Exelon Corporation Price & Performance (EXC)

We would also like to remind you that today's presentation the associated earnings release materials contain forward looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties. You can find the cautionary statements on these risks on Slide two of today's presentation in our SEC filings. In addition, today's presentation includes references to adjusted operating earnings and other non GAAP measures. Reconciliations between these measures and the nearest equivalent GAAP measures can be found in the appendix of our presentation and in our earnings release. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Calvin Butler, Axon's President and CEO. Thank you, Andrew, and good morning, everyone. We're pleased to have you with us for our fourth quarter earnings call closing out another successful year for Exelon Exelon.

We're entering our twenty fifth year as a company since the historic merger of Commonwealth Edison and Philadelphia Electric Company in February, Fly Eagles Fly, The industry and the company have seen a tremendous amount of change during that time. Not unlike the years over the century plus that shaped ComEd and PECO since their origins in 1881, But some threads indelible we run through that history including most importantly, a commitment to excellence and service to our customers. That commitment inspired Samuel Insol in Chicago whose vision made electricity more accessible to all customers. And it continues to inspire us today which shows in the results we're reporting and where our focus will be in the years ahead. It was another year of excellent operating performance. All four of Exelon Utilities achieved top quartile for reliability with three of our utilities ranking in the top five among our peer benchmark and all four utilities performing in the top eight. It was also another year of excellent financial performance. We reported GAAP earnings for 2024 of $2.45 per share and adjusted operating earnings of $2.5 per share. Making it our third straight year as a pure T and D company of meeting the midpoint or better of guidance.

In fact, when you look back at the earnings path we laid out when announcing our separation in our Q4 twenty twenty one earnings call, the midpoint of our 2024 guidance was $2.5 When you think of all the change Exelon has managed during that time, separating the company, generationally high inflation and interest rates, transitioning to the new ComEd rate structure, it is remarkable to think that we maintained our trajectory That is who we are. A company that our customers employees, policymakers and investors count on to deliver. The regulatory front, we successfully closed out a very busy year for rate cases. As we'll discuss further, this puts us on very strong footing to serve our customers and focus on expanding ways to support the energy transformation in the years ahead. These include ensuring our jurisdictions can continue to participate in the exciting growth of artificial intelligence powered by data centers that can foster economic development. And as Gene will discuss, there are other significant potential transmission opportunities as well, such as the MISO Tranche 2.1 work that are not currently in our guidance, but which will require an additional $10,000,000,000 to $15,000,000,000 of investment to serve our customers in the coming five to years, Those opportunities illustrate why our updated four year plan continues to reflect the steady investment growth that you should expect from a company that serves more customers than any other in The U. S. In some of the most critical regions for the economy.

We now expect to invest $38,000,000,000 from 2025 to 2028 to support customer needs, No single project will be more than 3% of that plan. And of that $3,500,000,000 in capital growth, more than 80% is attributable to transmission This type of investment ensures that our utilities remain a key engine of our jurisdictions' economies. Not only do our investments create good local jobs, estimated 70,000 plus and not only do they ensure the spending stays local with more than $4,000,000,000 of our supplier spend sourced from our jurisdictions. Most importantly, it ensures reliability. Which when the economy increasingly counts on on access to reliable resilient power can really multiply the power of our impact.

The growth in our high density load pipeline by over 2.5x in the last year is evidence of that. ComEd alone won 15 major projects bringing in an estimated $17,000,000,000 of projected capital investments from other companies and creating over 1,000 jobs in Northern Illinois. And with this development comes increased load and we're seeing 1% to 2% load growth over our four year period allowing us to distribute the cost of the grid over more usage. To fund these investments in a disciplined manner, we are maintaining a balanced funding strategy. Financing the growth with 40% equity and building on a solid trajectory to sustaining and improving our credit metrics over the plan. This commitment to balance sheet strength is evidenced by an upgrade to Exelaunch credit rating by S and P last week. With continued returns on equity in the 9% to 10% range, we expect annualized earnings growth of 5% to 7% through 2028 with the expectation of being at the midpoint or better of that range. For 2025, we're initiating operating earnings guidance of $2.64 to $2.74 per share. And we are increasing our dividend to $1.6 per share keeping our payout ratio in line with the 60% we have communicated as part of our capital allocation policy.

The top line results make it clear 2024 was a successful year. And Slide five more extensively highlights all of the ways in which our execution set us up for continued service to our customers. Communities and stakeholders, checking all of the boxes that we laid out this time last year.

For instance, we invested $7,500,000,000 of capital executing within 11% of our guidance even with substantial reductions at ComEd as we work to gain approval of our refiled We earned a 9.1% return on equity despite a large portion of our rate base awaiting updated rate recovery and significant storm and weather headwinds. We executed on our financing plan and continued to see strong this year. As you'll hear more from Gene, our organization remained laser focused on cost. Having identified dozens of initiatives that support $100,000,000 of sustainable savings and many more that we continue to pursue with our dedicated team. It's a key contributor to our year over year growth in O and M of just 0.5%. But beyond managing our costs, affordability remains a top priority into 2025 and our customers anchor our focus as we engage with policymakers I will return to this topic in my closing remarks. I am so proud of all that our 20,000 employees were able to accomplish this year. And I thank them for their commitment no matter the circumstances. And that starts with job one, of safely keeping the lights on and the gas flowing, which I'll cover on the next slide.

As I mentioned, it was another top decile year for ComEd and PepsiCo Holdings. From an outage frequency and outage duration perspective. And BGE and PECO also attained top quartile This was no small feat. And particularly at ComEd, which based on unprecedented set of storms in July, that produced 43 tornados, more than that region sees in an entire year. While also receiving the Reliability One award for outstanding performance in the Midwest. On the gas side, our hardworking employees at BGE, PECO and Pepco Holdings also delivered top decile performance across the board for the entirety of 2024. The fourth year in a row that all three have achieved top desk file. This sustained operational excellence is where our investments translate to real customer value. Importantly, our employees achieved these results with a strong focus on safety. Ending the year with top quartile performance on serious injury incident rate.

Now any safety incident is one too many.

So we continue to build out our observational tools and procedures to improve. Lastly, our customer satisfaction scores remain consistent with the levels seen throughout the third quarter.

With ComEd and PICO in the first quartile and BG and Pepco Holdings in the second quartile. With the onset of our first colder than normal winter, in a number of years, and higher energy supply costs we recognize that affordability remains a critical aspect of the customer experience. To further improve performance at BGE and PEPCO Holdings, they are expanding efforts to enhance customer support in partnership with our communities.

VGE and Pepco Holdings are waiving late payment fees in the winter months and suspending non payment disconnects [indiscernible] We are also continuing to focus on empowering our customers to access digital tools and strategies to conserve energy during high usage months. Now we took similar actions during the pandemic. Our customers can count on us to proactively take measures when needed to balance affordability while ensuring [indiscernible] reliable resilient grid is critical to our communities and our economy. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with our stakeholders to expand our solution set for customers. I'll now turn the call to team to recap our 2024 financial performance and provide details on our updated long term plan. Gene?

Thank you, Calvin, and good morning, everyone. I want to shout out our PECO employees and all Eagle fans as well, and I'll just say go bird. But with that being said, today I'll cover our fourth quarter and full year results.

Key regulatory developments and updates to our financial disclosures including 2025 guidance. Starting on Slide seven, as Calvin noted, we delivered strong financial results for the third year in a row, earning $2.45 per share on a GAAP basis and $2.5 per share on a non GAAP basis, Results that are at the top end of our guidance range and result in 6% growth off the midpoint of our guidance range for 2023.

For the quarter, Exelon earned $0.64 per share on a GAAP and non GAAP basis. Full year earnings benefited from COMES re hearing order we received in April. We also managed costs across the platform well as we offset another year of mild winter weather and higher storm activity, while ensuring we could accommodate a range of Quarter to date and year to date drivers relative to prior year can be found on appendix slide thirty five thirty six Turning to our outlook for 2025 on Slide eight.

We are initiating operating earnings guidance of $2.64 to 2.74 per share.

With new rates in effect across nearly all of our jurisdictions, furthering continued investment for our customers, 2025 earnings growth relative to the mid four estimated guidance range is in line with previous disclosures. As we look ahead to the first quarter, we expect the relative EPS contribution to full year earnings to be higher than historical patterns approximately 33% of the midpoint of our projected full year earnings guidance range. This accounts for the cold start to the year new rates in effect, anticipated shaping of costs and ComEd revenue timing, and assumes normal weather and storm conditions for the balance of the quarter.

Turning to Slide nine, as Calvin mentioned, successfully closed out a busy regulatory calendar in 2024. Reaching final resolution on key rate cases that provide supportive cost recovery for the next several years. Starting with PepsiCo, on November 26, the D. C. Public Service Commission issued a final order on PepsiCo's Climate Ready Pathway, D. Multiyear plan. Providing for $123,400,000 incremental revenue requirement and a 9.5% ROE through 2026. Advancing the shared interest in supporting the district's energy goals. As part of the order, the commission initiated a lessons learned process to evaluate the learnings from DC's experience with multiyear plans thus far and to formalize the adoption of regulations for alternative forms of rate making.

We are looking forward to participating in the process in which a final workgroup report for the first phase is due by the end of twenty twenty five. Moving on to PECO, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approved the joint petitions for settlement in PECO's electric and gas rate cases on December 12.

The approved settlements allow for a $354,000,000 electric revenue requirement increase, excluding a one time credit of $64,000,000 in 2025 and a $78,000,000 gas revenue requirement increase in 2025. Providing the funding necessary to further enhance reliability, enable cleaner energy options and improve the level of service customers have come to expect.

We Last, on December 19, the Illinois Commerce Commission approved ComEd's refiled grid plan rate plan adjustments. Providing recovery for a level of investment that will allow us to serve customers safely and reliably while making progress on the goals of Cijia. Relative to 2023 rates in effect, the final order provides for an approximate revenue requirement increase of $1,000,000,000 from 2024 through 2027, inclusive of the increases that were approved the December 2023 order.

As a reminder, the construct allows for the recovery of prudently incurred investment expenses of up to 105% of the approved revenue requirement. Certain investment in categories such as storms and new business, recoverable independent of the 105% threshold.

With these final orders, close to 90% of our rate base has established rate mechanisms in place through 2026 or 2027, allowing us to focus on Exelon execution and the strategic engagement necessary to support growing electrification needs and promote expansion of reliable generation in our states.

There are currently two PEPCO Holdings base rate cases open. Delmarva Power filed its gas distribution base rate case in the third quarter seeking to recover continued reliability investments including pipeline integrity management, aging pipe upgrades and upgrades to its LNG plant. With the expectation of implementing interim rates on April 20, subject to refund. Atlantic City Electric also filed its base distribution rate case on November 21. Seeking recovery for great improvement and modernization work supporting New Jersey's energy master plan and the Clean Energy Act. ACE has requested an increase of $108,900,000 with the expectation of implementing interim rates on August 21, subject to refund. Finally, in Maryland, we continue to work to close out open reconciliations from our first BGE and PepsiCo, Maryland multiyear plans, and we remain engaged in the lessons learned process for multiyear plans as we approach our next rate case filings in Maryland. For our final briefs in December, we continue to advocate for multiyear plans as the appropriate rate structure to direct the increasing investment needed to support a reliable twenty first century grid while offering specific options to address stakeholder feedback on ways to improve upon the first set of multiyear plans.

Moving to Slide 10, we provide our updated utility CapEx and rate based outlook through 2028. We plan to spend approximately $9,100,000,000 in 2025 and a total of $38,000,000,000 over the next four years.

An increase of $3,500,000,000 from the prior four year planning period which reflects greater investments to support our jurisdictions and updates to align with recently approved rate cases and jurisdictional priorities.

Of the overall increase, over 80% is attributable to incremental transmission capital.

Such investment is driven by the structural trends that underpin the energy transformation in our jurisdictions. Increased demand for high voltage investments to support high density load growth and expanding and modernizing generation supply stack, and the reliability and resiliency needs of grid customers. Over $1,000,000,000 of that transmission increase is projected at ComEd where we see continued commitments from data centers and other high density load cost Serving this new business will also require additional investment in [indiscernible] In our two largest transmission projects, One, supporting the retirement of the Branded Shores coal plant and the other, the Tri County line, to address reliability needs due to load growth in the region. As a reminder, the Bran Insurance project is expected to go into service in 2028. While the Tri County will go into service at various points in 2029 and 02/1930.

As we continue to allocate relatively more spend to longer dated transmission projects, our annualized rate base growth of 7.4% over the next with the projected addition of nearly $20,000,000,000 from 2024 to 2028. As the next slide shows, we feel confident about our ability continue making the necessary investments to ensure our regions can meet their economic and energy goals, which rely more than ever on a safe, secure and resilient grid. As you'll see on Slide 11, Exxon has an unmatched platform to meet the clear need for transmission investment. The proliferation of high density load increasingly volatile weather and a growing and changing generation stack all point to it. We serve more customers than anyone else, and we are one of the largest investors in transmission among our peers. With award winning reliability, our utilities are uniquely positioned capitalize on the transmission opportunities beyond our existing 11,000 plus miles today. Beyond the $12,600,000,000 transmission capital in our plan, we estimate $10,000,000,000 to $15,000,000,000 of transmission opportunity within our footprint in the next five to ten years. This includes over $1,000,000,000 of additional investment to support new high density load which is in our pipeline, but not yet in our guidance.

Due to its earlier stages of design and planning or estimated online dates. This upside also includes investments to address teams between PJM and other regions, such as the work associated with 2.1. Which we are optimistic will result in at least $1,000,000,000 of spend our ComEd service territory through PJM's supplemental planning process.

Our involvement in those projects also creates opportunity to be a part of the competitive process And we continue to see more of a need than ever for new generation particularly to ensure our states can meet their policy goals.

Transmission interconnections are needed to deliver that power to customers no matter where it's situated or how it's generated. In fact, achieving CJ's goals amid growing economic development in Illinois will likely require significant transmission investment. All of this work complements the continued need for reliability and resilience investment in our existing infrastructure to modernize aging lines, ensure better security and heart and critical infrastructure. In 2019, PJM found that two thirds of transmission system in its footprint were over 40 years old with one third exceeding fifty years.

And some lower voltage transmission assets nearing 90 years.

It is clear that there is no shortage of need to invest to serve our customers and communities well beyond our four year plan.

With some of the best run utilities in the country, we are well positioned to execute these while prioritizing reliability, resiliency and affordability. Moving to Slide 12, our dedication to operational excellence affordability ensuring we deliver above average value at below average rates. Our ability to deploy $38,000,000,000 of capital for the benefit of our customers over the next four years is only possible with a rigorous focus on cost management and delivering value for those investments. This focus is saving our customers approximately $550,000,000 in O and M annually relative to what it would have been growing at a standard inflation level over the last decade. And we feel confident we can continue to keep our expense growth similarly limited over a planning horizon with an even when our jurisdictions look to expand ways in which we can support them. As we have mentioned, we have taken advantage of our exclusive focus on energy delivery to standardize and streamline our organizational structure and operations. 2024, this has resulted in approximately $100,000,000 in executed sustainable savings initiatives. With line of sight to many more opportunities to ensure we can keep raising the bar for the value we provide our customers.

Operating as Onexilon has helped to identify unique and impactful opportunities. Like our cross company project to identify best practices amongst [indiscernible] This discipline further enhances the value of our investments. Have improved reliability by 35% since 2016. Achieving some of the best reliability metrics in the industry while also maintaining bill metrics that are 19% to 21% below U. S. Averages makes it clear we are delivering above average performance up below average rates. Turning to Slide 13, with $38,000,000,000 of projected capital spend driving 7.4% rate base growth along with earning ROEs of 9% to 10%, we are projecting compounded annual earnings growth of 5% to 7% from our 2024 guidance midpoint of $2.45 per share. Maintaining our commitment to transparency, we have provided assumptions associated with our expected annual growth and earnings through 2028 on Appendix Slide 18. As you can see on the slide, after 2024, we expect to deliver each year within the 5% to 7% range, keeping us on track to deliver at midpoint or better of our 5% to 7% annualized growth rate from 2025 to 2028. We also continue to project an approximate percent dividend payout of operating earnings with the dividend now projected to grow in the lower end of our long term earnings target as we retain more of our capital to invest more efficiently for our customers.

For 2025, we anticipate paying out a dividend of $1.6 per share, representing 5.2% growth over last year. Finally, I will conclude with a review of our balance sheet and financing Maintaining a strong balance sheet continues to be core to our strategy. And we closed out another year with average credit metrics comfortably exceeding our downgrade thresholds of 12% at Moody's and S and P. We are pleased to receive an upgrade from S and P last week which takes Exxon's corporate credit rating up to BBB plus from 13% at S and P that is reflective of the higher credit rating. With most investment plans and recovery mechanisms established over the next two to three years and our balanced funding strategy in place, we anticipate our metrics approaching 14% by the end of our forecast. Demonstrating our commitment to maintaining a strong balance sheet. As a reminder, we continue to advocate for language that incorporates repairs for calculating the corporate alternative minimum tax in the final treasury regulations. So our plan incorporates the assumption that the final regulations will not allow for repairs. Implemented in a way that mitigates the cash impact, we'd expect an increase of approximately 50 basis points to our consolidated metrics on average over the plan.

From a financing perspective, we expect the $38,000,000,000 capital plan to be supported by $20,000,000,000 of internally generated cash flow, $12,000,000,000 of debt at the utilities and $3,000,000,000 of debt at the holding company, with the balance funded with a modest amount of equity.

Specifically, we expect 40% of our incremental capital will be funded with equity. Bringing our total equity needs to $2,800,000,000 over the four year plan. Implying approximately $700,000,000 of equity per year. Our financial plan has also been designed to accommodate the use other fixed income securities that receive equity credit in place of senior debt at our holding company. In addition to other credit supportive internal levers, these instruments provide a more efficient means of building additional financial flexibility while ensuring we deliver at the midpoint or better of our 5% to 7% annualized earnings growth rate range through 2028.

I want to close by reiterating our confidence not only in the plan we have laid out, but in the broader opportunity we have to deliver value for customers and our shareholders, not just now, but in the decades to come. Thank you. I'll now turn the call back to Calvin for his closing remarks. Thank you, Jane.

I'll review our focus areas in 2025 before stepping back and reminding you what makes Exelon unique.

As a key partner in our jurisdictions, as an employer and as an investment, As I mentioned when I started the call, this business has always been about our customers. It was when Rembrandt Peale lit the first gasoline in the streets of Baltimore in 1816, [indiscernible] incorporating what became BGE, our nation's first gas company, it was when Exelon was formed twenty five years ago treating the foundation for the network of wires and pipes that now delivers an So you can expect us to continue to focus on an equitable and balanced energy transition. For the first time in decades, we have an opportunity to serve a growing load base for which we have already seen our jurisdictions compete successfully. But the magnitude of load growth we're seeing requires us to think differently about our approach to energy supply. Over a period of limited load growth, competitive markets have been able to save customers billions of dollars annually while delivering adequate supply. However, it's clear as we face rapid and significant load growth we need enhanced solutions at PJM. And we also need other approaches complementary to PJM that can meet those evolving customer needs as cost effectively as possible.

We have been actively working with stakeholders on solutions to the higher energy supply prices that they face and Slide 21 in the appendix outlines our positions and priorities as we work this actively with policymakers at the federal, RTO and state levels. Indeed, we are consulting with stakeholders on no less than 45 bills across our jurisdictions that impact supply, or demand side solutions in some way. Regardless, it's clear that states are and should be proactively involved in supply solutions that complement the market not to mention pursuing policies that enable more demand side solutions. There is no single answer to meeting the levels of load growth that are anticipated. But instead a variety of solutions across regulated and merchant participants is necessary. We're committed to working collaboratively to support policies that ensure energy security as quickly and cost effectively as possible. And in the meantime, we remain highly focused on all of the other ways in which we support customer affordability, areas in which we have and will continue to excel. This includes continued vigilance on cost, with our size, scale and culture keeping cost growth well below inflation. It includes ENERGY STAR award winning efficiency programs which save customers an estimated $18 per month in 2024.

Third, our robust efforts to connect distributed resources allowing customers an opportunity to generate their own power and save money from 4.2 gigawatts [indiscernible] And finally, our innovative tools and processes to connect customers to low income energy assistance, which totaled $500,000,000 These efforts only increase the value of our product. Which we're delivering at top quartile or better levels and which we can only achieve with an employee base that can count on us to engage them develop them and send them home safely. In doing all of this right, we will execute on our financial plan, deploying $9,100,000,000 this year to support our customers that will earn a consolidated 9010% operating return on equity from fair rate case outcomes that aligns with our stakeholders on how we invest customer dollars, dollars which flow right back into their communities to drive increased economic opportunity. We expect to deliver on our operating earnings guidance of $2.64 to $2.74 per share. As always, And lastly, we will execute on the financing plan that we laid out. Allowing us to maintain a strong balance sheet and support the grid our customers expect [indiscernible] These priorities are aligned with the pillars of our value proposition on Slide [indiscernible] Which we use as our North Stars to ensure that the entire Exelon organization is working together to create value for customers, employees and shareholders.

You can see we already lead the industry in so many ways across these areas, whether it's the number of customers served, the award winning and innovative services we provide them, are the consistent top quartile reliability, or the innumerable recognitions we receive as an employer of choice. And we are a company that does what it says. Consistently delivering against our financial commitments in a manner that reflects strong alignment between our customers policymakers and shareholders on the value created by our investments. With these investments delivering 5% to 7% annualized growth, and a dividend yield of around 4%, we offer an extremely attractive risk adjusted return of 9% to 11% which translates to consistent growth long term value. Michelle, we can now open it up for questions.

And our first question comes from Chopra with Evercore. Your line is open. Good morning, Calvin, Jean, Cobert.

Goldberg.

Hey, listen, so just just I had a couple of questions. First, just in Maryland, little bit more color there.

So what are you expecting out of the reconciliation decision How is that going to impact your future rate case filings? And then implications to your financial plan. We're getting a lot of questions around that. So maybe just a little bit more color as to how you're thinking about marijuana?

Yes, absolutely, Drew. So let me first take it and then I'll also offer it up to Mike or Jean if they have any color to add. Let me be very clear that we believe the process is moving forward had a decent pace. What's been very evident is that we've shared with the commission and all stakeholders that we do believe that the costs that were incurred were prudent. And we have provided evidence and supporting that effort. And if you even look at what others have come forward and say, I don't think there's anyone questioning those costs of what's been incurred. Now we're just moving forward in the process in being done and letting it play out. But it has been a very collaborative process to date. Mike, anything to add there? I would just say that we firmly believe that we've offered a structure that gives predictability to customers, helps us lower costs for customers and gives a good solid financial return for our shareholders as well.

Yes. And I'll just add, Trigas. On the reconciliation, the schedule takes us probably first half of this year. So in the first quarter or second quarter, we expect an outcome there. As Calvin mentioned, all prudent reasonable costs. When we had first initial rounds of testimony, proposals from staff and others were in line with prior reconciliations. And much of that reconciliation was actual structural issues, things that we saw in the first two reconciliations. So continue to move that forward. And then on the lessons learned, I think just reiterating what Mike and Calvin said, but also the multiyear plans, what we highlighted from our perspective is that multiyear plans have provided strong alignment with state policy and alignment of what we're investing. Also keeping our distribution rates in the first quartile. So it's been a good mechanism terms of delivering, but also keeping the distribution rates competitive. And multiyear plans are not unique to Merrell and two thirds of We like the three year timeframe, but are flexible on that. And I think there's a lot to be said about historic test years, honestly creating more work and being less effective on the cost control. And that's the piece that I think is so important right now As you think about affordability, as you think about delivering value for the customers, when you have a forward looking plan, the ability to lock in long term contracts, the ability to align your workforce, the ability to plan ahead, is what allows a company like Exxon to deliver that O and M growth rate of 2% to 2.5% in a period of rising inflation.

So, we think these these types of mechanisms provide a lot of benefits, which is what we continue to highlight in that lesson learned. We also expect the lessons learned to be completed in the first half of this year and then we would kind of have that clarity moving forward for our next rate filings. That's very helpful. We'll look for those data points in the first half. Thank you. Then just switching gears, a lot of focus also on the two zero five with FERC. Maybe just update us what your latest thoughts are Are there any discussions with with stakeholders and and what to expect as the twenty fourth, the February 24 data soon approaching? Absolutely. I have Colette Honorable, who is our Chief Legal Officer.

Here with us. Colette, if you would like to lean into that.

Thank you and thank you for the question. As you may be aware, We are still awaiting a decision. And to your point, we continue to talk with a number of stakeholders, including PJM to find forward looking solutions that work well for our customers. And for investors. We are awaiting a decision in the two zero five docket and we hope to get a good result. We have been a leader on these issues and bringing issues around resource adequacy and energy security to the forefront. We appreciate the leadership from our states, from our governors. We appreciate the way that PJM has been leaning in with a number of proposals and reforms. And if I might mention for your Ed approvals of reform efforts, one relating to Shovel Ready projects that's in docket ER 2,512 really making sure that Projects that are shovel ready are moving to the forefront We were very supportive of that reform. And then in ER 25,778, the surplus interconnection service docket, which really helps to ensure that it's easier to add more generation to existing sites generators that one was approved as well. So we are seeing FERC being helpful here We're going to continue to lean in and lead and we're hopeful about a positive result in the two zero five and are also at the same time continuing to work to engage with stakeholders.

These customers are presenting us If you heard from Calvin and Jean with unprecedented growth needs and that creates unprecedented opportunity. So we'll continue to work with All In Soft in a way that meets the needs of our customers, focuses on energy security and affordability, while protecting the interests of investors.

Got it. Thank you for the great comprehensive. Yes. Thanks so much. Appreciate the time.

Thank you.

And our next question comes from Nicholas Campanella with Barclays. Your line is open.

Good morning. Hope everyone is doing well. So just one quick clarification, Slide 18, just when we think about the growth into 2027, is that just year over year off prior year '26 mid Is that the way to think about that? Do you comment on that?

Yes.

Yes. That's the way to think about it, Nick.

We just We try to give you kind of the year over year. We always go back to the midpoint of guidance. So if you're thinking about this slide in totality, right, this is really about how do you you grow how does that fund grow from 2024 midpoint of February through 2028 on a year by year basis such that we get to that midpoint or better of the 5% to 7% over that four year period.

Thank you very much. Then I know legislation has been kind of a priority in Maryland from stakeholders and I was wondering if you can kind of comment on what you would kind of expect there, but also just your expectations in Pennsylvania as it relates to solving for a generation and rate based solution or some type of other capacity arrangement with the state that could alleviate the congestion there? Thank you.

Yes.

No problem, Nick.

I will start off And then I have with me Karim Kusami, who's the CEO of BGE. And of course, we have Dave Velasquez with us as well, who's the CEO of PECO that can add on. But let me just share with you, as I said in my opening statement, we have over 45 bills that we're actively working across all of our jurisdictions. All with the focus on ensuring affordability, energy security, and adequate generation. I mean, that's resource adequacy in those lines is first and foremost. Having said that, several pieces of legislation proposes changes to regulatory and planning processes, including implementing distribution planning, expedited review of certain clean energy generation and creating a new integrated resource planning office. And by our footprint, we're looking at best practices that are being suggested in one jurisdiction and how do we employ that or share that information with our other jurisdictions. So I'm going to stop there and let Kareem talk about what's happening in Maryland where I think there's over 20 bills to date that you're tracking. There it is, Calvin, and thank you and good morning, everyone. I would just echo what Calvin said right now in Annapolis here in Maryland there's a lot of attention being made on how do we deal with the resource adequacy issue energy security issue here in Maryland.

As a reminder, Maryland currently imports about 40% of its power from out of state. That is something that the legislation the governor and many others are very focused on trying to see what we can do to in cent generation to be built in state.

The approach that's being taken is more of an all of the above approach. They're looking at various different fuel types, various different ways to incent to try to get generation built here in the next few years. That we can increase the amount of in state capacity. As BGE and EPO Holdings, we're very involved in all those discussions. We're very supportive We agree with the state that we need to build more in state generation to release some of pressures that we have from on the supply side of the bill. So again, that's something that we're looking at tracking closely and working closely with all stakeholders.

And Nick, you also asked about Pennsylvania. And I know there's two active bills currently addressing the resource adequacy. Issue and Dave Velasquez, you want to share your thoughts?

Hey guys, this is Dave. Good morning everybody.

PA like other states like Maryland has been very active. You've seen that the PUC has held technical conferences on this issue.

As you know, Governor Shapiro has been very active in working with PJM to address this issue and all the companies in Pennsylvania as well have been active in trying to work with all the stakeholders to come up with I'll say alternatives, if necessary, to the PJM capacity markets to ensure that we continue to have adequate generation. And some of the things that have been mentioned do include longer term contracts, they include utility build, Some of those things will require legislation. And I think it will be an active session both in the House and Senate lawmakers are concerned about some of the same issues.

Got it. Okay. More to come there.

Really appreciate it. Thank you.

No problem, Nick. Thank you.

And our next question comes from Julien Dumoulin Smith with Jefferies. Your line is open.

Hey, good morning, team. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Hey, Go birds there.

Just coming back a couple of different things here real quickly. Absolutely. Hey, just with respect to the I know your guest trying to get at this a second ago about prospects, but just to say it explicitly, how do you think about settlement abilities here? I mean, I know there's a few different dockets few different efforts afoot with respect to PGGM policy and colocation. Is there an ability to settle that out and kind of sidestep maybe a more protracted effort considering that there's all this discussion about the time of the hour?

And then related to that, I'll start it in the same time tied to data centers. How are you thinking about these deposits here in as much as that seems like a wider industry trend and certainly as an offset to rate base growth and certainly could accelerate through the course of this year. So is there any kind of heuristic you'd offer as you continue to see some developments on data centers? And how much that could [indiscernible] proven netting effect to near your rate base, if you will?

Thank you, Julie. Let me make sure I captured the essence of the two part question. One was talking about settlements as it relates to that activity that may be going on at the FERC level and so forth. And the second was really focusing in on deposits that customers are giving around data center growth and it can that spur additional development and growth moving forward.

On the first piece, let me just share and then I'm going to turn this to Gene is that we always are looking out for the best interest of our customers and having active discussions with all parties involved.

We are never going to believe that we always are sitting back and can't come to some type of resolution. And keep moving it forward. But we have some tenants that we're holding on to because it's around affordability for our customers and that the grid is being shared by everyone, so everyone should bear some of those So having said that, I'm going to turn it to Gene to give you any additional insight.

Yes. I think on the first one, Julien, I was just like you the word settlement is used, but I think of it more as like do we partner with stakeholders? Absolutely. So all the 205s were about seeking clarity in a point where there was differing views on network load and other things. And so getting those two zero five filed words about getting clarity while this concept is discussed, right? And so do we want to work with stakeholders in thinking about what is the right tariff, whether it's the state or federal level? Sure. But the two zero five is around seeking clarity and getting certainty, so that if someone is looking for certainty today, that's the fastest path, right? While that is being discussed at PGM or with our states as it relates to large load. And then on the deposits, yes, we are seeing meaningful deposits come in as we see meaningful load growth. You look at ComEd, for example, in our drivers tables, you can see large our large consumer or C and I classes growing 4% weather normal year over year. It's real, right? And so as that load comes into the service territory, driving up capital investment, but also we get those deposits to protect our other customers, to make sure that the load shows up.

When you look at 24 rate base, just to give you a sort of size of impact, our twenty twenty four rate base was around $400,000,000 lower, so relative to our last disclosure. The large majority of that was deposits. And so to your point, it does reduce rate base, but it's all a good thing. Right? It's good for our customers that we're protecting them with the deposits. And it's a signal that there is more investment that we need to do to accommodate this new load which is really exciting, right? We also added a disclosure in the back that shows our historical load while gross was growing our net load was declining due to energy efficiency and solar. Things and investments. Now you look forward, our gross end net load is growing somewhere between 1% to 2%. So exciting development in terms of economic development, but the deposits, that's how they show up and that's the order of magnitude we saw in 2024 as an example.

Julian, if I can add something to Gene, we shared with you on our last call that we don't even put anything into our LRPRR forecast. Until certain actions are taken by these developers. One, we look at the purchase of real estate. Two, we look at hey, are you putting in skin in the game in terms of developing plans? Or three, putting down a deposit and then and only then do you see us actively start integrating this into our plan. And that's why you see the load growth that we've projected to you that we've done shown on the slides really adding up because once they put those take some actionable steps, we then include it into our plan.

Right.

They basically said, for as much as you might see an acceleration in these deposits over the course of this year and some of this load materializes, you may very well see a corresponding increase or even net increase through the forecast period. As that level of this is subsequently incorporated in your forecast. There's no net decline here. You're actually going to include the future CapEx opportunity in parallel with those deposits So you shouldn't necessarily see this being any kind of reduction to the course here. You haven't gotten ahead of yourself including that load. It will happen in parallel.

Excellent.

And does it speak to any greater confidence of these data point material? I know there haven't been any kind of flashy data set press releases, shall we say, but these deposits presumably bode well and favorably for ongoing activities here. Should we expect any kind of more explicit disclosures as we work our way through the course of this year? Especially given some of these, as you say, [indiscernible] Yes. We do have one side where we try to put kind of our recent wins. So at Slide nineteen, in the appendix where you can see some of the recently announced data center projects that typically the operating company or the company does to a press release on. But we tried to give you some insight here. You can see we have over 200 online data centers today. I talked about CommEd year over year growth, but if you look at the the chart on that slide and the top left, you can also see just in the last couple of years we've had a 24% CAGR over the last couple of years in terms of megawatts online. So it's real in terms of the number of data centers online territories.

It's real when you look at the load year over year on a weather normal basis. It's real when you look at the pipeline that we see growing and it's Calvin mentioned, it's a pipeline that we only talk about ones that are what we would consult greater than 80% probable because of the financial commitments that they've made. So It's an exciting time I think it's we see this trend continuing. But I think we're going to be prudent about it and always focus on affordability and and think about our other 10,500,000 customers too and that's where something like the deposits shows up and our activity at FERC as we think about just an equitable transition to this higher load growth as well.

Thank you guys very much.

Thank you, sir.

And our next question will come from Steve Fleishman with Wolfe. Your line is open.

Hey, Steve. Yeah. Hey, thanks.

Hi, good morning. So just maybe following up on that last topic a little bit. The I guess specifically, this is a topic in the Illinois grid plan on large loads. Could you give us I mean, I think they kind of pulled out the capital for that.

What you're expecting, can you give us maybe some info on what you have for the Illinois large loads in the capital plan?

And then related yes, go with that first here.

Sure. Okay. So yes, so on the group plan, all all distribution, And what we had there was about $400,000,000 a little over $400,000,000 of capital that was not approved, but But in the remarks on the grid plan, they commented, right, that that this can be fully reconcilable through through the annual reconciliation should comments forecast be correct, which we believe it is. And so so that's sort of the magnitude on the distribution [indiscernible] ComEd was up about $1,000,000,000 plan over plan on the transmission side relative and it's really driven by this high dense load and the megawatts that we see coming online in the service territory.

And is there a way to related to that, is there a way to take some of the data center gigawatt data that you're giving and tie it into some level of CapEx gigawatt or I know that's everything's different, but just is there some [indiscernible] your point, because every project is different, of course, we always try to do it in the most efficient capacity? And so there could be very minimal minimal investment need as we work to sort of find those sweet spots for our customers. When we think about our entire customer base. And then there's others depending on their ramp and how much they need and where they want to be located, they're There could be capital investment needed. So hard to do a rule of thumb. I would say again, that's why we kind of always point back to just the percentage of transmission as we think about the four year plan and how that shows up. Again, dollars 3,500,000,000.0 for this four year period, 80% of that is transmission. Really driven by these high density load centers coming in and the economic development we're seeing across the territories.

Okay. One last question, just the new for Chair Christy was I think quoted last week saying you'd have more clarity on their policy on the colocation in the near future. Do you Do you think that will be in your two zero five case or what of the several cases is the likely forum to have clarity?

Yes, Steve. And to your point, I think clarity is the keyword there and what we're driving for and seeking. And Colette and her team are working regularly with FERC and others. So Colette, would you like to elaborate? Thank you. Good morning, Steve.

We too are interested in this clarity. So we're pleased that see the Chairman now a month plus in the role, really focus this. Look, the great news is that we are all focused on this issue. We all recognize this time we're in and we all want to be prepared to meet the demands of our customers and the needs of all of our customers as quickly as we can. So as we mentioned earlier, the decision on the 205s could be anytime, but by February 24. So it could be as soon as that. And there could be some decision on any of the other pending backets. We are looking forward to getting the clarity and more importantly, you can count on us to continue engaging. This is an exciting time. And we look forward to supporting our customers, all of them, today and in the future.

Great.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Steve.

And our last question will come from Shar Pourreza with Guggenheim Partners. Your line is open.

Hey, guys.

Good morning, Calvin. Good morning.

Just look like Hey, Jean, just real quick, I know there's a lot going on this morning, but just a question on CMC and the status of it. Is there any sort of progress of conversations with IPA and other stakeholders on managing that roll off, anything we should be watching, I guess, in the coming months from the public side that could indicate progress legislative solution as the governor involved, etcetera? Thanks. Jean, please.

Yes. I think Illinois is like all of our other states, right? As we think about energy security, the CMCs are a unique thing for sure, right? And they go through 27, which is actually quite nice when you think about the next capacity auction being coming in prior to that.

But the TMCs are not a perfect hedge either, right? They're more so on the energy side and less on the capacity. So our customers in ComEd are already seeing some of that capacity increase. During this time period. But I guess from our any of our states and how we're leaning into the energy legislation. To provide solutions. Illinois is unique in that they have the IPA and so they'll do their thing and they'll think about how they want to procure. But we'll be there to help support from a customer lens perspective. And and do all everything we can to ensure that what we're looking for, what our customers need is definitely the reliable generation, but stable and predictable energy and [indiscernible] [indiscernible] to run their businesses and meet their homes and family needs. So I guess we just Illinois is no different than the other states that we're working with. We've got to find solutions at PJM on the capacity market.

Colette talked about that. We're very supportive of some of the solutions that they provided and pleased to see that FERC has already approved a couple of them. But we're also supporting our states, Illinois included, that are looking at a variety of options. It could be looking at capacity obligation for a large load. It could be looking at state procurements. It could be looking at state integrated resource plans. So a lot of options on the table. But what we're most pleased about is those options are being considered and states are moving with a sense of urgency. And so Illinois, no different than the other states focused on this.

Got it. And then just lastly guys, thanks for fitting me in. We haven't had an update on artificial island discussions with PSEG or CEG.

Have you done any work on bill impact if artificial island went behind the meter for Atlantic City Electric customers? And if it's a side of the meter deal or a quasi front of the meter deal, how should we think about how quickly a DC can connect to that system?

Thanks.

Yes.

I would say we haven't think in our two zero five's, we had some examples of what the impact could be in terms of a cost allocation. And so I would just point to that. But at the end of the day, I'll just reiterate, we're not against colocation. We are what we have always said is that the principles are we believe it's network load and that a and that the right cost allocation should be in place. So Not against it. It's not something that as long as it's network load and we have the right cost allocation, It's bringing some economic development to our service territory always something we're supportive of.

Got it. So I guess, Gene, the question is, can you connect the DC pretty quickly on the Atlantic City Electrics system? Is there any speed to market issues? Is there open capacity? Mike, yes, I mean, I would say, I mean, it's specifically, it really depends upon what they will locate there. I think for all of our connections wherever we're talking whether it's artificial island or any one of our system, we certainly look for where there's capacity look for the ramp up.

We look to make sure that we do our studies accelerated as possible to make sure that we understand the impacts. I would say in most say more in general in almost all of our discussions with our different customers that are coming to look to update the status we're almost always able to find a way that meets their time needs Again, a lot of it gets into how much load, how quickly they want to ramp up, And we're finding ways to work creatively with them and accommodate that. Fantastic. Thank you guys so much. Congrats, Calvin and Jean, on the results. Very good results. Thanks. [indiscernible] At this time, I would now like to turn the call back to Calvin Butler for closing remarks.

Thank you all again for your steady support of Exelon. I think Shar captured when he congratulated Gene and I. Let me just congratulate the 20,000 plus Exelon employees because of all the hard work you put in 2024 was a successful year. We are very excited about the year ahead, which brings unprecedented opportunity for us to continue to lead this energy transformation with our jurisdictions and continue to provide long term value for all stakeholders. We look forward to engaging with you in the months ahead. And Michelle, that concludes our call.

Thanks to all of our participants for joining us today. This concludes our presentation. You may now disconnect. Have a good day.