FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Brian Tierney: We’re having more and more discussions with regulators and other companies around the issue that you identified, which we’re kind of calling resource adequacy. And certainly, it’s something that people are talking more and more about it. You can’t just have a robust wire system, you have to have a commodity to put on the wires. And so our five states have sort of different stances relative to that. For us, in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, we would require legislative changes. In Maryland, there’s an — in Ohio, there’s an opportunity to — for utilities to own generation on a very limited basis. And of course, West Virginia is a traditional integrated resource plan state. But for the region altogether, it is — an increasingly talked about issue is, will there be enough commodity to put on the wires in the face of the load growth that we’re facing and the coal unit retirements that we’re facing as well.

So there’s going to need to be a solution to it. For us, in four of our states were mostly wires, I don’t think we’d ever be interested in owning generation in those states on a merchant basis. But if a state were to come to us and ask us to build on a regulated basis for a long term, I think that’s something that we’d consider. But I don’t think any of our states are near that point right now.

Angie Storozynski: And then changing topics on interest rates. So we’re starting to hear from some of the utilities that they were counting on some tailwinds from interest rates in the back half of the year. I mean that might still happen. But just wondering how do you see your growth plans and your financing plans, especially from an EPS perspective, if this current interest rate environment were to persist beyond this year?

Jon Taylor: So in our plan for this year, the planned coupon rate for all new debt deals was 5.75%. And then we had it elevated through the planning period over the five years. And so it is something that we’ll keep an eye on. If you look at the two bond deals that we’ve done this year, it’s on a blended basis, it’s right at 5.75%. So we feel good about that and I think we’ll just have to keep an eye on interest rates.

Operator: We reached the end of our question-and-answer session. And ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today’s teleconference and webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.