NiSource Inc.
Q1 2013 Earnings Call Transcript

Published:

  • Operator:
    Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the quarter 1 2013 NiSource Earnings Conference Call. My name is Patrick, and I will be your coordinator for today. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Glen Kettering, Senior Vice President of corporate affairs. Please proceed, sir.
  • Glen L. Kettering:
    Thank you, Patrick, and good morning, everyone. On behalf of NiSource, I'd like to welcome you to our quarterly analyst call. Joining me this morning are Bob Skaggs, President and Chief Executive Officer; Steve Smith, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Randy Hulen, Managing Director of Investor Relations. The focus of today's call is to review our financial performance for the first quarter of 2013 and to provide a business update. We'll then open the call to your questions. At times during the call, we will refer to the supplemental slides available on nisource.com. I'd like to remind you that some of the statements made on this conference call will be forward-looking and those statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the statements. Information concerning those risks and uncertainties is included in the MD&A and Risk Factors sections of our periodic SEC filings. And now, I'd like to turn the call over to Bob Skaggs.
  • Robert C. Skaggs:
    Thanks, Glen, and good morning, and thanks for joining us. For today's agenda, we'll touch on key highlights from another solid quarter. We'll discuss our financial results and our operational highlights from each of our business units and then we'll open the call to your questions. Let's start on slide 3 in the supplemental deck that was posted online this morning. As we noted in this morning's press release, in just a few months, the NiSource team has made significant progress on a number of fronts
  • Operator:
    [Operator Instructions] And your first question comes from the line of Charles Fishman with Morningstar.
  • Charles J. Fishman:
    Bob, does that new Indiana legislation -- does that cover gas distribution, too?
  • Robert C. Skaggs:
    It covers gas distribution for the enhancements in the process and also for extensions of gas facilities into underserved areas.
  • Charles J. Fishman:
    Okay. And then like if I look at -- there was a slide, which one is it? I'm sorry. It showed like future transmission projects, here it is, Slide 14 for NIPSCO. I assume some of that, if not all of it, is under FERC, but would that kind of a thing be covered too under the new legislation?
  • Robert C. Skaggs:
    No. The legislation is primarily distribution-oriented and what I would call more routine transmission modernization as opposed to large-scale expansions or a greenfield construction of transmission. Those sorts of major projects, let's say, are the jurisdiction of MISO and, ultimately, FERC approval.
  • Charles J. Fishman:
    Okay. So then like -- one other, following on with that. So like the AMR meters, those would be that tight even though that might be too early for this?
  • Robert C. Skaggs:
    Too early for that. And that's going ultimately be recovered via rate case process or proceeding.
  • Charles J. Fishman:
    But if you installed more of those AMR meters, that would be covered under the new legislation, correct?
  • Robert C. Skaggs:
    Frankly, Charles, great question. I don't know about that issue, specifically. What I would say, I think as a good baseline is, we and the other utilities are going to have to file a 7-year program of activity. Now the Commission's going to review that program, stakeholders are going to review that program and, ultimately, have a sign-off on the composition of that program. So I think that's going to be the venue, if you will, or vehicle, that's going to be more determinative of what sort of investment and activity is in or is out.
  • Operator:
    [Operator Instructions]
  • Robert C. Skaggs:
    All right, Patrick, we know it's a busy day out there in the market. We certainly, again, appreciate everybody's interest. And I'm certain we're going to field follow-up questions later. So again, thank you for your interest. Thanks for your support. We'll see you soon.
  • Operator:
    Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.

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