BLACK HILLS CORP /SD/ — Call Transcript 2026

Welcome to the Q1 2026 Black Hills Corporation Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Sal Diaz, Director of Investor Relations. Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome to Black Hills Corporation's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. You can find our earnings release and materials for our call this morning on our website at blackhillscorp.com. Leading our earnings call are Linn Evans, President and Chief Executive Officer; Kimberly Nooney, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Marne Jones, Senior Vice President and Chief Utility Officer. During our earnings discussion today, comments we make may contain forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and there are a number of uncertainties inherent in such comments. Although we believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, actual results may differ materially. We direct you to our earnings release, slide two of the investor presentation on our website, and our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a list of some of the factors that could cause future results to differ materially from our expectations. With that, I will now turn the call over to Linn Evans. Linn? Thank you, Sal. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us today. I'll provide a summary of our Q1 2026 results, our strategic progress, and our progress with our pending merger with NorthWestern Energy. Kimberly will provide our financial update, and Marne will provide our business update, including key projects, our progress with large load opportunities, and our solid regulatory execution. In April, our industry recognized Line Mechanic Appreciation Month. Let me start by pausing to recognize our remarkable team of men and women, many of whom are tuning in today. You are often the face of our company and industry, which our customers and communities respect, admire, and rely on, ensuring our system is operating reliably and restoring interrupted service as safely and efficiently as possible. When most seek shelter during a weather event, you're the team that heads out into the storm. Thank you for all you do and the sacrifices you make, and often your families make, to keep the lights on and for what you do every day to keep our customers safe. Our first quarter strategic achievements are outlined on slide three. Following an excellent year of results for our stakeholders in 2025, I'm very proud of our team's continued success, carrying our positive momentum into 2026. We continue to deliver safe, reliable, and affordable energy to our customers and communities while executing on our strategic growth opportunities. We're off to a solid start with reaffirming our earnings guidance range and maintaining our solid financial position and credit ratings. We made regulatory progress, advancing our Arkansas rate review and requesting our first rate review in more than a decade for South Dakota Electric. We also continued construction of our 99 MW Lange II generation project, which is on schedule to be placed in service later this year, and the ongoing construction of our 50 MW battery storage project as part of our Clean Energy Plan in Colorado that we commenced in Q4 2025. Large load customers, including hyperscale data centers, continue to offer significant growth opportunities representing more than 3 GW of potential demand, including 600 MW by 2030 within our current five-year financial plan. We're also negotiating with high-quality partners to reach agreements to serve this pipeline. This includes the 1.8 GW data center being developed in Cheyenne, where we have executed an agreement that supports our reservations for generation equipment as part of a mix of resources to serve this potential customer as we continue to advance negotiations toward reaching definitive agreements. Additionally, we are optimistic about the future upside potential of our current pipeline stemming from Microsoft's recent announcement to acquire 3,200 acres of land in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for future data center expansion. As a reminder, we approach our growth pipeline with caution, restricting it to demand that is covered by non-disclosure agreements and being actively negotiated. The opportunities we are executing on today, along with this future potential for upside, provide depth and durability to our long-term growth profile. Slide four outlines our $4.7 billion five-year capital plan. We invest in our natural gas and electric customers' core needs for safety, reliability, and growth. Our current capital plan includes minimal investments to support the 600 MW of data center demand already in our financial plan, which we expect to serve mostly through market energy procurement. We are also developing opportunities for investment that are not currently in our plan. This would include generation and transmission builds as part of a mix of resources to serve growing large load customer demands. Moving to slide five for an update on our merger with NorthWestern Energy. We made solid progress alongside NorthWestern in advancing our planned merger. Both companies received favorable shareholder votes on April 2nd. The Hart-Scott-Rodino Act's antitrust waiting period expired on April 20th, satisfying an antitrust condition to closing. We made state regulatory progress with settlements with certain key interveners in all three states, Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota. We anticipate securing all state regulatory approvals and FERC approval to finalize the merger within the second half of this year. As I wrap up my prepared remarks, we anticipate continuing to deliver solid results for our stakeholders as we execute on our customer-focused capital plan, continue our regulatory progress through multiple rate reviews, meet the growing demand of our customers, and maintaining positive momentum through our large load pipeline while maintaining protections for our customers, and complete our planned merger with NorthWestern. With that, I'll turn the call over to Kimberly for our financial update. Thank you, Linn, and good morning, everyone. We had a successful first quarter executing our strategy and delivering results within our expectations, even with the impact of very warm weather. We are on track to achieve our earnings guidance as we maintained our solid investment-grade credit ratings and strong liquidity. On slide seven, we provide a bridge for Q1 2026 EPS compared to Q1 2025. We delivered GAAP EPS of $1.73, which included $0.05 of merger-related transaction costs. Adjusting for these costs, we reported $1.79 of adjusted EPS compared to $1.87 in Q1 2025. One of our warmest winters in history, including record warm temperatures in Wyoming and Colorado, weighed on demand by $0.18 per share compared to Q1 2025. For the quarter, this reflected $0.13 of unfavorability compared to normal weather, which is our base assumption in setting our earnings guidance range. With this backdrop, I'm proud of our team's strong execution as we maintain confidence in our ability to deliver on our full-year earnings guidance. We delivered $0.24 per share of new rates and rider recovery margin and $0.10 of lower O&M, excluding merger costs. These positive drivers offset $0.16 of higher financing and depreciation costs and a large portion of the impacts of weather and lower retail usage. We delivered favorable O&M for Q1 and excluding $0.05 per share of merger-related costs, we reduced our O&M expenses by $0.10 year-over-year. This reduction was primarily driven by $0.04 of lower employee costs and other O&M reductions of $0.06 per share. Excluding merger-related costs, we are on track to deliver O&M within the earnings guidance target provided. Financing costs increased $0.10 per share, including $0.09 per share from the impact of new shares and $0.01 of higher interest expense net of AFUDC. Depreciation expenses increased by $0.06 per share, driven by new assets placed in service, including our $350 million Ready Wyoming transmission project placed in service at the end of 2025. Further details on year-over-year changes can be found in our earnings release and our 10-Q to be filed with the SEC later today. Slide eight presents our solid financial position through the lens of credit quality, capital structure, and liquidity. We remain focused on maintaining a healthy balance sheet with our stated credit metric targets of 14%-15% FFO to debt, which is 100 basis points above our downgrade threshold of 13%, and at or better than 55% net debt to total capitalization. Given stronger forecasted cash flows in 2026, driven by new capital projects placed in service, executing upon our regulatory initiatives, and increasing large load customer growth, compared to last year, we expect a significantly lower total equity need of $50 million-$70 million in 2026. During the first quarter, we issued $41 million of equity under our ATM program, positioning us well with minimal equity needs for the remainder of the year. Our next debt maturity is in January 2027, with $400 million of 3.15% notes to be refinanced. We are evaluating refinancing options for later this year. We maintain strong liquidity with approximately $500 million of availability under our revolving credit facility at quarter end. Our financial outlook is listed on slide nine. We reaffirmed our guidance range of $4.25-$4.45 of adjusted EPS, which represents 6% growth at the midpoint over 2025. New rates and rider recovery from capital projects, large load demand growth and other organic customer growth, and our solid financial position drives strong confidence in our ability to deliver in the upper half of our 4%-6% long-term growth target. Our plan includes large load demand contributing more than 10% of growing consolidated EPS beginning in 2028, reaching 600 MW by 2030. As Linn outlined, we are pursuing more than 2.5 GW of large load opportunities, which represent significant upside to our current financial plan. To serve these opportunities, each of our customers desires a unique mix of resources with varying ramp schedules. From a financial perspective, this complexity requires multiple negotiated agreements with earnings profiles designed to match the risks and considerations for each resource type under our large power contract service tariff in Wyoming. Slide 10 illustrates our industry-leading dividend track record. In January, we increased our dividend, extending our track record of increases to 56 consecutive years in 2026, based on our current annualized dividend. We continue to target a 55%-65% payout ratio. A dependable and increasing dividend is an important component of our strategy to deliver long-term value for our shareholders. I will now turn the call over to Marne for a business update. Thank you, Kimberly, good morning, everyone. I will provide an update on our current capital projects, discuss progress on our large load demand pipeline, and finish with a regulatory update. Moving to slide 12, our 99 MW Lange II generation construction project, which will serve our customers in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, continues on schedule and will be placed in service in the fourth quarter. The utility-owned natural gas-fired generation resource replaces aging generation facilities with modern Wärtsilä engines and supports updated reserve margin requirements. Recovery of this investment will be requested through the South Dakota Generation Rider, which we intend to file during the second quarter and our Wyoming rate review request filed earlier this year. Slide 13 outlines our Colorado Clean Energy Plan. During the first quarter, construction continued on our utility-owned 50 MW battery storage project in Colorado to be completed and in service in late 2027. During the first quarter, we also signed a 200 MW PPA for solar resources to serve Colorado customers as previously approved by the Colorado PUC. Together, these resources support our progress towards the state's Clean Energy Plan with an emissions reduction goal of 80% by 2030. Slide 14 outlines our flexible service model for large load customers and our data center demand pipeline of more than three GW. Our unique tariff offers flexibility in how we serve large load customers, enables speed to market, and provides customer protections while benefiting our Wyoming customers. Our data center demand in the financial plan of 600 MW by 2030 is primarily driven by Microsoft and Meta's growth. We have successfully served growing demand from Microsoft's hyperscale data centers for more than a decade through market energy procurement. Meta's new AI data center in Cheyenne is progressing, and we expect them to begin ramping later this year. We are prepared to serve these customers primarily through market energy and contracted resources requiring minimal capital investment. That said, we expect demand at or above 600 MW to drive the need for investments in generation and transmission infrastructure. We continue to make positive progress on additional opportunities and are advancing our negotiations with high-quality partners to serve more than 2.5 GW of large load requests. Specific to a 1.8 GW project in our pipeline, we are working through several agreements with counterparties that would ultimately support resources to serve this demand. We continue to focus on the reliability and resiliency of the overall system and customer protections as we design a portfolio of resources to meet the needs of our prospective large load customer. As Linn mentioned, and I'm pleased to expand on, we have executed a short-term generation reservation agreement with this prospective customer for company-owned generation. The agreement provides for customer-funded milestone payments to support the long lead time generation equipment as part of the broader resource mix needed to serve the 1.8 GW project. To date, the customer has provided $201 million in refundable Contribution in Aid of Construction to secure this generation equipment through the term of the agreement. In parallel, we continue to advance negotiations toward a long-term definitive agreement under which company-owned generation would be a component of the portfolio of resources serving the project, with the intent that this reservation agreement transitions the parties into a long-term definitive generation facilities agreement. As you would expect, a project of this size and complexity involves multiple parties and interrelated contractual components. We are carefully structuring these agreements to protect customers while appropriately managing operational and financial risk. Consistent with our normal practice, we will provide additional detail as definitive agreements are finalized. Now shifting to a regulatory update on slide 15. We continue to effectively execute on our regulatory plan with a cadence of three to four rate reviews per year across our eight-state service territory. Our rate review filed last December for Arkansas Gas continues to progress, with new rates requested in the second half of this year. During the first quarter, we filed new rate review requests for South Dakota Electric. We are seeking recovery of our customer-focused investments and increased cost to serve customers in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming after holding our base rates stable for more than a decade. In South Dakota, we requested $50.6 million of new annual revenue based on a 10.5% ROE and a capital structure of 47% debt and 53% equity. The request seeks interim rates within 180 days of filing. In Wyoming, we requested $5.1 million of annual revenue based on a similar ROE and capital structure as was filed in South Dakota. We also filed an abbreviated rate review in Kansas, as allowed by the Commission's prior order. The request seeks recovery of capital invested through 2025 at the previously agreed upon weighted average cost of capital, with rates requested early in the third quarter. Lastly, in South Dakota, wildfire liability legislation was enacted in March to be effective July 1st, 2026. Utilities in compliance with their wildfire plan filed with and published by the Commission will receive significant liability protections similar to legislation in Wyoming and Montana. In Wyoming, we are awaiting approval of our mitigation plan, which is expected in the second quarter. We also continue to support the development of similar legislation in Colorado. In summary, our team is focused on executing with excellence on our customer-focused strategy. From day-to-day maintenance and outage response to laying a new line to serve a neighborhood or business, we are ready to serve. We are strategically managing and expanding our infrastructure to serve the needs of our customers and actively working with new large load customers to make their plans a reality as their energy partner of choice. With that, I will now turn the call back to Linn. Thank you, Marne. To summarize what we've talked about today, we continue to make meaningful progress on our regulatory plan, our growth initiatives, and our strategic goals. Black Hills offers a compelling long-term value proposition driven by our customer-focused growth, competitive yield, and significant upside opportunities. Additionally, our planned merger with NorthWestern Energy will provide us with the advantages of increased scale and new opportunities as a larger and premier regional electric and natural gas utility company. Thank you for your interest and your trust in the Black Hills team as we partner to grow long-term value for our customers and stakeholders. This concludes our prepared remarks, and we're happy to take your questions. Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. One moment for question. Our first question comes from Andrew Weisel with Scotiabank. You may proceed. Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Congrats. A lot of exciting updates here. My first question is regarding the agreement to reserve generation equipment for the data center customer. Forgive me, Marne, you ran through some details pretty quickly. I apologize if I missed some. I wanna make sure I got it all here. Did you say it was around $200 million of short-term deals for company-owned generation? So this would be utility-owned resources, falling into rate base and earning the typical 9.8% ROE. Did I get that right? Good morning, Andrew. Yeah, this is Marne. I appreciate your question. If I ran through it a little fast, let's walk through a little bit of those details. Yes, it is a short-term agreement really meant to provide some financing or financing bridge as we think about serving long-term generation needs. Ultimately, we intend to put this into a company-owned generation facility that would have a longer-term agreement with that. When we talk about company-owned generation in a generation facilities agreement, maybe a little bit of a difference of how you described it. It would be specific to this ultimately end-use customer. We think about the rate base of that and the return of that based on that customer and the unique needs for that specific customer as we talk about risk-adjusted returns. This would not be part of overall rate base for retail customers in Wyoming. This would still be that negotiated risk-adjusted, you know, not a standard formulaic. This would still be negotiated then. Is that right? Yes, it would be a negotiated rate. I would think about it more in the terms of a typical rate base. This would not be the same as our microgrid management fee. Okay, that's helpful. Just so I understand, the short term is about the financing. The equipment would be utility-owned for the life of the asset. Is that what you're saying? That is correct. Yes. Just as a reminder, as we think about contracting these types of assets, and we talk about customer protections, through these negotiations, one thing we focus on is ensuring that we don't have stranded assets at the end of this, you know, the end of contracts, et cetera. This is not something that would ultimately be on the customers of Wyoming. This is all contracted through that long-term contract that we're negotiating. This is Linn, Andrew, and the $201 million that were received in the refundable CIAC, that's another way of protecting customers. It helps us protect our balance sheet in the interim while we are working with these customers to serve their large load. Great. Very helpful. That $201 million, that's more about the financing. Are you able to give an indication of the size of the asset or assets in terms of megawatts? I mean, this isn't the full 1.8 GW, is it? No, it is not. We're not yet ready to announce what kind of megawatts we would serve. We're still arguably working with the customer on that. We have a direction with them, but there are a few balls in the air. As soon as we can let you know that, we will, but to date, we're still negotiating that with our counterparty. Okay. Can you say big, medium or small? Yes. Nice try. Nice try, Andrew. I had to try. Okay. One last one before I pass it over. In terms of the merger, congrats on the three settlements you got there. Does that accelerate the timeline for closing? I know you're still pointing to the second half, can you get a little more specific? Do these help speed things up? Subsequent to closing, do you and your friends at NorthWestern plan on hosting some sort of Investor Day or something like that to present the outlook for the combined company later this year? I would say it this way, Andrew. Settlements are always helpful. We have a hearing next week in Montana. We'll see how that goes. We've had our hearing on the settlement, a full settlement in Nebraska, and we have hearings scheduled next month in South Dakota. Will it speed it up? No, but it certainly didn't slow it down, and I think it gives some nice solid foundation for which the regulators can use as they consider this merger and ultimately approve it, we hope. With respect to a combined Investor Day, I'm the exiting CEO, so I'll be cautious there to commit someone else. It may be a good idea. We shall see. Fair enough. Thank you so much. Thank you, Andrew. Thank you. Our next question comes from Chris Ellinghaus with Siebert Williams Shank. You may proceed. Hey, good morning, everybody. Kimberly, this was a monumental weather impact, but you didn't adjust guidance at all. Can you give us any color on what you're thinking about for offsets? Yeah. Maybe just to level set, you know, looking back in any given year, we've had some pretty impactful favor and unfavorable weather swings. Specifically in Black Hills' history, you know, we've had more significant unfavorable impacts. When I look back, it was around Q4 2021. My point to all of that is that, you know, we're used to experiencing these types of impacts and, as you noted, we are reaffirming guidance, and we'll continue to manage the business to ensure that we're, you know, focused on mitigating risks while achieving our financial objectives. Just like any other utility, we'll be focusing on ensuring we're optimizing our O&M and the timing of our capital investments. That'll be our strategy. Well, well, well, that was a good answer. This is Linn. I would suggest that during the fourth quarter of last year, we had pretty mild weather. You might remember that, Chris. As a team, as across the whole organization, we kinda continued to lean in to the challenge of warm weather into the first quarter, which helped us as well. This is a chance for me to say thank you to our team. They've really done a wonderful job of ensuring that we hit our targets. Along those lines, you have had some pretty unfavorable weather, particularly in the first and fourth quarters. Do you see sort of a longer term pattern of, I don't know how to phrase it, but sort of filling in the bowl that you guys have for an earnings shape where you see more loads headed into the middle of the year and maybe out of the first and fourth quarter? Is that something that you're sort of contemplating as a reality today? Chris, based on the fact that we have a balanced mix of electric and gas resources, Q1 and Q4 have always been our most impactful. This isn't unique. One of the things that we have done over the past few years is really do look-backs on weather impacts and how we think about assessing those in the financials. I don't know that we're doing anything different. We're obviously very cognizant of it. We're paying attention to it, and we're sure we're ensuring that we're incorporating those types of impacts into our future strategies. Are we drastically changing our business model? No, we're not. I'd say we're also working closely with our regulators for weather normalization. As you might recall, Chris, we have a pilot we're doing in Nebraska this year that was helpful this quarter and fourth quarter of last year. I'd also say it could be a benefit of the large load customers. They're high power factor customers, and to the extent, that would be another benefit to our other customers to kind of smooth out our earnings, if you will, through the year. I think that's something we're working on too. Yeah. Linn, you're the expert on data centers in Wyoming, so maybe you can shoo me off of this question too. There's been a lot of difficulties with that data center. Can you give us some color on what's happening locally? I know there's been some efforts politically to try to move that along. Can you give us some sense of what some of the hold-ups are locally? Chris, I guess my challenge to your fact pattern, I suppose. Yes, there are some, a few customers, if you will, local entities that might be a little bit, or they're asking that the commissions take caution about the data centers. On the other hand, we're also seeing initiatives by local folks to actually accelerate permitting, if you will. It's kind of a balance going on there. For us, in the data centers that we are working on, frankly, we're not seeing any slowdown due to decisions or permits or anything of that nature. All of ours are currently right on track. In fact, CPCNs, et cetera, are being granted. Local permits are being granted, et cetera. I think we're actually in nice shape with the customers that we are currently dealing with. Okay. Along the same lines, have you got a sense at all of when you might file a CPCN for generation? I'm gonna let Marne address that issue. Yeah, Chris. As I mentioned, you know, we've got the short-term reservation agreement, which we would ultimately like to see into a long-term definitive agreement for generation. Once those agreements are in place, and it's not just the generation, but really all the agreements that are needed, is when we would expect to see a CPCN for generation. Okay. I'm not trying to figure out what the size is, but can you talk about what type of generation that you guys are pursuing? We are looking at obviously the reservation is for those long lead time, you know, equipment items. We're looking at certainly gas engines, transformers. You know, dispatchable generation will be really important. Okay. One last thing. In Montana and South Dakota, have you got a sense of what to expect for the duration of those two hearings? Yes, I can. This is, Chris, it's Marne again. I can talk a little bit. We are scheduled next week in Montana for a Tuesday through Friday hearing, I believe. The South Dakota, I would have to subject to check, but I think it's scheduled for two or three days as well in June. That's correct. Okay. I don't recall Montana ever accomplishing anything in four days. That would be some kind of record. Well, I think, you know, as it was mentioned earlier, you know, we have reached a lot of settlements. We don't have full settlement in Montana, but we have reached a lot of settlements. I think that that really bodes for hopefully a much more efficient process given those settlements. You are a great optimist, Marne. We are. Yes, we are. Okay. Thank you for the color. Appreciate it. Thank you, Chris. Thank you. Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone. Our next question comes from Paul Fremont with Ladenburg Thalmann. You may proceed. Thanks. I guess my first question really has to do with the short-term reservation agreement, I guess is for $200 million. If the project were to move forward, is that sort of the aggregate amount that you would contemplate spending? If not, how large an investment would you contemplate? Hey, Paul. Good morning. I'll start and my team members can fill in. This is really, as noted, a reservation agreement. These are milestone payments associated to procuring the actual investments that Marne mentioned. This is really what we think about as a bridge agreement to ensure that we maintain, you know, balance sheet strength through this period until we get to definitive agreements and we're able to start constructing. We're really not talking about the size yet because we're still in negotiations. Obviously we will be contemplating the right financing strategy overall. We really haven't given the magnitude of the project beyond 1.8 GW and the fact that it'll be served with a variety of mix of resources. That's really where we're at in our process. Should we think of the $200 million as extending through some period in time? In other words, would this be, you know, the next three or four years of spend or the next two years of spend? The reservation payments are the payments that we are actually making to these suppliers, and we are being reimbursed by the customer that we are negotiating with as part of that agreement, Paul. That's where this $201 million come from. That's what we are paying to hold these resources in place so that we can put them in service for a customer. It's short-term through June 30th. I encourage our shareholders and analysts to think about, or our stakeholders to think about in terms of June 30th. While it is a deadline that we're working toward as an organization, if we don't announce something by June thirtieth, please don't assume that that does not mean that we're going to have an agreement with this customer. That's a milestone that we're working to achieve. I guess according to the AEP conference call, it sounded like, if there's nothing in place by June 30th, there's like another six-month extension, in terms of taking the Bloom equipment. Should we assume that December 31 is sort of an absolute date by which the parties need to reach an agreement? I don't know that it would be an absolute date. We certainly work toward getting our contracts in place by then, but I would not see it as an absolute date. To date, the parties are working very well together and extending things by mutual agreement. These are complex agreement with lots of parties. We wanna get it right, especially us at Black Hills Energy. We have to get it right on behalf of all of our customer base to ensure we have the best deal we can to serve these customers as appropriately as possible. Again, I don't think we have hard, fast dates, although we both know that the time, value of money, et cetera, we need to work efficiently, and we are. Is any of the CapEx related to this one point to this project? Would that be significantly additive to the current compound annual growth rate? Also, if you need to build more resources for this, who should we assume will provide the funding? Is it incremental CapEx going to be 50% equity funded? Paul, I'll kick this off, and then I'll turn it over to Kimberly as well. When we talk about CapEx, we have 600 MW of load in our current five-year plan that ties back into our CapEx, the $4.7 billion. Anything above that, which this project would be above and beyond that's part of the pipeline that's not included in our current plan, would be additive to our overall capital investment opportunity. If we needed to build more resources, whether it would be generation or transmission, both of those really would be additive to what we currently have in the plan. I'll turn it over to Kim to talk about the financing side of it. Yeah, Paul. Your question regarding how would we think about financing, it's really under the overarching perspective that we wanna maintain credit quality. We've set our credit quality targets of 14%-15% FFO to debt, maintaining our debt to total cap at 55% or below. That's really the guiding principle. To your point, obviously, we would think about this as a utility-like investment with a utility-like cap structure in the range that you're noting. That's how we're thinking about it. Great. I think that's it. I think that's it in terms of questions. Thank you, Paul. Paul. Thank you, Paul. Appreciate your questions. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call back over to Linn Evans for any closing remarks. Thank you very much for participating in our call today, for your interest in Black Hills. We have a compelling long-term value proposition. Hope you're starting to see that develop through our comments today and the responses to our questions. Once again, I wanna thank our team. Thank you for leaning in so hard, doing it safely, and doing so well to serve our customers as well as you do. I'm grateful for that. We're grateful for that. I encourage you to have a Black Hills Energy safe day. Thanks for joining our call. Thank you. This concludes the conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Speaker 6: Welcome to the Q1 2026 Black Hills Corporation Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Sal Diaz, Director of Investor Relations. Welcome to the Q1 2026 Black Hills Corporation Earnings Conference Call. welcome to the q1 2026 black hills corporation earnings conference call At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Sal Diaz, Director of Investor Relations. at this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. after the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. to withdraw your question, please press star one one again. i would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today sal diaz director of investor relations

Speaker 8: Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome to Black Hills Corporation's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. You can find our earnings release and materials for our call this morning on our website at blackhillscorp.com. Leading our earnings call are Linn Evans, President and Chief Executive Officer; Kimberly Nooney, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Marne Jones, Senior Vice President and Chief Utility Officer. During our earnings discussion today, comments we make may contain forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and there are a number of uncertainties inherent in such comments. Although we believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, actual results may differ materially. Thank you, operator. thank you operator Good morning, and welcome to Black Hills Corporation's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. good morning and welcome to black hills corporation's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call You can find our earnings release and materials for our call this morning on our website at blackhillscorp.com. you can find our earnings release and materials for our call this morning on our website at blackhillscorp.com Leading our earnings call are Linn Evans, President and Chief Executive Officer; Kimberly Nooney, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Marne Jones, Senior Vice President and Chief Utility Officer. leading our earnings call are linn evans president and chief executive officer kimberly nooney senior vice president and chief financial officer and marne jones senior vice president and chief utility officer During our earnings discussion today, comments we make may contain forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and there are a number of uncertainties inherent in such comments. during our earnings discussion today comments we make may contain forward-looking statements as defined by the securities and exchange commission and there are a number of uncertainties inherent in such comments Although we believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, actual results may differ materially. although we believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions actual results may differ materially We direct you to our earnings release, slide two of the investor presentation on our website, and our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a list of some of the factors that could cause future results to differ materially from our expectations. With that, I will now turn the call over to Linn Evans. Linn? We direct you to our earnings release, slide two of the investor presentation on our website, and our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a list of some of the factors that could cause future results to differ materially from our expectations. we direct you to our earnings release slide two of the investor presentation on our website and our most recent form 10-k and form 10-q filed with the securities and exchange commission for a list of some of the factors that could cause future results to differ materially from our expectations With that, I will now turn the call over to Linn Evans. with that i will now turn the call over to linn evans Linn? linn

Speaker 4: Thank you, Sal. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us today. I'll provide a summary of our Q1 2026 results, our strategic progress, and our progress with our pending merger with NorthWestern Energy. Kimberly will provide our financial update, and Marne will provide our business update, including key projects, our progress with large load opportunities, and our solid regulatory execution. In April, our industry recognized Line Mechanic Appreciation Month. Let me start by pausing to recognize our remarkable team of men and women, many of whom are tuning in today. You are often the face of our company and industry, which our customers and communities respect, admire, and rely on, ensuring our system is operating reliably and restoring interrupted service as safely and efficiently as possible. When most seek shelter during a weather event, you're the team that heads out into the storm. Thank you, Sal. thank you sal Good morning, and thank you all for joining us today. good morning and thank you all for joining us today I'll provide a summary of our Q1 2026 results, our strategic progress, and our progress with our pending merger with NorthWestern Energy. i'll provide a summary of our q1 2026 results our strategic progress and our progress with our pending merger with northwestern energy Kimberly will provide our financial update, and Marne will provide our business update, including key projects, our progress with large load opportunities, and our solid regulatory execution. kimberly will provide our financial update and marne will provide our business update including key projects our progress with large load opportunities and our solid regulatory execution In April, our industry recognized Line Mechanic Appreciation Month. in april our industry recognized line mechanic appreciation month Let me start by pausing to recognize our remarkable team of men and women, many of whom are tuning in today. let me start by pausing to recognize our remarkable team of men and women many of whom are tuning in today You are often the face of our company and industry, which our customers and communities respect, admire, and rely on, ensuring our system is operating reliably and restoring interrupted service as safely and efficiently as possible. you are often the face of our company and industry which our customers and communities respect admire and rely on ensuring our system is operating reliably and restoring interrupted service as safely and efficiently as possible When most seek shelter during a weather event, you're the team that heads out into the storm. when most seek shelter during a weather event you're the team that heads out into the storm Thank you for all you do and the sacrifices you make, and often your families make, to keep the lights on and for what you do every day to keep our customers safe. Our first quarter strategic achievements are outlined on slide three. Following an excellent year of results for our stakeholders in 2025, I'm very proud of our team's continued success, carrying our positive momentum into 2026. We continue to deliver safe, reliable, and affordable energy to our customers and communities while executing on our strategic growth opportunities. We're off to a solid start with reaffirming our earnings guidance range and maintaining our solid financial position and credit ratings. We made regulatory progress, advancing our Arkansas rate review and requesting our first rate review in more than a decade for South Dakota Electric. Thank you for all you do and the sacrifices you make, and often your families make, to keep the lights on and for what you do every day to keep our customers safe. thank you for all you do and the sacrifices you make and often your families make to keep the lights on and for what you do every day to keep our customers safe Our first quarter strategic achievements are outlined on slide three. our first quarter strategic achievements are outlined on slide three Following an excellent year of results for our stakeholders in 2025, I'm very proud of our team's continued success, carrying our positive momentum into 2026. following an excellent year of results for our stakeholders in 2025 i'm very proud of our team's continued success carrying our positive momentum into 2026 We continue to deliver safe, reliable, and affordable energy to our customers and communities while executing on our strategic growth opportunities. we continue to deliver safe reliable and affordable energy to our customers and communities while executing on our strategic growth opportunities We're off to a solid start with reaffirming our earnings guidance range and maintaining our solid financial position and credit ratings. we're off to a solid start with reaffirming our earnings guidance range and maintaining our solid financial position and credit ratings We made regulatory progress, advancing our Arkansas rate review and requesting our first rate review in more than a decade for South Dakota Electric. we made regulatory progress advancing our arkansas rate review and requesting our first rate review in more than a decade for south dakota electric We also continued construction of our 99 MW Lange II generation project, which is on schedule to be placed in service later this year, and the ongoing construction of our 50 MW battery storage project as part of our Clean Energy Plan in Colorado that we commenced in Q4 2025. Large load customers, including hyperscale data centers, continue to offer significant growth opportunities representing more than 3 GW of potential demand, including 600 MW by 2030 within our current five-year financial plan. We're also negotiating with high-quality partners to reach agreements to serve this pipeline. This includes the 1.8 GW data center being developed in Cheyenne, where we have executed an agreement that supports our reservations for generation equipment as part of a mix of resources to serve this potential customer as we continue to advance negotiations toward reaching definitive agreements. We also continued construction of our 99 MW Lange II generation project, which is on schedule to be placed in service later this year, and the ongoing construction of our 50 MW battery storage project as part of our Clean Energy Plan in Colorado that we commenced in Q4 2025. we also continued construction of our 99 mw lange ii generation project which is on schedule to be placed in service later this year and the ongoing construction of our 50 mw battery storage project as part of our clean energy plan in colorado that we commenced in q4 2025 Large load customers, including hyperscale data centers, continue to offer significant growth opportunities representing more than 3 GW of potential demand, including 600 MW by 2030 within our current five-year financial plan. large load customers including hyperscale data centers continue to offer significant growth opportunities representing more than 3 gw of potential demand including 600 mw by 2030 within our current five-year financial plan We're also negotiating with high-quality partners to reach agreements to serve this pipeline. we're also negotiating with high-quality partners to reach agreements to serve this pipeline This includes the 1.8 GW data center being developed in Cheyenne, where we have executed an agreement that supports our reservations for generation equipment as part of a mix of resources to serve this potential customer as we continue to advance negotiations toward reaching definitive agreements. this includes the 1.8 gw data center being developed in cheyenne where we have executed an agreement that supports our reservations for generation equipment as part of a mix of resources to serve this potential customer as we continue to advance negotiations toward reaching definitive agreements Additionally, we are optimistic about the future upside potential of our current pipeline stemming from Microsoft's recent announcement to acquire 3,200 acres of land in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for future data center expansion. As a reminder, we approach our growth pipeline with caution, restricting it to demand that is covered by non-disclosure agreements and being actively negotiated. The opportunities we are executing on today, along with this future potential for upside, provide depth and durability to our long-term growth profile. Slide four outlines our $4.7 billion five-year capital plan. We invest in our natural gas and electric customers' core needs for safety, reliability, and growth. Our current capital plan includes minimal investments to support the 600 MW of data center demand already in our financial plan, which we expect to serve mostly through market energy procurement. Additionally, we are optimistic about the future upside potential of our current pipeline stemming from Microsoft's recent announcement to acquire 3,200 acres of land in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for future data center expansion. additionally we are optimistic about the future upside potential of our current pipeline stemming from microsoft's recent announcement to acquire 3,200 acres of land in cheyenne wyoming for future data center expansion As a reminder, we approach our growth pipeline with caution, restricting it to demand that is covered by non-disclosure agreements and being actively negotiated. as a reminder we approach our growth pipeline with caution restricting it to demand that is covered by non-disclosure agreements and being actively negotiated The opportunities we are executing on today, along with this future potential for upside, provide depth and durability to our long-term growth profile. the opportunities we are executing on today along with this future potential for upside provide depth and durability to our long-term growth profile Slide four outlines our $4.7 billion five-year capital plan. slide four outlines our $4.7 billion five-year capital plan We invest in our natural gas and electric customers' core needs for safety, reliability, and growth. we invest in our natural gas and electric customers' core needs for safety reliability and growth Our current capital plan includes minimal investments to support the 600 MW of data center demand already in our financial plan, which we expect to serve mostly through market energy procurement. our current capital plan includes minimal investments to support the 600 mw of data center demand already in our financial plan which we expect to serve mostly through market energy procurement We are also developing opportunities for investment that are not currently in our plan. This would include generation and transmission builds as part of a mix of resources to serve growing large load customer demands. Moving to slide five for an update on our merger with NorthWestern Energy. We made solid progress alongside NorthWestern in advancing our planned merger. Both companies received favorable shareholder votes on April 2nd. The Hart-Scott-Rodino Act's antitrust waiting period expired on April 20th, satisfying an antitrust condition to closing. We made state regulatory progress with settlements with certain key interveners in all three states, Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota. We anticipate securing all state regulatory approvals and FERC approval to finalize the merger within the second half of this year. We are also developing opportunities for investment that are not currently in our plan. we are also developing opportunities for investment that are not currently in our plan This would include generation and transmission builds as part of a mix of resources to serve growing large load customer demands. this would include generation and transmission builds as part of a mix of resources to serve growing large load customer demands Moving to slide five for an update on our merger with NorthWestern Energy. moving to slide five for an update on our merger with northwestern energy We made solid progress alongside NorthWestern in advancing our planned merger. Both companies received favorable shareholder votes on April 2nd. we made solid progress alongside northwestern in advancing our planned merger. both companies received favorable shareholder votes on april 2nd The Hart-Scott-Rodino Act's antitrust waiting period expired on April 20th, satisfying an antitrust condition to closing. the hart-scott-rodino act's antitrust waiting period expired on april 20th satisfying an antitrust condition to closing We made state regulatory progress with settlements with certain key interveners in all three states, Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota. we made state regulatory progress with settlements with certain key interveners in all three states montana nebraska and south dakota We anticipate securing all state regulatory approvals and FERC approval to finalize the merger within the second half of this year. we anticipate securing all state regulatory approvals and ferc approval to finalize the merger within the second half of this year As I wrap up my prepared remarks, we anticipate continuing to deliver solid results for our stakeholders as we execute on our customer-focused capital plan, continue our regulatory progress through multiple rate reviews, meet the growing demand of our customers, and maintaining positive momentum through our large load pipeline while maintaining protections for our customers, and complete our planned merger with NorthWestern. With that, I'll turn the call over to Kimberly for our financial update. As I wrap up my prepared remarks, we anticipate continuing to deliver solid results for our stakeholders as we execute on our customer-focused capital plan, continue our regulatory progress through multiple rate reviews, meet the growing demand of our customers, and maintaining positive momentum through our large load pipeline while maintaining protections for our customers, and complete our planned merger with NorthWestern. as i wrap up my prepared remarks we anticipate continuing to deliver solid results for our stakeholders as we execute on our customer-focused capital plan continue our regulatory progress through multiple rate reviews meet the growing demand of our customers and maintaining positive momentum through our large load pipeline while maintaining protections for our customers and complete our planned merger with northwestern With that, I'll turn the call over to Kimberly for our financial update. with that i'll turn the call over to kimberly for our financial update

Speaker 3: Thank you, Linn, and good morning, everyone. We had a successful first quarter executing our strategy and delivering results within our expectations, even with the impact of very warm weather. We are on track to achieve our earnings guidance as we maintained our solid investment-grade credit ratings and strong liquidity. On slide seven, we provide a bridge for Q1 2026 EPS compared to Q1 2025. We delivered GAAP EPS of $1.73, which included $0.05 of merger-related transaction costs. Adjusting for these costs, we reported $1.79 of adjusted EPS compared to $1.87 in Q1 2025. One of our warmest winters in history, including record warm temperatures in Wyoming and Colorado, weighed on demand by $0.18 per share compared to Q1 2025. For the quarter, this reflected $0.13 of unfavorability compared to normal weather, which is our base assumption in setting our earnings guidance range. Thank you, Linn, and good morning, everyone. thank you linn and good morning everyone We had a successful first quarter executing our strategy and delivering results within our expectations, even with the impact of very warm weather. we had a successful first quarter executing our strategy and delivering results within our expectations even with the impact of very warm weather We are on track to achieve our earnings guidance as we maintained our solid investment-grade credit ratings and strong liquidity. we are on track to achieve our earnings guidance as we maintained our solid investment-grade credit ratings and strong liquidity On slide seven, we provide a bridge for Q1 2026 EPS compared to Q1 2025. on slide seven we provide a bridge for q1 2026 eps compared to q1 2025 We delivered GAAP EPS of $1.73, which included $0.05 of merger-related transaction costs. we delivered gaap eps of $1.73 which included $0.05 of merger-related transaction costs Adjusting for these costs, we reported $1.79 of adjusted EPS compared to $1.87 in Q1 2025. adjusting for these costs we reported $1.79 of adjusted eps compared to $1.87 in q1 2025 One of our warmest winters in history, including record warm temperatures in Wyoming and Colorado, weighed on demand by $0.18 per share compared to Q1 2025. one of our warmest winters in history including record warm temperatures in wyoming and colorado weighed on demand by $0.18 per share compared to q1 2025 For the quarter, this reflected $0.13 of unfavorability compared to normal weather, which is our base assumption in setting our earnings guidance range. for the quarter this reflected $0.13 of unfavorability compared to normal weather which is our base assumption in setting our earnings guidance range With this backdrop, I'm proud of our team's strong execution as we maintain confidence in our ability to deliver on our full-year earnings guidance. We delivered $0.24 per share of new rates and rider recovery margin and $0.10 of lower O&M, excluding merger costs. These positive drivers offset $0.16 of higher financing and depreciation costs and a large portion of the impacts of weather and lower retail usage. We delivered favorable O&M for Q1 and excluding $0.05 per share of merger-related costs, we reduced our O&M expenses by $0.10 year-over-year. This reduction was primarily driven by $0.04 of lower employee costs and other O&M reductions of $0.06 per share. Excluding merger-related costs, we are on track to deliver O&M within the earnings guidance target provided. With this backdrop, I'm proud of our team's strong execution as we maintain confidence in our ability to deliver on our full-year earnings guidance. with this backdrop i'm proud of our team's strong execution as we maintain confidence in our ability to deliver on our full-year earnings guidance We delivered $0.24 per share of new rates and rider recovery margin and $0.10 of lower O&M, excluding merger costs. we delivered $0.24 per share of new rates and rider recovery margin and $0.10 of lower o&m excluding merger costs These positive drivers offset $0.16 of higher financing and depreciation costs and a large portion of the impacts of weather and lower retail usage. these positive drivers offset $0.16 of higher financing and depreciation costs and a large portion of the impacts of weather and lower retail usage We delivered favorable O&M for Q1 and excluding $0.05 per share of merger-related costs, we reduced our O&M expenses by $0.10 year-over-year. we delivered favorable o&m for q1 and excluding $0.05 per share of merger-related costs we reduced our o&m expenses by $0.10 year-over-year This reduction was primarily driven by $0.04 of lower employee costs and other O&M reductions of $0.06 per share. this reduction was primarily driven by $0.04 of lower employee costs and other o&m reductions of $0.06 per share Excluding merger-related costs, we are on track to deliver O&M within the earnings guidance target provided. excluding merger-related costs we are on track to deliver o&m within the earnings guidance target provided Financing costs increased $0.10 per share, including $0.09 per share from the impact of new shares and $0.01 of higher interest expense net of AFUDC. Depreciation expenses increased by $0.06 per share, driven by new assets placed in service, including our $350 million Ready Wyoming transmission project placed in service at the end of 2025. Further details on year-over-year changes can be found in our earnings release and our 10-Q to be filed with the SEC later today. Slide eight presents our solid financial position through the lens of credit quality, capital structure, and liquidity. We remain focused on maintaining a healthy balance sheet with our stated credit metric targets of 14%-15% FFO to debt, which is 100 basis points above our downgrade threshold of 13%, and at or better than 55% net debt to total capitalization. Financing costs increased $0.10 per share, including $0.09 per share from the impact of new shares and $0.01 of higher interest expense net of AFUDC. financing costs increased $0.10 per share including $0.09 per share from the impact of new shares and $0.01 of higher interest expense net of afudc Depreciation expenses increased by $0.06 per share, driven by new assets placed in service, including our $350 million Ready Wyoming transmission project placed in service at the end of 2025. depreciation expenses increased by $0.06 per share driven by new assets placed in service including our $350 million ready wyoming transmission project placed in service at the end of 2025 Further details on year-over-year changes can be found in our earnings release and our 10-Q to be filed with the SEC later today. further details on year-over-year changes can be found in our earnings release and our 10-q to be filed with the sec later today Slide eight presents our solid financial position through the lens of credit quality, capital structure, and liquidity. slide eight presents our solid financial position through the lens of credit quality capital structure and liquidity We remain focused on maintaining a healthy balance sheet with our stated credit metric targets of 14%-15% FFO to debt, which is 100 basis points above our downgrade threshold of 13%, and at or better than 55% net debt to total capitalization. we remain focused on maintaining a healthy balance sheet with our stated credit metric targets of 14%-15% ffo to debt which is 100 basis points above our downgrade threshold of 13% and at or better than 55% net debt to total capitalization Given stronger forecasted cash flows in 2026, driven by new capital projects placed in service, executing upon our regulatory initiatives, and increasing large load customer growth, compared to last year, we expect a significantly lower total equity need of $50 million-$70 million in 2026. During the first quarter, we issued $41 million of equity under our ATM program, positioning us well with minimal equity needs for the remainder of the year. Our next debt maturity is in January 2027, with $400 million of 3.15% notes to be refinanced. We are evaluating refinancing options for later this year. We maintain strong liquidity with approximately $500 million of availability under our revolving credit facility at quarter end. Our financial outlook is listed on slide nine. We reaffirmed our guidance range of $4.25-$4.45 of adjusted EPS, which represents 6% growth at the midpoint over 2025. Given stronger forecasted cash flows in 2026, driven by new capital projects placed in service, executing upon our regulatory initiatives, and increasing large load customer growth, compared to last year, we expect a significantly lower total equity need of $50 million-$70 million in 2026. given stronger forecasted cash flows in 2026 driven by new capital projects placed in service executing upon our regulatory initiatives and increasing large load customer growth compared to last year we expect a significantly lower total equity need of $50 million-$70 million in 2026 During the first quarter, we issued $41 million of equity under our ATM program, positioning us well with minimal equity needs for the remainder of the year. during the first quarter we issued $41 million of equity under our atm program positioning us well with minimal equity needs for the remainder of the year Our next debt maturity is in January 2027, with $400 million of 3.15% notes to be refinanced. our next debt maturity is in january 2027 with $400 million of 3.15% notes to be refinanced We are evaluating refinancing options for later this year. we are evaluating refinancing options for later this year We maintain strong liquidity with approximately $500 million of availability under our revolving credit facility at quarter end. we maintain strong liquidity with approximately $500 million of availability under our revolving credit facility at quarter end Our financial outlook is listed on slide nine. our financial outlook is listed on slide nine We reaffirmed our guidance range of $4.25-$4.45 of adjusted EPS, which represents 6% growth at the midpoint over 2025. we reaffirmed our guidance range of $4.25-$4.45 of adjusted eps which represents 6% growth at the midpoint over 2025 New rates and rider recovery from capital projects, large load demand growth and other organic customer growth, and our solid financial position drives strong confidence in our ability to deliver in the upper half of our 4%-6% long-term growth target. Our plan includes large load demand contributing more than 10% of growing consolidated EPS beginning in 2028, reaching 600 MW by 2030. As Linn outlined, we are pursuing more than 2.5 GW of large load opportunities, which represent significant upside to our current financial plan. To serve these opportunities, each of our customers desires a unique mix of resources with varying ramp schedules. From a financial perspective, this complexity requires multiple negotiated agreements with earnings profiles designed to match the risks and considerations for each resource type under our large power contract service tariff in Wyoming. Slide 10 illustrates our industry-leading dividend track record. New rates and rider recovery from capital projects, large load demand growth and other organic customer growth, and our solid financial position drives strong confidence in our ability to deliver in the upper half of our 4%-6% long-term growth target. new rates and rider recovery from capital projects large load demand growth and other organic customer growth and our solid financial position drives strong confidence in our ability to deliver in the upper half of our 4%-6% long-term growth target Our plan includes large load demand contributing more than 10% of growing consolidated EPS beginning in 2028, reaching 600 MW by 2030. our plan includes large load demand contributing more than 10% of growing consolidated eps beginning in 2028 reaching 600 mw by 2030 As Linn outlined, we are pursuing more than 2.5 GW of large load opportunities, which represent significant upside to our current financial plan. as linn outlined we are pursuing more than 2.5 gw of large load opportunities which represent significant upside to our current financial plan To serve these opportunities, each of our customers desires a unique mix of resources with varying ramp schedules. to serve these opportunities each of our customers desires a unique mix of resources with varying ramp schedules From a financial perspective, this complexity requires multiple negotiated agreements with earnings profiles designed to match the risks and considerations for each resource type under our large power contract service tariff in Wyoming. from a financial perspective this complexity requires multiple negotiated agreements with earnings profiles designed to match the risks and considerations for each resource type under our large power contract service tariff in wyoming Slide 10 illustrates our industry-leading dividend track record. slide 10 illustrates our industry-leading dividend track record In January, we increased our dividend, extending our track record of increases to 56 consecutive years in 2026, based on our current annualized dividend. We continue to target a 55%-65% payout ratio. A dependable and increasing dividend is an important component of our strategy to deliver long-term value for our shareholders. I will now turn the call over to Marne for a business update. In January, we increased our dividend, extending our track record of increases to 56 consecutive years in 2026, based on our current annualized dividend. in january we increased our dividend extending our track record of increases to 56 consecutive years in 2026 based on our current annualized dividend We continue to target a 55%-65% payout ratio. we continue to target a 55%-65% payout ratio A dependable and increasing dividend is an important component of our strategy to deliver long-term value for our shareholders. a dependable and increasing dividend is an important component of our strategy to deliver long-term value for our shareholders I will now turn the call over to Marne for a business update. i will now turn the call over to marne for a business update

Speaker 5: Thank you, Kimberly, good morning, everyone. I will provide an update on our current capital projects, discuss progress on our large load demand pipeline, and finish with a regulatory update. Moving to slide 12, our 99 MW Lange II generation construction project, which will serve our customers in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, continues on schedule and will be placed in service in the fourth quarter. The utility-owned natural gas-fired generation resource replaces aging generation facilities with modern Wärtsilä engines and supports updated reserve margin requirements. Recovery of this investment will be requested through the South Dakota Generation Rider, which we intend to file during the second quarter and our Wyoming rate review request filed earlier this year. Slide 13 outlines our Colorado Clean Energy Plan. Thank you, Kimberly, good morning, everyone. thank you kimberly good morning everyone I will provide an update on our current capital projects, discuss progress on our large load demand pipeline, and finish with a regulatory update. i will provide an update on our current capital projects discuss progress on our large load demand pipeline and finish with a regulatory update Moving to slide 12, our 99 MW Lange II generation construction project, which will serve our customers in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, continues on schedule and will be placed in service in the fourth quarter. moving to slide 12 our 99 mw lange ii generation construction project which will serve our customers in western south dakota and northeastern wyoming continues on schedule and will be placed in service in the fourth quarter The utility-owned natural gas- fire d generation resource replaces aging generation facilities with modern Wärtsilä engines and supports updated reserve margin requirements. the utility-owned natural gas- fire d generation resource replaces aging generation facilities with modern wärtsilä engines and supports updated reserve margin requirements Recovery of this investment will be requested through the South Dakota Generation Rider, which we intend to file during the second quarter and our Wyoming rate review request filed earlier this year. recovery of this investment will be requested through the south dakota generation rider which we intend to file during the second quarter and our wyoming rate review request filed earlier this year Slide 13 outlines our Colorado Clean Energy Plan. slide 13 outlines our colorado clean energy plan During the first quarter, construction continued on our utility-owned 50 MW battery storage project in Colorado to be completed and in service in late 2027. During the first quarter, we also signed a 200 MW PPA for solar resources to serve Colorado customers as previously approved by the Colorado PUC. Together, these resources support our progress towards the state's Clean Energy Plan with an emissions reduction goal of 80% by 2030. Slide 14 outlines our flexible service model for large load customers and our data center demand pipeline of more than three GW. Our unique tariff offers flexibility in how we serve large load customers, enables speed to market, and provides customer protections while benefiting our Wyoming customers. Our data center demand in the financial plan of 600 MW by 2030 is primarily driven by Microsoft and Meta's growth. During the first quarter, construction continued on our utility-owned 50 MW battery storage project in Colorado to be completed and in service in late 2027. during the first quarter construction continued on our utility-owned 50 mw battery storage project in colorado to be completed and in service in late 2027 During the first quarter, we also signed a 200 MW PPA for solar resources to serve Colorado customers as previously approved by the Colorado PUC. during the first quarter we also signed a 200 mw ppa for solar resources to serve colorado customers as previously approved by the colorado puc Together, these resources support our progress towards the state's Clean Energy Plan with an emissions reduction goal of 80% by 2030. together these resources support our progress towards the state's clean energy plan with an emissions reduction goal of 80% by 2030 Slide 14 outlines our flexible service model for large load customers and our data center demand pipeline of more than three GW. slide 14 outlines our flexible service model for large load customers and our data center demand pipeline of more than three gw Our unique tariff offers flexibility in how we serve large load customers, enables speed to market, and provides customer protections while benefiting our Wyoming customers. our unique tariff offers flexibility in how we serve large load customers enables speed to market and provides customer protections while benefiting our wyoming customers Our data center demand in the financial plan of 600 MW by 2030 is primarily driven by Microsoft and Meta's growth. our data center demand in the financial plan of 600 mw by 2030 is primarily driven by microsoft and meta's growth We have successfully served growing demand from Microsoft's hyperscale data centers for more than a decade through market energy procurement. Meta's new AI data center in Cheyenne is progressing, and we expect them to begin ramping later this year. We are prepared to serve these customers primarily through market energy and contracted resources requiring minimal capital investment. That said, we expect demand at or above 600 MW to drive the need for investments in generation and transmission infrastructure. We continue to make positive progress on additional opportunities and are advancing our negotiations with high-quality partners to serve more than 2.5 GW of large load requests. Specific to a 1.8 GW project in our pipeline, we are working through several agreements with counterparties that would ultimately support resources to serve this demand. We have successfully served growing demand from Microsoft's hyperscale data centers for more than a decade through market energy procurement. we have successfully served growing demand from microsoft's hyperscale data centers for more than a decade through market energy procurement Meta's new AI data center in Cheyenne is progressing, and we expect them to begin ramping later this year. meta's new ai data center in cheyenne is progressing and we expect them to begin ramping later this year We are prepared to serve these customers primarily through market energy and contracted resources requiring minimal capital investment. we are prepared to serve these customers primarily through market energy and contracted resources requiring minimal capital investment That said, we expect demand at or above 600 MW to drive the need for investments in generation and transmission infrastructure. that said we expect demand at or above 600 mw to drive the need for investments in generation and transmission infrastructure We continue to make positive progress on additional opportunities and are advancing our negotiations with high-quality partners to serve more than 2.5 GW of large load requests. we continue to make positive progress on additional opportunities and are advancing our negotiations with high-quality partners to serve more than 2.5 gw of large load requests Specific to a 1.8 GW project in our pipeline, we are working through several agreements with counterparties that would ultimately support resources to serve this demand. specific to a 1.8 gw project in our pipeline we are working through several agreements with counterparties that would ultimately support resources to serve this demand We continue to focus on the reliability and resiliency of the overall system and customer protections as we design a portfolio of resources to meet the needs of our prospective large load customer. As Linn mentioned, and I'm pleased to expand on, we have executed a short-term generation reservation agreement with this prospective customer for company-owned generation. The agreement provides for customer-funded milestone payments to support the long lead time generation equipment as part of the broader resource mix needed to serve the 1.8 GW project. To date, the customer has provided $201 million in refundable Contribution in Aid of Construction to secure this generation equipment through the term of the agreement. We continue to focus on the reliability and resiliency of the overall system and customer protections as we design a portfolio of resources to meet the needs of our prospective large load customer. we continue to focus on the reliability and resiliency of the overall system and customer protections as we design a portfolio of resources to meet the needs of our prospective large load customer As Linn mentioned, and I'm pleased to expand on, we have executed a short-term generation reservation agreement with this prospective customer for company-owned generation. as linn mentioned and i'm pleased to expand on we have executed a short-term generation reservation agreement with this prospective customer for company-owned generation The agreement provides for customer-funded milestone payments to support the long lead time generation equipment as part of the broader resource mix needed to serve the 1.8 GW project. the agreement provides for customer-funded milestone payments to support the long lead time generation equipment as part of the broader resource mix needed to serve the 1.8 gw project To date, the customer has provided $201 million in refundable Contribution in Aid of Construction to secure this generation equipment through the term of the agreement. to date the customer has provided $201 million in refundable contribution in aid of construction to secure this generation equipment through the term of the agreement In parallel, we continue to advance negotiations toward a long-term definitive agreement under which company-owned generation would be a component of the portfolio of resources serving the project, with the intent that this reservation agreement transitions the parties into a long-term definitive generation facilities agreement. As you would expect, a project of this size and complexity involves multiple parties and interrelated contractual components. We are carefully structuring these agreements to protect customers while appropriately managing operational and financial risk. Consistent with our normal practice, we will provide additional detail as definitive agreements are finalized. Now shifting to a regulatory update on slide 15. We continue to effectively execute on our regulatory plan with a cadence of three to four rate reviews per year across our eight-state service territory. In parallel, we continue to advance negotiations toward a long-term definitive agreement under which company-owned generation would be a component of the portfolio of resources serving the project, with the intent that this reservation agreement transitions the parties into a long-term definitive generation facilities agreement. in parallel we continue to advance negotiations toward a long-term definitive agreement under which company-owned generation would be a component of the portfolio of resources serving the project with the intent that this reservation agreement transitions the parties into a long-term definitive generation facilities agreement As you would expect, a project of this size and complexity involves multiple parties and interrelated contractual components. as you would expect a project of this size and complexity involves multiple parties and interrelated contractual components We are carefully structuring these agreements to protect customers while appropriately managing operational and financial risk. we are carefully structuring these agreements to protect customers while appropriately managing operational and financial risk Consistent with our normal practice, we will provide additional detail as definitive agreements are finalized. consistent with our normal practice we will provide additional detail as definitive agreements are finalized Now shifting to a regulatory update on slide 15. now shifting to a regulatory update on slide 15 We continue to effectively execute on our regulatory plan with a cadence of three to four rate reviews per year across our eight-state service territory. we continue to effectively execute on our regulatory plan with a cadence of three to four rate reviews per year across our eight-state service territory Our rate review filed last December for Arkansas Gas continues to progress, with new rates requested in the second half of this year. During the first quarter, we filed new rate review requests for South Dakota Electric. We are seeking recovery of our customer-focused investments and increased cost to serve customers in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming after holding our base rates stable for more than a decade. In South Dakota, we requested $50.6 million of new annual revenue based on a 10.5% ROE and a capital structure of 47% debt and 53% equity. The request seeks interim rates within 180 days of filing. In Wyoming, we requested $5.1 million of annual revenue based on a similar ROE and capital structure as was filed in South Dakota. Our rate review filed last December for Arkansas Gas continues to progress, with new rates requested in the second half of this year. our rate review filed last december for arkansas gas continues to progress with new rates requested in the second half of this year During the first quarter, we filed new rate review requests for South Dakota Electric. during the first quarter we filed new rate review requests for south dakota electric We are seeking recovery of our customer-focused investments and increased cost to serve customers in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming after holding our base rates stable for more than a decade. In South Dakota, we requested $50.6 million of new annual revenue based on a 10.5% ROE and a capital structure of 47% debt and 53% equity. we are seeking recovery of our customer-focused investments and increased cost to serve customers in western south dakota and northeastern wyoming after holding our base rates stable for more than a decade. in south dakota we requested $50.6 million of new annual revenue based on a 10.5% roe and a capital structure of 47% debt and 53% equity The request seeks interim rates within 180 days of filing. the request seeks interim rates within 180 days of filing In Wyoming, we requested $5.1 million of annual revenue based on a similar ROE and capital structure as was filed in South Dakota. in wyoming we requested $5.1 million of annual revenue based on a similar roe and capital structure as was filed in south dakota We also filed an abbreviated rate review in Kansas, as allowed by the Commission's prior order. The request seeks recovery of capital invested through 2025 at the previously agreed upon weighted average cost of capital, with rates requested early in the third quarter. Lastly, in South Dakota, wildfire liability legislation was enacted in March to be effective July 1st, 2026. Utilities in compliance with their wildfire plan filed with and published by the Commission will receive significant liability protections similar to legislation in Wyoming and Montana. In Wyoming, we are awaiting approval of our mitigation plan, which is expected in the second quarter. We also continue to support the development of similar legislation in Colorado. In summary, our team is focused on executing with excellence on our customer-focused strategy. We also filed an abbreviated rate review in Kansas, as allowed by the Commission's prior order. we also filed an abbreviated rate review in kansas as allowed by the commission's prior order The request seeks recovery of capital invested through 2025 at the previously agreed upon weighted average cost of capital, with rates requested early in the third quarter. the request seeks recovery of capital invested through 2025 at the previously agreed upon weighted average cost of capital with rates requested early in the third quarter Lastly, in South Dakota, wildfire liability legislation was enacted in March to be effective July 1st, 2026. lastly in south dakota wildfire liability legislation was enacted in march to be effective july 1st 2026 Utilities in compliance with their wildfire plan filed with and published by the Commission will receive significant liability protections similar to legislation in Wyoming and Montana. utilities in compliance with their wildfire plan filed with and published by the commission will receive significant liability protections similar to legislation in wyoming and montana In Wyoming, we are awaiting approval of our mitigation plan, which is expected in the second quarter. in wyoming we are awaiting approval of our mitigation plan which is expected in the second quarter We also continue to support the development of similar legislation in Colorado. we also continue to support the development of similar legislation in colorado In summary, our team is focused on executing with excellence on our customer-focused strategy. in summary our team is focused on executing with excellence on our customer-focused strategy From day-to-day maintenance and outage response to laying a new line to serve a neighborhood or business, we are ready to serve. We are strategically managing and expanding our infrastructure to serve the needs of our customers and actively working with new large load customers to make their plans a reality as their energy partner of choice. With that, I will now turn the call back to Linn. From day-to-day maintenance and outage response to laying a new line to serve a neighborhood or business, we are ready to serve. from day-to-day maintenance and outage response to laying a new line to serve a neighborhood or business we are ready to serve We are strategically managing and expanding our infrastructure to serve the needs of our customers and actively working with new large load customers to make their plans a reality as their energy partner of choice. we are strategically managing and expanding our infrastructure to serve the needs of our customers and actively working with new large load customers to make their plans a reality as their energy partner of choice With that, I will now turn the call back to Linn. with that i will now turn the call back to linn

Speaker 4: Thank you, Marne. To summarize what we've talked about today, we continue to make meaningful progress on our regulatory plan, our growth initiatives, and our strategic goals. Black Hills offers a compelling long-term value proposition driven by our customer-focused growth, competitive yield, and significant upside opportunities. Additionally, our planned merger with NorthWestern Energy will provide us with the advantages of increased scale and new opportunities as a larger and premier regional electric and natural gas utility company. Thank you for your interest and your trust in the Black Hills team as we partner to grow long-term value for our customers and stakeholders. This concludes our prepared remarks, and we're happy to take your questions. Thank you, Marne. thank you marne To summarize what we've talked about today, we continue to make meaningful progress on our regulatory plan, our growth initiatives, and our strategic goals. to summarize what we've talked about today we continue to make meaningful progress on our regulatory plan our growth initiatives and our strategic goals Black Hills offers a compelling long-term value proposition driven by our customer-focused growth, competitive yield, and significant upside opportunities. black hills offers a compelling long-term value proposition driven by our customer-focused growth competitive yield and significant upside opportunities Additionally, our planned merger with NorthWestern Energy will provide us with the advantages of increased scale and new opportunities as a larger and premier regional electric and natural gas utility company. additionally our planned merger with northwestern energy will provide us with the advantages of increased scale and new opportunities as a larger and premier regional electric and natural gas utility company Thank you for your interest and your trust in the Black Hills team as we partner to grow long-term value for our customers and stakeholders. thank you for your interest and your trust in the black hills team as we partner to grow long-term value for our customers and stakeholders This concludes our prepared remarks, and we're happy to take your questions. this concludes our prepared remarks and we're happy to take your questions

Speaker 6: Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. One moment for question. Our first question comes from Andrew Weisel with Scotiabank. You may proceed. Thank you. thank you As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. One moment for question. Our first question comes from Andrew Weisel with Scotiabank. as a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. to withdraw your question, please press star one one again. one moment for question. our first question comes from andrew weisel with scotiabank You may proceed. you may proceed

Speaker 1: Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Congrats. A lot of exciting updates here. My first question is regarding the agreement to reserve generation equipment for the data center customer. Forgive me, Marne, you ran through some details pretty quickly. I apologize if I missed some. I wanna make sure I got it all here. Did you say it was around $200 million of short-term deals for company-owned generation? So this would be utility-owned resources, falling into rate base and earning the typical 9.8% ROE. Did I get that right? Thanks. thanks Good morning, everyone. good morning everyone Congrats. congrats A lot of exciting updates here. a lot of exciting updates here My first question is regarding the agreement to reserve generation equipment for the data center customer. my first question is regarding the agreement to reserve generation equipment for the data center customer Forgive me, Marne, you ran through some details pretty quickly. forgive me marne you ran through some details pretty quickly I apologize if I missed some. i apologize if i missed some I wanna make sure I got it all here. i wanna make sure i got it all here Did you say it was around $200 million of short-term deals for company-owned generation? did you say it was around $200 million of short-term deals for company-owned generation So this would be utility-owned resources, falling into rate base and earning the typical 9.8% ROE. so this would be utility-owned resources falling into rate base and earning the typical 9.8% roe Did I get that right? did i get that right

Speaker 5: Good morning, Andrew. Yeah, this is Marne. I appreciate your question. If I ran through it a little fast, let's walk through a little bit of those details. Yes, it is a short-term agreement really meant to provide some financing or financing bridge as we think about serving long-term generation needs. Ultimately, we intend to put this into a company-owned generation facility that would have a longer-term agreement with that. When we talk about company-owned generation in a generation facilities agreement, maybe a little bit of a difference of how you described it. It would be specific to this ultimately end-use customer. We think about the rate base of that and the return of that based on that customer and the unique needs for that specific customer as we talk about risk-adjusted returns. Good morning, Andrew. good morning andrew Yeah, this is Marne. yeah this is marne I appreciate your question. i appreciate your question If I ran through it a little fast, let's walk through a little bit of those details. if i ran through it a little fast let's walk through a little bit of those details Yes, it is a short-term agreement really meant to provide some financing or financing bridge as we think about serving long-term generation needs. yes it is a short-term agreement really meant to provide some financing or financing bridge as we think about serving long-term generation needs Ultimately, we intend to put this into a company-owned generation facility that would have a longer-term agreement with that. ultimately we intend to put this into a company-owned generation facility that would have a longer-term agreement with that When we talk about company-owned generation in a generation facilities agreement, maybe a little bit of a difference of how you described it. when we talk about company-owned generation in a generation facilities agreement maybe a little bit of a difference of how you described it It would be specific to this ultimately end-use customer. it would be specific to this ultimately end-use customer We think about the rate base of that and the return of that based on that customer and the unique needs for that specific customer as we talk about risk-adjusted returns. we think about the rate base of that and the return of that based on that customer and the unique needs for that specific customer as we talk about risk-adjusted returns This would not be part of overall rate base for retail customers in Wyoming. This would not be part of overall rate base for retail customers in Wyoming. this would not be part of overall rate base for retail customers in wyoming

Speaker 1: This would still be that negotiated risk-adjusted, you know, not a standard formulaic. This would still be negotiated then. Is that right? This would still be that negotiated risk-adjusted, you know, not a standard formulaic. this would still be that negotiated risk-adjusted you know not a standard formulaic This would still be negotiated then. this would still be negotiated then Is that right? is that right

Speaker 5: Yes, it would be a negotiated rate. I would think about it more in the terms of a typical rate base. This would not be the same as our microgrid management fee. Yes, it would be a negotiated rate. yes it would be a negotiated rate I would think about it more in the terms of a typical rate base. i would think about it more in the terms of a typical rate base This would not be the same as our microgrid management fee. this would not be the same as our microgrid management fee

Speaker 1: Okay, that's helpful. Just so I understand, the short term is about the financing. The equipment would be utility-owned for the life of the asset. Is that what you're saying? Okay, that's helpful. okay that's helpful Just so I understand, the short term is about the financing. just so i understand the short term is about the financing The equipment would be utility-owned for the life of the asset. the equipment would be utility-owned for the life of the asset Is that what you're saying? is that what you're saying

Speaker 5: That is correct. That is correct. that is correct

Speaker 1: Yes. Yes. yes

Speaker 5: Just as a reminder, as we think about contracting these types of assets, and we talk about customer protections, through these negotiations, one thing we focus on is ensuring that we don't have stranded assets at the end of this, you know, the end of contracts, et cetera. This is not something that would ultimately be on the customers of Wyoming. This is all contracted through that long-term contract that we're negotiating. Just as a reminder, as we think about contracting these types of assets, and we talk about customer protections, through these negotiations, one thing we focus on is ensuring that we don't have stranded assets at the end of this, you know, the end of contracts, et cetera. just as a reminder as we think about contracting these types of assets and we talk about customer protections through these negotiations one thing we focus on is ensuring that we don't have stranded assets at the end of this you know the end of contracts et cetera This is not something that would ultimately be on the customers of Wyoming. this is not something that would ultimately be on the customers of wyoming This is all contracted through that long-term contract that we're negotiating. this is all contracted through that long-term contract that we're negotiating

Speaker 4: This is Linn, Andrew, and the $201 million that were received in the refundable CIAC, that's another way of protecting customers. It helps us protect our balance sheet in the interim while we are working with these customers to serve their large load. This is Linn, Andrew, and the $201 million that were received in the refundable CIAC, that's another way of protecting customers. It helps us protect our balance sheet in the interim while we are working with these customers to serve their large load. this is linn andrew and the $201 million that were received in the refundable ciac that's another way of protecting customers. it helps us protect our balance sheet in the interim while we are working with these customers to serve their large load

Speaker 1: Great. Very helpful. That $201 million, that's more about the financing. Are you able to give an indication of the size of the asset or assets in terms of megawatts? I mean, this isn't the full 1.8 GW, is it? Great. great Very helpful. very helpful That $201 million, that's more about the financing. that $201 million that's more about the financing Are you able to give an indication of the size of the asset or assets in terms of megawatts? are you able to give an indication of the size of the asset or assets in terms of megawatts I mean, this isn't the full 1.8 GW, is it? i mean this isn't the full 1.8 gw is it

Speaker 4: No, it is not. We're not yet ready to announce what kind of megawatts we would serve. We're still arguably working with the customer on that. We have a direction with them, but there are a few balls in the air. As soon as we can let you know that, we will, but to date, we're still negotiating that with our counterparty. No, it is not. no it is not We're not yet ready to announce what kind of megawatts we would serve. we're not yet ready to announce what kind of megawatts we would serve We're still arguably working with the customer on that. we're still arguably working with the customer on that We have a direction with them, but there are a few balls in the air. we have a direction with them but there are a few balls in the air As soon as we can let you know that, we will, but to date, we're still negotiating that with our counterparty. as soon as we can let you know that we will but to date we're still negotiating that with our counterparty

Speaker 1: Okay. Can you say big, medium or small? Okay. okay Can you say big, medium or small? can you say big medium or small

Speaker 4: Yes. Nice try. Nice try, Andrew. Yes. yes Nice try. nice try Nice try, Andrew. nice try andrew

Speaker 1: I had to try. Okay. One last one before I pass it over. In terms of the merger, congrats on the three settlements you got there. Does that accelerate the timeline for closing? I know you're still pointing to the second half, can you get a little more specific? Do these help speed things up? Subsequent to closing, do you and your friends at NorthWestern plan on hosting some sort of Investor Day or something like that to present the outlook for the combined company later this year? I had to try. i had to try Okay. okay One last one before I pass it over. one last one before i pass it over In terms of the merger, congrats on the three settlements you got there. in terms of the merger congrats on the three settlements you got there Does that accelerate the timeline for closing? does that accelerate the timeline for closing I know you're still pointing to the second half, can you get a little more specific? i know you're still pointing to the second half can you get a little more specific Do these help speed things up? do these help speed things up Subsequent to closing, do you and your friends at NorthWestern plan on hosting some sort of Investor Day or something like that to present the outlook for the combined company later this year? subsequent to closing do you and your friends at northwestern plan on hosting some sort of investor day or something like that to present the outlook for the combined company later this year

Speaker 4: I would say it this way, Andrew. Settlements are always helpful. We have a hearing next week in Montana. We'll see how that goes. We've had our hearing on the settlement, a full settlement in Nebraska, and we have hearings scheduled next month in South Dakota. Will it speed it up? No, but it certainly didn't slow it down, and I think it gives some nice solid foundation for which the regulators can use as they consider this merger and ultimately approve it, we hope. With respect to a combined Investor Day, I'm the exiting CEO, so I'll be cautious there to commit someone else. It may be a good idea. We shall see. I would say it this way, Andrew. i would say it this way andrew Settlements are always helpful. settlements are always helpful We have a hearing next week in Montana. we have a hearing next week in montana We'll see how that goes. we'll see how that goes We've had our hearing on the settlement, a full settlement in Nebraska, and we have hearings scheduled next month in South Dakota. we've had our hearing on the settlement a full settlement in nebraska and we have hearings scheduled next month in south dakota Will it speed it up? will it speed it up No, but it certainly didn't slow it down, and I think it gives some nice solid foundation for which the regulators can use as they consider this merger and ultimately approve it, we hope. no but it certainly didn't slow it down and i think it gives some nice solid foundation for which the regulators can use as they consider this merger and ultimately approve it we hope With respect to a combined Investor Day, I'm the exiting CEO, so I'll be cautious there to commit someone else. with respect to a combined investor day i'm the exiting ceo so i'll be cautious there to commit someone else It may be a good idea. it may be a good idea We shall see. we shall see

Speaker 1: Fair enough. Thank you so much. Fair enough. fair enough Thank you so much. thank you so much

Speaker 4: Thank you, Andrew. Thank you, Andrew. thank you andrew

Speaker 6: Thank you. Our next question comes from Chris Ellinghaus with Siebert Williams Shank. You may proceed. Thank you. thank you Our next question comes from Chris Ellinghaus with Siebert Williams Shank. our next question comes from chris ellinghaus with siebert williams shank You may proceed. you may proceed

Speaker 2: Hey, good morning, everybody. Kimberly, this was a monumental weather impact, but you didn't adjust guidance at all. Can you give us any color on what you're thinking about for offsets? Hey, good morning, everybody. hey good morning everybody Kimberly, this was a monumental weather impact, but you didn't adjust guidance at all. kimberly this was a monumental weather impact but you didn't adjust guidance at all Can you give us any color on what you're thinking about for offsets? can you give us any color on what you're thinking about for offsets

Speaker 3: Yeah. Maybe just to level set, you know, looking back in any given year, we've had some pretty impactful favor and unfavorable weather swings. Specifically in Black Hills' history, you know, we've had more significant unfavorable impacts. When I look back, it was around Q4 2021. My point to all of that is that, you know, we're used to experiencing these types of impacts and, as you noted, we are reaffirming guidance, and we'll continue to manage the business to ensure that we're, you know, focused on mitigating risks while achieving our financial objectives. Just like any other utility, we'll be focusing on ensuring we're optimizing our O&M and the timing of our capital investments. That'll be our strategy. Yeah. yeah Maybe just to level set, you know, looking back in any given year, we've had some pretty impactful favor and unfavorable weather swings. maybe just to level set you know looking back in any given year we've had some pretty impactful favor and unfavorable weather swings Specifically in Black Hills' history, you know, we've had more significant unfavorable impacts. specifically in black hills' history you know we've had more significant unfavorable impacts When I look back, it was around Q4 2021. when i look back it was around q4 2021 My point to all of that is that, you know, we're used to experiencing these types of impacts and, as you noted, we are reaffirming guidance, and we'll continue to manage the business to ensure that we're, you know, focused on mitigating risks while achieving our financial objectives. my point to all of that is that you know we're used to experiencing these types of impacts and as you noted we are reaffirming guidance and we'll continue to manage the business to ensure that we're you know focused on mitigating risks while achieving our financial objectives Just like any other utility, we'll be focusing on ensuring we're optimizing our O&M and the timing of our capital investments. just like any other utility we'll be focusing on ensuring we're optimizing our o&m and the timing of our capital investments That'll be our strategy. that'll be our strategy

Speaker 4: Well, well, well, that was a good answer. This is Linn. I would suggest that during the fourth quarter of last year, we had pretty mild weather. You might remember that, Chris. As a team, as across the whole organization, we kinda continued to lean in to the challenge of warm weather into the first quarter, which helped us as well. This is a chance for me to say thank you to our team. They've really done a wonderful job of ensuring that we hit our targets. Well, well, well, that was a good answer. well well well that was a good answer This is Linn. this is linn I would suggest that during the fourth quarter of last year, we had pretty mild weather. i would suggest that during the fourth quarter of last year we had pretty mild weather You might remember that, Chris. you might remember that chris As a team, as across the whole organization, we kinda continued to lean in to the challenge of warm weather into the first quarter, which helped us as well. as a team as across the whole organization we kinda continued to lean in to the challenge of warm weather into the first quarter which helped us as well This is a chance for me to say thank you to our team. this is a chance for me to say thank you to our team They've really done a wonderful job of ensuring that we hit our targets. they've really done a wonderful job of ensuring that we hit our targets

Speaker 2: Along those lines, you have had some pretty unfavorable weather, particularly in the first and fourth quarters. Do you see sort of a longer term pattern of, I don't know how to phrase it, but sort of filling in the bowl that you guys have for an earnings shape where you see more loads headed into the middle of the year and maybe out of the first and fourth quarter? Is that something that you're sort of contemplating as a reality today? Along those lines, you have had some pretty unfavorable weather, particularly in the first and fourth quarters. along those lines you have had some pretty unfavorable weather particularly in the first and fourth quarters Do you see sort of a longer term pattern of, I don't know how to phrase it, but sort of filling in the bowl that you guys have for an earnings shape where you see more loads headed into the middle of the year and maybe out of the first and fourth quarter? do you see sort of a longer term pattern of i don't know how to phrase it but sort of filling in the bowl that you guys have for an earnings shape where you see more loads headed into the middle of the year and maybe out of the first and fourth quarter Is that something that you're sort of contemplating as a reality today? is that something that you're sort of contemplating as a reality today

Speaker 3: Chris, based on the fact that we have a balanced mix of electric and gas resources, Q1 and Q4 have always been our most impactful. This isn't unique. One of the things that we have done over the past few years is really do look-backs on weather impacts and how we think about assessing those in the financials. I don't know that we're doing anything different. We're obviously very cognizant of it. We're paying attention to it, and we're sure we're ensuring that we're incorporating those types of impacts into our future strategies. Are we drastically changing our business model? No, we're not. Chris, based on the fact that we have a balanced mix of electric and gas resources, Q1 and Q4 have always been our most impactful. chris based on the fact that we have a balanced mix of electric and gas resources q1 and q4 have always been our most impactful This isn't unique. this isn't unique One of the things that we have done over the past few years is really do look-backs on weather impacts and how we think about assessing those in the financials. one of the things that we have done over the past few years is really do look-backs on weather impacts and how we think about assessing those in the financials I don't know that we're doing anything different. i don't know that we're doing anything different We're obviously very cognizant of it. we're obviously very cognizant of it We're paying attention to it, and we're sure we're ensuring that we're incorporating those types of impacts into our future strategies. we're paying attention to it and we're sure we're ensuring that we're incorporating those types of impacts into our future strategies Are we drastically changing our business model? are we drastically changing our business model No, we're not. no we're not

Speaker 4: I'd say we're also working closely with our regulators for weather normalization. As you might recall, Chris, we have a pilot we're doing in Nebraska this year that was helpful this quarter and fourth quarter of last year. I'd also say it could be a benefit of the large load customers. They're high power factor customers, and to the extent, that would be another benefit to our other customers to kind of smooth out our earnings, if you will, through the year. I think that's something we're working on too. I'd say we're also working closely with our regulators for weather normalization. i'd say we're also working closely with our regulators for weather normalization As you might recall, Chris, we have a pilot we're doing in Nebraska this year that was helpful this quarter and fourth quarter of last year. as you might recall chris we have a pilot we're doing in nebraska this year that was helpful this quarter and fourth quarter of last year I'd also say it could be a benefit of the large load customers. i'd also say it could be a benefit of the large load customers They're high power factor customers, and to the extent, that would be another benefit to our other customers to kind of smooth out our earnings, if you will, through the year. they're high power factor customers and to the extent that would be another benefit to our other customers to kind of smooth out our earnings if you will through the year I think that's something we're working on too. i think that's something we're working on too

Speaker 2: Yeah. Linn, you're the expert on data centers in Wyoming, so maybe you can shoo me off of this question too. There's been a lot of difficulties with that data center. Can you give us some color on what's happening locally? I know there's been some efforts politically to try to move that along. Can you give us some sense of what some of the hold-ups are locally? Yeah. yeah Linn, you're the expert on data centers in Wyoming, so maybe you can shoo me off of this question too. linn you're the expert on data centers in wyoming so maybe you can shoo me off of this question too There's been a lot of difficulties with that data center. there's been a lot of difficulties with that data center Can you give us some color on what's happening locally? can you give us some color on what's happening locally I know there's been some efforts politically to try to move that along. i know there's been some efforts politically to try to move that along Can you give us some sense of what some of the hold-ups are locally? can you give us some sense of what some of the hold-ups are locally

Speaker 4: Chris, I guess my challenge to your fact pattern, I suppose. Yes, there are some, a few customers, if you will, local entities that might be a little bit, or they're asking that the commissions take caution about the data centers. On the other hand, we're also seeing initiatives by local folks to actually accelerate permitting, if you will. It's kind of a balance going on there. For us, in the data centers that we are working on, frankly, we're not seeing any slowdown due to decisions or permits or anything of that nature. All of ours are currently right on track. In fact, CPCNs, et cetera, are being granted. Local permits are being granted, et cetera. Chris, I guess my challenge to your fact pattern, I suppose. chris i guess my challenge to your fact pattern i suppose Yes, there are some, a few customers, if you will, local entities that might be a little bit, or they're asking that the commissions take caution about the data centers. yes there are some a few customers if you will local entities that might be a little bit or they're asking that the commissions take caution about the data centers On the other hand, we're also seeing initiatives by local folks to actually accelerate permitting, if you will. on the other hand we're also seeing initiatives by local folks to actually accelerate permitting if you will It's kind of a balance going on there. it's kind of a balance going on there For us, in the data centers that we are working on, frankly, we're not seeing any slowdown due to decisions or permits or anything of that nature. for us in the data centers that we are working on frankly we're not seeing any slowdown due to decisions or permits or anything of that nature All of ours are currently right on track. all of ours are currently right on track In fact, CPCNs, et cetera, are being granted. in fact cpcns et cetera are being granted Local permits are being granted, et cetera. local permits are being granted et cetera I think we're actually in nice shape with the customers that we are currently dealing with. I think we're actually in nice shape with the customers that we are currently dealing with. i think we're actually in nice shape with the customers that we are currently dealing with

Speaker 2: Okay. Along the same lines, have you got a sense at all of when you might file a CPCN for generation? Okay. okay Along the same lines, have you got a sense at all of when you might file a CPCN for generation? along the same lines have you got a sense at all of when you might file a cpcn for generation

Speaker 4: I'm gonna let Marne address that issue. I'm gonna let Marne address that issue. i'm gonna let marne address that issue

Speaker 5: Yeah, Chris. As I mentioned, you know, we've got the short-term reservation agreement, which we would ultimately like to see into a long-term definitive agreement for generation. Once those agreements are in place, and it's not just the generation, but really all the agreements that are needed, is when we would expect to see a CPCN for generation. Yeah, Chris. yeah chris As I mentioned, you know, we've got the short-term reservation agreement, which we would ultimately like to see into a long-term definitive agreement for generation. as i mentioned you know we've got the short-term reservation agreement which we would ultimately like to see into a long-term definitive agreement for generation Once those agreements are in place, and it's not just the generation, but really all the agreements that are needed, is when we would expect to see a CPCN for generation. once those agreements are in place and it's not just the generation but really all the agreements that are needed is when we would expect to see a cpcn for generation

Speaker 2: Okay. I'm not trying to figure out what the size is, but can you talk about what type of generation that you guys are pursuing? Okay. okay I'm not trying to figure out what the size is, but can you talk about what type of generation that you guys are pursuing? i'm not trying to figure out what the size is but can you talk about what type of generation that you guys are pursuing

Speaker 5: We are looking at obviously the reservation is for those long lead time, you know, equipment items. We're looking at certainly gas engines, transformers. You know, dispatchable generation will be really important. We are looking at obviously the reservation is for those long lead time, you know, equipment items. we are looking at obviously the reservation is for those long lead time you know equipment items We're looking at certainly gas engines, transformers. we're looking at certainly gas engines transformers You know, dispatchable generation will be really important. you know dispatchable generation will be really important

Speaker 2: Okay. One last thing. In Montana and South Dakota, have you got a sense of what to expect for the duration of those two hearings? Okay. okay One last thing. one last thing In Montana and South Dakota, have you got a sense of what to expect for the duration of those two hearings? in montana and south dakota have you got a sense of what to expect for the duration of those two hearings

Speaker 5: Yes, I can. This is, Chris, it's Marne again. I can talk a little bit. We are scheduled next week in Montana for a Tuesday through Friday hearing, I believe. The South Dakota, I would have to subject to check, but I think it's scheduled for two or three days as well in June. Yes, I can. yes i can This is, Chris, it's Marne again. this is chris it's marne again I can talk a little bit. i can talk a little bit We are scheduled next week in Montana for a Tuesday through Friday hearing, I believe. we are scheduled next week in montana for a tuesday through friday hearing i believe The South Dakota, I would have to subject to check, but I think it's scheduled for two or three days as well in June. the south dakota i would have to subject to check but i think it's scheduled for two or three days as well in june

Speaker 4: That's correct. That's correct. that's correct

Speaker 2: Okay. I don't recall Montana ever accomplishing anything in four days. That would be some kind of record. Okay. okay I don't recall Montana ever accomplishing anything in four days. i don't recall montana ever accomplishing anything in four days That would be some kind of record. that would be some kind of record

Speaker 5: Well, I think, you know, as it was mentioned earlier, you know, we have reached a lot of settlements. We don't have full settlement in Montana, but we have reached a lot of settlements. I think that that really bodes for hopefully a much more efficient process given those settlements. Well, I think, you know, as it was mentioned earlier, you know, we have reached a lot of settlements. well i think you know as it was mentioned earlier you know we have reached a lot of settlements We don't have full settlement in Montana, but we have reached a lot of settlements. we don't have full settlement in montana but we have reached a lot of settlements I think that that really bodes for hopefully a much more efficient process given those settlements. i think that that really bodes for hopefully a much more efficient process given those settlements

Speaker 2: You are a great optimist, Marne. You are a great optimist, Marne. you are a great optimist marne

Speaker 4: We are. Yes, we are. We are. we are Yes, we are. yes we are

Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you for the color. Appreciate it. Okay. okay Thank you for the color. thank you for the color Appreciate it. appreciate it

Speaker 4: Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Chris. thank you chris

Speaker 5: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 6: Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone. Our next question comes from Paul Fremont with Ladenburg Thalmann. You may proceed. Thank you. thank you As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone. as a reminder to ask a question please press star one one on your telephone Our next question comes from Paul Fremont with Ladenburg Thalmann. our next question comes from paul fremont with ladenburg thalmann You may proceed. you may proceed

Speaker 7: Thanks. I guess my first question really has to do with the short-term reservation agreement, I guess is for $200 million. If the project were to move forward, is that sort of the aggregate amount that you would contemplate spending? If not, how large an investment would you contemplate? Thanks. thanks I guess my first question really has to do with the short-term reservation agreement, I guess is for $200 million. i guess my first question really has to do with the short-term reservation agreement i guess is for $200 million If the project were to move forward, is that sort of the aggregate amount that you would contemplate spending? if the project were to move forward is that sort of the aggregate amount that you would contemplate spending If not, how large an investment would you contemplate? if not how large an investment would you contemplate

Speaker 3: Hey, Paul. Good morning. I'll start and my team members can fill in. This is really, as noted, a reservation agreement. These are milestone payments associated to procuring the actual investments that Marne mentioned. This is really what we think about as a bridge agreement to ensure that we maintain, you know, balance sheet strength through this period until we get to definitive agreements and we're able to start constructing. We're really not talking about the size yet because we're still in negotiations. Obviously we will be contemplating the right financing strategy overall. We really haven't given the magnitude of the project beyond 1.8 GW and the fact that it'll be served with a variety of mix of resources. That's really where we're at in our process. Hey, Paul. hey paul Good morning. good morning I'll start and my team members can fill in. i'll start and my team members can fill in This is really, as noted, a reservation agreement. this is really as noted a reservation agreement These are milestone payments associated to procuring the actual investments that Marne mentioned. these are milestone payments associated to procuring the actual investments that marne mentioned This is really what we think about as a bridge agreement to ensure that we maintain, you know, balance sheet strength through this period until we get to definitive agreements and we're able to start constructing. this is really what we think about as a bridge agreement to ensure that we maintain you know balance sheet strength through this period until we get to definitive agreements and we're able to start constructing We're really not talking about the size yet because we're still in negotiations. we're really not talking about the size yet because we're still in negotiations Obviously we will be contemplating the right financing strategy overall. obviously we will be contemplating the right financing strategy overall We really haven't given the magnitude of the project beyond 1.8 GW and the fact that it'll be served with a variety of mix of resources. we really haven't given the magnitude of the project beyond 1.8 gw and the fact that it'll be served with a variety of mix of resources That's really where we're at in our process. that's really where we're at in our process

Speaker 7: Should we think of the $200 million as extending through some period in time? In other words, would this be, you know, the next three or four years of spend or the next two years of spend? Should we think of the $200 million as extending through some period in time? should we think of the $200 million as extending through some period in time In other words, would this be, you know, the next three or four years of spend or the next two years of spend? in other words would this be you know the next three or four years of spend or the next two years of spend

Speaker 4: The reservation payments are the payments that we are actually making to these suppliers, and we are being reimbursed by the customer that we are negotiating with as part of that agreement, Paul. That's where this $201 million come from. That's what we are paying to hold these resources in place so that we can put them in service for a customer. It's short-term through June 30th. I encourage our shareholders and analysts to think about, or our stakeholders to think about in terms of June 30th. While it is a deadline that we're working toward as an organization, if we don't announce something by June thirtieth, please don't assume that that does not mean that we're going to have an agreement with this customer. That's a milestone that we're working to achieve. The reservation payments are the payments that we are actually making to these suppliers, and we are being reimbursed by the customer that we are negotiating with as part of that agreement, Paul. the reservation payments are the payments that we are actually making to these suppliers and we are being reimbursed by the customer that we are negotiating with as part of that agreement paul That's where this $201 million come from. that's where this $201 million come from That's what we are paying to hold these resources in place so that we can put them in service for a customer. that's what we are paying to hold these resources in place so that we can put them in service for a customer It's short-term through June 30th. it's short-term through june 30th I encourage our shareholders and analysts to think about, or our stakeholders to think about in terms of June 30th. i encourage our shareholders and analysts to think about or our stakeholders to think about in terms of june 30th While it is a deadline that we're working toward as an organization, if we don't announce something by June thirtieth, please don't assume that that does not mean that we're going to have an agreement with this customer. while it is a deadline that we're working toward as an organization if we don't announce something by june thirtieth please don't assume that that does not mean that we're going to have an agreement with this customer That's a milestone that we're working to achieve. that's a milestone that we're working to achieve

Speaker 7: I guess according to the AEP conference call, it sounded like, if there's nothing in place by June 30th, there's like another six-month extension, in terms of taking the Bloom equipment. Should we assume that December 31 is sort of an absolute date by which the parties need to reach an agreement? I guess according to the AEP conference call, it sounded like, if there's nothing in place by June 30th, there's like another six-month extension, in terms of taking the Bloom equipment. i guess according to the aep conference call it sounded like if there's nothing in place by june 30th there's like another six-month extension in terms of taking the bloom equipment Should we assume that December 31 is sort of an absolute date by which the parties need to reach an agreement? should we assume that december 31 is sort of an absolute date by which the parties need to reach an agreement

Speaker 4: I don't know that it would be an absolute date. We certainly work toward getting our contracts in place by then, but I would not see it as an absolute date. To date, the parties are working very well together and extending things by mutual agreement. These are complex agreement with lots of parties. We wanna get it right, especially us at Black Hills Energy. We have to get it right on behalf of all of our customer base to ensure we have the best deal we can to serve these customers as appropriately as possible. Again, I don't think we have hard, fast dates, although we both know that the time, value of money, et cetera, we need to work efficiently, and we are. I don't know that it would be an absolute date. i don't know that it would be an absolute date We certainly work toward getting our contracts in place by then, but I would not see it as an absolute date. we certainly work toward getting our contracts in place by then but i would not see it as an absolute date To date, the parties are working very well together and extending things by mutual agreement. to date the parties are working very well together and extending things by mutual agreement These are complex agreement with lots of parties. these are complex agreement with lots of parties We wanna get it right, especially us at Black Hills Energy. we wanna get it right especially us at black hills energy We have to get it right on behalf of all of our customer base to ensure we have the best deal we can to serve these customers as appropriately as possible. we have to get it right on behalf of all of our customer base to ensure we have the best deal we can to serve these customers as appropriately as possible Again, I don't think we have hard, fast dates, although we both know that the time, value of money, et cetera, we need to work efficiently, and we are. again i don't think we have hard fast dates although we both know that the time value of money et cetera we need to work efficiently and we are

Speaker 7: Is any of the CapEx related to this one point to this project? Would that be significantly additive to the current compound annual growth rate? Also, if you need to build more resources for this, who should we assume will provide the funding? Is it incremental CapEx going to be 50% equity funded? Is any of the CapEx related to this one point to this project? is any of the capex related to this one point to this project Would that be significantly additive to the current compound annual growth rate? would that be significantly additive to the current compound annual growth rate Also, if you need to build more resources for this, who should we assume will provide the funding? also if you need to build more resources for this who should we assume will provide the funding Is it incremental CapEx going to be 50% equity funded? is it incremental capex going to be 50% equity funded

Speaker 5: Paul, I'll kick this off, and then I'll turn it over to Kimberly as well. When we talk about CapEx, we have 600 MW of load in our current five-year plan that ties back into our CapEx, the $4.7 billion. Anything above that, which this project would be above and beyond that's part of the pipeline that's not included in our current plan, would be additive to our overall capital investment opportunity. If we needed to build more resources, whether it would be generation or transmission, both of those really would be additive to what we currently have in the plan. I'll turn it over to Kim to talk about the financing side of it. Paul, I'll kick this off, and then I'll turn it over to Kimberly as well. paul i'll kick this off and then i'll turn it over to kimberly as well When we talk about CapEx, we have 600 MW of load in our current five-year plan that ties back into our CapEx, the $4.7 billion. when we talk about capex we have 600 mw of load in our current five-year plan that ties back into our capex the $4.7 billion Anything above that, which this project would be above and beyond that's part of the pipeline that's not included in our current plan, would be additive to our overall capital investment opportunity. anything above that which this project would be above and beyond that's part of the pipeline that's not included in our current plan would be additive to our overall capital investment opportunity If we needed to build more resources, whether it would be generation or transmission, both of those really would be additive to what we currently have in the plan. if we needed to build more resources whether it would be generation or transmission both of those really would be additive to what we currently have in the plan I'll turn it over to Kim to talk about the financing side of it. i'll turn it over to kim to talk about the financing side of it

Speaker 3: Yeah, Paul. Your question regarding how would we think about financing, it's really under the overarching perspective that we wanna maintain credit quality. We've set our credit quality targets of 14%-15% FFO to debt, maintaining our debt to total cap at 55% or below. That's really the guiding principle. To your point, obviously, we would think about this as a utility-like investment with a utility-like cap structure in the range that you're noting. That's how we're thinking about it. Yeah, Paul. yeah paul Your question regarding how would we think about financing, it's really under the overarching perspective that we wanna maintain credit quality. your question regarding how would we think about financing it's really under the overarching perspective that we wanna maintain credit quality We've set our credit quality targets of 14%-15% FFO to debt, maintaining our debt to total cap at 55% or below. we've set our credit quality targets of 14%-15% ffo to debt maintaining our debt to total cap at 55% or below That's really the guiding principle. that's really the guiding principle To your point, obviously, we would think about this as a utility-like investment with a utility-like cap structure in the range that you're noting. to your point obviously we would think about this as a utility-like investment with a utility-like cap structure in the range that you're noting That's how we're thinking about it. that's how we're thinking about it

Speaker 7: Great. I think that's it. I think that's it in terms of questions. Great. great I think that's it. i think that's it I think that's it in terms of questions. i think that's it in terms of questions

Speaker 4: Thank you, Paul. Thank you, Paul. thank you paul

Speaker 5: Paul. Paul. paul

Speaker 3: Thank you, Paul. Thank you, Paul. thank you paul

Speaker 4: Appreciate your questions. Appreciate your questions. appreciate your questions

Speaker 6: Thank you. I would now like to turn the call back over to Linn Evans for any closing remarks. Thank you. thank you I would now like to turn the call back over to Linn Evans for any closing remarks. i would now like to turn the call back over to linn evans for any closing remarks

Speaker 4: Thank you very much for participating in our call today, for your interest in Black Hills. We have a compelling long-term value proposition. Hope you're starting to see that develop through our comments today and the responses to our questions. Once again, I wanna thank our team. Thank you for leaning in so hard, doing it safely, and doing so well to serve our customers as well as you do. I'm grateful for that. We're grateful for that. I encourage you to have a Black Hills Energy safe day. Thanks for joining our call. Thank you very much for participating in our call today, for your interest in Black Hills. thank you very much for participating in our call today for your interest in black hills We have a compelling long-term value proposition. we have a compelling long-term value proposition Hope you're starting to see that develop through our comments today and the responses to our questions. hope you're starting to see that develop through our comments today and the responses to our questions Once again, I wanna thank our team. once again i wanna thank our team Thank you for leaning in so hard, doing it safely, and doing so well to serve our customers as well as you do. thank you for leaning in so hard doing it safely and doing so well to serve our customers as well as you do I'm grateful for that. i'm grateful for that We're grateful for that. we're grateful for that I encourage you to have a Black Hills Energy safe day. i encourage you to have a black hills energy safe day Thanks for joining our call. thanks for joining our call

Speaker 6: Thank you. This concludes the conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Thank you. thank you This concludes the conference. this concludes the conference Thank you for your participation. thank you for your participation You may now disconnect. you may now disconnect