Lynn Good : There’s a lot on that one, Shar. Let me start by saying what I would like you to take away and really investors to take away is that our growth story is an organic one. And I look at all the progress we’ve made in simplifying the portfolio has brought us to this moment where we’re fully regulated with transparent, robust capital that will unfold over the next decade in constructive jurisdictions, growing jurisdictions. And at the same time, we’ve also put in place and work through energy policy, modernization of regulations, so that gives us a high degree of confidence that we can execute those plans and deliver returns to investors. And so when I think about growth for Duke, our sole focus is on this organic plan that’s in front of us.
And so any idea about M&A has to beat what we have in front of us, and it is an increasingly high hurdle because of the confidence we have in our plan. So this notion that we’re going to over equitize something to chase an asset and strengthen the balance sheet is just not a narrative that is supported by anything that we’re focused on here to do.
Operator: We have our next question comes from Julien Dumoulin-Smith from Bank of America. Your line is now open.
Julien Dumoulin-Smith: Good morning. Thank you very much. Just wanted to go back to Shar’s question on just back half trends, et cetera. Can you elaborate a little bit more on just how you’re trending on versus rates? And then also specifically, even quarter-to-date, if you will. July, I mean, it seems like weather may have been pressured again here. Just chiming in a little bit on where we stand even through the summer.
Lynn Good : So Julien, let me give a try and Brian may have heard more in that question than I did. So let me start with 2023 financial plan. Before we start considering the impact of mild weather, the plan was always back-end loaded. So if you think about — we are in the midst of rate cases in our largest jurisdiction. We put interim rates in new effect of DEP June 1. Full rates will go into effect October 1. The largest jurisdiction, DEC, interim rates will go on September 1. So the plan was always back-end loaded, and I think that’s important for you to recognize. And then the mitigation that we’ve added to that is obviously going to be back-end loaded. You’ll begin to see some of it in third quarter, a stronger amount of it in the fourth quarter.
And so when I think about July, just consistent with what you saw on the front page of every newspaper, hot, hot, hot, it was hot in our jurisdictions as well. So we had a positive weather story in July. And we’ll be monitoring August and September and give you more on where we are in the range after the third quarter. So hopefully, that answered it, Julien. I don’t know, Brian, if you have anything to add.
Brian Savoy: No, thank you. You got it covered.
Julien Dumoulin-Smith: Okay. All right. Excellent. And then just also a further follow-up, I mean obviously, it’s an intense amount of focus here just with the willingness to engage or any further thoughts on the willingness to engage in inorganic growth, has that changed at all in the last few months? You’ve seen the backdrop, right, whether the utility valuations at large, grown, et cetera? Just any further thoughts around that backdrop.
Lynn Good : Julien, I would leave you with our sole focus is on organic growth. Sole focus is on organic growth. Because when we look at what we have in front of us and our ability to drive growth with the capital plans that sit in our jurisdictions, we believe that we’ll deliver the greatest value to shareholders.
