was $1.137 billion as compared with $1.125 billion in 2014. That's an increase of $12 million. Starting with the Utility Energy segment, the operating income in 2015 totaled $767.7 million, an increase of $3.5 million over 2014. On the positive side, we had a $35 million increase in revenues due to the Wisconsin rate order. We also had $10.4 million of improved fuel recoveries and lower O&M cost, in part driven by lower benefits cost and reduced maintenance expense in the fourth quarter, decreased expenses by $10.2 million. On the downside, we estimate that our electric and gas margins decrease by $35.3 million, driven by warmer fourth quarter weather. The fourth quarter of 2015 was the second warmest in the history of We Energies. In addition, depreciation expense rose by $16.8 million with additional capital expenditures. Combining these and other factors results in a $3.5 million increase in adjusted Utility operating income in 2015 as compared with 2014. Our Non-Utility Energy operating income was $373.4 million, which is $5.4 million higher than the prior year due to additional investment in our Oak…

And now, we would like to take the questions. Your first question comes from the line of Julien Dumoulin-Smith with UBS. Please go ahead. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Afternoon, Julien.

Hey. Good afternoon and congratulations to both of you. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Thank you very much. Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: Thank you.

Absolutely. So perhaps just... Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: (26:12), Julien.

Absolutely. Thank you. Kicking it off here, I'd just be curious, Peoples Gas, just the earned ROEs and expectations into 2016, looks like there could be a nice pick-up there. But I'd be curious if you can elaborate kind of what you're thinking about an earned ROE embedded in that range. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Okay.

Or what should we be thinking about for that segment? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: I am really glad you asked, Julien. Let me first say that for calendar year 2015, the Illinois utilities, Peoples Gas and North Shore, earned their allowed rate of return, which is 9.05% (26.54) and that's exactly what's embedded in our forecast for 2016 earnings guidance. I know you had...

All right. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: ...questions about whether we could achieve that.

No, well, there we go. And then secondly, I'd just be curious, in terms of the bonus depreciation, if you can elaborate a little further there. Can you discuss a little bit more what the offsets were for 2016 and how you were able to entirely offset it? And then looking forward a little bit more prospectively here, could you talk about what there too, what are the items adding up in terms of added spend, et cetera, to make it up? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, let me try to frame that for you, and if any of our guys want to add additional detail, feel free to do so. But for 2016, since there will be no – basically, there will be no base rate changes for calendar 2016 across our major utilities. We really don't see any immediate type of a hit in terms of bonus depreciation. However, in terms of the cash that we'll be receiving, it has allowed us to pull forward several important infrastructure projects. Really it's not large projects, but it's things like replacement of additional underground lines, substation transformer replacements, et cetera. Virtually all of that is in Wisconsin and that's worth about an additional $100 million that we've identified so far for 2016 just as an example. So I think most of the projects that we are looking at that will be able to be funded with the bonus depreciation cash are exactly those types of projects; on our gas delivery networks and on our electric delivery networks, all related to reliability, all related to upgrading, modernizing and hardening for safety purposes.

Great, excellent. And then last, just follow-up there if you can, thinking big picture CPP longer term, we've heard a lot of other states talk a lot about adjacencies to Canada and imports. Can you talk a little bit more about the Manitoba Hydro opportunity in the long term and how that fits into your five-year and 10-year CapEx plan? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, it really has no impact on the 5-year CapEx plan or really nothing specific in the 10-year CapEx plan. However, and I'll ask Allen to talk about this, if there are going to be more hydro imports from Canada, there clearly would have to be additional transmission built. Allen? Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: Yeah. So, of course, the Manitoba Hydro, we wouldn't actually be an investor, we will be an offtaker of the power. So in terms of a direct investment, we wouldn't have any direct investment in the hydro units themselves. But as Gale mentioned, if you're going to have deliverability and actually be able to affect the generation dispatch in Wisconsin, you'd have to be able to deliver it, so you'd need the electric transmission. But at this point, we certainly don't have a number on what that investment might look like.

Okay. Still a bit early. But it is something indeed that you're interested in exploring, correct? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Absolutely. Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: Yeah. I mean, I think it's something – another item in the toolbox that would help us potentially with compliance. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: And to Allen's point, Julien, if we're facing, as a state, in Wisconsin a 41% reduction in CO2 emissions, we're going to need every cost-effective tool we have.

Yeah. Thank you. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: You're welcome. Thank you, Julien. Appreciate it.

Your next question comes from the line of Jim von Riesemann with Mizuho. Please go ahead. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Rock and roll, Jim. How are you?

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: But without Mexican food.

Without Mexican food. Well, you know... Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: It may change a little bit, Jim.

So not to quote The Who or anything, but the question really is for Allen. So how would you describe your management style versus Gale's? And what would you say are the nuances in your respective strategic visions for WEC going forward? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Oh, man, this is going to be interesting. Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: Well, Jim, that's such a long...

Has your post been paid yet, Allen? Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: That's such a long question; I'm going to give you a very short answer. And it's probably easier for me to talk about what won't change, Jim.

Okay. Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: And we talked about a lot of things that will, and Mexican food – no Mexican food at the staff meetings. But what won't change is really a focus on execution and delivering results. So that's a short answer to your very long conceptual question.

Okay. Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: But that's what won't change.

Let me ask you a second broad topic before I go into a modeling or two question. With respect to growth, what we've seen over the last several weeks from the companies that have been reporting is that not all G is created equal. Can you talk about why your G is standing out and why you're so confident in your 5% to 7% longer term growth rate? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, I'll take a shot at it. Allen certainly should offer his view. I think the reason we're confident in our 6% to 8% growth in 2016 and then 5% to 7% afterward is essentially the need for the significant capital investments in the kinds of projects that we have embedded in that 10-year plan. Our huge generation projects are behind us by and large. But the kind of reliability upgrades, the kind of modernization that's needed on the natural gas delivery networks and the electric delivery networks, those are essential for reliability going forward. And when we see the significant backlog that we have and, of course, our capital spending doubling with the acquisition of Integrys compared to standalone Wisconsin Energy, the need and the backlog of the projects gives me, at least, very significant confidence in our ability to hit the growth rates. Allen? Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: Yeah. I guess the only thing I would add, Jim, to Gale's comment, quite a bit of the investment we're looking at is in the natural gas side of the business. So there is a clear need from an infrastructure standpoint. So I think that's something else that you should keep in mind when you look at the longer-term numbers. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: And to Allen's point, Jim, it's not just Chicago. We have a significant amount of natural gas delivery network investment in Wisconsin as well. And for that matter, expansions in Minnesota, in Rochester, growth in Michigan with the natural gas utility there. So I think we said earlier that about $800 million a year on average of our $1.5 billion of capital investment will be devoted toward the natural gas delivery business.

Okay. Switching over to a couple financial questions, can you talk broadly about your financing plans for 2016 and 2017 in terms of expected debt issuances, maybe on a net basis? And then talk about your free cash flow expectations over the same period with free cash flow being defined both pre and post dividend? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Sure. We'll let Pat and Scott talk with you specifically. I will say that right now the first thing we have out of the box in 2016, and we announced it earlier this week, is a tender offer for the hybrids or a portion of the hybrids that were outstanding at TEG. It's one of the issues of the hybrids that we have a tender offer for right now. So that's the first refinancing or the first financing opportunity that we have that's underway right now. Pat?

Yeah. And them Jim, in 2016, this is actually a pretty light year for us. We only project right now to have two bond offerings, one in Wisconsin Gas probably in the first half of the year, and then at PGL in the second half of the year. So this is – certainly relative to last year, not a lot going on.

Let me be a bit more straightforward. Do you expect to be free cash flow positive this year, next year?

No, we do not. We do not expect to be free cash flow positive this year or next year.

What's the delta versus being free cash?

I don't have that number at my fingertips, but part of what Gale said is we're evaluating, and my comments as well, as we evaluate the capital plan, even if I had that number, that would be a little bit in flux as we evaluate how to deploy that bonus depreciation cash we've received. So we can follow up when we kind of frame that up in a little more detail, if you'd like, but I'd rather not wallow around in it, if that's all right.

Okay. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: And Jim, an additional comment on that. Remember, we do not have any need to issue additional equity. So basically, we might be talking about a slight increase in commercial paper or one of these bond offerings that Pat laid out. But we're within the – I mean, we're basically within the confines of not needing additional equity and maintaining the current type of debt to capital that we've been historically maintaining.

Okay. Thank you. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: You're welcome, Jim. Thanks for the comments.

Your next question comes from the line of Michael Lapides with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Greetings, Michael. How are you today? Michael Lapides - Goldman Sachs & Co.: I'm well. Congrats to both of you, gentlemen. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Thank you. Michael Lapides - Goldman Sachs & Co.: A couple of just questions, I want to make sure – I hopped on a tad bit late, so I want to make sure I understand. You've got your rate case filing coming in Wisconsin in the next couple of months, April-May timeframe I think. Should we imply that given the fact you have extra capital as part of bonus depreciation that the CapEx requirements or the CapEx spends for kind of the two-year period that case will cover, 2017 and 2018, potentially higher than what you kind of disclosed in the EEI-related slide decks given the fact you have a lot more capital available to you at that subsidiary – or at those subsidiaries? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, I think certainly because we now have the availability of additional cash through the federal government's extension of bonus depreciation, I mean, yes, we are looking at for the benefit of customers to be able to invest in more modernization than what you saw in our slide deck in terms of the 10-year capital plan. Because as you'll recall, we did not take for granted that there would be an extension of bonus depreciation when we laid out the new 10-year capital plan at the EEI Conference in November. So yes, I think you could expect us to have additional capital investment, again, along the lines of additional upgrading of our natural gas and electricity delivery networks, particularly in Wisconsin. But in light of the fact that this is additional cash coming in, it really would not have any material effect on our rate review. Michael Lapides - Goldman Sachs & Co.: Meaning as long as the CapEx increase and the bonus D&A impact on rate base are a one-for-one swap.

Correct. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: That is correct. You stated it very well. Michael Lapides - Goldman Sachs & Co.: And are there enough projects that you don't need to – that don't have lengthy approval processes where you could make a $400 million to $500 million a year increase in your capital budget for like the 2017-2018 timeframe? And that just seems like a very significant increase. If you're saying that bonus D&A is worth about $1 billion to you, that would be a pretty significant increase to the capital budget. I'm just trying to think about the ability to actually execute that type of CapEx increase. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, we don't have $400 million to $500 million a year of additional projects, but I would say to you that looking at our legitimate backlog of investment needs, what we can pull forward is very significant. And then in the back half of that period, remember the period is really 2015 through 2019, in the back half of that period, as I mentioned in our prepared remarks, if the proposed time table for the clean power plant compliance stays on track, we may be looking at the need for investment in our fleet either additional renewables, additional natural gas-fired generation. So those could be some fairly large projects in the back half of this period that we're talking about, but certainly in the front half of the period, 2016, 2017-ish. We really are looking at smaller discrete projects, such as additional ability to replace aging underground lines, replace and upgrade substation transformers, more distribution automation, those types of projects. They really don't meet the threshold of a specific approval from any of the regulators. Michael Lapides -…

Your next question comes from the line of Brian Russo with Ladenburg Thalmann. Please go ahead. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Greetings, Brian. Brian J. Russo - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., Inc. (Broker): Hi. How are you? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: We're good. Are you wonderful and award winning today, Brian? Brian J. Russo - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., Inc. (Broker): Just to follow on that last question on the parent debt, when is the first call date? I mean, you'd probably have to pay a premium prior to callable dates, correct? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Are you thinking about the holding company debt, or are you talking... Brian J. Russo - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., Inc. (Broker): Yeah, holding company debt. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, we got to carve it up. There's multiple debt instruments at the holding company, Brian, between the hybrid. Are you talking specifically the acquisition debt? Brian J. Russo - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., Inc. (Broker): Yes, acquisition debt. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: I'm sorry. The acquisition debt, the first tranche expires at the end of three years, so 2018. So, it was three, five and 10 years, so 2018, 2020 and 2025. Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: Three, five and 10 years, and then about $300 million of commercial paper. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Correct. Brian J. Russo - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., Inc. (Broker): Okay. Got it. And just to be clear, this is embedded in your 5% to 7% EPS CAGR or it's an addition to it? Just how does those moving parts work in terms of the CAGR? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: When you say – all of that debt is embedded. Brian J. Russo - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., Inc. (Broker): No. I mean, is there assumption for debt reduction of the acquisition debt in the 5% to 7% CAGR? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Yeah. Well, we're assuming that – again, we want to see what kind of flexibility we have, but we'll either retire it or refinance it. Brian J. Russo - Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., Inc. (Broker): Okay. Understood. Thank you.

Your next question comes from the line of Dan Jenkins with State of Wisconsin Investment Board. Please go ahead.

Hi. Good afternoon. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Dan, how are you?

Good. And congratulations to both of you. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Thank you. Dan, I am so glad you called since this is my last call, and I've been wanting to have a conversation with you about all the advice that I've freely given you about your behavior over the years, and I'm hoping that I've been helpful to you – improved behavior on your part. I was just thinking, though, with this being my last call, I just wanted to offer you, and you can certainly feel free to think about this, but I just wanted to offer you perhaps, for a nominal fee, being your life coach going forward. What do you think, Dan?

You mean Allen isn't going to take that over? Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: Dan, now we know there's going to be a second change. No more Mexican food and no kicking Jenkins around. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: And I know you're going to miss that, Dan. But what can we do for you today, Dan?

First just a clarification. You gave your expectation for 2016 on the energy sales. And I'm not sure I got for the large industrial ex mines. It was 1-point-what? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: 1.2%, Dan.

And so, related to that, I was kind of curious where you see that coming from, given how 2015 performed, that seems like kind of a pickup. But I wondered if you could give us more color on that. And somewhat related to that, I was wondering if you are seeing any impact in the sand customers related to what's going on with the energy. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: A very good question, Dan. And let me try to cover the waterfront for you. Pat and Scott should add any color they would like to add. But first of all, let me tackle the frac sand. In essence, given the frac sand operations, and there are about 110 of them in the western part of the State of Wisconsin. We really don't serve electricity to any of the major ones in the western part of the state. It's really – that's really natural gas demand for us. And because we've just completed in November the largest expansion of our natural gas distribution network in Wisconsin gas history, we haven't up till now served a significant amount of the frac sand demand for natural gas. So while the frac sand industry has declined along with the big drop in oil prices, we still have an opportunity to grow over the longer term and the medium term in terms of our natural gas distribution service to that industry in the western part of the state. So long story short, because we haven't had a lot of the service in place or a lot of the capability in place up until now, we've not really been hurt to any significant degree by the decline in the frac sand business in light of the oil crash, if I'm making any sense.

Sure. Okay. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: All right. Then in terms of industrial demand for electricity and how are we seeing a percent-or-so growth, a couple of thoughts and then we'll ask Scott Lauber, our Treasurer, who tracks our electricity demand. I track it every day, he tracks it every hour. Long story short, we serve 17 different sectors of the industrial economy in the State of Wisconsin, and many of those sectors are either flat or slightly down when you look at 2015 performance. But there are four sectors where we have significant concentration in Wisconsin that actually have shown a little growth and we think may continue to show some growth in our projections in 2016. So that's food processing, paper production, printing, and plastics. So those are fairly large industrial sectors. Among the 17, those four are pretty large. And we've actually seen some uptick throughout 2015 in those four sectors. And that, in part, underlies the percent-or-so growth that we're projecting for 2016. Scott? Scott J. Lauber - Vice President & Treasurer: In addition, we have some attractive rates to bring in new customers into the area. So we are actually seeing some customers building specifically in Southeastern Wisconsin some distribution centers, Amazon built here. So we're seeing that – and those actually are increasing our load in 2016 also. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Yeah, it's a very good point. And, for example, Scott mentioned Amazon, well, they just built a 1 million square foot distribution center that's now operational. And now that they've got it operational, I believe they've announced they're adding another 250,000 square feet right immediately adjacent to the 1 million square feet that they just built. Uline, which is a major company that has moved to Wisconsin in the last seven or eight years, is just growing by leaps and bounds, and they're adding distribution capacity. So we're seeing, as Scott said, not only some strength in some of the traditional clusters in Wisconsin, but we're also seeing some large commercial growth that is now in place and beginning to operate.

Okay. Then the second thing I was curious about, you mentioned that your kind of two workshops in of the six workshops around the main replacement plan at Peoples Gas, I was wondering if you could give a little color on kind of what the discussion's been there in terms of the Commission concerns or Commission directives or if they've had any recommendations. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, actually, no recommendations yet. But I've been very encouraged by the entire approach that the Illinois Commerce Commission has decided to take in terms of taking, as we suggested, a fresh look at the entire program. The workshops are very granular and technical in nature. So for example, at one of the workshops, folks from the federal pipeline safety administration have been invited to come in and discuss the 2011 call to action from the federal government to replace some of these aging cast iron and bare steel pipes. So this is – the way that workshops have gone so far, and you're right, two of the six have been completed, and the subject matter for the remaining four are public and the agendas are public. It's really almost stepping back and let's taking – take a complete reexamination for the need, the schedule and the shorter and long term cost estimates. And then importantly, and one of the workshops will be dedicated to this, cooperation and collaboration with the City of Chicago. And I can't tell you how important that is. I mean, while we are in the process of trying to replace 2,000 miles of aging underground pipes in Chicago, the City of Chicago is also trying to replace a significant number of aging water mains. So cooperation in terms of trying to get that work done in a scheduled collaborative basis is a real issue that needs – we need to continue to work on this. I think we've made real progress with the City of Chicago in terms of sharing information and planning for construction. But one of those workshops is really going to be dedicated to, okay, how can the two entities that are ripping up streets in Chicago best work together. So very technical in nature, but really going through – again, it's almost a complete new primer on the need for the program and how the program should be structured and scheduled going forward.

So would you expect any revisions potentially to the CapEx budget related to the resolution of this process or how should we think about that? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, the way I would think about it is, certainly the Illinois Commerce Commission is interested in the timetable and the cost. And originally, the commission set a deadline of 2030 to complete that program. I think we all want to talk about is that still a realistic deadline for completing the program; how much can efficiently and effectively be spent in any given year, and how much risk would be taken if you extended the program. But right now, while all of that is still being processed and all of that's still being discussed, and I believe the Commission will vote on a new plan in June, the best advice I could give you is to stick with the $250 million to $280 million a year investment plan. That's what we're finding right now. It's probably the sweet spot in terms of how much can be done efficiently during the construction (53:58) Chicago.

Okay. And then just wanted to say, given your successful completion of Power the Future and Integrys, you've obviously made a large impact on the company and left a tough legacy for Allen to follow. So, good luck. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: To whom was that addressed? Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: Thank you, Dan.

Bye. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Bye-bye.

Your next question comes from the line of Steve Fleishman with Wolfe Research. Please go ahead. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Hey, Steve. You don't need a life coach, do you?

I hope not. Thanks, Gale, and congrats on your retirement on time and on budget. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Thank you, Steve.

Congrats as well to Allen. So just a quick follow-up on the Illinois process. So could you maybe give a little color if the AG's office is kind of involved in these discussions on this kind of new plan? And then also, there is some attempt to still go back and keep looking back at what happened, just any color on where you see that process heading? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Yeah, I'd be happy to, Steve. First of all, the six workshops that the Illinois Commerce Commission has scheduled, the invitees are really all of the parties that have been involved in this entire program from day one. So it would be the Citizens Utility Board, it would be the City of Chicago, it would be the State Attorney General's Office. It would be a significant representation from the natural gas division of the Illinois Commerce Commission. In fact, the workshops are being moderated by the head of the natural gas division of the Illinois Commerce Commission. And all of the folks that have been invited to participate are participating. From what we've seen so far in the first two workshops, I would say that there are more informational type questions. I mean, for example, the State Attorney General's Office has asked, "Well, does all the cast iron pipe that's a certain age really need to be replaced?" So they're very technical questions. I mean, this is almost, I think, a terrific opportunity to get everybody on the same basis in terms of information and knowledge about the program. So I'm actually very encouraged by the approach that the Illinois Commerce Commission has taken. I think it will be an opportunity, again, to put everybody on the same basis of information and also really have a very strong dialogue with the natural gas division of how the company and the City of Chicago need to cooperate in the streets. So that's really kind of the color I would give you so far. Again, very encouraged by the participation, by the kind of questions, and by the understanding that's building that with this kind of aging infrastructure, this is something that should not, cannot be ignored. So that would be my thoughts on the workshops. And again, we've filed a three-year plan that put our top priorities in place for the neighborhoods that we thought were most at risk, and we'll see what the Commission decides. But their plan would be to vote on the longer-term future for the advanced main replacement program by June. And again, I would say to you, given everything we've seen around the country, both from a natural gas and water standpoint, it's just not – I don't think anyone thinks it's wise to ignore the urgent need to upgrade that system in Chicago.

Okay. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: And then going backward, the Attorney General's Office is asking, as they have, about an $8 billion cost estimate for the long-term investment need of the program, and that need or that cost estimate surfaced, as you know, immediately after we acquired the company. And so the Attorney General's Office is wondering, who knew in the prior company, the prior management, about the $8 billion estimate and why was the $8 billion estimate, which was a preliminary estimate, why was that not disclosed prior to the closing of the acquisition? So that docket, if you will, is still open before the Illinois Commerce Commission.

Okay. Great. Thank you. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: You're welcome, Steve.

Good luck. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Thanks.

Your next question comes from the line of Paul Patterson with Glenrock Associates. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Hey, Paul. How are you today?

All right. Congratulations to both you.. Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: Thank you.

...and Allen. One quick one for you here. The sales growth projection, does that include leap year or is that taken out? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: That actually, includes leap year. Yep. It's worth about 0.3% (59:19).

Right. So that would indicate that you guys really are not expecting much in the way of any growth. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: That is correct. Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: Yep.

Has there been a change in how you've begun to forecast things since it's been, generally speaking, lower than what you guys had – over the years, you guys have been a little bit more optimistic about sales growth than what's actually happened. Have you reappraised that, or are you guys just getting more – or is there something else that's driving you to wind down the sales growth? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, I think certainly given the experience of 2015 and 2014, and obviously we were projecting at least 0.5% growth in electric demand or electric consumption on the retail side in those prior years, we brought it down a little. There's no question about that.

What do you think is going on? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, I think there may be a couple of things here. And we ask ourselves – we have all kinds of meetings saying, what the hell is going on? But first of all, many companies in our industry were projecting far stronger growth than we have projected, and they haven't seen it develop either. My own view, and this is strictly a personal view and anecdotal, but just based on years of experience, I think there are three things going on. 2014 and 2015 may be a bit of an aberration from a small commercial and residential standpoint. 2014 and 2015, the weather was just mild is probably the best word, mild summers, mild winters, just no abnormally high or abnormally low temperatures, but no persistence of a weather trend. And one of the things that weather normalization techniques does not pick up is the lack of, say, 15 days of 90-degree weather. If you have two days of 90-degree weather, you can do the weather normalization. But I don't think it picks up the fact that you didn't have any persistent weather one way or another and persistent weather drives consumption and drives usage. So, I think one thing that has happened is we haven't seen a really good long heat wave and even though last winter was a little bit colder than normal, it was spotty. It wasn't 15 days in a row of 10 degrees. So, in my mind, the jury is still out related to longer-term growth. If we get back to a year in which we have some consistent and persistent weather patterns. That's number one. But number two, I don't think there's any question that we're seeing more residential conservation in the last couple of years. I don't think there's any question about that. And when you think about why that may be, I mean, it really comes down to technology. You've heard me say before that if you replace a big screen television that you may be bought seven or eight years ago with a brand new one, you're probably going to use 60% to 80% less electricity. Your iPad requires less energy to charge than your computer screen standalone. You buy a new washer and dryer. They're far more energy efficient, same thing with refrigerators. You have the Nest thermostats. There's just a lot more technology available to customers. So essentially, what we're kind of seeing here is our customer growth, which continues to be good, being offset by conservation.

Okay. There have been some articles about these coal dust complaints by neighbors in around Oak Creek. Can you comment on that in terms of how should we think about that? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Sure. Well, first of all, let me just reiterate that we have air monitors that continually give us data on emissions from the Oak Creek plant, and we are well within compliance with all the air standards, number one. Number two, there are a number of homes in the general vicinity of the Oak Creek plant where individuals have indicated they are having health problems, and they believe it's because of the infiltration of coal dust in their homes. So, what we've agreed to do and what we're in the process right now is we have agreed with those homeowners on a testing protocol, and we are having a firm (1:03:55) go into each one of these homes and through samples collected them from various places in the homes of these individuals. And then we're having a lab analyze the dust samples and indicate to all of the homeowners – we're sending them over, explaining what is in their dust samples. Right now, the scene would indicate that there are health problems, at least from our expert standpoint, nothing that would indicate that there are health problems from any prevalence of dust.

Okay. And then back to the deleveraging potential, what would be the security or what would be the interest rate that you guys might be thinking about retiring? In other words, if you were to pay down debt at the parent, what are we thinking about in terms of the cost of that debt? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, the average cost of the debt was 2.21%.

Well, let's separate, I think it's important to kind of separate out the debt. There's the acquisition debt, which is the 2.21% as Gale just pointed out, and then there's all the other debt at the holding company. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Right.

Example of which is the hybrid security that flips the floating at the end of this year. That's I believe paying 6.11% right now. And there's also some longer-term debt instruments at the holding company. Think of the hybrids and those longer-term bonds is what we're targeting for takeout, not the 2.21% debt.

Okay. So the 6.11% would be the sort of pre-tax benefit you guys would see from buying it back, is that right? What you're thinking – I mean, obviously, (1:05:43) acquisition team may browse. But is that kind of what we're thinking about in terms of what the cost of the securities you're thinking of retiring potentially would be? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, that's one good example or if it wasn't retired and again, we're assessing what the best options are here. If it wasn't retired, it flips to a very low floating interest rate, right.

Right. I mean, that's why I'm sort of wondering about it. I mean, it would seem to me, what we're seeing is a lot of leverage that's being deployed in terms of acquisitions that are being proposed and what have you recently. And I'm just wondering given the cost of debt, it doesn't usually look like that big a bang for the buck. And I just wonder if you'd elaborate a little bit more in terms of you're thinking process about that. Your credit ratings for the most part are pretty strong. So, I mean, I'm just sort of thinking about sort of why you guys are bringing this up now and sort of what might be driving that? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: I'll give a shot at that. I think the real answer to your question is we wanted to show the range of options that we have for beneficial use of the cash that's coming from bonus depreciation. And clearly, our preferred option is to benefit customers from that cash with projects that really are useful and needed for reliability. So that's option one, two, three, four, and five. And, as Allen mentioned, there may be – in the latter part of that five-year period for bonus depreciation, there may be the emergence of some transmission projects or generation projects for compliance with the Clean Power Plan. So all of those things are kind of preferred options. But if none of those things or if not all of them came to pass, we also have an option to further deleverage beyond the plan. So, it really wasn't – we didn't mean to give you the idea that this was going to be an immediate type of a preferred priority. It is something we have in the toolbox if needed.

Okay. But not perhaps all that likely to be used, depending on what opportunities are in the business as well? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: That's how I would look at it. It is an option, and we'll iterate as we go along for the best benefit of customers and shareholders.

Okay. Thanks so much and congratulations again. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: All right. Thank you, Paul.

Your next question comes from the line of Paul Ridzon with KeyBanc. Please go ahead. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Hey, Paul. How are you?

I'm well. Thank you. It's February in Cleveland, and the kids in the neighborhood are wearing shorts. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Yeah. Man, it's amazing, isn't it?

Crazy. As you look at Manitoba Hydro and ATC, what kind of incremental capital opportunities do you see there? Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: At this point, I really can't give you an estimate.

Just too early? Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: It's just too early. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: It's too early.

And what was the fuel, under or over recovery in the fourth quarter? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: In the fourth quarter we were fully recovered I think going into Q4.

Okay. Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: So it's...

And then your comment... Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: We'll follow offline... Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: We'll get the precise number for you and we'll get the precise number and we'll ask Colleen or Beth to give you a callback. But it was not a material impact on earnings in Q4.

And then can you review your comments on Trillium and what the gain is and when you'll realize that? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: I'll ask Allen to comment but we expect pre-tax cash proceeds of approximately $130 million. But again, that sale falls within the window of purchase price accounting adjustments. So, in terms of the report of ongoing earnings that we would provide to you next quarter, it won't have any impact on plus or minus on earnings. Allen?

Thank you very much. Oh, go ahead... Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: No. Allen was saying, yeah.

Congratulations, Allen, and happy trails (1:09:53), Gale. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Thank you so much. Take care.

Your next question comes from the line of Andy Levi with Avon Capital. Please go ahead. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: My favorite, Andy Levi. How are you, Andy? Andrew Levi - Avon Capital/Millennium: Hey. I'm doing well. I just want to say thanks, Gale. You've done a great job. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, thank you, Andy. I appreciate your support. Andrew Levi - Avon Capital/Millennium: I appreciate your friendship over the years. And Allen, I remember meeting you when you were an IR person back at Southern. I remember saying to Paul Patterson that you'd make a great CEO one day. So, there you go. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: I bet. Were you one of the first (01:10:31)? Andrew Levi - Avon Capital/Millennium: Seriously, Allen. You will do a great job. I know you will and... Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: I appreciate it, Andy. Andrew Levi - Avon Capital/Millennium: ...I congratulate you. And actually all my questions were asked and answered. So, I'm good. I'm great. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Andy, thank you so much. We'll see you soon. Andrew Levi - Avon Capital/Millennium: Yeah.

Your final question comes from the line of Jim von Riesemann with Mizuho. Please go ahead.

Hi guys. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: The last guy is up. A double dip today.

Yeah. A follow-up question. Quick new bucket, since there's been so many moving pieces here, what you expect maybe broadly speaking, the earnings contributions from WPS, We, Power The Future and Peoples, just the big buckets, for 2016, just so our models are all calibrated correctly? Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Okay. I'm going to look toward Pat and Scott. I've got a general idea, but they've got more specific bucket delineation than I have right in front of me.

Can I do it by segment, Jim? That might be easier on the call. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Why don't we take it by segment and like by state.

Yeah. So by segment or by state, if you look at Wisconsin, maybe 16%; 11% Illinois; 2% from our MERC and MGU, so our Michigan and Minnesota Gas Utilities; maybe 10% from ATC. What does that give me, Power the Future? And Power the Future is... Scott J. Lauber - Vice President & Treasurer: 20%.

Do the math in whatever I missed, 20%?

71%, 81%, 83%, so 17%. Allen L. Leverett - President & Director: 17%, somewhere in that zip code. That Scott's trustee calculator back of the envelope. We can get you something a little more crisp, but that's directionally correct.

So then where's the 5% to 7% earnings growth coming from? Scott J. Lauber - Vice President & Treasurer: All of those entities. It's actually 6% to 8%.

6% to 8% next year, then we can kind of step through that as – when we have the new investor materials, we could probably walk through where each segment is moving relative and how that could contributes to the 6% to 8%.

Okay. Sounds good. Thank you.

Again, we will see earnings growth from every one of those segments. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: That is correct.

Okay. Gale E. Klappa - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Thank you, Jim.

Thank you.