Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the SJW Group Q3 2021 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session and instructions will follow at that time. If anyone should require any assistance during the conference, you may press star zero. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Jim Lynch.
Thank you, operator. Welcome to the Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results Conference Call for SJW Group. I will be presenting today with Eric Thornburg, Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer. For those who would like to follow along, slides accompanying our remarks are available on our website at www.sjwgroup.com. Before we begin today's presentation, I would like to remind you that this presentation and related materials posted on our website may contain forward-looking statements.
These statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by the company in light of its experience, historical trends, current conditions, and expected future developments, as well as other factors that the company believes are appropriate under the circumstances. Many factors could cause the company's actual results and performance to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
For a description of some of the factors that could cause actual results to be different from statements in this presentation, we refer you to the financial results press release and to our most recent Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be obtained on our website.
All forward-looking statements are made as of today, and SJW Group disclaims any duty to update or revise such statements. You will have an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the presentation. With that, I will turn the call over to Eric.
Thank you, Jim. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'm Eric Thornburg, and it is my honor to serve as Chairman, President, and CEO of SJW Group. As an essential service, we deliver life-sustaining water to families and communities where we live, work, and serve. Whether it be high-quality water in a glass, a robust supply at the nearby fire hydrant, or reliable infrastructure on Main Street to support economic development, water is at the heart of our communities.
Delivering on our vital public mission requires our leaders and employees to maintain a laser focus on the present, plan decades into the future, and as the past year and a half has shown, adapt to unforeseen challenges along the way. SJW Group a nd its employees are committed to being a positive force for good in the community, protect and improve the environment, support water equity, have a diverse and inclusive workplace, and engage vendors and suppliers that reflect the diversity of the communities we serve.
We are able to build for the future because of our solid foundation. Our employee teams are working across the country and leaning in to deliver on our commitment to be a leader across the environmental, social, and governance landscape. ESG reflects our long-standing sense of purpose and our culture of service. To that end, we are finalizing our first enterprise-wide greenhouse gas inventory, which will be the benchmark for reducing our carbon footprint.
We already have solar installations in California, Connecticut, and Maine, and we're working toward more. One promising project would eventually allow us to meet all of the power needs of our new Saco River Drinking Water Treatment Facility in Maine. The grounds of the new Saco River facility will also feature more than 250 acres of protected open space and a pollinator garden. Building on our 2020 human rights policy, every employee in our organization is required to complete training on the policy.
Further, as an organization, we support water equity and believe that access to safe, affordable, and reliable water service is a human right. We have financial assistance programs to assist customers facing hardships, and we're especially proud of our water rate assistance programs in California and Connecticut that provide a 15% reduction on water bills for income-eligible residential customers.
More than $1.1 billion in federal dollars is earmarked to states to pay water and wastewater bills in arrears on behalf of low-income residents through the Low Income Household Water Assistance Program. We are actively engaged to make sure that our customers in all four states can benefit from the program. Importantly, we believe our commitment to water equity includes investing in our systems so they can deliver reliable supply of high-quality water.
Our subsidiaries are making consistent incremental investments in infrastructure so that customers at all income levels will have access to the quality and reliable water service they deserve with the costs and rate impacts of those investments incurred gradually so they can be more easily addressed by the utility and our customers. Artificially keeping rates low by deferring investment is short-sighted and not sustainable, and does not really serve our customers who all deserve quality water and service for the long term.
Unfortunately, the water shortage emergency declared in June by Valley Water, our California water wholesaler, remains in place. San Jose Water continues to aggressively promote water conservation to its customers in order to reach Valley Water's stated goal of reducing water consumption by 15% compared to 2019.
The California Public Utilities Commission, or CPUC, has approved our request to establish a Water Conservation Memorandum Account to track the revenue impact of authorized versus actual water consumption while we are promoting conservation. A Water Conservation Expense Memorandum Account was also authorized to track the incremental expenses required to implement our mandatory water conservation program.
Both memorandum accounts allow for the potential future recovery of the revenue and expense impacts. We continue to have adequate water supply to meet the needs of our California customers. Just last week, some much-needed rain moved through the region. We're hopeful it is an early start to the traditional rainy season in the Bay Area. We are committed to strong partnerships with our communities.
San Jose Water has been recognized by Best in Biz Awards for the company's response to COVID-19, which included donating and distributing PPE to other water utilities and community organizations. The CPUC held their nineteenth annual Supplier Diversity En Banc titled Thriving and Surviving During a Pandemic on October 14th, a full-day virtual event dedicated to supplier diversity.
All CPUC commissioners were present and led a conversation on supplier diversity, including a recap of California regulated utility supplier diversity results for calendar year 2020. During the meeting, San Jose Water was recognized by the CPUC for increasing our results from 12.9% in 2019 to 30.1% of addressable spend in 2020. SJW was also recognized as one of only 10 California regulated utilities to meet the three supplier diversity subgoals for women, 5%, minority, 15%, and disabled veteran-owned, 1.5% spend.
Supplier diversity is a focus of all SJW Group companies and another way we're having an impact for good in our communities coast to coast. Building and retaining our workforce of water professionals is also critical. Earlier this month, Connecticut Water was recognized at the state level as a Top Workplaces and also at the national level for culture excellence by Top Workplaces for our professional development program. Connecticut Water was one of about 250 companies its size to be recognized nationally.
Cybersecurity is critically important to our industry and the country. In August, I was honored to represent SJW Group at the White House's Cybersecurity Summit, along with two dozen respected academics and top executives from leading firms in banking, commerce, energy, and water. It was gratifying to see that the importance of water to our national security is recognized at the highest levels of government, including President Biden.
Attendees committed to sharing best practices, and in the water space, SJW Group pledged to be a resource to smaller organizations still developing their own cybersecurity resources. I'll now turn the call over to Jim, who will review our third quarter and year-to-date financial results. After Jim's remarks, I'll address other regulatory and business matters. Jim?
Thank you, Eric. Our quarterly operating results benefited from authorized rate increases in each of our four operating utilities. These increases were offset by a decrease in customer usage, most notably in our California utility as a result of the drought emergency declarations by the state governor and Valley Water, and a decrease in the availability of surface water supplies in our California service area due to continued dry weather conditions.
In addition, we experienced higher general and administrative expenses as we near the end of the third year of our three-year California rate case cycle, with new rates anticipated to go into effect in the second quarter of 2022. Third quarter revenue was $166.9 million, a $1 million or 1% increase over reported third quarter 2020 revenue of $165.9 million. Net income for the third quarter was $19.1 million or $0.64 per diluted share. This compares with $26.1 million or $0.91 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2020.
Diluted earnings per share for the quarter was primarily driven by cumulative rate increases of $0.29 per share and decreased production expense due to lower customer usage of $0.28 per share. These increases were offset by a decrease in customer usage of $0.48 per share, an increase in Administrative and General expenses of $0.16 per share, and an increase in maintenance costs of $0.07 per share. In addition, the decrease in California surface water production resulted in a decrease of $0.05 per share.
Turning to our comparative analysis for the quarter, the $1 million increase in revenue was primarily due to $7.6 million in cumulative rate increases, $3.3 million in the net recognition of certain regulatory mechanisms in Connecticut and Maine, and $1.8 million in the recognition of California balancing memorandum accounts. These increases were partially offset by $12.9 million in decreased customer usage. Water production expenses increased $2.4 million compared to the third quarter of 2020.
The expense increase includes $7.8 million in higher average per unit cost for purchasing groundwater and $1.2 million for the purchase of additional water supply necessary to replace the low volume of California surface water. These increases were partially offset by $7.5 million in cost savings due to lower customer usage.
As stated on our previous earnings call, we anticipated producing approximately 2.5 billion gallons of surface water from our California watershed, which is representative of our 10-year average production and consistent with the volume authorized in our 2019 California General Rate Case. Through the first nine months of 2021, we experienced minimal rainfall and produced less than 260 million gallons of surface water. We do not anticipate any significant additional surface water production in 2021.
The incremental cost to supplement this shortfall is approximately $4.6 million per billion gallons. Other operating expenses increased $6.7 million during the third quarter, primarily due to a $3.2 million increase in Administrative and General expenses, $1.8 million in higher maintenance expenses, and depreciation expense of $1.4 million. The increase in Administrative and General expenses was primarily due to regulatory proceedings in California, Connecticut, and Maine and compensation increases.
In addition, in 2020, Administrative and General expenses benefited $1.4 million from the adoption of a new accounting rule on the credit losses. Maintenance expenses benefited from the cost recovery of a previously reserved capital project. No similar benefits occurred in 2021. Other income in 2020 included a third quarter gain on the sale of real estate of $1.1 million, and no similar transaction occurred in the third quarter of 2021.
The effective income tax rate for the third quarter was 13%, compared to 15% for the third quarter of 2020. The effective tax rate decrease was primarily related to flow-through tax benefits. Turning to our year-to-date results, 2021 revenue was $433.9 million, a 1% increase over the same period in 2020. Net income for the first nine months was $42.5 million or $1.43 per diluted share, compared to $48.2 million or $1.68 per diluted share for the same period a year ago.
The change in year-to-date diluted earnings per share was primarily driven by rate increases that contributed $0.53 per share, decreased production costs due to a decrease in customer usage of $0.22 per share, and favorable changes in balancing and memorandum accounts and other regulatory mechanisms of $0.15 per share. In addition, the TWA purchase price holdback contributed $0.11 per share, an increase in flow-through tax benefits contributed $0.12 per share, and new customers contributed $0.08 per share.
These increases were offset by a decrease in customer usage of $0.53 per share, an increase in general and administrative expenses of $0.29 per share, and an increase in average per unit water production cost of $0.24 per share. In addition, the decrease in California surface water production impacted earnings by $0.15 per share, and depreciation expense increased $0.16 per share, while maintenance costs also increased at $0.12 per share.
Our 2021 year-to-date increase in revenue was primarily due to $14 million in cumulative rate increases, $2.4 million in the net recognition of certain regulatory mechanisms in Connecticut and Maine, and $2 million from new customers. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in customer usage of $14.2 million and winter storm credits in our Texas SJWTX service area of $800,000. Water production expense in the first nine months of 2021 increased $5.1 million.
The increase was primarily due to $6.3 million in higher average per unit cost for purchased water and groundwater and $3.9 million from the California surface water decrease, partially offset by a $5.8 million savings due to lower customer usage. Other operating expenses increased $13.9 million year to date, primarily due to $6 million in higher Administrative and General expenses, $4.2 million as an increase in depreciation expense, and $3.3 million in higher maintenance expenses.
The increase in general and administrative expense was primarily due to the same items noted in the discussion of our quarterly results. Other income for the first nine months of 2021 included the TWA holdback amount, which I discussed during the second quarter earnings call. Turning to our capital expenditure program, we added $69.1 million in company-funded utility plant in the third quarter of 2021, bringing total company-funded additions for the year to $169.2 million.
We are on track to add approximately $239 million in utility plant in 2021, consistent with our 2021 construction budget. For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, cash flows from operations increased approximately $29.7 million over the same period in 2020.
The increase was primarily due to an increase in accounts receivable and accrued unbilled utility revenue collections of $14.8 million, payments of amounts previously invoiced and accrued of $7 million, an increase in net income adjusted for non-cash items of $5.4 million that was due to deferred income taxes and general working capital items, which increased $3 million.
In addition, in the prior year, we made an upfront payment of $5 million in connection with our City of Cupertino service concession agreement that did not recur in the current year. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in income tax receivable of $5.5 million.
At the end of the quarter, we had $137.9 million available on our bank lines of credit for short-term financing of utility plant operations and operating activities. The average borrowing rate on our line of credit advances during the first nine months of the year was approximately 1.34%. With that, I will stop and turn the call back over to Eric.
Thank you, Jim. SJW Group continues to execute on our core growth strategy of investing in high-quality water systems to provide safe and reliable service to customers and communities and earning a fair return on those investments. We have invested 71% of our planned 2021 capital spending through the end of the third quarter. Our board has authorized a $223 million capital spending plan for 2022. Nearly half is allocated to pipeline replacement projects.
California's forward-looking capital spending authorization and the WICA and WISC infrastructure recovery mechanisms in Connecticut and Maine minimize regulatory lag on these infrastructure investments. As mentioned in last quarter's call, on July 28, the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, or PURA, approved an increase of $5.2 million in annual revenues, which is an increase of about 5.1%.
On August 11, 2021, Connecticut Water filed a petition with PURA for reconsideration of the rate case decision related to the treatment of excess accumulated deferred income taxes. PURA issued a draft decision on October 25 that would allow the company to increase annual revenues by an additional $1.8 million from the amounts previously authorized in July. The company appreciates the time that PURA commissioners and staff invested in understanding this complex tax matter and in reaching a fair draft decision.
A final decision on the matter is expected on November 10, with new rates effective as of that date. If the final decision is unchanged from the draft, the result from the General Rate Case will be a total increase in authorized revenues of $7 million or a 6.8% increase in base rates. The Water Infrastructure and Conservation Adjustment was reset to zero as part of the July 28, 2021 General Rate Case decision. This week, Connecticut Water filed for a WICA increase for approximately $22 million in completed WICA-eligible projects.
Many of the projects were those that were not considered by PURA in the General Rate Case because of the deadline for capital additions. If approved as submitted, CWC expects a WICA surcharge of 2.5% to be added to customer bills in January 2022. That would generate $2.6 million in revenue. Between the anticipated resolution of the General Rate Case reconsideration and the WICA filing, Connecticut Water is expected to generate revenue increases of $1.8 million and $2.6 million, respectively, by the first quarter of 2022.
The total increase, including the $5.2 million addition from the General Rate Case final decision in July, is $9.6 million in total. The combined outcome is near what was anticipated in the company's original rate case filing. San Jose Water Company's 2021 General Rate Case application for new rates in 2022 through 2024 is pending before the CPUC.
The application seeks an increase of nearly $88 million in the revenue requirement over the three-year period, authorization for a $435 million capital budget, and requests to recover $18.5 million from balancing and memorandum accounts. New rates are anticipated in the second quarter of 2022. However, the company will file for interim rates to be effective on January 1st, 2022. SJWC's advanced metering infrastructure application is also pending before the CPUC.
An all-party settlement agreement was submitted to the CPUC for adoption that would authorize capital investments of approximately $100 million over the next four years for the development of AMI outside of the capital budget requested in the 2021 General Rate Case. A final decision on the settlement agreement is anticipated in first quarter of 2022. The 2022 through 2024 Cost of Capital proceeding is also pending before the CPUC.
The application requests increases in revenue and return on equity, an adjustment to the proposed capital structure, and a decrease in the cost of debt. If approved, new rates are expected to be effective in the second quarter of 2022. Taking into account these current developments, our forecasted earnings remain within our guidance of $1.85-$2.05, but as stated last quarter, are toward the lower half of the range.
On September 8th, 2021, Maine Water Company filed a supplemental application with the Maine Public Utilities Commission, or MPUC, for the second step in the rate plan for the Biddeford Saco Division. Maine Water requested $6.9 million in new base revenues related to the construction of the new Saco River Drinking Water Treatment Facility. This is a $60 million generational investment to replace a vintage facility that has been in service since 1884.
A decision is expected in the second quarter of 2022 in alignment with the completion of the new treatment facility. Beginning July 1, Maine Water implemented an innovative rate smoothing mechanism authorized by the MPUC. The rate smoothing mechanism mitigates customer rate shock by providing a more gradual ramp to new rates driven by the completion of the Saco River facility.
Customers will pay a surcharge until June 2022, with those payments funding a regulatory liability account, which will later be used to provide credits to customer bills to mitigate the impacts of the full rate increase when the plant is completed and in service in 2022. A third and final step filing associated with the new treatment facility is expected to be filed in the second half of 2022 after the plant is in service and operating costs are documented.
Before the end of this year, Maine Water will file for $2.4 million of investment recoverable through the Water Infrastructure Surcharge. The company also expects that by March 1st, 2022 that it will have filed rate increase applications in four of its divisions. The rate filings are a condition of settlement in the 2019 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act order. We continue to see a pipeline of growth opportunities at SJWTX, our Texas water and wastewater utility.
On July 23, SJWTX filed for authorization with the Public Utilities Commission of Texas to serve Canyon Lakes Estates, which is next to its existing service area. On August 8th, the company filed a change in ownership application with the PUCT to acquire Texas Country Water. A decision on that application is expected in the first quarter of 2022. Decisions on the previously filed applications to acquire the Kendall West and Bandera East water utilities are anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Combined, these pending applications would add more than 1,500 service connections. SJWTX has more than tripled its customer base over the past 15 years and now has approximately 22,000 connections, providing service to about 65,000 people. Within the company's existing service area are Comal and Hays Counties, which are two of the four fastest growing counties in the nation. The addition of Kendall West would add Kendall County, another fast-growing county.
SJWTX has been successful at securing water supplies and building economies of scale that enable organic growth and acquisitions. We are bullish on SJWTX and its increasing contribution to consolidated earnings. On behalf of SJW Group, I want to thank all of our employees in all of our states for their commitment to protect public health, protect each other, and deliver life-sustaining water service to families and communities. With that, I would like to turn the call back to the operator for your questions.
As a reminder, if you have questions at this time, please press star and then the number one on your touchtone telephone. If your question has been answered or you wish to remove yourself from the queue, you may press the pound key. First question comes from the line of Angie Storozynski from Seaport. Angie, your line is now open.
Thank you. I wanted to ask about the pending rate case in California. I heard in your prepared remarks comments about, you know, how important the upgrades of water systems are, which, you know, I infer from that there is pushback to the CapEx plan that you've published. We're hearing some opposition to the fixed charges that you guys had proposed in the filing.
Also there seems to be some pressure on allowed ROEs, or we're about to see it in the allowed ROEs in the pending Cost of Capital proceeding. Talk to us about, you know, what are your expectations for the earnings power of your San Jose Water in California.
Yes. Thank you, Angie. Thanks for joining our call today, and I appreciate your question. I'll provide my perspective, and then of course, if Jim has anything to add, he'll jump right in. You know, we're in the midst of actually settlement discussions with the Public Advocates Office. We think those discussions have been very productive, and we're progressing through those, I think, really well. I think we are optimistic that we'll have the majority of issues settled.
As you know, in California, the items that you don't settle then are open and subject to litigation and the actual hearing process. We should know fairly shortly just how many issues would proceed on to litigation, if any. I'm actually optimistic that we're going to achieve a real fair resolution for our customers and for the company. Stay tuned. You know, hopefully we'll have some news, you know, in the next quarter or so.
Yeah. Eric, the only thing I would add is on the Cost of Capital proceeding. There have been some procedural delays on that, so we've not yet started in earnest down the path of processing that proceeding. We'll certainly keep folks updated on that as we embark on that.
Okay. Now you mentioned the Connecticut rate case and you know the 2020 eventual increase of $9.6 million. Can you remind us what's the level of which this $9.6 million to which the $9.6 million will be added to? What's the revenue level in for Connecticut Water in 2021?
Jim, do you have that off the top of your head?
I believe the authorized is thereabouts around $29 million. I'm sorry, in revenue. No. Let me get that for you, Angie, and then I can-
Okay.
I can intervene while we're answering questions.
Okay. This is also, I'm trying to remember when you guys were merging with Connecticut Water, there was this expectation in the long-term growth or earnings growth of about 5%. Granted that the weather has interfered with this trajectory. You know, given the settlement discussion in California and the outcome of the Connecticut rate case, do you continue to see this 5% earnings trajectory? I mean, I'm talking about basically normalized CAGR.
Yeah. That has continued to remain, you know, our guidance overall that, you know, over time, that's what we'll achieve. If you think about this year, the value of having the combined company is, you know, really been evident because of the water supply challenges we've had in California. The contributions of our New England companies to earnings this year have really been important.
You know, our goal, main goal was to provide the diversity of regulatory exposure and utilities across the country and we feel really great about having achieved that. That's been, you know, hugely helpful to us here in 2021 and to a great extent last year as well as we navigated through the water supply challenges in California.
You know, there's nothing like a drought to sharpen the focus of all people on the importance of adequate water supply and, you know, that's true of our company employees and regulators as well. So I remain, you know, cautiously optimistic that we're gonna be in a much better place next year.
I understand it's the last year of the current rate cycle in California, hence some inflation in operating expenses. We are seeing actually the opposite trend with some other utilities given that we're in the COVID environment and, you know, there's these corporate overheads are lower, interest expense is lower, again, at the corporate level. Are you not seeing, you know, similar offsets to those inflationary pressures that you see for the rest of the business?
You know, there certainly is, as you point out, some synchronizing with our current rate cases. You know, that's part of the process. We're very proud of our expense control over time. You know, Connecticut Water hadn't been in for rates for, you know, over a decade. When we do go in, you know, we needed to synchronize expenses with what we would expect to see going forward, and same is true in California.
We've had an uptick in maintenance costs in California with the drought, that's kind of a natural situation you experience, Angie, when you get the drought and the ground gets, you know, hard and dry and starts to move a bit. You know, we've had more main breaks than typical, and that's contributed to some of the higher maintenance expenses we've seen.
Overall, we're really pleased with our overall cost efficiency and what we presented to the commissions. We think we compare very favorably when you look at our total O&M costs across on a per customer basis. That's been our experience. Jim, would you have anything to add to that?
Yeah. I think that's exactly right, Eric. We have started to see a little bit of price increases in some of our CapEx spend, especially in the area of pipe and other areas where there's a little more short supply out there right now. As it relates to our O&M expense, Eric is spot on. Angie, that revenue number is $110 million.
Okay. Just last one. As you negotiate the settlement in California, and I know that we're not yet in the rainy season, even though it seems like it is, we have started it. I mean, do you have any? Again, it's a guessing game probably at this point, but any sense of how your water procurement will differ in 2022 from what will be reflected in your rates from the GRC? I mean, do you already feel like you haven't been sufficiently conservative in your ask in the pending rate case?
You know, Angie, I'm gonna defer that answer till we complete the settlement process out of respect to it. Like I mentioned earlier, you know, there's nothing like a drought to really focus everybody's attention on it. We're pleased that the Public Advocate's Office and the regulatory staff at CPUC recognize the issue. We're all working together to make sure we do our best to address it. I hope we'll have some updates here in the next quarter.
Okay, great. Thank you.
Okay.
Thanks, gentlemen.
Yep. Thank you, Angie.
Thank you.
Next question comes from the line of Jonathan Reeder of Wells Fargo. Jonathan, your line is now open.
Hey, good morning. How are you guys doing today?
Hey, Jonathan.
We're good.
Thanks for dialing in today.
Thank-
Yeah.
Thank you for asking.
Thanks. Just to build on Angie's question maybe a little bit. In the GRC process, is there a statutory requirement that the 10-year average for your surface water production, you know, be embedded in the case? Or, you know, is that very much a negotiable item?
Yeah. There's no statutory requirement. It is, but the evidence is supremely important, of course I've experienced. There is the opportunity to, as well, negotiate that in a settlement agreement process, just as part of the overall settlement. You know, there's puts and takes in any settlement negotiation, of course.
Okay. I guess maybe ask slightly different or get a little insight. What would the 10-year average look like, you know, basically rolling forward the three years, you know, including this year, extremely low production? Do you know how that compares to that $2.5 billion?
You know, Jonathan, I don't have that just at my fingertips here. Candidly, what had been previously in rates of $2.5 billion was pretty close to that average as I recall. Subject to check, of course, the last two years will have pulled that number down. Over time, the $2.5 million has been a pretty good average. If you look at the trend, it's well above the trend.
Yeah. No, I just kinda
Yeah.
I think in 2019, if I recall, was a really surface water year for you guys. Obviously 2020, 2021, those were, you know, very bad. Didn't know how that, you know, affected the early years that would be rolling off of that 10-year average. Okay. On the Q3 results, just to be clear, they didn't include any benefit from the WCMA or the WEMA memo accounts approved by the CPUC. Is that right?
Yeah. That's right, Jonathan. We have not yet met some of the accounting requirements in that regard. We have not reflected any of the benefits of the two mechanisms. Recall that the WCMA was really effective as of August 1. I think it was passed in July, mid-July, July 17. The true impact would have been measured from August 1 going forward.
Yeah. Based on that.
Yeah
August first effective date, is there like a retroactive? You know, once you meet those accounting requirements, are you able to, you know, ostensibly in Q4, book it retroactively to that August first effective date then?
Yes, we would be.
That's in part factored into, I guess, the reiteration of the guidance range, the lower half of it or whatever?
Yes, it is.
Okay. No. That's key to me as I saw that $0.20 delta and was kinda wondering about that. Okay, I think that's all the questions that I have. Angie asked a few of the other ones I had. Appreciate that and good luck with the California settlement discussions.
Hey, thank you, Jonathan. Appreciate it.
Thank you, John.
Again, if you have any questions, please press star one on your telephone. If there are no further questions at this time, presenters, you may continue.
Very good. Well, thank you, operator, and thank you everyone for joining our call today. We really appreciate your interest in and support of our company. We're really proud of our people. I wanna, once again, thank them for, you know, really delivering excellence in the last quarter under really challenging circumstances, both COVID and droughts and hurricanes and the like. We just couldn't be prouder of our people, and we look forward to keeping you posted on our progress in the fourth quarter. Thank you all.
Thank you so much to our presenters and to everyone who participated. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.