Earnings Call: Q4 2018

Feb 14, 2019

Greetings, and welcome to Amarin Corporation's 4th Quarter 2018 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Andrew Kirk, Director of Investor Relations for Amarin Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Kirk. You may begin. Thank you, and good morning. On the call with me today are Warner Baxter, our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer and Marty Lyons, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer as well as other members of Amarin management team. Warner and Marty will discuss our earnings results and guidance as well as provide a business update. Then we will open the call for questions. Before we begin, let me cover a few administrative details. This call contains time sensitive data that's accurate only as of today's date or today's live broadcast and redistribution of this broadcast is prohibited. To assist with our call this morning, we have posted a presentation on the amereninvestors dotcom homepage that will be referenced by our speakers. As noted on Page 2 of the presentation, comments made during this conference call may contain statements that are commonly referred to as forward looking statements. Such statements include those about future expectations, beliefs, plans, strategies, objectives, events, conditions and financial performance. We caution you that various factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. For additional information concerning these factors, please read the forward looking statements section in the news release we issued today and the forward looking statements and risk factors sections in our filings with the SEC. Lastly, all per share earnings amounts discussed during today's presentation, including earnings guidance, are presented on a diluted basis unless otherwise noted. Now here's Warner, who will start on Page 4 of the presentation. Thanks, Andrew. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Earlier today, we announced 2018 core earnings of 3 point compared to $2.83 per share earned in 2017. While Marty will discuss the drivers of our 2018 results in a few minutes, I'd like to highlight some key accomplishments that are indicative of our team's strong performance in 2018 and importantly that will position Ameren for success in the years ahead. As you can see from this slide, we were very busy in 2018. 2018 marked another year of solid earnings growth driven by the successful execution of our strategy across all of our businesses. Our strategy is to invest in rate regulated energy infrastructure, continuously improve operating performance and advocate responsible energy policies to deliver superior customer and shareholder value. Our customers are at the center of our strategy. Simply put, we are focused on meeting our customers' energy needs and exceeding their expectations, and in so doing, delivering superior shareholder value. With these objectives in mind, we made $2,300,000,000 of investments in 2018 that resulted in a more reliable, resilient and secure energy grid, as well as strong rate based growth. And we were pleased to be able to pass on to customers in a very timely fashion the savings from the lower federal income tax rate. In 2018, we also achieved constructive outcomes in many regulatory proceedings that will help drive additional investments for the benefit of customers and shareholders. I was also pleased by the fact that many of these constructive regulatory outcomes were supported by strong collaboration with key stakeholders, which ultimately resulted in agreements on the key issues. In our Illinois businesses, we received approval from the Illinois Commerce Commission on our electric delivery and natural gas rate reviews consistent with our requests. In addition, we were pleased with the FERC's decision to allow for a 50 basis point ROE incentive adder for Mark Twain due to the unique nature of the risks involved in that project. We also received approvals for several Ameren Missouri customer focused programs, including the 3rd energy efficiency plan, as well as the renewable choice and community solar programs, both of which will allow customers to work with Ameren Missouri to procure greater levels of renewable energy in a cost effective manner. We see these achievements as a big win for our customers and the environment. Yet, our biggest achievements in 2018 related to the significant progress we made in advancing energy policy to support significant incremental electric grid modernization investments in Missouri, as well as the progress we made in responsibly transitioning to a cleaner, more diverse generation portfolio with the announcement of significant wind investments in Missouri. The enactment of Senate Bill 564 marks a step change in Missouri's energy policy to enable investment to modernize the energy grid and drive economic development in the state. And our planned acquisition of at least 700 megawatts of wind generation consistent with Missouri's renewable energy standard will drive significant incremental investments in renewable energy. I will cover both of these important strategic opportunities in more detail shortly. The bottom line is, we now have constructive regulatory frameworks in all of our jurisdictions, which allows us to allocate significant amounts of much needed investment to each of our business segments for the benefit of our customers, the communities we serve, and our shareholders. As I said a few minutes ago, we accomplished a great deal in the execution of our strategy in 2018, which will drive significant long term value for all of our stakeholders. I think it's important to note that our team's strong execution of our strategy in 2018 was not an aberration. As you can see on page 5 of our presentation, we have been laser focused on executing this same strategy for the last 5 years. Our successful execution of this strategy has transformed our business mix, delivered significant value to our customers and shareholders, and position the company for success in the years ahead. In particular, consistent with regulatory frameworks that supported investment in energy infrastructure, we invested approximately $10,000,000,000 over the last 5 years. Slide 5 highlights some of the investments we have made during this period. Since 2013, we have improved the safety and reliability of our electric and natural gas systems, improved the efficiency of our energy centers, enhance our environmental footprint and strengthen our cybersecurity posture. At the same time, our relentless focus on disciplined cost management has kept our electric rates affordable and very competitive, as they remain well below the Midwest and national averages. We have also been very active and successful in working collaboratively with key stakeholders in Missouri and Illinois on implementing constructive energy policies in all of our jurisdictions to support ongoing and future investment in energy infrastructure. And we have been capitalizing on new opportunities for investment, most notably those associated with transmission projects and planned wind generation in Missouri. All of these actions when taken together have resulted in the successful execution of our strategy, which has delivered significant value to our customers and shareholders. Our investments over the last 5 years have driven robust compound annual rate base growth of approximately 8%. That growth coupled with improved earned returns drove a strong compound annual earnings per share growth of more than 7% over the same period. We also grew our common dividend during this time period and improved our overall business risk profile. Combined, these actions also resulted in strong total shareholder returns over the same 5 year period. I want to be clear, we do not take these results for granted. Achieving these results required a great deal of hard work, persistence and team effort. While I'm pleased with what we have accomplished, I'm even more excited about the fact that the execution of our strategy has positioned us very well to continue to deliver superior customer and shareholder value in the future, which brings me to Page 6 of our presentation and a discussion of our earnings growth expectations for the next 5 years. We expect our 2019 earnings per share to be in a range of $3.15 to $3.35 per share. Earnings within this range would deliver strong growth again in 2019 as the midpoint of this guidance represents nearly 7% earnings per share growth compared to 2018 weather normalized core results. Marta will provide you with more details on our 2019 guidance a bit later. Building on our robust earnings growth over the past several years, I'm also pleased to announce that we have rolled forward our long term guidance. Last February, we guided to a 5% to 7% compound annual earnings per share growth rate for the 2017 to 2022 period. For the 2018 through 2023 period, we have increased that range and now expect strong 6% to 8% compound annual earnings per share growth using 2018 weather normalized core earnings of $3.05 per share as the base. This base excludes Ameren Missouri's estimated favorable weather impact of $0.32 per share from 2018 core earnings per share of $3.37 This long term earnings growth outlook is driven by continued execution of our strategy including investing in infrastructure for the benefit of customers, while keeping rates affordable. This outlook also accommodates a range of treasury rates, sales growth, spending levels and regulatory developments. And of course, earnings growth in any individual year will be impacted by the timing of capital expenditures, regulatory rate reviews, Callaway refueling and maintenance outages and weather among other factors. I would also note that a Callaway refueling outage is scheduled for 2023. In contrast, we did not have a Callaway refueling outage in 2018. We believe the best way to assess our long term earnings growth is to normalize for the timing of Callaway refueling costs as well as weather impacts. That said, our earnings guidance range accommodates the inclusion or exclusion of 2023 Callaway refueling outage costs. Turning now to Page 7, we expect to grow our rate base at an approximately 8% compound annual rate for the 2018 through 2023 period. Our plan includes allocating significant capital to all 4 of our business segments as they now all have excuse me, operate in jurisdictions with constructive regulatory frameworks for investments. This is reflected in the expected rate base growth for each of these businesses as noted in the graph on the right side of this page. Importantly, our 5 year earnings and rate base growth projections include significant investments to modernize the electric grid as set forth in Ameren Missouri's Smart Energy Plan, which we filed with the Missouri PSC earlier this morning. Enabled by the enactment of Senate Bill 564, the Smart Energy Plant includes $6,300,000,000 of investment over the next 5 years, with a specific focus on modernizing the grid and acquiring renewable wind generation. Specifically, it includes approximately $1,000,000,000 for Ameren Missouri's wind generation investment related to the announced build transfer agreements for up to 5 57 megawatts. The incremental grid modernization and announced wind generation investments increased Ameren Missouri's compound annual rate base growth from 3.5% in last year's 5 year plan to 7.8% in our 5 year plan announced today. It is important to note that any additional wind generation investments would be incremental to this capital plan. And our plan continues to call for investment in at least 700 megawatts of wind generation. Finally, we remain relentlessly focused on continuous improvement and disciplined cost management to keep rates affordable and keep earned returns close to the allowed returns in all of our jurisdictions. Moving now to Page 8, as previously noted, today Ameren Missouri filed its smart energy plan with the Missouri Public Service Commission. Driven by the enactment of constructive legislation in 2018, this 5 year plan includes significant investments to modernize the energy grid and enhance how customers receive and consume electricity, while at the same time keeping electric rates stable and predictable. Constructive energy policies have driven similar investments at our Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution and Natural Gas Businesses, delivering significant customer benefits and adding thousands of new jobs to the state's economy, while also keeping customer rates affordable. In Missouri's Smart Energy Plan filing includes a 5 year capital investment overview with a detailed 1 year plan for 2019 and sets forth the improvements and upgrades to modernize the energy grid infrastructure to benefit customers and offer more tools to manage their energy usage. Upgrades and reliability, resilience and service throughout Ameren Missouri's 24,000 square mile service territory are the foundation of the plan that includes more than 2,000 electric infrastructure improvement projects across the state. This plan also includes major renewable energy projects to continue the transition to a cleaner generation portfolio in a responsible fashion for our customers. This slide highlights several key elements of the 5 year Smart Energy Plan. The Smart Energy Plan meets our customers' desire for stable and predictable rates. A smarter energy grid that is even more reliable, resilient and secure, new sources of clean energy and greater tools to manage their energy usage. In addition to the 6.1% rate decrease last August for the lower federal income tax rate, customers will also benefit from a rate freeze until April 2020 and a 2.85% compound annual cap on electric rate increases from April 1, 2017 to December 31, 2023. Several cost reduction opportunities are expected to provide headroom to stay under this rate cap, including the benefit of tax reform, lower fuel and transportation costs, refinancing of long term debt at lower rates and expected O and M savings through technological improvements and disciplined cost control. In addition, we will seek to drive greater economic development in Missouri with a meaningful incentive rate enabled by Senate Bill 564 for new or expanding large energy users. We look forward to working with the commission and other key stakeholders to implement the benefits of the Smart Energy Plan as we transform the integrated today to power the quality of life and build a brighter energy future for generations to come. Moving now to Page 9 for an update on our wind generation investment plans to achieve compliance with Missouri's renewable energy standard and continue to transition our generation portfolio. To date, I am pleased with the progress we have made to pursue ownership of at least 700 megawatts of wind generation by 2020. Specifically, Ameren Missouri has reached agreements with 2 developers to acquire after construction up to 5 57 Megawatts of Wind Generation, representing about 80% of our compliance needs. The proposed 400 Megawatt facility to be located in Northeastern Missouri was approved by the Missouri PSC last October and when built will be the largest ever in the state. The next key milestone is a MISO transmission interconnection agreement which is expected in the fall of 2019. For the proposed 157 Megawatt facility to be located in Northwestern Missouri, a non unanimous stipulation and agreement was reached earlier this month with the Missouri PSC staff and other parties on our CCN request. The Missouri PSC decision is expected by May 1 this year and we expect the decision on the MISO interconnection agreement in early 2020. These 2 wind generation facilities collectively represented an approximately $1,000,000,000 investment and are expected to be in service by the end of 2020. Of course, we are not done. Our team continues to actively negotiate with several developers for additional wind generation. And as I noted earlier, any additional investments in wind generation will be incremental to the capital and rate base growth plan I discussed previously. We remain confident in our ability to complete these negotiations, obtain necessary regulatory approvals and have these facilities constructed in a timely fashion. We believe these investments will deliver clear long term benefits to our customers, the environment and the communities we serve. Turning now to Page 10, as we look to the future, the successful execution of our 5 year plan is not only focused on delivering strong results through 2023, but is also designed to position Ameren for success for the next decade and beyond. We believe that the energy grid will be increasingly important as we expect Ameren and our industry to be critical enablers of advancing technologies that will bring even greater value to our customers, the communities we serve and our shareholders. With this long term view in mind, we are making investments that will position Ameren to meet our customers' future energy needs and rising expectations, support increased electrification of the transportation sector and other industrial processes and provide safe and reliable natural gas services. Right side of this page shows that our allocation of capital is expected to grow our energy delivery businesses to approximately 3 quarters of our rate base by the end of 2023. In addition to focusing on investment in the energy grid, we're also committed to transitioning Ameren Missouri's generation to a cleaner, more diverse portfolio in a responsible fashion. Ameren Missouri's pursuit of at least 700 megawatts of wind by 2020 combined with the scheduled retirement of the Merrick Mack Coal Fired Energy Center in 2022 reflects this continued commitment. As a result, our investment in coal and gas fired generation is expected to be a combined 11% of rate base by year end 2023. The bottom line is that we are taking steps today across the board to position Ameren for success in 2019, the next 5 years, the next decade and beyond. Moving to page 11, to sum up our value proposition, we remain firmly convinced that the execution of our strategy in 2019 and beyond will deliver superior value to our customers and shareholders. We believe the rate base and related earnings per share growth rates I just discussed compare very favorably with those of our regulated utility peers. And I am confident in our ability to execute our investment plans and strategies because we now have all 4 of our business segments operating with constructive regulatory frameworks to support investment. That fact coupled with our sustained past execution of our strategy on many fronts has positioned us well for future success. Further, our shares continue to offer investors a solid dividend. In the Q4 of last year, Ameren's Board of Directors expressed dividend by approximately 4%, the 5th consecutive year with a dividend increase. For 2018, our dividend payout based on weather normalized earnings was in the lower half of our expected payout range of between 55% 70% of annual earnings. Our strong earnings growth expectation outlined today positions us well for future dividend growth. Of course, future dividend decisions will be driven by earnings growth in addition to cash flows and other business conditions. Together, we believe our strong earnings growth outlook combined with our solid dividend, which currently provides a yield of approximately 3%, results in a very attractive total return opportunity for shareholders. Again, thank you all for joining us today. And I'll now turn the call over to Marty. Thanks, Warner, and good morning, everyone. Turning now to Page 13 of our presentation. Today, we reported 2018 GAAP earnings of $3.32 per share compared to GAAP earnings of $2.14 per share for the prior year. As outlined in the table on this page, excluding the 2018 2017 non core non cash charges for the revaluation of deferred taxes of $0.05 $0.69 per share respectively, Amarin reported core earnings of $3.37 per share for 2018 compared to core earnings of $2.83 per share for 2017. Turning to Page 14, we highlight by segment the key factors that drove the overall 0 point 5 2018 core earnings compared to 2017 results. Ameren Missouri, our largest segment and also the largest driver of the year over year earnings increase experienced an increase of $0.50 per share from $1.48 per share in 2017 to $1.98 per share in 2018. This earnings improvement was largely driven by higher electric retail sales, colder winter temperatures in 2018 compared to near normal summer and milder winter temperatures in the year ago period. In addition, the earnings improvement was driven by higher electric service rates effective April 1, 2017 as well as the absence in 2018 of a Callaway Energy Center nuclear refueling and maintenance outage. Each contributed approximately $0.09 per share to 2018 compared to 2017. These favorable earnings drivers were partially offset by a planned increase in other operations and maintenance expenses, primarily reflecting higher than normal scheduled non nuclear plant outages, increased routine maintenance work and additional distribution reliability projects. Turning to the other segments, earnings for Ameren Transmission and Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution were up $0.09 and $0.03 respectively reflecting increased infrastructure investments. In addition, Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution's earnings benefited from a higher allowed return on equity under formulaic rate making of 8.9% compared to 8.7% for the prior year. The 2018 allowed ROE was based on the 2018 average 30 year treasury yield of 3.1 percent up from the 2017 average of 2.9%. Earnings for Ameren Illinois Natural Gas were up 0 point effective in early November 2018. Finally, Ameren Parent and Other results reflected higher charitable donations, lower net state and federal tax benefits and dilution. Before moving on, let me briefly cover electric sales trends for Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution for 2018 compared to 2017. Weather normalized kilowatt hour sales to Missouri residential and commercial customers on a combined basis were up 1% excluding the effects of our Missouri Energy Efficiency Plan under MEO. Kilowatt hour sales to Missouri Industrial customers also increased about 1% after excluding the effects of our energy efficiency plan. We exclude EMEA effects because the plan provides rate recovery to ensure that earnings are not affected by reduced electric sales resulting from our energy efficiency efforts. Weather normalized kilowatt hour sales to Illinois residential and commercial customers on a combined basis increased 0.5% and kilowatt hour sales to Illinois industrial customers increased 2%. Recall the changes in electric sales in Illinois no matter the cause did not affect our earnings since we have full revenue decoupling. Moving to Page 15 of the presentation, here we provide an overview of our approximately $13,300,000,000 of planned capital expenditures for the 2019 through 2023 period by business segment that underlies the 8% projected rate base growth Warner discussed earlier. Note the capital expenditures and rate base shown on this page include Ameren Missouri's approximately $1,000,000,000 wind generation investment for up to 5.57 megawatts related to its announced build transfer agreements. Any additional wind generation investments would be incremental to this investment plan. Turning to Page 16. Looking ahead, we will remain focused on maintaining the strong balance sheet. We're comfortable with the current capitalization levels at each legal entity and expect our capitalization levels over the coming 5 year period to remain in line with those at the end of 2018. Consistent with that expectation, here we outline the expected funding sources for the infrastructure investments noted on the prior page. We expect continued growth in cash from operations as investments are reflected in customer rates. We also expect to generate significant tax deferrals. The tax deferrals are driven primarily by timing differences between financial statement depreciation reflected in customer rates and accelerated depreciation for tax purposes under MACRS. I should note that over the 5 year time horizon of our plan, we do not expect to be a material federal or state cash taxpayer. In addition to the benefits of accelerated tax depreciation because of our expected $1,000,000,000 investment in up to 5 57 megawatts of wind generation, we also expect to generate production tax credits beginning in the 2020 timeframe. From a financing perspective, we expect to continue to issue long term debt to refinance maturing obligations and to fund a portion of our cash requirements. We also plan to continue to use newly issued shares for our dividend reinvestment and employee benefit plans over the 5 year guidance period. We expect this to provide equity funding of approximately $100,000,000 annually. Our plans also include incremental common equity to fund a portion of Ameren Missouri's expected wind generation investment. We believe these actions should enable us to maintain the strong balance sheet and credit ratings that we have worked hard to achieve over time. Moving to Page 17 of our presentation, I would now like to discuss key drivers impacting our 2019 earnings guidance. As Warner stated, we expect 2019 diluted earnings to be in a range of $3.15 to $3.35 per share. The midpoint of this range represents nearly 7% EPS growth versus 2018 weather normalized core results. On this page and the next, we have listed key earnings drivers of and assumptions behind our 2019 earnings guidance broken down by segment and as compared to 2018 results. Beginning with Ameren Missouri, earnings are expected to be lower in 2019 largely due to an approximately $0.32 per share benefit from favorable weather in 2018. We also expect expenses for the spring 2019 scheduled Callaway refueling and maintenance outage to decrease earnings by approximately $0.09 per share. Recall that there was no refueling outage for Callaway in 2018 given that these scheduled outages occur on an 18 month cycle. Further, higher depreciation expense will decrease earnings approximately $0.03 which reflects the full year application of plant and service accounting or PISA to a higher level of infrastructure investments. Partially offsetting these unfavorable earnings drivers, we expect lower interest expense of approximately $0.05 per share including the PISA benefit. We also expect lower other operations and maintenance expenses to benefit 2019 earnings by approximately $0.05 This reduction is primarily driven by higher than normal scheduled non nuclear plant outages and increased maintenance work experienced in 2018. Finally, in Ameren Missouri, we expect higher electric margins including benefits under EMEA. For Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, we anticipate increased earnings in 2019 compared to 2018 from additional infrastructure investments made under Illinois' formula rate making. Our guidance incorporates a formula based allowed ROE of 8.9% using a forecasted 3.1% 2019 average yield for the 30 year treasury bond which is comparable to an allowed ROE of 8.9% in 2018. We have provided the earnings sensitivity to changes in the allowed ROE of the Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution segment on this page. For Ameren Illinois Natural Gas Distribution earnings, we expect to benefit from a full year of increased delivery rates as well as qualified investments that are included in rates on a timely basis under the state's gas infrastructure rider. Turning to Page 18, Ameren Transmission earnings are expected to benefit from additional investments in Ameren Illinois and ATXI projects made under FERC's formula rate making. Our guidance assumes continuation of the current 10.82 percent allowed ROE for the full year of Twain project which assumes an allowed ROE of 11.32%. We have provided the earnings sensitivity to changes in the allowed ROE of Ameren Transmission segment on this page. Moving now to Ameren wide drivers and assumptions, we expect an effective income tax rate of approximately 19% this year, a decrease from last year's core effective income tax rate of 21%. This reflects the full year impact of excess deferred tax flowback in customer rates that began during 2018. Additionally, we expect lower donations at the parent company of about $0.03 per share. Finally, the issuance of common shares for our dividend reinvestment and employee benefit plans are expected to unfavorably impact earnings by $0.02 per share. I would also like to take a moment to discuss our electric sales outlook. We expect weather normalized Missouri kilowatt hour sales to residential and commercial customers to be up approximately 0.5% to 1% compounded annually over the 5 year plan excluding the effects of our EMEA energy efficiency plans. We expect sales to our Missouri industrial customers to be relatively flat over our 5 year plan after excluding the effects of our energy efficiency plan. Again, we exclude EMEA effects because the plan provides rate recovery to ensure that earnings are not affected by reduced electric sales resulting from our energy efficiency efforts. Turning to Illinois, we expect our weather normalized kilowatt hour sales to residential, commercial and industrial customers including energy efficiency to be flat over our 5 year plan. Moving now to Page 19 for a discussion of select regulatory matters. For Ameren Transmission, there have been recent developments that may impact the base allowed ROE from MISO transmission owners. In November 2018, the FERC issued an order in the MISO ROE complaint cases proposing a new methodology for determining the base allowed ROE and soliciting feedback from participants. The MISO transmission owners including Ameren Illinois and ATXI filed initial briefs yesterday regarding the MISO complaint cases. In summary, we believe the FERC proposed methodology is an improvement over the existing approach with certain recommended modifications. We are unable to predict the timing and ultimate impact of the complaint cases at this time. Turning to Page 20 for an update on cash flow guidance. For 2019, we anticipate negative free cash flow of approximately $950,000,000 On the right side of this page, we provide a breakdown of our $2,400,000,000 of planned 2019 capital expenditures by business. We expect to fund this year's negative free cash flow and debt maturities primarily through a combination of short and long term debt borrowings and issuances as well as the previously mentioned issuances of common shares for our dividend reinvestment and employee benefit plans. Finally turning to Page 21, I will summarize. We delivered solid core earnings growth in 2018 capping 5 years of outstanding compound annual earnings growth. We expect to again deliver strong earnings growth in 2019 as we continue to successfully execute our strategy. And as we look ahead, we expect strong 6% to 8% compound earnings per share growth over the 2018 to 2023 period driven by an approximately 8% compound annual rate base growth and disciplined financial management. We believe this growth will compare favorably with the growth of our regulated utility peers and Ameren shares continue to offer investors an attractive dividend. In total, we have an attractive total shareholder return story that we believe compares very favorably to our peers. That concludes our prepared remarks. We now invite your questions. Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session. Our first question comes from Julien Dumoulin Smith with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question. Good morning, Julien. Hey, good morning. This is actually Nick Campanella on for Julien. No worries. How are you doing this morning? Very good. Congrats on the update here. Thank you. I just wanted to start quickly on the incremental equity funding for the wind. This is what's in excess of the DRIP. Can you just expand at all on in terms of the magnitude of the funding needed there or how we should think about quantifying that, whether it's from solving for an FFO to debt metric or just in terms of how you plan to finance it? Yes. Good morning, Nick. This is Marty. I think it's probably good to step back and look at the totality of what we said and what we said on prior calls. We feel very good about the capitalization levels that we have today meaning the debt to equity ratios and that's both at the parent as well as the various legal entities that we have And we're going to seek to keep levels in line with those or approximating those levels over the 5 year guidance period. We believe we can do that given the retained earnings associated with our ongoing operations and some equity financing as we noted on the call. So the equity financing as you know comes in 2 parts. I mean one of it that we noted is through the dividend reinvestment employee benefit programs. There we think we can generate about $100,000,000 a year of equity proceeds or about $500,000,000 over the period. And then we expect to issue some additional equity in an amount which equates to a portion of our ultimate wind investment as we mentioned on the call. That amount being sized to achieve the capital structure objectives that we talked about earlier. So look, I recognize you're maybe looking for a little bit more specificity, but as we think about what we said and we think about the wind, I'd also ask you to think about how Ameren Missouri is financed overall today, which is about 52% equity, knowing that the wind ultimately is going to end up in that legal entity. Appreciate that. And then just like the timing of the wind CapEx, that should all be realized in 1 year roughly, is that correct? Nick, I think it's a good way to think about it. The 5 57 megawatts that we've announced today, we're going to acquire through build transfer agreements. So there again, we look for those deals to close between the middle of 2020 and end of 2020. And so I would be thinking about the cash flows occurring during that period of time. Great. And then my last question just on the sticking with Missouri. I think you had a net $1,500,000,000 increase in the 5 year program. I saw that you filed, I think, your grid mod plan. And can you just kind of talk about your expectations for grid mod versus the prior your previous expectations for the $1,000,000,000 and if that has shifted at all? Maybe I could talk a little about the overall investment picture which is on Slide 15 and then see if you have some follow-up questions or we can elaborate in some way. I mean overall, we had a previously a plan of 2018 to 2022. Obviously, when you roll forward, you not only adjust spending within those periods, but it also we're looking out to 2023. And so overall, it's a $13,300,000,000 plan for the 5 year period looking ahead. If you compare to the prior plan, I think what you'd find is as we've said, we have a strong pipeline of growth in each of our segments. And so as you look at the capital spend and the updated 4 to 5 year period for Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, Ameren Illinois Natural Gas and Transmission, those are all pretty consistent with the levels of investment that we made over the we're planning for the prior 5 year plan that we've given. The real updates here and I think long it should meet with generally expectations as we've added $1,000,000,000 for Ameren Missouri Wind Generation Investment. This $1,000,000,000 is really associated with the 5 57 megawatts that we've announced to date. And then getting to your point, the capital expenditure plan outside of that win for Missouri is $5,800,000,000 which compares favorably to the plan we had before which was $4,300,000,000 over 5 years. So again it is up $1,500,000,000 over the 5 year period as you mentioned of course, we're rolling forward to a future period. And so in any event, I think you're absolutely right. As you would have expected given Senate Bill 564 in the wind generation investment, the investment in Missouri overall is up in the plan. Thanks. Congrats again. Thanks Nick. Our next question comes from Ali Agha with SunTrust Robinson. Please proceed with your question. Good morning, Ali. Good morning. First question, and I just wanted to clarify the one of the remarks I think you'd made in your opening comments in regards to the 6% to 8% EPS CAGR that you have over the next 5 years. And correct me if I'm wrong, but did I hear it right that the 8% CAGR would normalize for the Callaway outage and exclude that, whereas the 6% would include that. Did I hear that right or does the 8% also contemplate including the Callaway outage? Hey, Ali, good morning. This is Marty. Let me answer that. No, I think what we meant to say there, what Warner was saying is that 6% to 8% range, if you will, would accommodate either inclusion or exclusion of the cost of the Callaway outage in 2023. Clearly, we are planning for an outage in 20 23. We had none in 2018. We think the best way to look at our earnings growth profile over time is to normalize for things like the Callaway outage timing and weather. But we wanted folks to know that whether you were thinking about earnings in 2023 including or excluding those costs that we believe that our earnings guidance range was such that it would accommodate either. I see. But, Mari, just to be clear, so including if we include those costs and keep them in there, that could still get us to an 8% CAGR? Well, it would depend on other things. Again, it's a range. So what I'm saying is, if you include the cost, it still gets you into that range. If you exclude the cost, you're within the range, but wasn't really commenting on whether you would get to the 8% or not. Ali, I think the way to think about it is the range accommodates a number of things. I mean, it accommodates a range of treasury rates, allowed ROEs, earned ROEs, various spending levels, regulatory decisions, sales levels, economic conditions, financing plans, all of those things. So when we give out the range, the range accommodates all of those variables that may occur. Okay. And second clarification as well, Marty. So I think as you mentioned, for the wind investments, you're looking at completing those acquisitions in mid to late 2020. And I'm assuming that to the extent there's additional wind that comes in, that's also a 2020 timeframe period. So when we think about additional equity, should we think all of that if required will be a 2020 event and all the other years we should model out $100,000,000 a year or should we think differently? And also for modeling purposes, should we assume wind will be an earnings contributor, the incremental wind will be an earnings contributor in 2020? Sure. Ali, let me take those. I may take those a little bit in reverse order. In terms of the wind as I mentioned, one of the things that we want to get done is to get those in, in 2020, working with the developers to make sure we take maximum advantage of the production tax credit. So with respect to the projects that we've announced today, to date the 5 57 Megawatts, as well as additional wind investments that we're pursuing that are not embedded in the current plans. In both cases, we're seeking to work with the developers to acquire projects that will get completed as I mentioned earlier So as you think about that, there would be some earnings impact in 2020, but it really would depend on when those projects went into service or when they get into rate base in 2020. And you really get to, I think a more full annualized benefit of the wind when you get into 2021. And as you get through the rate cases associated with those even into 2022, but you're really going to get to a more full annualized benefit again in that 2021 timeframe. Now as it relates to the equity we talked about today that we do expect incremental equity to fund a portion of the wind investment. And so again those cash flows you're right occur in the 20 20 timeframe. So that's a consideration. And then I would also say that again we have not announced the we aspire to acquire additional win beyond the 557. And so as we complete those negotiations, we'll be certainly thinking about financing that in addition to what we've talked about, the wind we've announced to date and we'll be thinking about the sizing in a way that's consistent with what we discussed today and on prior calls. Okay. And last question, I know in the past when you talked about the SP 564 related CapEx, you had mentioned at a minimum $1,000,000,000 over 5 years. And I guess based on your commentary today, it looks like it's more than $1,000,000,000 at least embedded in this 5 year plan. Does that still leave you room for even additional upside to that CapEx as we think about this 5 years or do you think this is pretty much what you expect to spend now going forward? Ali, this is Warner. Thanks for the question. I'll let Michael comment a little bit further because he just filed a Smart Energy Plan. I'll just start with this saying that the robust infrastructure plan that we talked about over 5 years 10 years in Missouri, I sit here today, it still remains robust beyond just the 5 years and frankly continues to grow with various needs. But Michael, you can talk a little bit about what you've incorporated in the 5 year plan and certainly some opportunities that you continue to see from Missouri. Well, I mean, I think Warner, just adding a little bit to that. I mean, obviously, we have the $5,300,000,000 that we filed today on the electric side. As we get in and develop this plan and be able to show all the customer benefits, it's obvious that we're finding just more opportunities. I think you described it as a robust plan. I would say that that is absolutely the case. And we look forward to continue to work through time and looking for projects that can provide meaningful benefits to customers. So the bottom line, when you look back 3 years ago when we talked about that plan that was filed, we look at the grid modernization opportunities every bit as robust today as we looked at them back then 3 years ago. Understood. Thank you. Our next question is from Insoo Kim with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed with your question. Good morning, Insoo. Good morning. Starting on the wind side, just to clarify, by 2020, the 700 megawatts that you guys are targeting or at least the 700 megawatts, That implies that I guess versus the current plan that you have today, you'll have another around 150 megawatts at least announced and build and transfer by 2020? Or are you when you're talking about negotiating with multiple developers, are there opportunities beyond that 700 that you're talking about? Or is that largely it? Hi. This is Michael Mann. As we think about it today, I mean, we're obviously very focused on that 700 megawatts for that Missouri Renewable Standard, having that 15% by 2021. Obviously, we're keeping our mind and options open as we move through time in terms of other offerings that we have out there, but we're really focused on filling out that 700 megawatts at this point. Understood. And then on the cost side, I think in the past you've targeted maybe not a formal guidance, but trying to keep O and M growth flat on a year over year basis. Is that still part of your plan? Yes, Anshu, this is Marty. Yes, as we look ahead, I mean that continues to be our goal. I mean we recognize that one of our objectives is to make sure that we can carry out this $13,300,000,000 infrastructure plan for the benefit of our customers and keep rates affordable along the way. So we will look to keep tight control on our O and M costs as we look ahead. Understood. And then maybe just one more if I could. The recent electric vehicle decision, I know it's a fairly small part of your investment opportunity, but that decision for the 5 year, dollars 4,000,000 or so, does that basically cap how much you're going to be spending in that arena at least for the medium term? Again, this is Michael. I would say it's a start with respect to what we're trying to do from a transportation perspective. We're excited about having the opportunity to build out this corridor. I think we will continue to evaluate over time. I think the commission has actually opened up a workshop to have some further conversations beyond just the charging corridor that they approved. So that could also end up including other types of charging as well. So we look forward to engaging in that discussion and see if we can move this discussion forward. Yes, Michael, I'd just add. Look, I think this is clearly a step forward. And importantly, I think what Michael and his team have been able to do is just raise the level of awareness and the conversation in the state of Missouri on this. And so this is what we have today, but dialogue is it will be ongoing here in the relative near future. And we look forward to continue to lean further forward in the electric electrification because we think there are real opportunities and benefits for our customers in the state of Missouri. And we will be looking at similar types things frankly in the state of Illinois too because we see similar benefits over there as well. Understood. Thank you very much. Thanks, Insoo. Our next question comes from Stephen Byrd with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your question. Hello, Stephen. How are you? Hey, great. Congratulations on a constructive update. Thank you. Thank you. So I just wanted to discuss the smart energy plan filed in Missouri and just better understand the regulatory process and just how we think about where procedurally it goes from here. It's obviously great that the customer bills are the bill impact is capped. It seems to all make sense, but I just wanted to understand a little bit more about what we should be looking for now that you've made that filing? Sure. Michael, why don't you talk about that because I know it's some of this is embedded in Senate Bill 564. So why don't you give an update there? Perfect. Thanks for the question. Obviously, it was an important filing that we did today with the commission. We're required to lay out in quite a bit of detail for 2019 where our investments are going to go and then a little less detail for the next 4 years through 2023. What else is contemplated is a public meeting that's scheduled for March 4. We'll again lay out the customer benefits associated with this, where our investments are going, etcetera and get some feedback from that. And then obviously, Senate Bill 564 didn't change the commission's authority in any way. So they'll have a chance to weigh in this as we go through regular rate reviews and have an getting feedback along the way. I would just add, Stephen, when you look at the details of the plan, I think these are the things that we have been talking about is needed in the state of Missouri frankly for many years. And so, I think what we've now provided is just greater levels of detail and as we referred to a little bit earlier, Michael and his team have put together a plan 3 years ago almost now that highlighted some of these things. So a lot of the dialogue and conversations around these have been discussed before. Now we're giving a lot more detail, which I think is certainly appropriate at this time. Yes, that's right. I mean, I think the other thing just to note is that we have been operating under the Senate Bill 564 really since September 1. And I think Stephen you noted the 6% rate reduction that occurred as part of the tax refund. We obviously had some solar rebates that we're required to do. All of that has been taken care of. We got recently economic development rider approved. And so I give you that just because there are a number of aspects that we have been executing underneath the Centerville 560 for some time. Well, that all makes sense. It does seem consistent with what you've talked about before. And just shifting over to Illinois, I guess there's some discussion of potential movement towards greater levels of clean energy in the state. And just curious from your system perspective or just more broadly investment opportunities, changes to the grid, anything else that you would foresee if the state did in fact move towards greater levels of clean energy? Yes. Sure, Steven. This is Warner. And then Richard, feel free to jump in. Look big picture when you think about renewable generation, we're not allowed to own renewable generation in the State of Illinois. And so we stay very mindful of the activities there because certainly since we purchase energy on behalf of our customers, we want to make sure that rates continue to be good as well as making sure that the reliability is thought through. Having said that Richard was at the table with key stakeholders during the governor's transition period and they talked about the transition plan around energy policy. And one of the things that we pointed out very clearly is that the energy policy in the State of Illinois is working quite well. The formula rates is working quite well. And so when we see that, there are investment opportunities associated with that and from our distribution business to make sure we can continue to deliver the safe reliable service for our customers we will do so. If we become more broadly in terms of renewable generation, certainly we will be thoughtful about transmission opportunities because we've said this before and we'll say it again, when you look at the MISO footprint, there are a lot of wind and solar projects going on in the MISO footprint and we stand ready and are able to help implement those with not just interconnection agreements but perhaps sometime down the road there'll be an opportunity for multi value projects. Early innings, but we could see that as a potential opportunity. So Richard, I know that you've been working with your team over there. Anything that you would add to what I said? I think you've covered it perfectly. I think that's very good observation of how it's going to work in Illinois. Great. Thank you. Thank you very much. Sure. Thanks, Stephen. Our next question comes from Kevin Fallon with Citadel. Please proceed with your question. Good morning, Kevin. Good morning. Hey, how are you? I'm well. How are you doing today? I'm good. Thank you. Just to clarify, is the implied cost per kw on the 5 57 megawatts of wind you guys have right now a reasonable proxy for what would cost to get you up to the 700? This is Michael. I think it's difficult. You got to be a little careful with it just because so many different factors apply here in terms of there's some benefits associated with doing projects in state. There's a 1.25% credit versus out state. There's capacity factor issues. So you can probably draw some conclusions. We got to be a little careful with it just in terms of some of the specifics. Okay. Fair enough. But the actual target amount is the 700 megawatts, correct? That is what we are focused on. That is what we're focused on. Kevin, maybe I'll add to that though and build off of what Michael said into earlier. I mean hitting 700 neatly is a difficult thing to do. These projects are varying sizes. So one of the things we said, if you look closely at the wording we use, we said at least 700. It could be that the ultimate project that selected and picked would actually be get us to a number that was above 700 because again it's difficult to find a site that neatly gets you to 700. So we think it's going to be at least 700 but the target again is to fulfill the requirements under the renewable energy standard, which we believe is what approximate about 700. Okay. That's helpful. And the other thing is I think a securitization bill has been introduced in the Missouri legislature. I know you guys have said in the past you have very low dispatch costs on your coal fleet. But if the securitization was passed, would that change the dynamic there in kind of a steel for fuel type of outlook? You're right. There are a couple of securitization bills floating around. Look, I would just say at a very high level and Marty certainly add to this as well. I mean, we're having some conversations with those stakeholders. None of those bills have been assigned to committee yet. So they haven't had a hearing at this point. But we look forward to continue to have some conversations around the details of these bills and what benefit there may or may not be there for us. Are these bills being are you guys sponsoring these bills or supporting these bills or is that all to be determined? Yes, that is all to be determined. That's great. Well, thank you very much. Thanks, Kevin. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we reached the end of the question and answer session. At this time, I'd like to turn the call back to to Andrew Kirk for closing comments. Thank you for participating in this call. A replay of this call will be available for 1 year on our website. If you have questions, you may call the contacts listed on our earnings release. Again, thank you for your interest in Ameren and have a great day. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time and we thank you for your participation.