Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Paul Patterson: Okay. And then I did notice, as I did, I think, on the first quarter that there was a benefit from capitalized interest. How should we think about that going forward? Was this — I think it was a benefit this quarter. How should we think about the potential benefit or what have you going into 2023 or 2024, excuse me, I apologize.

Kirkland Andrews: Paul, it’s Kirk, I think as you’re thinking about capitalized interest, you may be referring to the fact that we’re able to defer some of the interest cost on…

Paul Patterson: I apologize. Sorry, go ahead.

Kirkland Andrews: Capitalized O&M.

Paul Patterson: I apologize.

Kirkland Andrews: All I would tell you is that our capitalization of certain portions of O&M is informed by the activities that either directly or indirectly support our capital investment program and is consistent and well researched from a benchmarking standpoint, time studies and the like. So it’s basically in line with industry policy and certainly reflects the initiatives that are underway in terms of improving our infrastructure and investing in things like new generation. So it’s really important by that and expect it to be pretty consistent going forward.

Paul Patterson: Okay. So it’s just a general, there wasn’t anything — because it looked like it was a benefit this quarter, there isn’t any particular project or anything that’s causing that. That’s just sort of there isn’t expected to be much of a deviation in that, I guess, is the way to think about it going forward. Is that correct?

Kirkland Andrews: No. Nothing of significant change going forward.

David Campbell: And the benefit in the quarter and year-to-date was an overall reduction in O&M cost, which obviously is a much broader reflection of our overall O&M cost reductions.

Operator: And I would now like to hand the conference back over to David Campbell for any closing remarks.

David Campbell: Thank you, everyone, for your participation in the call today. We look forward to seeing you at EEI. That wraps it up.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.