Robert J. Durian
Thank you, Lisa. Good morning, everyone. Yesterday, we announced 2025 GAAP and ongoing earnings. For the full year 2025, Alliant Energy Corporation delivered ongoing earnings per share growth of $0.18 compared to 2024. This year-over-year improvement was driven primarily by increased revenue requirements from rate base increases, reflecting continued investment in generation and energy storage, as well as favorable temperature impacts on electric and gas sales. These positive drivers were partially offset by higher operating and maintenance expenses, primarily related to planned generation maintenance activities and the addition of new generation resources, as well as higher generation development costs to support long-term growth. Increased depreciation and financing associated with expanding capital investments also offset a portion of the earnings improvement. Temperatures in 2025 contributed approximately $0.03 per share to electric and gas margins. For comparison, 2024 temperatures reduced margins by approximately $0.15 per share. Excluding the impact of temperatures, electric sales increased by nearly 1% in 2025 compared to 2024, driven by higher commercial and industrial sales across both IPL and WPL. Our ongoing earnings for 2025 exclude two non-recurring items, including a $0.05 charge related to the suspension of production at Travero’s wind turbine blade recycling operations, based on a review of strategic options for the business, and a $0.03 charge associated with remeasurement of deferred tax assets. This tax item reflects updated state income tax apportionment assumptions driven by higher projected electric utility revenues from commercial and industrial customers, including new data center agreements. With these results, we continue to deliver the consistent financial performance investors expect from Alliant Energy Corporation. We have now achieved annual ongoing earnings growth of over 6% for more than a decade, while maintaining our focus on customer affordability. Turning to our capital plan. As Lisa mentioned earlier, our consolidated four-year capital plan remains on track, as shown on slide six. Following the relocation of the QTS load from Wisconsin to Iowa, we reallocated certain gas, wind, and energy storage investments between our state utilities. This update represents a repositioning of resources within our consolidated portfolio. With flexible and proactive resource planning, we have strong confidence in our ability to execute the projects within our updated capital expenditure plan. We have secured gas turbine reservation agreements and project locations for all planned self-developed gas resources. Our plan includes simple-cycle gas resources to address increasing capacity needs, while retaining flexibility to expand these gas resources to combined-cycle facilities in the future. The additional Iowa wind investments will be part of our advanced rate-making proposal, for which a settlement has been filed and a final IUC decision is pending. And we have taken action that protects tax credits for our planned renewable and energy storage projects through proactive safe harboring and development activity. This ability to pivot while maintaining execution certainty reflects the strength of the Alliant Energy Corporation Advantage. As a result of the new electric service agreement for QTS’s relocation, and with our capital plan remaining materially consistent, we are affirming our 2026 earnings guidance. As shown on slide seven, our 2026 earnings guidance reflects several key assumptions. These include higher earnings from growing capital investments, including allowance for funds used during construction; expected retail sales growth of approximately 1%, inclusive of sales to new data centers during construction; higher O&M, depreciation, and financing costs, consistent with increasing capital investments; and the ability to utilize investment tax credits from energy storage placed in service in 2025 and 2026 to support earning our authorized Iowa Electric ROE while maintaining stable base rates for our electric customers in Iowa. With respect to our longer-term outlook, and incorporating QTS’s new load expectations, we expect our compound annual earnings growth rate across 2027 to 2029 to be consistent with what we shared in November 2025: 7% plus. This growth rate is based on current projections for the timing and execution of capital expenditure plans and data center load. We will continue to assess our long-term earnings growth potential as we execute on our data center expansion and capital expenditure plans. Turning to financing. As shown on slide eight, our 2026 debt financing plans include up to $1,200,000,000 of long-term issuances, consisting of up to $400,000,000 at the parent, Alliant Energy Finance; up to $300,000,000 at WPL; and up to $500,000,000 at IPL. With our strong liquidity position, we are well positioned to address upcoming parent-level maturities in March 2026. And we have already retired our $300,000,000 term loan, with a new term loan expected in the first quarter. As a reminder, our four-year capital plan is funded through a balanced mix of cash from operations, including proceeds from ongoing tax credit monetization, and new financings, including debt, hybrid instruments, and common equity. Of the approximately $2,400,000,000 of expected common equity needs over the four-year period, we have already raised approximately $1,000,000,000 through forward equity agreements. This leaves approximately $1,300,000,000 of remaining equity to be raised through 2029, excluding equity expected to be raised under our share purchase plan. Overall, our financing plan provides flexibility to support efficient execution of our strategy. Turning to our regulatory matters, we achieved several constructive regulatory decisions throughout the year, as listed on slide 10. Our 2026 regulatory agenda remains closely aligned with our capital investment plans, as we have no active rate reviews planned in 2026, reducing regulatory uncertainty. In Iowa, the Iowa Utilities Commission recently approved certificates of public convenience and necessity for two generation facilities: a 720-megawatt natural gas facility using simple-cycle combustion turbines in Marshall County, Iowa, referred to as the Bobcat Energy Center, and a 94-megawatt natural gas RICE unit in Burlington, Iowa. We are also awaiting an IUC decision on the settlement for advanced rate-making principles for up to one gigawatt of new wind generation, which we expect to allow customers to avoid significant fuel costs and generate tax credits, while supporting investment in cost-effective, responsible energy resources. We anticipate a decision in this proceeding during 2026. In Wisconsin, we currently have five active dockets, including three requests for preapproval of customer-focused investments. These include our first-ever liquefied natural gas storage facility to add physical gas capacity and enhance winter reliability, and a request to add approximately 430 megawatts of new wind generation to deliver zero-fuel-cost energy and tax credits for our customers. We expect decisions on these matters over the next twelve months. We are also awaiting a decision from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin on the individual customer rate filing associated with the metadata center in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Earlier this month, intervenors submitted testimony that was generally supportive, while offering proposals for additional company and existing customer protections. We are expecting a decision on this docket in the second quarter. Looking ahead, we expect to make additional filings throughout the year to support planned customer investments. In addition, we anticipate filing a new individual rate application with the Iowa Utilities Commission related to the relocated QTS data center in 2026. I will now turn the call back over to Lisa to provide closing remarks.