Crystal Lail: Our segments will continue to be electric and gas. Obviously, we’ve separated the two utilities and have that level of detail in the FERC filings indeed. You should be able to see the separation between Montana assets and South Dakota assets and electric and gas. So if you have more specific accounts, we certainly can help you through those, maybe offline, but you should be able to see that breakout. And then indeed, the transition of the separation of assets legally occurred on January 2nd. So you’ll see a bit more footnote disclosure in our 10-Q filings starting going forward with Q1.
Paul Fremont: And then with respect to South Dakota, is there an agreed upon level of return on equity for AFUDC calculations?
Crystal Lail: There is, indeed, I don’t know that it’s public. And so I will just tell you the South Dakota Commission prefers to do black box approach to settlements. I think you’ll see this with some of our peers. We’re very focused on getting to a revenue number overall that supports an earned return that is in line with where we expect to be and the approach that, that commission may take might look like an overall lower approach to ROE, but a solid approach to giving us the total revenue recovery that we need. Mr. Meyer is giving me an assist over there by holding up a sign that’s of the AFUDC rate, which seems a little…
Travis Meyer: Well, 6.4%. So we do have it disclosed in the 10-K in the section on our property, plant and equipment. We have the rate of 6.4% for AFUDC in Montana.
Crystal Lail: That would be based on what we actually recorded in 2023. And the way I would say that is I don’t expect to change that in 2024.
Travis Meyer: And it’s about the same rate in Montana too that same 6.4%.
Paul Fremont: And then has the EPA gone any further on the proposed emission standards that you had talked about on some of your earlier calls? And where do things stand on that?
Brian Bird: Paul, we’re still waiting. I understand there’s still — we talked about this earlier today. I think we’re weeks if not months out from hearing from EPA.
Travis Meyer: We will take our next question from a line that ends in 5990. Looks like area code 347.
Sophie Karp: This is Sophie Karp, KeyBanc. Congrats on the strong results and all the regulatory achievements. And maybe I can just ask you a conceptual question here. First, Brian and Crystal, you guys mentioned all of the good things you’ve accomplished and you’re surprised to see the 5% dividend yield and we are too. So I’m curious, what do you think is missing from the story, maybe what do you glean from conversations with investors?
Brian Bird: Well, I certainly understand as we have taken steps. I think we are addressing balance sheet concerns. I think you’ll see in ’24 a 14-plus FFO with that issue. We have knowledge, we still have a bit high dividend payout ratio. But as we continue to grow earnings at a faster clip, we’ll deal with that issue. I certainly believe there’s some sort of fire discount in our shares. But I would tell you that we continue, like other utilities, making great efforts not only from an operational perspective but on many fronts looking at that. Beyond that, I think with the outcomes we’ve just received and execution of our plan, I don’t understand why we would be trading where we’re trading, and I’ll leave it at that, Sophie.
Sophie Karp: And then maybe real quick on the Montana elections that we will be watching at some point. What are your thoughts on the trends that line up and to the extent you can comment on how you see this development?
Brian Bird: I learned a long time ago and did not talk politics. But I will say this, we know we’re going to have two new commissioners in Montana. President Brown has acknowledged, he’s running for another state office and Commissioner [Donald] terms out, so we know for sure two. Commissioner Fielder is running. And no commentary on any of their opponents or who will be in those races. We have until March 11th, I believe, for people to finalize who’s running for these positions. But we know for sure that we’re going to have two new commissioners, and that’s all I’ll say. I will just tell you this, from our perspective, what we need to do to demonstrate whoever’s sitting in those chairs, what we’re doing is in the best interests of our customers.
And obviously, we’re doing investments to our shareholders and they have to think about it. And said they have clearly pointed out in this last rate review they understand according to the rules that they need to find that proper balance too. And we certainly appreciate that and we’ll continue to work with all interested parties to come to similar outcomes.
Travis Meyer: With that, we’ll give it just another minute here, but we don’t want to have any other calls in the queue or hands in the queue. All right. With that, I’ll hand it back to Brian for some closing thoughts.
Brian Bird: First of all, certainly acknowledging we think from share performance, we should be doing better, but I also want to reach out and thank all of you. We continue to follow the stock and all of you who are certainly invested. We certainly are thinking about your best interest here as well and hopefully that improved your performance will meet your expectations. Thank you very much.
Travis Meyer: Have a great day.
