Hello, and welcome to the 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of The Williams Companies. Please note that links to the company's annual meeting materials, the rules of conduct for this annual meeting, and the company's forward-looking statement cautionary language are available on the meeting portal. Registered stockholders may electronically submit questions at any time during this annual meeting by clicking on the Q&A icon at the top of the meeting portal. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Williams Companies, Mr. Stephen W. Bergstrom . Mr. Bergstrom, the meeting is yours.
Thank you. Welcome to our virtual annual meeting. The meeting is now convened, and I will come to order. My name is Stephen W. Bergstrom , Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company, and I will act as the presiding officer of this annual meeting. I would like now to introduce to you our Board of Directors. In addition to myself, our current directors are Michael A. Creel, Stacey H. Doré , Carri A. Lockhart , Richard E. Muncrief , Peter A. Ragauss , Rose M. Robeson, Scott D. Sheffield, Murray Smith, William H. Spence, Jesse J. Tyson, and Alan S. Armstrong, who is also our President and Chief Executive Officer. I'm honored to recognize one of our directors, Murray Smith, for his outstanding contributions to Williams over the past 13 years. Murray's dedication, expertise, and leadership have been instrumental in driving our success and fostering a collaborative work environment.
His Canadian humor, commitment to excellence, and unwavering support have left a lasting impact on all of us. As Murray embarks on this new chapter, we extend our heartfelt gratitude for his service and wish him all the best in his retirement. May his next phase be filled with joy, relaxation, and new adventures. Thank you, Murray, for everything you've done for Williams. You will be greatly missed. Also, our Chief Operating Officer, Michael Dunn, is also joining the ranks of the newly retired, and I would like to express my deepest gratitude for his countless contributions. Michael's ability to navigate challenges and seize opportunities has set a benchmark for all of our future leaders. We are deeply grateful for his dedication and the positive impact he has had on our company. Thank you, Michael, and may your retirement even be more fulfilling and rewarding than your career has been.
We will begin with the formal business portion of the annual meeting, during which the voting on the proposals numbered one through three in the company's proxy statement will be conducted. Following the formal business portion of the annual meeting, we will transition to the informal portion of the annual meeting, during which our President and CEO, Alan Armstrong, will provide a report on our organization's accomplishments over the past year and strategic growth plans. We will then entertain stockholder questions, which were submitted through the meeting portal. To address meeting administration, I note that the board appointed Mr. Doug Ives of Computershare Trust Company as the inspector of election for the meeting. Among other responsibilities, Mr. Ives will determine the number of shares outstanding, the number of shares represented at this meeting, the existence of a quorum, and the validity of proxies.
He will count and tabulate all votes, and he will certify the count of all votes. In addition, I hereby appoint Ms. Cheryl Mann, an Assistant Secretary of the Company, to act as Secretary of the Meeting. Our Corporate Secretary, Bob Riley, is also present and will read the submitted stockholder questions aloud. I have received proof in the form of an affidavit of mailing that proper notice of the annual meeting has been given. In addition, based on information received from the inspector of the election, a quorum is present for the purposes of transacting business at this meeting, and I declare that the meeting is legally convened. In order to conduct an orderly meeting, I ask that you please follow the rules of conduct which are linked on the meeting portal. We will now begin the business portion of the annual meeting.
The first item of business is the election of directors. Our board has nominated to serve as directors for the ensuing year the entire slate of directors listed in our proxy statement, specifically each of Alan S. Armstrong, Stephen W. Bergstrom , Michael A. Creel, Stacey H. Doré , Carri A. Lockhart , Richard E. Muncrief , Peter A. Ragauss , Rose M. Robeson, Scott D. Sheffield, William H. Spence, and Jesse J. Tyson. Our bylaws require that a stockholder provide advance notice of the intent to nominate a person as a director. As no such evidence notice was received, I declare that the nominations for directors are now closed. I further note that the board recommended a vote for each of the director nominees. The second item of business is to approve on an advisory basis the vote on executive compensation of our named executive officers.
Our board has recommended that the stockholders approve on an advisory basis the company's executive compensation of our named executive officers. The next item of business is the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent public accountants for 2025. Our board has recommended that such appointment be approved and ratified by the stockholders. It is now 2:04 P.M. on April 29, 2025, and the polls for each of the items of business listed as proposals one through three in our proxy statement are now open. If you have not already cast your vote, there is a link to vote on the meeting portal. If you previously voted by proxy, you do not need to vote today unless you wish to change your vote. Before proceeding with the meeting, I will wait a few moments for the submission of any votes.
I declare that the polls for each item of business are now closed. The next item of business is the preliminary report of the inspector of elections. Any votes cast before the polls close but not reflected in the inspector of elections' preliminary report will be reflected in the inspector of elections' final report. I now call on the inspector of elections for his preliminary report, announcing the results of our stockholder vote.
Mr. Chairman, I report that on proposal one, each of the nominees for director received a majority of the votes cast for their election. On proposal two, a majority of the votes cast were, on an advisory basis, voted for the company's executive compensation of named executive officers. On proposal three, a majority of the votes cast were voted for the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent auditors for 2025.
Based on the inspector of elections' preliminary report, I now declare the election of each of the nominees as directors of the company, that on an advisory basis, the company's executive compensation for named executive officers is approved. The appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent auditor for 2025 is ratified. Final voting results will be available in a Form 8-K, which the company will file with the SEC within four business days. I now declare the business portion of the annual meeting is concluded and adjourned. We will now proceed with the informal portion of the annual meeting, which will include remarks from our company's President and CEO, Mr. Alan Armstrong, as well as a question-and-answer period. Now we will hear from Alan. His pre-recorded message will begin in a few seconds.
Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for our 2025 annual meeting of shareholders. We appreciate your continued interest and investment in Williams, and it's my honor to share our organization's accomplishments over the past year and our strategic growth plans ahead. Before I jump into my prepared remarks, I'd like to start by recognizing the Williams Board of Directors, who bring an unmatched depth of experience across many facets of the energy industry. The board's long-held conviction for our natural gas-focused business strategy has provided a clear and supported path for our management team. The board's sound guidance and commitment to the long-term success of Williams has enabled steadfast execution by our employees as we maintain our leadership position in natural gas infrastructure. Speaking of our strong board, I wanted to recognize the many contributions of Mr.
Murray Smith, who has served this company with courage, conviction, and a passion for excellence for over 13 years. He has reached the age limit for our board according to his birth certificate, but not according to his youthful and positive approach to serving our great company. I'd also like to recognize my longtime colleague, Michael Dunn, who has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Michael was chosen to retire this May. During his tenure, Michael transformed our organization from operating as distinct business units into one cohesive, best-in-class operating company. He has brought strong operational discipline and an unwavering commitment to safety across the entire organization.
Under Michael's leadership, Williams successfully completed several large-scale infrastructure projects, including the Atlantic Sunrise Project, our regional energy access project, as well as multiple projects along Transco, Northwest Pipeline, and in the Deepwater Gulf, in addition to integrating multiple acquisitions. He has placed strong focus on achieving regulatory compliance and optimizing operations to enhance Williams' competitive advantage and advance the execution of our natural gas-focused strategy. Williams' reputation as a great operator and having a track record of strong project execution skills have been propelled by Michael's leadership. I've had the pleasure of working with Michael for many years, and I am grateful for his transformative leadership, dedication, and support in driving Williams' safety culture and operational excellence. This is a well-earned retirement, and we wish him all the best as he embarks on his next chapter.
Before I turn to this past year's performance, I'll remind you that Williams handles approximately one-third of the U.S.-produced natural gas and operates more than 33,000 miles of pipeline, including Transco, the nation's largest transmission network. We draw on production from the best basins and deliver to the largest demand centers across the United States, as well as to export facilities serving markets overseas. Our diverse and growing customer base depends on our natural gas network to reliably serve their increasing energy needs. Natural gas is affordable, reliable, and offers an economically viable way to quickly reduce emissions around the world. This makes natural gas the preferred energy solution for a variety of customers and applications. Our conviction in these fundamentals has been foundational to our strategy for more than a decade.
These same fundamentals are driving the financial strength of our business and supporting a large portfolio of fully contracted, high-return growth projects over the next five years and beyond. This past year, we witnessed an unprecedented surge in demand for long-term capacity on our pipeline systems. This growth was driven by the increasing natural gas demand from domestic power generation, LNG exports, and industrial reshoring, all fueled by the abundance of low-cost natural gas here in the U.S. These increases in requests for long-term capacity are likely to support an even higher level of cash flow growth than we have enjoyed over the last decade. As more intermittent renewables like wind and solar are developed, our pipeline capacity is critical to supporting the power grid reliability. In 2024, Williams transported record contracted volumes across our nationwide transmission network, delivering consistent earnings growth each quarter.
Adjusted EBITDA reached another full-year record, marking a significant increase from 2023. It's worth noting that 19 of the 20 highest volume days ever recorded on Transco happened this past winter. It wasn't due to abnormally cold weather. It was from a coincidence of heating, electric power generation loads, and LNG exports along the Transco corridor. With pipeline expansions coming online and newly integrated storage assets contributing, we exceeded earnings guidance for the year and now have met or surpassed analyst expectations for 36 consecutive quarters. We maintained a healthy balance sheet and returned over $2.3 billion in dividends to our shareholders, continuing our more than 50-year tradition of paying dividends every quarter. We continue to deliver shareholder value, as evidenced by our 5% compound annual growth rate on our dividend and annualized total shareholder return compound annual growth rate of nearly 30% over the last five years.
Looking ahead, we maintain our long-standing commitment to shareholder returns and consequently have increased our dividend by another 5.3% this year. This strong financial performance is driven by our ability to efficiently execute our strategy to connect the best supply basins with the best markets. In 2024, we placed projects in service across the Northeast, the Eastern Seaboard, and out in the West. Notably, we brought Transco's Regional Energy Access Expansion online ahead of schedule and commissioned Transco's Southside Reliability Enhancement as natural gas demand hit record highs with the onset of winter and strong pulls on gas-fired power generation serving data centers in Virginia. We also placed six projects into service during the year and announced an additional six new projects.
This month, we commissioned two Transco expansions in the South, one specifically designed to support the conversion of an electric power plant from coal to gas and the other to serve growing demand along the Gulf Coast. In total, we have 12 high-return transmission projects in execution today, which will add more than 3.25 billion cubic feet per day to our transmission systems, including Transco, Northwest Pipeline, and MountainWest. Additionally, we are constructing the Louisiana Energy Gateway gathering project to move Haynesville Basin gas to rapidly growing Southeast and Gulf Coast demand. In the Deepwater Gulf, we commissioned large-scale facilities to receive production from Chevron's Anchor Field and Shell's Whale Field . The ramp-up in production that we'll receive off of these facilities in 2025 will be a major driver for this year's earnings growth.
We also closed our acquisition and integrated a portfolio of underground natural gas storage facilities in Louisiana and Mississippi with a total capacity of 118 billion cubic feet, 235 mi of gas transmission pipeline, and 30 pipeline interconnects to attractive markets, including LNG exports and connections to our Transco system. As markets expand for U.S. natural gas, Williams is focused on developing pragmatic solutions to further decarbonize the value chain. We are modernizing facilities with high-efficiency compression and using satellites and other technology to enhance transparency in our emissions profile. We are also constructing a 1,400-acre solar facility in Lakeland, Florida, which is the repurposing of a decommissioned phosphate mine from our legacy real estate holdings. With the growth of data center developments across our footprint, our power innovation team is focused on delivering turnkey power generation solutions for hyperscalers.
Leveraging our extensive pipeline infrastructure, gas supply, and project management expertise, Williams recently announced our first large-scale project to provide 400 megawatts of power directly to a hyperscale facility in Ohio. As energy needs evolve, we remain committed to operating our business sustainably with strong governance, environmental performance, and transparency. Williams has been in business for more than 100 years and has built our reputation on doing things the right way. This is nothing new for Williams, but it continues to gain the attention of others. Williams was named for the fifth consecutive year to the Dow Jones Sustainability North American Index and for the fourth consecutive year to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.
Williams also holds the top score in the 2024 Corporate Sustainability Assessment in the North American Oil and Gas Storage and Transportation Industry, and we also achieved an A- score on the 2024 CDP Climate Change Questionnaire. I appreciate the dedication of our employees towards these efforts over the past year, and I am confident we will continue to uphold our strong reputation in the coming years. Excellence at Williams comes down to our dedicated people. For 117 years, we've built a reputation as a responsible, dependable company that prioritizes doing what's right for our people and the communities where we operate. To achieve our goals and maintain industry leadership, we prioritize hiring top talent, fostering career growth, and cultivating a workplace culture where employees feel motivated to perform at their very best every day. We encourage employees to connect with their colleagues and give back to their communities.
In 2024, employees volunteered more than 32,600 hours on 97 projects in 15 different states during our annual volunteer week, and Williams invested more than $13.6 million in corporate stewardship and in-kind giving across our operating footprint. In closing, I'd like to say how excited we are at Williams to be at the center of this incredible story, powering America with our pipelines and driving success for our customers and shareholders. As natural gas fundamentals continue to strengthen, I am more convinced than ever that our strategy of staying intensely focused on natural gas infrastructure is just now beginning to deliver on what will be a big payoff for our shareholders. I commend our leadership team for their commitment to being the very best in the midstream sector and for leading Williams through such a dynamic time in our industry.
I also want to express my gratitude to our employees who continue to safely and successfully deliver on our goal of being the best in-class operator of the critical infrastructure that is fueling our clean energy future. Finally, on behalf of the entire organization, I want to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued trust and investment in Williams. Together, we are building a bright, prosperous future for our company and our nation's economy. I look forward to another successful year ahead. Thank you.
This is Bob Riley, the company's Corporate Secretary. At this time, we'll entertain any questions electronically submitted through the meeting portal. As a reminder, to ask a question, please click on the Q&A icon at the top of the meeting portal. We'll wait a moment. Mr. Chairman, at this time, I report that we've not received any questions from our shareholders.
Our 2025 annual meeting of stockholders is now concluded. Thank you for attending and for your continued support of the company.
At this time, you may now disconnect.