Joseph R. Nolan
Thank you, Rima, and good morning, everyone. And thank you for joining us today for our year-end earnings call. I am pleased to report that 2025 was another year of strong execution across the organization. Our team delivered excellent operational performance, continued to advance critical infrastructure needs for our customers, leveraging technology solutions to lower O&M costs, and remained focused on providing safe, reliable, and affordable service to customers and communities we are proud to serve. We also made meaningful progress working collaboratively with state policymakers, regulators, and stakeholders to address critical priorities like affordability while remaining focused on reliability. This remains a top priority for Eversource Energy. Our goal is to ensure state leaders have the tools they need to support customers and that we have the regulatory clarity to make the investments essential to balancing affordability and reliability. These challenges can only be solved through true partnerships, working together face to face with shared goals. Moving to Slide 4. Let me take you through some of our 2025 accomplishments. Starting with our financial performance, I am proud to report that we delivered on our commitment of non-GAAP earnings with full-year earnings per share of $4.76. We also paid dividends of $3.01 per share to our shareholders, representing a 5.2% increase. Moving on to Slide 5. In 2025, our employees once again demonstrated their commitment to operational excellence. Throughout the year, we delivered high levels of service reliability, responded effectively to several significant weather events, and continued making progress on projects that strengthen the resiliency and sustainability of our electric, natural gas, and water systems. As a result, we had top decile performance for both the MAIFI and the SAIDI metrics. That demonstrates our investments vastly improve reliability for customers. With this high level of performance, our electric customers, on average, experience an outage only once in nearly two years. We successfully deployed over $4,000,000,000 in capital investments in 2025. Our team has advanced grid modernization initiatives, expanded customer energy efficiency programs, and continued supporting the region's long-term decarbonization goals. These efforts reinforce our role as a trusted partner for New England's clean energy future and demonstrate our ability to execute consistently across a broad set of priorities. Our advanced metering infrastructure, or AMI, program, has officially reached over 100,000 smart meter installations in Massachusetts, a significant milestone in this multiyear effort to upgrade more than 1,500,000 meters statewide and deliver more modern tools with greater functionality that will benefit customers. On the regulatory front, we obtained several constructive decisions that will support ongoing infrastructure needs, including rate outcomes and cost recovery mechanisms that align with our infrastructure investment needs. We advanced key grid modernization initiatives, progressed on storm cost proceedings, with 98% of our $2,000,000,000 in deferred storm cost in current rates or pending cost prudence reviews, and we continue to engage with policymakers on the affordability and reliability implications of the region's energy transition and address load growth. Our commitment to building strong regulatory relationships is enabling productive dialogue in all three state jurisdictions. The outcomes we obtained last year reflect a shared recognition of the importance of modernizing the distribution system while keeping customer affordability at the forefront. Last month in Massachusetts, we worked with Governor Healey's administration to implement a rate relief plan for electric and gas customers, which is a constructive step in support of affordability for Massachusetts customers. The plan provides customer discounts in February and March during peak winter usage. The discounts are partly funded by the state and we will gradually recover our portion of the discounts over the lower-usage period this year. This approach aligns with our efforts to smooth bill impacts for our customers. Strengthening our balance sheet was a top priority for us in 2025, and over the last twelve months, ending September 30, we have delivered an improvement of more than 400 basis points in our FFO-to-debt ratio at Moody's as a result of the cash flow enhancements previously outlined. Maintaining this improvement will be a continued key focus area for us in 2026. In January 2025, we broke ground on the Cambridge underground substation, a $1,800,000,000 investment which is the largest underground substation in the nation, a critical investment in strengthening the electric system that serves one of the fastest-growing and most energy-intensive areas of our region. Construction on this project continues to progress very well. We completed the construction of the onshore substation for the Revolution Wind Project late last year, and as Ørsted recently announced, the project is expected to achieve first power within the coming weeks. Ørsted has also stated that construction of Revolution Wind has resumed since the preliminary injunction on the recent stop work order was granted, and the project is 87% complete. Currently, given the latest construction updates and cost estimates, we do not need to change the contingent liability that we recorded in 2025. Another one of our proud accomplishments for the seventh year in a row was that Newsweek recognized Eversource Energy as one of America's Most Responsible Companies. This recognition highlights our excellence in environmental, social, and corporate governance areas. This recognition is a reflection on the hard work and dedication of nearly 11,000 Eversource Energy employees who do the right thing every day and I want to sincerely thank them for that. Moving to Slide 6. As we look at 2026, our priorities remain clear and well aligned with the needs of the region. First, we will continue to deliver top-tier operational performance for our customers. Maintaining high reliability, enhancing customer experience, and ensuring the safety of our workforce and the public are our core commitments. Second, we will advance our infrastructure investment program, including grid modernization, resiliency projects, and targeted upgrades that support reliability today while enabling the clean energy transition of tomorrow. The service we provide is critical, and replacing the aging infrastructure and addressing capacity requirements to meet demand growth is extremely important for our customers. John will discuss in greater detail our new five-year capital investment plan of $26,500,000,000. This new plan increases our necessary infrastructure investment over the next five years by $2,300,000,000. The majority of this increase is aimed at electric and natural gas distribution investments to address aging infrastructure needs under multiyear projects such as the Electric Sector Modernization Plan, the underground cable modernization program, as well as complying with applicable state safety regulations. Third, we will continue to actively pursue our constructive engagement with regulators and stakeholders in each of our states. New leadership in government brings fresh perspectives, new conversations, and new opportunities to partner in shaping the future of energy in our region. In Massachusetts, our smart meter initiative is a cornerstone of that future, offering customers more insight, more control, and more connection to the way they use energy. Last year in Connecticut, we reached an agreement to sell Aquarion Water Company. This decision followed a thoughtful and disciplined review of our investment portfolio. We were disappointed with PURA's initial decision; we will continue to work with them on the judge's remand. The commission recently announced that we can expect a revised draft and final decision in March. Aquarion is a well-run business with a strong local team, and this transaction positions the water system for continued investments under a dedicated water operator while also delivering value to our customers and shareholders. In addition, as this business is still part of Eversource Energy, we have provided PURA with notice of intent to file a rate case for Aquarion, consistent with our responsibility to seek appropriate recovery for ongoing investments that ensure safe, reliable, and sustainable water service for customers. We will also begin our first rate review in Connecticut for CL&P in about eight years. We see that as an incredible opportunity to show how we are providing best-in-the-industry reliability and that those investments are valuable to customers. Another key item for us is our recovery of storm costs. We expect to receive a decision from PURA on our Connecticut storm cost prudency review in July, which would allow us to begin the legislative-backed securitization process. Importantly, securitization enables timely cash collection, improving our FFO-to-debt metrics while reducing near-term bill impacts for customers. This year, we are also looking at how we thoughtfully and responsibly use artificial intelligence, which is helping us reimagine how we work, from safety to line inspections to system planning to customer service and even leveraging AI in how we prepare and respond to regulatory proceedings. Using AI to optimize our system operations can reduce costs for our customers. And finally, we will continue to execute with financial discipline. We remain committed to a strong balance sheet, prudent capital deployment, and delivering stable, predictable long-term value for our stakeholders. I want to thank our employees across the organization for their commitment, professionalism, and exceptional work throughout 2025. Your dedication is the foundation of everything we do, and it positions us well for another productive year ahead and continued long-term success with a keen eye on enhancing our earnings and derisking our business profile. 2026 will be a truly transformational year for us. As we operate within a changing regulatory landscape and navigate affordability concerns, we are driving forward on several major fronts. We are executing relentlessly on completing our offshore wind commitments, enhancing storm cost securitization, and managing a potential sale of Aquarion. At the same time, we remain laser focused on delivering top-decile operational performance across our systems to continue to deliver on our customers' expectations. This combination of strategic execution and operational excellence positions us to achieve earnings growth towards the upper half of our 5% to 7% long-term EPS range by 2028. I will now turn the call over to John to discuss this long-term growth trajectory, as well as our results. Thank you. Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everyone. This morning, I will review 2025 full-year earnings results, provide a regulatory update, share our updated five-year capital investment plan, and provide our 2026 EPS guidance, our five-year financing strategy, and our long-term earnings growth expectation. Let me start on Slide 8 with a review of our 2025 earnings results. Our GAAP results for 2025 were earnings of $4.05 per share, compared with GAAP earnings of $2.27 per share in 2024. GAAP results for 2025 include a net loss of $75,000,000, or $0.20 per share, related to an increase in our liability for expected future obligations to Global Infrastructure Partners as part of the 09/30/2024 sale of South Fork Wind and Revolution Wind projects, net of tax effects associated with the sale of these projects. For the quarter, our GAAP as well as our non-GAAP earnings results were $1.12 per share, compared with GAAP earnings of $0.20 per share for 2024, and non-GAAP earnings results of $1.01 per share for 2024. As a reminder, GAAP results for the full year 2024 included a net loss of $2.30 per share related to the divestiture of our offshore wind investment recognized in the third quarter of last year, as well as a loss on a potential sale of Aquarion Water, which we recognized in 2024. Excluding those after-tax losses, our non-GAAP earnings were $4.76 per share for the full year 2025, as compared to $4.57 per share in 2024. As you may recall, our revised non-GAAP earnings guidance for 2025 was in the range of $4.72 to $4.80. Breaking down the 2025 full-year earnings by segment, electric transmission earned $2.09 per share in 2025 as compared with earnings of $2.30 per share in 2024. The improved results were driven by continued investments in our electric transmission system to address service reliability and demand growth. Our electric distribution earnings were $1.80 per share in 2025 as compared with earnings of $1.77 per share in 2024. The higher results were due primarily to increased revenues from base distribution rate increases for Eversource Energy's Massachusetts and New Hampshire businesses, partially offset by higher O&M, interest costs, depreciation, and property taxes. The natural gas distribution segment earned $0.97 per share in 2025 as compared with $0.81 per share in 2024. The improved earnings results were due to base distribution rate increases at Eversource Energy's natural gas businesses and continued investment in our gas system to replace aging infrastructure with a focus on safety. These higher revenues were partially offset by higher O&M, which included a $12,200,000 charge as part of NSTAR Gas' settlement agreement with the Attorney General's office in December 2025, as well as higher depreciation, interest, and property tax expense. Eversource Energy Parent and Other reflected a GAAP loss of $0.42 per share in 2025 as compared with a GAAP loss of $2.46 per share in 2024. These results include the impact from our offshore wind divestiture and the potential Aquarion sale that I discussed earlier. On a non-GAAP basis, Eversource Energy Parent and Other loss was $0.22 per share in 2025 as compared with a non-GAAP loss of $0.16 per share in 2024. This higher loss was primarily driven by increased interest costs offset by the benefit from a settlement with the Massachusetts Attorney General for the recovery of previously incurred EGMA integration costs, as approved by the DPU, and to a lower effective tax rate. That wraps up 2025, a solid financial year despite the challenges we faced. We are proud to have delivered another year of recurring non-GAAP earnings and dividend growth. Turning to our updated five-year capital plan for 2026 through 2030, as shown on Slide 9, reflects our utility infrastructure investments by segment. As a reminder, this plan includes only those projects that we have a clear line of sight on from a regulatory approval perspective. Over this five-year period from 2026 through 2030, we expect to invest approximately $26,500,000,000 in our regulated electric and natural gas businesses, representing a $2,300,000,000 increase as compared to our prior five-year plan and a $1,500,000,000 increase from 2026 through 2029, the overlapping period. The $26,500,000,000 does not include Aquarion Water, which would amount to an additional $1,300,000,000 over this five-year period. This infrastructure investment plan and reliable service will allow us to continue to provide customers with safe support, load growth, and address our state's clean energy objectives. Looking at the $1,500,000,000 increase from a segment standpoint as shown on Slide 10, electric distribution is the largest driver of the increase at $696,000,000. Our updated capital forecast now includes over $11,000,000,000 of electric distribution investments, with a continued focus on system resiliency and top-tier electric reliability for our customers. This level of investment is primarily driven by the Massachusetts Electric Sector Modernization Plan as well as over $300,000,000 remaining for the AMI program in Massachusetts. The next driver of the increase in our capital investment plan is natural gas distribution at $523,000,000. The updated capital forecast plan includes nearly $7,000,000,000 of natural gas distribution investments, centered around reliability and safety. Contributing to this increase are a variety of mandatory safety regulations that recently became effective, which represents approximately 25% of the growth in this gas distribution plan. Our transmission plan increased by $233,000,000 for the overlapping period. The revised plan includes over $7,000,000,000 of infrastructure investments over the next five years. These investments include replacement of aging infrastructure to harden the system, and increase resiliency during extreme weather events, as well as innovative substation and other infrastructure projects undertaken for reliability and load growth. Rounding out our capital plan, investments in technology and facilities, which increased by $75,000,000 and now is forecasted at $1,200,000,000, including cybersecurity investments, AI tools to enable our employees to work more efficiently, and tools to protect customer information. As shown on Slide 11, the transmission capital plan includes future ESMIP substations towards the end of the five-year forecast period. For this reason and to address load growth for the New England region, the plan includes sizable transmission investments for NSTAR Electric, which will have the largest transmission rate base in our service territory, projected at nearly $8,000,000,000 by 2030. The resultant impact to rate base from the updated capital investment plan is shown on Slide 12. The customer-focused core business investments included in the capital plan results in an 8.3% growth in rate base from 2024 through 2030. On the regulatory front, we had another busy year with encouraging results. Our key 2025 regulatory proceedings are highlighted on Slide 13. Highlighting some recent outcomes, starting with Massachusetts, we received approval of our PBR rate adjustments with a $55,000,000 increase for NSTAR Electric implemented on January 1 and a $10,000,000 increase for NSTAR Gas effective 11/01/2025. Also in Massachusetts, we received approval to implement a settlement agreement that included the recovery of EGMA acquisition and integration costs and to solve some longstanding regulatory matters related to pension and other deferred cost recovery items. EGMA integration costs at $82,000,000 will be recovered over a ten-year period and will be implemented as part of our next EGMA rate case. The pension and other costs settlement will result in a onetime bill credit for NSTAR Electric customers in 2026 of approximately $20,000,000. This impact was recognized in 2025. Lastly, in Massachusetts, we successfully worked with the Attorney General's office on a settlement which was approved by the DPU for the NSTAR Gas rate base roll-in, which resulted in a $45,000,000 base rate increase and a onetime customer credit of $12,200,000, which will be effective in 2026. This impact was also recognized in 2025. In Connecticut, we continue to pursue the sale of Aquarion Water with PURA. In January, the Superior Court overturned PURA's denial of the Aquarion sale and sent the transaction back to PURA on remand to address some items. The court agreed with our argument that the first decision was legally incorrect, finding that PURA lacked the authority to reject the legislatively mandated governance structure of the newly created Aquarion Water Authority. On February 4, PURA issued a new procedural schedule that includes briefs, a proposed decision with an opportunity for written exceptions, and a final decision to be issued on March 25. We will continue to engage with PURA and all stakeholders as the process moves