Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Jocelyn Perry: Well, I can’t believe it to be material because I’m thinking about really what you’re talking about is the delta on any new debt issuances over the next couple of years. And I don’t know if Susan has that number in front, but it’s probably a couple of hundred million in — probably not that over the next 2 years. And so it’s the delta between probably their current rate and about 2% delta on that. So again, not big for Fortis. And as you know, with UNS with the way that their rates are set, some things are positive, some things are negative. So it’s not necessarily a drag on earnings. So you have to look at the full picture as well.

Mark Jarvi: And then just given where you think rates are today and you think about the maturities in 2024 even — any idea in terms of when you look to address that? Is it something to be patient with? Is it something you just want to kind of address and clear off earlier than later? Any sort of updated views in terms of how you deal with those maturities in the next 12 months.

Jocelyn Perry: Well, we watch it daily, right? And so we make these decisions quite frequently. But what I will say is I tend to get that risk behind us, right? So in the past, we’ve actually had a lot of depth forward, and we continue to do that. So it is a strategy that we’ve deployed before, and I suspect we’ll deploy again. But we’ll keep watching the market. I mean it’s still — it is still very volatile, but it’s something that you really have to reset your thinking on week to week.

Operator: And your next question comes from the line of Ben Pham from BMO Capital Markets.

Benjamin Pham: Maybe to continue the last question on refinancings. I’m wondering, is there any meaningful differences between when you think about the Canadian and U.S. market and refinancing upcoming debt such as the ’24, ’26 when you think about just where interest rates are going between the 2 countries, your FX exposure, where you want that to be and cost of hedges?

Jocelyn Perry: Ben, that’s what we do all day long. So every time in both markets, we’re looking at where we’re issuing, what we’re issuing the tenor, the currency. I mean, we’ve done some FX currency swaps and Canadian debt. Like we’ve we’re active in that market. And — but as I said on the previous question, it is something that you sort of have to reset your mind every week because it is changing, but all of those things are considered every time we go to market.

Benjamin Pham: And would you say on your FX matching then? And what I’m getting at is if you have a U.S. dollar maturity coming up, you can issue in Canada at 1% benefit, but you then your FX exposure comes off a bit. Like are you — right now, your FX exposure mostly is in line with where you want to be?

Jocelyn Perry: Yes, I think we’re comfortable where we are today. But again, yes, no, I would leave it at that. We’re comfortable where we are today, but we’re always watching it.

Benjamin Pham: And I know the cost of capital decisions post Investor Day provided details and EPS sensitivities, that’s very useful. How do you think low, flow through that impact on just credit metrics and if there’s an impact on your equity needs?

Jocelyn Perry: So sorry, Ben. So that question is what impact is the GCOC having on our cash metrics. Okay. Yes, I think it’s around 20 bps. But again, that’s going to depend on how that’s recovered in rates. And I know that the folks in Western Canada are still looking at how — or we don’t have the order, I should say, on how that’s actually going to flow through customer rates. But I think in the — when it all sells and it all gets into customer rates, it’s probably about 20 bps in B.C. And with respect to it, we have actually filed our compliance filing with the BCUC. We are expecting that they will require about $300 million not quite sure yet when we had to fund that, but it will likely be like late this year or early into next year.