Earnings Labs

WEC Energy Group, Inc. (WEC)

Q4 2018 Earnings Call· Tue, Feb 12, 2019

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon and welcome to WEC Energy Group's conference call for fourth quarter and year-end 2018 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 remind you all that statements in the presentation, other than historical facts, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that 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 statements, factors described in WEC Energy Group's latest Form 10-K 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, a package of detailed financial information is posted at wecenergygroup.com. A replay will be available approximately two hours after the conclusion of this call. And now, it is my pleasure to introduce Gale Klappa, Executive Chairman of WEC Energy Group.

Gale Klappa

Management

Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for joining us today as we review our results for calendar yea 2018. First, I would like to make sure that everyone is familiar with the recent changes we made at the most senior level of our organization. The Board of Directors has approved the creation of the Office of the Chair, staffed by for company veterans. We will work together as a team to write the next chapter of our companies growth and service to customers. As of February 1, my title changed to Executive Chairman. I have agreed to stay in this role for the next three years. And as Executive Chair, I will take the lead on Board governance, corporate strategy, investor relations and economic development. I am also delighted that Kevin Fletcher has been promoted to Chief Executive. Kevin is a member of the Office of the Chair and will serve on the WEC Energy Group Board of Directors. Kevin will continue to report directly to me and his main focus will be the direction and performance of our seven customer facing utilities. In addition, the Office of the Chair includes Rick Kuester. Rick continues to serve as Senior Executive Vice President. He will have broad responsibility for the company's capital investment plan, information technology and power generation. Last but not least, Scott Lauber. Scott has been named Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. He will be responsible for all of our finance related functions. This team, as you know, has delivered industry leading results over many years with a clear commitment to reliability, customer satisfaction and shareholder value. Our focus remains on the fundamentals of our business and on developing the next generation of leadership for our company. And now, I would like to introduce the members…

Kevin Fletcher

Management

Thank you Gale. First, I have some good news to share. Our largest subsidiary, We Energies, was named the most reliable electric utility in the Midwest for the eighth year running. That's a testament to our employees and our focus on building and maintaining resilient infrastructure. And our employees did an excellent job keeping our customers warm during the polar vortex last month. We hit record peaks for natural gas distribution our Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan service territories. In addition, we achieved the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the nation in JD Power Survey of large business and industrial customers served by electric utilities across the country. We also were named by Forbes magazine as one of America's best employers for diversity for 2019. Now I would like to briefly review where we stand in our four state jurisdictions. As we look ahead in Wisconsin, we plan to file a general rate case for all of our Wisconsin utilities this spring. We would expect that new retail rates would go into affect in January 2020. As a reminder, customers have benefited from a base rate freeze for the past four years and more recently from tax reform. In fact, after factoring in our fuel cost and federal tax reform, our retail rates in Wisconsin are actually lower today than they were in 2015. Turning to Illinois. We continue to make progress on the Peoples Gas System Modernization Plan. As a reminder, this program is critical to providing our Chicago customers with a natural gas delivery network that is modern, safe and reliable. For many years to come, we will be replacing outdated natural gas piping, some of which was installed more than a century ago with state-of-the-art materials. This past year, we invested approximately $295 million in the effort and…

Gale Klappa

Management

Kevin, thank you very much. The new year is off to a strong start. We are on track to meet our 2019 guidance. If you recall, that's in the range of $3.48 a share to $3.52 a share. This guidance translates to a growth rate between 6.1% and 7.3% of our 2018 base of $3.28 a share. Recall that the $3.28 was the midpoint of our original guidance for 2018. And finally, a word about our dividend policy. At this January meeting, our Board of Directors raised the quarterly cash dividend to $0.59 per share. That's an increase of 6.8% over the previous rate. The new quarterly dividend is equivalent to an annual rate of $2.36 a share. This will mark the 16th consecutive year that our company will reward our shareholders with higher dividends. We continue to target a payout ratio of 65% to 70% of earnings. We are smack dab in the middle of that range now. So I expect our dividend growth will continue to be in line with the growth in our earnings per share. And now with details on our 2018 results and our outlook for 2019 is our famous CFO, Scott Lauber. Scott?

Scott Lauber

Management

Thanks Gale. Our 2018 GAAP earnings were $3.34 per share compared to $3.79 per share in 2017. The 2017 results included the impact of tax reform on the company's non-utility assets and assets of the parent company. Excluding this deferred tax benefit, our 2017 adjusted earnings were $3.14 per share. Comparable results for 2018 were $3.34 per share with no adjustments. This represents an increase of $0.20 per share or 6.4% over adjusted earnings for 2017. For rest of my presentation, I will refer exclusively to adjusted earnings for 2017. Our solid 2018 results were largely driven by additional capital investment, effective cost control and higher sales volumes. Earnings benefited from both warmer than normal summer weather and colder than normal winter across all of our jurisdictions. The favorable weather coupled with economic growth drive energy use significantly above our forecasts. The earnings packet placed on our website this morning includes a comparison of fourth quarter and full year 2018 and 2017 results. My focus will be on the full year, beginning with operating income by segment and then other income, interest expense and income taxes. Referring to page 13 of the earnings packet, our consolidated operating income for 2018 was $1,468 million as compared to operating income of $1,776 million in 2017, a decrease of $308 million. Excluding two tax items, operating income actually increased by $88 million. We have a breakout of these items for your reference on page 9 and 10 of the earnings package. Recall that as part of our Wisconsin settlement, we agreed to apply the benefits of tax repairs to offset the growth of certain regulatory asset balances. That plan continues to proceed as expected. We now project that the transmission escrow balance [AUDIO GAP] Excludes the impact of the tax items. Starting with…

Gale Klappa

Management

Scott, thank you very much. Overall, we are on track and focused on delivering value for our customers and our stockholders. I might add, the Milwaukee Bucks have the best record in the NBA. So, operator, we are ready to rock and open it up now for the question-and-answer portion of our call.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. Your first question comes from Praful Mehta with Citigroup. Your line is open.

Gale Klappa

Management

Good afternoon, Praful. How are you? How are you today?

Praful Mehta

Analyst

Good. Thank you for taking the question. And I appreciate your comments on Foxconn. I wouldn't get into that because you have already addressed it on the call. I wanted to get a little bit more specific in terms of that cash tax comment that you made earlier and the fact that you will become partial cash taxpayer in 2020. I was looking at the cash flow statement and there is a meaningful deferred tax addback right now that is benefiting cash flows and operating cash flows. How does that cash flow get impacted as you move towards more of being a cash taxpayer? And does that mean any pressure on your credit metrics in that 2020, 2021 timeframe?

Gale Klappa

Management

Well, a great question and I will ask Scott to address it. First of all, though, just to kind of frame the answer in context for you. We are saying now that we are projecting to be a partial cash taxpayer in 2020, but that assumes no additional investments in the infrastructure segment that would provide in essence additional tax credits. So that's a snapshot in time today just taking into account the infrastructure investments that we have already announced. Scott?

Scott Lauber

Management

Yes. That's exactly it, Gale. And when you look at it, if you look at the cash flow statement, the cash flow statement is never as straightforward as you would hope. There is a lot of different pieces. The money we are saving on taxes, some of it is flowing against regulatory assets, et cetera. So we didn't pay cash taxes in 2017 or 2018 and right now we don't expect in 2019. And like Gale said, a partial in 2020. So, some of these cash taxes, the deferred taxes, that's a long unwind as we look across it as we work into a rate case.

Gale Klappa

Management

Some of that unwind goes out 15 to 20 years.

Praful Mehta

Analyst

Got it. So you don't foresee in the 2021 timeframe any pressure on credit that would, given your high growth and your investment, is there any kind of need for equity is what I am trying to get that, I guess, through the credit question?

Scott Lauber

Management

No. And that's why we are being very diligent on these infrastructure projects that pushes out to 2020 now.

Gale Klappa

Management

But no additional plans for equity. Period, end of story.

Praful Mehta

Analyst

Okay. Great. Always good to clarify. I guess, the other question I wanted to get was, you had this slide where you talked about load growth and this was in your January update. And you seemed to have like a higher load growth projection on slide 25 of that deck in that 2022, 2023 timeframe of 1.2% to 1.5%, both on the electric and gas side. Just wanted to understand what's driving that increase? Is it the industrial load that you are seeing? Or is it something else that is driving that load growth? And how would that correlate to the 5% to 7% growth that you are talking about more generally on the earnings side?

Gale Klappa

Management

Okay. Great question. Let me try to give the two or three pieces to the answer. And the first is that I mentioned that we are already seeing a significant amount of ripple effect economic development, partially from the Foxconn investments that are going on. But also, if you recall, we have had other major investments announced just in the last 24 months. In addition to Foxconn, the German candy manufacturer, Haribo is coming in with one of the largest confectionery plants in North America. They are going to be breaking ground later this year. So we will see some uptick from that development later on in our forecast period. I mentioned Amazon, which will be cranking up in late 2020. Milwaukee Electric Tool is just adding another huge expansion. And then in the fall this past year, we announced. Komatsu, a major mining manufacturing company is going to build a huge manufacturing complex just south of downtown Milwaukee in the Harbor District. When you put that together with the other economic development projects that some smaller also very meaningful that we are already seeing in the pipeline and have been announced and those factors are driving an uptick in our projection of sales growth for the latter part of this five-year forecast period. Scott, anything to add to that?

Scott Lauber

Management

No. That's exactly it. It takes a while because these are just starting construction.

Gale Klappa

Management

And all of that will still, we believe, keep us in that 5% to 7% earnings per share growth.

Praful Mehta

Analyst

Got you. That's great. Much appreciated, guys. Thank you.

Gale Klappa

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Michael Weinstein with Credit Suisse. Your line is open.

Gale Klappa

Management

Afternoon, Michael. How are you doing today?

Michael Weinstein

Analyst · Credit Suisse. Your line is open.

Good. How are you doing?

Gale Klappa

Management

We are sitting here and stuck in a snow belt. Have got a foot of snow out there.

Michael Weinstein

Analyst · Credit Suisse. Your line is open.

I had a question about the infrastructure business. I think in the past you said you wanted to grow that to about 3% of the total asset base. Could you just remind us what is the goal and timeframe for that goal and where you stand now versus that goal?

Gale Klappa

Management

Well, what we talked about really when we said about 3% of the asset base is that it's a small percentage of our total five-year capital plan. So in the five-year capital plan, in essence, we have got about just over $1 billion budgeted for this particular segment of capital spending. Basically, the one we just announced, the Coyote Ridge project, is the project that would have been a 2019 project, that's already done. We already have the contracts signed. The project will come in line. We come online, we believe, towards the end of 2019. So we are a good ways along with Bishop Hill, with the Upstream and with Coyote Ridge. We are, I would say, about 40% toward that goal, Scott?

Scott Lauber

Management

Yes. Gale, you are exactly right. We have all the projects announced that we have in our capital spending through 2019 already. And right now, we are looking at 3% was really in the five-year plan that we were talking. And remember, we really look at that Bluewater Gas Storage as really extension of our Wisconsin business, because these are all Wisconsin utilities.

Gale Klappa

Management

And Michael, as I have mentioned to you, we can be, given our competitive advantage, with our tax appetite, with the strength of our balance sheet and our ability to use the production tax credits, we are in a very competitive position. So as we set future projects, we have a very really robust list of future projects to choose from. And as I mentioned, we will be very selective. We are only going to invest in this segment in projects that we have an incredibly high confidence level in terms of not changing our risk profile but with offtake agreements with some of the best, most robust companies in the country.

Michael Weinstein

Analyst · Credit Suisse. Your line is open.

Right. Understood. In fact, I think if I recall, you had previously said as being non cash taxpayer through 2019 now through the end of 2019. This is a slightly extended period, right? But you are going to be a noncash taxpayer?

Gale Klappa

Management

That's exactly correct. So as soon as we announced the last deal here, that moved us to 2020.

Michael Weinstein

Analyst · Credit Suisse. Your line is open.

Okay. So I mean, the lack of the ability of these projects to avoid equity reduces, as long as they are not harming the credit rating or putting pressure on the balance sheet in any kind of way, are really at a lower cost of capital, right?

Gale Klappa

Management

That actually, in an interesting way, they are helpful to our FFO to debt calculation because of the bonus depreciation. Obviously, the cash comes back from these investments very, very quickly.

Michael Weinstein

Analyst · Credit Suisse. Your line is open.

Right, understood. All right. Thank you very that much.

Gale Klappa

Management

Great. Thank you Michael.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Michael Lapides with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Michael Lapides

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Hi guys. Thanks for taking my question. And congrats so far on your Milwaukee Bucks. We will see. Season has got a long way to go.

Gale Klappa

Management

We just got the big dude from your Pelicans.

Michael Lapides

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

You know what. Let's not go there. As a Grizzlies fan originally and turned into a Pelicans fan, I am just in depression land when it comes to the NBA right now. And I live in New York, which makes it even worse. Real quick, where do you think you are tracking for the next one or two years on your CapEx plan original target that you laid out around the EEI timeframe? Do you think you are tracking ahead? Do you think you are tracking in line? Do you think you are tracking below? And it's different than where you originally laid out. I know it's not been very long since you put that out there. But if it's different, where and how?

Gale Klappa

Management

No, I think it's a good question, Michael. And I think the honest answer is, we are exactly where we thought we would be in terms of the capital spending plan over the five-year period. We are on track. The projects we had identified for 2019, they are all underway. Again, remember we refreshed our capital plan back in October, November. Very little has changed. We are right on target where we want to be. Kevin? Scott?

Scott Lauber

Management

Probably the only one is our last announcement on the infrastructure which filled in our 2019 bucket. So we are going to be more selective as we go forward.

Gale Klappa

Management

Yes. But in terms of all of our regulated capital spending plans, right on target. Everything is exactly as we hope they would be.

Michael Lapides

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Got it. And another question. I know no one likes to litigate rate cases on earnings conference calls. But as we think about this year from a regulatory construct and past perspective, is there anything else to think about besides the Wisconsin rate cases? And do you see these rate cases as being significant items in the course of the company? Would you see these relative to historical trends or other companies in the state or the region as being kind of less urgent or less impactful relative to what you see elsewhere around the U.S.?

Gale Klappa

Management

Oh gosh. compared what we see elsewhere around the U.S., rate cases in Wisconsin are generally more genteel, if you will. And as we have said, we would expect the rate filings in Wisconsin this year and I will ask Kevin to comment in a second, the rate filings this year to be pretty modest in their asks. So I don't see a ton of drama surrounding these particular rate cases. Kevin?

Kevin Fletcher

Management

Gale, I would say you summed it very well. We are on the process of evaluating our rate case and our options now. And as you said, I think it would be in line with inflation and nothing major there.

Michael Lapides

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Got it. Thank you guys. Much appreciated.

Gale Klappa

Management

You are welcome, Michael. Take care.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Michael Sullivan with Wolfe Research. Your line is open.

Gale Klappa

Management

Greetings Michael. How are you doing today?

Michael Sullivan

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open.

I am doing great. How are guys all doing?

Gale Klappa

Management

We are doing well.

Michael Sullivan

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open.

Great. Maybe just one quick follow-up to start on the rate case side of things. I just wanted to clarify the reason you are filing in Wisconsin is because you were required per the last settlement agreement? Or is there actually is a need would you have filed otherwise anyways?

Gale Klappa

Management

Well, to directly answer your question, there is a specific order point in the last rate agreement, the last rate settlement that requires us to file a rate case, I believe, by the April 2 of 2019. So there is a regulatory requirement. Would we have filed anyway? Maybe, maybe not. But clearly it will be a good time to really, I mean there a number of tweaks that we think will be helpful in terms of rate design, in terms of a number of other accounting issues, et cetera, et cetera. So I don't know that we wouldn't have filed anyway. But it really is a moot point in that there is an order requiring us to file by April.

Michael Sullivan

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open.

Okay. Great. And then just a separate one on the O&M side of things, obviously, a pretty big driver again in 2018 for you all. Just curious how we should think about that maybe on a normalized percentage basis? And then maybe what you are targeting for this year on the cost cutting side?

Gale Klappa

Management

Sure. I would be happy to. Let me first explain the backdrop and that is in 2019, we will reap a full year worth of savings from the closure of the Pleasant Prairie Power Plant. Remember, a large coal-fired plant of that kind requires very significant amount of annual operating and maintenance costs. Wisconsin Public Service closed the Pulliam Power Plant. There was a jointly owned unit called Edgewater, a jointly owned with other Wisconsin utilities that closed in the fall as well. And then we expect as and Kevin mentioned the new power supply, the RICE units that should go commercial in the spring of this year and that will allow us to retire the Presque Isle power plant up in the upper Peninsula of Michigan, way up north. You put all of those O&M savings together and we expect another leg down in operation and maintenance costs in 2019 compared to 2018. And Kevin, I am thinking in the 3% to 4% range.

Kevin Fletcher

Management

That's correct. Yes. The ballpark that we are looking at. Very similar to what we did this year.

Gale Klappa

Management

Fine. That's exactly it.

Michael Sullivan

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open.

Okay. Great. I appreciate the color.

Gale Klappa

Management

You are welcome.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. your next question comes from Vedula Murti with Avon Capital. Your line is open.

Gale Klappa

Management

Rock 'n roll, Vedula.

Vedula Murti

Analyst · Avon Capital. Your line is open.

Hi Gale. How are you?

Gale Klappa

Management

I am good. How are you doing?

Vedula Murti

Analyst · Avon Capital. Your line is open.

I am okay.

Gale Klappa

Management

Vedula, I always ask you that and I never get wonderful and award-winning.

Vedula Murti

Analyst · Avon Capital. Your line is open.

Okay. Wonderful and award-winning, aye.

Gale Klappa

Management

Excellent.

Vedula Murti

Analyst · Avon Capital. Your line is open.

Anyway. Let's see, a few things. One, if I am not mistaken, I think I saw something relating to the Illinois gas utilities with the main replacement program that you have been discussing and that the ICC staff may have some issues in terms of some investments or expenses that they have some questions about. Can you just kind of elaborate on that a little bit?

Gale Klappa

Management

Sure. I would be happy to, Vedula. The matter you are referring to relates to the capital investment that was made for the system modernization during calendar year 2015. And if you recall, our acquisition of Integrys, which included the Peoples Gas Company, took place, I think we closed on June 29, 2015. So as the Commission looks at retrospectively the prudency of the program and how it was run, how the investment program was run in 2015, remember we have the company for six months, the prior management had the company for six months. And essentially what the Commission staff is saying is that they don't think the program was run as efficiently as it should have been certainly prior to the acquisition. And that's what the issue is. So we will work our way through that. I am not overly alarmed. It's just a matter of getting through this particular process. And this is an annual review, which is part of the regulatory compact there. So it's something we are very familiar with. But it really relates to the 2015 investment in which we only had six months of operation of Peoples Gas.

Vedula Murti

Analyst · Avon Capital. Your line is open.

Does that mean that has 2016 and 2017 already been reviewed and has basically been resolved? Or is there going to be reviewed going forward?

Gale Klappa

Management

It will be reviewed in the future. Right now they are focused on 2015.

Vedula Murti

Analyst · Avon Capital. Your line is open.

Okay.

Gale Klappa

Management

But remember, Vedula, we have made very significant improvements in the management of that program.

Vedula Murti

Analyst · Avon Capital. Your line is open.

Okay. No, I understand that. My second question kind of ties to what Praful was asking about in terms of the uptick on the sales forecast. To the extent, I understand that it seems to tie into when you would expect a lot of Foxconn and all the ancillaries to basically be pretty much up and running or at a position where they are fully deployed or mature, whatever term you want to use. When I think look at my math, it was about roughly a little over $4 billion, I think, at that time of gross margin between Wisconsin Electric and Wisconsin Gas, a 1.2% uptick versus underlying is about $40 million to $50 million in terms of gross margin or almost $0.10 a share compounding. So to the extent, just wondering about that potential variability of that sales forecast, given the leverage that it would show in the backend and as it ties into being able to continue the 5% to 7% that you have been able to do?

Gale Klappa

Management

Well, let me take a shot at that and I will also ask Scott to chime in and Kevin, if you have anything as well. First of all, let me reemphasize that the economic growth we are seeing, yes, Foxconn is a significant piece of it but it's a lot more than Foxconn. When you see the growth in the corridor between Milwaukee and Chicago, it is significant, with or without Foxconn. In fact, for example the polar vortex days we had here, just this last week, clearly are pointing to the need for some additional capital in that corridor just for natural gas consumption and reliability without Foxconn consuming one firm today. So my sense is, yes, we are ramping up just a bit our sales forecast for the outer years of the five-year plan. But recall that that will all get factored into rates. So I think you may be and Scott if you will comment on this, I think you may be thinking a little more granularly than you should be about the gross margin impact. Scott?

Scott Lauber

Management

Yes, when you look at the volumes in that sales forecast, I think when we talked at EEI, these are the larger industrial customers that have come in, the Amazons, the Foxconns, the Haribos that the lower margin when you look at industrial classes, those are the lower margin classes. So the margin isn't quite there. But what we did put in the forecast is really put known projects out there. So we don't know where the additional jobs, that will be additional housing or the secondary suppliers. So we did not add that into the forecast whether it be the capital to put those in or the volumes associated with it. But the volumes here are really shown more in that industrial segment and I would expect in a few years after that would start seeing them in smaller groups, those volumes coming in. But it all does get worked into rate cases that allow us to continue to keep rates where they are at.

Kevin Fletcher

Management

Gale, I would just add that that certainly has been a growth part of our service territory and with that in any economic development project, like you mentioned the multiplier effect is going to be there. So that also is what's factored in as we look forward into the future.

Vedula Murti

Analyst · Avon Capital. Your line is open.

Go ahead.

Gale Klappa

Management

I am sorry. And Vedula, to Kevin's point, we have already seen two big announcements about healthcare facilities, hospitals and medical complexes being built within miles of the Foxconn campus. Just last week there was an announcement of a new hotel and a new distribution center and a new brew pub, by the way. So you know, you need to get out here.

Vedula Murti

Analyst · Avon Capital. Your line is open.

I will definitely do that in the summertime. One last thing. When you referred to the utility-scale solar, my recollection is that the new Governor is particularly interested in utility-scale solar as part of renewables and I presume that the filing that you are going to have asking for approval is simply step one of a more developed program going forward. I am wondering if you can tell us what your sense is how do you think that program was developed in terms of further utility-scale by rate base solar development?

Gale Klappa

Management

Well, first of all, as you know, one step at the time. And as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, we should receive a Commission decision on the utility-scale solar projects that we have put in front of the Commission for approval. We expect a decision certainly by end of March or early April. Then as we have developed our internal plans, depending upon that approval and I am very optimistic about that, you could see us, as a next step, submitting a request for utility-scale solar for Wisconsin Electric as the one that's in front of the Commission today is for our Wisconsin Public Service subsidiary based in Green Bay. And then I mentioned, we just received approval for a couple of pilot programs that are pretty sizable and it could bring up to 185 megawatts of additional wind and solar to our regulated portfolio. So one step at a time. Wisconsin Public Service approval, up and coming. We trust then we are going to work hard on these two pilot projects that the Commission approved before the end of last year. And, potentially, you will see a filing also for Wisconsin Electric for utility-scale solar.

Vedula Murti

Analyst · Avon Capital. Your line is open.

And those are reflected in the five-year forecast for capital and growth?

Gale Klappa

Management

That is absolutely right.

Vedula Murti

Analyst · Avon Capital. Your line is open.

Thank can very much.

Gale Klappa

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Andrew Weisel with Scotia Howard. Your line is open.

Gale Klappa

Management

Afternoon, Andrew. How are you?

Andrew Weisel

Analyst · Scotia Howard. Your line is open.

Hi. Very good. Thank you. Just a few questions on the regulatory front to elaborate on your comments. You mentioned a little bit of the rate design and tariff things that you may want to reconsider with this upcoming rate case in addition to the revenue increase. Can you elaborate what specifically, as far as rate design, might you be looking to improve? And well, I will leave it there for now. What rate design issues are on your mind?

Gale Klappa

Management

I would just say, watch this space. We are obviously putting final touches together on our plans. But for example, there is a real-time pricing program that the Commission approved couple of years ago that has to get reviewed again. We think that's something that the Commission will take a hard look at and we will have some ideas. So that's one good example. And that's been a very popular program with our larger industrial customers. So that's just one example of a rate design type of an issue that we will have a good discussion with the Commission. But watch this space.

Andrew Weisel

Analyst · Scotia Howard. Your line is open.

Okay. Fair enough. Then, any changes to the Commission you have seen? It's only not even halfway through February, but with the new Governor and potential changes to the Commission, the staff policies, mentality, anything that you foresee coming up in the rate case that might be a little different than the last few times you have gone through?

Gale Klappa

Management

Well, I think it's pretty clear what areas of emphasis we will be looking at in the rate case and the staff and the Commissioners would be looking at. I think my honest thought at this point is essentially steady as she goes.

Andrew Weisel

Analyst · Scotia Howard. Your line is open.

Great. Then just last one. I am sorry?

Gale Klappa

Management

No. I was just asking Kevin or Scott if they had any other thoughts.

Kevin Fletcher

Management

No. I agree with that, Gale. Nothing else to add.

Andrew Weisel

Analyst · Scotia Howard. Your line is open.

Good. Consistent with that will be a good thing in your state. My last question is you have been on a pretty steady two-year cycle for the rate cases as far as filings. Should we see the big pickup in demand with industrial and the trickle down to residential and commercial? Might there be opportunity to have less frequent rate cases? Or do you think this two-year cycle is going to be continuing for the foreseeable future?

Gale Klappa

Management

Well, first of all, remember, we have had a rate freeze for four years. So we really have, in some ways, deviated from the every other year rate case cycle. I will say, historically, the Commission has wanted all of the Wisconsin utilities to file a case every two years. Whether that approach is still something the Commission wants, we will have to see. Because obviously, we will have a new Chair of the Commission here by March and there is a new staff director, et cetera. So I would guess, though, because the Wisconsin Commission has been so consistent in it's approach over the years, I would guess that we probably will continue on an every two-year cycle.

Andrew Weisel

Analyst · Scotia Howard. Your line is open.

Very good. Thank you.

Gale Klappa

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your last question comes from Paul Ridzon with KeyBanc. Your line is open.

Gale Klappa

Management

Hi Paul.

Paul Ridzon

Analyst

Gale, how are you?

Gale Klappa

Management

We are great. How are you doing?

Paul Ridzon

Analyst

Just a quick clarification question. You said O&M should be down 3% to 4%. What's the normalized number to bake into that?

Gale Klappa

Management

Well, let's see. I think the day-to-day O&N that we manage, if I remember correctly and Scott, if I am off here, please correct me, that's because it's an easy number to remember, I think, for 2018, our day-to-day O&M expenses totaled $1,234 million, 1-2-3-4. So that's the base on which we are talking about to reduce maybe 3% to 4%. Scott, am I correct?

Scott Lauber

Management

Yes. You are exactly correct. And we break down the O&M when the 10-K comes out and we break it out into more detail there because there is other items that are regulatory in nature that are amortizations that come to the total number. So what Gale is quoting is that day-to-day O&M.

Paul Ridzon

Analyst

And I think earlier, can you just review some of the things you said were unusual in the 2018 O&M?

Gale Klappa

Management

Unusual in the 2018 O&M. Well, you have got to think about, there is some confusion about where tax repairs are impacting, that's a biggie.

Scott Lauber

Management

So when you look at the O&M in the earnings packet, you try a breakout how the tax repairs are pulled out of those ahead of it. I think what you are talking about is, we really only had a part of a year of our retirement of the one coal plant in 2018 and now the Pleasant Prairie Coal Plant will have a full year next year. And this year, in the second quarter, we expect that that coal plant in the upper Peninsula, Presque Isle, to close and there should be savings for that. So those are the two unique items we talked about earlier in the call.

Paul Ridzon

Analyst

There was nothing in sharing?

Scott Lauber

Management

The sharing is a separate line item, correct, the $67 million of sharing this year.

Gale Klappa

Management

Very significant customer benefit to come in 2019 because of the company's performance last year.

Paul Ridzon

Analyst

Thank you very much.

Gale Klappa

Management

Terrific. Thank you so much. Well, it looks like that concludes our conference call for today. Thank you so much for participating. If you have any questions, feel free to call Beth Straka, 414-221-4639. Thanks everybody. Take care.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.