I will now turn the call over to Anne Holloway, Chairman of the Board of American States Water Company. Please go ahead.
Thank you. I'd like to welcome our shareholders to American States Water Company's 2020 Annual Meeting. I am Anne Holloway, Chairman of the Board of the company. And on behalf of the Board of Directors and our management team, we are glad you've joined us today. Like many companies, we have moved to a virtual only meeting this year due to the COVID-nineteen pandemic to keep our shareholders, employees and our attendees safe.
We are well aware that our customers and communities, shareholders and employees have been greatly affected by the current events and our thoughts are with them all. Fortunately, American States Water Company and its subsidiaries have been able to continue to provide uninterrupted service to our customers in California as well as on the 11 military bases we serve around the country. Regarding the meeting today, as shareholders, you have the ability to submit questions throughout the meeting via the questions box in this virtual annual meeting. Upon the completion of the business portion of the meeting, there will be a question and answer session, where questions that have been submitted will be responded to. And yes, please note that this meeting is being recorded.
We have also posted the rules of conduct for the meeting on the virtual meeting platform as well as the proxy statement for your reference. With that, I'll call the business portion of this 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to order. As a reminder, shareholders attending the virtual meeting can vote their shares online from now to the closing of the polls by clicking the Vote Here button on their screen. If you have previously voted by proxy and do not wish to change your vote, your vote will be cast as you previously instructed and no further action is required. After the polls are closed, the votes will be tabulated and preliminary voting results will be announced.
I would like to begin by recognizing our retiring Board member, Jim McNulty, who has served our company and shareholders since 2010. During most of his tenure, Jim served as Chair of the Board's ASUS Committee, guiding our contracted services organization through a period of growth and success during a very critical time. You may have seen the dedication in the most recent annual report, where we listed the growth and evolution of ASUS since Jim joined the Board. It has been significant. It has been a pleasure to work with Jim and the Board and I wish him the very best in retirement.
And Jim, we thank you for your service. I want to recognize our other Board members, all of whom are on the call today. Mr. James Anderson, Ms. Sarah Anderson, Doctor.
Diana Bonta, Mr. John Fielder, Ms. Mary Anne Hopkins, Ms. Janice Wilkins, Mr. Robert Sprowls, who is our President and Chief Executive Officer.
Bob is also a Director of the company. And finally, Mr. C. James or Jim Levine, if elected, will be a new member of the Board. Jim brings expertise on legal and regulatory matters.
He had been a corporate lawyer in Los Angeles for over 35 years. He has provided legal advice as outside counsel on various corporate matters to American States Water Company and its subsidiaries, first as a partner at O'Melveny and Meyers and then as a partner and of counsel at Winston and Strong LLP. His experience advising public companies and his deep knowledge of our company makes him well suited to serve on the Board. I would also like to introduce the executive offices of the company who are with us today. Eva Tang, Senior Vice President, Finance, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Corporate Secretary Denise Krueger, Senior Vice President, Regulated Utilities for Golden State Water Company Granville or Rusty Hodges, Acting Senior Vice President for American States Utility Services Inc Gladys Ferro, Vice President, Finance, Treasurer and Assistant Secretary of Golden State Water Company, Assistant Secretary for American States Water Company and Assistant Secretary and Treasurer for all other subsidiaries Sunil Pillai, Vice President, Environmental Quality for Golden State Water Company Paul Rowley, Vice President, Water Operations for Golden State Water Company Keith Schweitzer, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs for Golden State Water Company and Gabriel or Gabe Willis, Vice President, Strategic Business Development for American States Utility Services Inc.
Also on the line today is Mr. Dan McGill from PricewaterhouseCooper, the company's independent registered public accounting firm as well as Mr. Steve Antion of the law firm of Winston and Strong LLP, Counsel to the company. We will now proceed to the first item of business. Ms.
Tang, will you now advise us of the steps taken to call this meeting and to appoint the Inspector for the election.
Ms. Chairman, in accordance with the bylaws of the corporation, notices of the annual meeting were mailed beginning April 6, 2020, to each holder of common shares of record as of March 2020, 2020, which is the record day for this meeting. I have a certified list of shareholders and copies of mailing affidavits. In addition, Broward Financial Solutions has been appointed by the corporation to act as the Inspector of Election for this meeting and to certify the results of the election.
Thank you, Eva. I will now call upon Ms. Sheba, representing Broadridge Financial Solutions for her report as the Inspector of Election. Ms. Shiba, do you have a count of the shares represented here today?
Ms. Chairman, as of the record date of March 20, 2020, there were outstanding 36,883,771 common shares with each share entitled to one vote. From proxies received and tabulated through the close of business yesterday, there are represented at this annual meeting of shareholders 32,535,521 shares or 88% of those outstanding and eligible to vote. Accordingly, I declare the existence of a quorum. The final results of the voting, reflecting all proxies received through the close of this meeting and any votes cast during the meeting, will be included in the final report of the Inspector of Election.
This morning, I am reporting on 3 proposals for which votes were solicited.
As to the first proposal, namely the election of 3 Class III directors, I am pleased to note that in accordance with the bylaws of the company, Mr. John R. Fielder, Mr. C. James Levine and Ms.
Janice F. Wilkins have been nominated to serve as Class III Directors of American States Water Company. Having received no prior notice of any further nominations, In accordance with the company's bylaws, nominations for the election of directors are now closed. Having received no request to exercise cumulative voting rights, Ms. Shiba, would you please report the results of the voting for the nominees?
Ms. Chairman, I am pleased to report that with regard to the election of 3 Class III Directors to serve until the annual meeting of shareholders in 2023 or until their successors are elected and qualified. Mr. John R. Fielder, Mr.
C. James Levine and Ms. Janice F. Wilkins have received the highest number of affirmative votes entitled to vote at the meeting. Each of these nominees received 99% or more of the affirmative votes.
Based on the vote of shareholders and the results provided by the Inspector of Election, the shareholders have elected the 3 nominees as Class III Directors. Congratulations to John, Jim and Janice. The second item of business concerns the proposal to hold an advisory vote to approve the compensation of our named executive officers. Proposal 2 must be approved by an affirmative vote of a majority of our common shares represented by proxy and voting, provided that the shares voting affirmatively also constitute at least a majority of the required quorum at the meeting. Ms.
Shiba, would you please report the results of the voting for proposal number 2?
Ms. Chairman, I am pleased to report that proposal 2, an advisory vote to approve the compensation of your named executive officers has been approved by 94.5% of the common shares represented by proxies and the shares voting affirmatively also constituted more than a majority of the required quorum at the meeting.
Based on the vote of shareholders and the results provided by the Inspector of Election, is shareholders have approved the compensation of our named executive officers included in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis section of the 2020 proxy statement. The 3rd item of business is to ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2020. This proposal must be approved by an affirmative vote of a majority of our common shares represented by proxy and voting, provided that the shares voting affirmatively also constitute at least a majority of the required quorum at the meeting. Ms. Shiba, would you please report the results of the voting for proposal number 3?
Ms. Chairman, I am pleased to report that Proposal 3, ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm has been approved by 98% of the common shares represented by proxy and that the shares voting affirmatively also constituted more than a majority of the required quorum at the meeting.
Based on the vote of shareholders and the results provided by the Inspector of Elections, the shareholders have ratified the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2020. Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, I declare that the polls for American States Water Company's 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders are now closed at this time. There being no further business that has properly been brought before the shareholders, the business portion of this Annual Meeting is now concluded. At this time, I would now like to turn the program over to Mr. Sprowls, who will provide some commentary and then take any questions.
Thank you, Anne, and good morning, everyone. Before I begin, certain of my comments may contain forward looking statements intended to qualify for the Safe Harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Please review a description of the company's risks and uncertainties in our most recent Form 10 ks and Form 10 Q on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. I'd like to share an update on our recent performance as well as provide a look ahead. Shareholders should know that American States Water Company and all of its subsidiaries are in a strong position with a bright future.
As we look back to 2019, it was a very strong year. As we experienced growth in each of our businesses, achieved a 30% year over year increase in adjusted earnings per share, received 2 positive rate case decisions, spent a record level of capital investment at our regulated utility, expanded our work on military bases, achieved the highest annual earnings per share contribution in its history for American States Utility Services or ASUS, spent more than 29% of our eligible spend with diverse suppliers at our regulated utility, raised the dividend by nearly 11%, reached 65 consecutive years of annual dividend increases and updated our dividend policy to achieve a compound annual growth rate in the dividend of more than 7% over the long term. In addition, as a shareholder, you experienced a total stock return of 31 0.2% in 2019 and have achieved 5 year 10 year compound annual returns of more than 20%. American States Water also achieved a consolidated return on equity of 14.3% for 2019. All of this was possible because of shareholders like you who invest in the company, our Board's steady guidance, the execution day in and day out by our employees, and of course our customers who remain the driving force behind our business.
We continue to be well positioned in 2020 beyond. Some milestones we expect this year include continuing to deliver outstanding customer service at all of our business segments, spending $115,000,000 to $130,000,000 on infrastructure at our regulated utilities, barring any delays resulting from COVID-nineteen, filing our water general rate case to establish rates for 20 22 through 2024, establishing Bear Valley Electric Service as its own subsidiary and pursuing potential new military based contracts. As we accomplish these milestones, we are committed to upholding high environmental, social and governance standards through the delivery of clean, safe and reliable water, wastewater and electric services to our customers. Particularly proud of our long standing conservation efforts and their results. As we manage our business on a daily basis, we continue to strive for diversity and inclusion in our workforce, while prioritizing their safety and well-being.
In regards to the COVID-nineteen pandemic, our business results have not been impacted and our employees are working hard to continue providing services and support without interruption. American States Water continues to provide investors with a stable long term investment. We are committed to disciplined financial management as well as these other core strategies, providing excellent customer service and reliability, growing our regulated water business through needed infrastructure replacement and customer acquisition improving the efficiency of current operations at all business segments pursuing regulatory filings for cost recovery, growing the contracted services business through additional military based privatizations and by developing significant opportunities for new construction work on the bases we currently serve Meeting our shareholders' expectations and continuing to be one of the leaders in the industry by sticking to what we do best, providing value for investors and quality service to the customer. We appreciate your trust in us. On behalf of the Board of Directors and our management team at American States Water Company, we wish you well during this unique time.
The meeting is now open to questions regarding the company from shareholders. We'll pause to review any questions. Okay. I'll go ahead and start. We did receive a question.
The question is, is the Board of Directors considering a share stock split in the near future? I'll go ahead and answer that. Given the recent volatility of our stock price and stock prices in general, we are not considering a stock split in the near future at this time. And that concludes our questions. So Ms.
Holloway, there are no further questions. I'll turn it back to you to conclude the meeting.
Thank you, Bob, and thank you for your comments. At this time, I will close this 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. And once again, thank you for your participating.