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Text: Slides for today's call are available on nisource.com.
Before turning the call over to Joe, Donald and Shawn, just a quick reminder.
Information concerning such risks and uncertainties is included in the MD&A and Risk Factors sections of our periodic SEC filings.
With the successful completion of last month's convertible issuance, NiSource is well-positioned to execute the next stage of our growth plan, driven by safety and asset modernization programs, as well as our electric generation transmission strategy.
In Indiana, we kicked off our 2021 Integrated Resource Plan process, which will inform our strategy beyond 2023 and we initiated four new renewable energy projects.
We continue to expect that our infrastructure and generation investments will drive compound annual growth of 7% to 9% in diluted net operating earnings per share from the midpoint of our narrowed 2021 guidance through 2024.
We also expect to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 90% by 2030.
Let's turn now to slide 3 and take a closer look at our key takeaways.
In the first quarter, we delivered non-GAAP diluted net operating earnings of $0.77 per share.
These results include increased earnings from our safety and modernization investments and reflect the profile of our business without Columbia Gas of Massachusetts.
As you saw in our release, today we narrowed our 2021 non-GAAP diluted net operating earnings guidance to a $1.32 to a $1.36 per share, which represents the upper half of the previous range.
This narrowed range reflects lower than previously expected COVID impacts and more certainty with regulatory outcomes offset by slightly higher diluted share count resulting from the equity unit issuance.
We expect to make approximately $10 billion in capital investments through 2024.
These include annual investments of $1.9 billion to $2.2 billion in growth, safety and modernization programs.
In addition, our investments in renewable generation are now expected to total approximately $2 billion over this period.
As we outlined at our 2020 Investor Day, NiSource expects to grow its diluted net operating earnings per share by 7% to 9% on a compound annual growth rate basis from 2021 through 2024 including near-term annual growth of 5% to 7% through 2023.
In addition, we have continued to successfully execute on our renewable energy strategy adding four new renewable energy projects as part of our Your Energy, Your Future initiative.
Looking at our first quarter 2021 results in slide 4, we had non-GAAP net operating earnings of about $305 million or $0.77 per diluted share compared to non-GAAP net operating earnings of about $291 million or $0.76 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2020.
I would note that 2021 results exclude earnings related to Columbia Gas of Massachusetts or CMA due to the sale closing in October of 2020.
Looking more closely at our segment three-month non-GAAP results on slide 5, gas distribution operating earnings were about $374 million for the quarter, representing a decline of approximately $18 million versus last year.
Operating revenues, net of the cost of energy and tracked expenses were down about $84 million due to the sale of CMA, partially offset by increased infrastructure program revenues and customer growth.
Operating expenses also net of the cost of energy and tracked expenses were lower by about $66 million, mostly due to the CMA sale and lower employee-related costs, partially offset by increased depreciation and amortization expense.
In our Electric segment, three-month non-GAAP operating earnings were about $91 million, which was approximately $11 million higher than the first quarter of 2020.
This increase was driven primarily by an approximately $9 million increase in operating revenues, net of the cost of energy and tracked expenses due to infrastructure investments and increased customer usage.
Operating expenses net of the cost of energy and tracked expenses were slightly lower due to environmental and employee-related cost.
Now, turning to slide 6, I'd like to briefly touch on our debt and credit profile.
Our debt level as of March 31 was about $9.8 billion, of which about $9.1 billion was long-term debt.
The weighted average maturity in our long-term debt was approximately 15 years, and the weighted average interest rate was approximately 3.7%.
At the end of the first quarter, we maintained net available liquidity of about $1.9 billion, consisting of cash and available capacity under our credit facility and other accounts receivable securitization program.
Our credit rating from all three major rating agencies are investment grade and we remain committed to maintaining our current investment grade ratings.
Taken together, this represents a solid financial foundation to support our long-term safety and infrastructure investments.
Let's take a quick look at slide 8, which highlights our updated financing plan.
I would just note that following last month's equity unit issuance, we no longer expect to issue block or discrete equity through 2024.
This issuance that received 100% equity credit from all three agencies allows NiSource to capture share price upside and provide timely proceeds for our renewable investment.
Most importantly, this issuance significantly de-risks our financing plans and is consistent with all of our earnings and credit commitments.
Now, let's look at some NiSource utilities highlights for the first quarter of 2021 starting with our gas operations on slide 9.
In Pennsylvania, the Public Utility Commission approved an annual revenue increase of $63.5 million in the rate case we filed in 2020.
This reflects our investments to modernize and upgrade our natural gas distribution system, as well as maintain the continued safety of the system.
The commission also approved an ROE of 9.86% with rates effective as of January 23 of this year.
In addition, the company filed another base rate case in March to support its ongoing safety and modernization program.
In Kentucky, we received an order on April 30 from the Public Service Commission in our Safety Modification and Replacement Program Tracker filing.
This order approves $40 million in upgrades and replacements under way in 2021 and $2.6 million of incremental revenue.
In Indiana, NIPSCO continues its long-term gas modernization program.
Nearly $950 million in capital investments are planned through 2025 to be recovered through semi-annual adjustments to the existing gas transmission, distribution and storage improvement charge or TDSIC tracker.
Rates approved in our 2020 filing became effective in January of this year.
In Virginia, we implemented rates approved in our 2020 Steps to Advance Virginia Energy or SAVE tracker filing.
Now let's look at our electric operations on slide 10.
NIPSCO has filed notice to terminate its current electric transmission, distribution and storage improvement charge or TDSIC plan.
We expect to file a new five-year plan on or soon after June 1.
The updated plan will include newly identified projects aimed at enhancing service and reliability for customers, as well as some previously identified projects.
As mentioned earlier, we have begun our 2021 Integrated Resource Plan or IRP process.
Similar to our 2018 IRP, the process will include an RFP for new resources.
We plan to receive input from customers in a wide variety of other stakeholders throughout the year and expect to submit our plan to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission by November.
I would now like to ask Shawn to provide more on the significance of the IRP and an update about our renewable generation projects.
We continue to make strong progress on our renewable generation transition.
In total, we have announced 14 renewable projects which will likely fill the balance of capacity necessary to replace the retiring units at our Schahfer generating station, which continues to track for retirement by May 2023.
Four new projects have been announced in 2021.
They include two projects with EDP renewables, Indiana Crossroads Solar Park, which is a build-transfer agreement and is expected to enter service in 2022.
And Indiana Crossroads II which is a wind project announced as a power purchase agreement or PPA and is expected to enter service in 2023.
We also announced Fairbanks Solar, a build-transfer agreement with Invenergy for a 250-megawatt project expected to be online in 2023.
And finally, we signed a build-transfer agreement with Capital Dynamics for a 200-megawatt project expected to be operational in 2023 named Elliot Solar.
We've already begun the regulatory approval process for these projects.
Upcoming shortly in the second quarter of 2021 we expect an order from the IURC on four previously filed projects our Dunns Bridge I and II, Cavalry Solar Energy Center and Green River Solar Projects.
All of these updates continue to track on time to retire nearly 80% of our remaining coal-fired generation by 2023 and retire all coal generation by 2028 to be replaced by lower cost, reliable and cleaner options.
The plan is expected to drive a 90% reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and is expected to save our electric customers an estimated $4 billion over 30 years.
The executed agreements we've announced are also within budget, representing approximately $2 billion of renewable generation investments.
The projects these agreements support represent NIPSCO's investment interest in the replacement capacity which equates to approximately half of the total capacity needed.
The remaining new capacity is in the form of power purchase agreements.
Finally, as Joe has highlighted, in the fourth quarter of 2021, NIPSCO plans to submit a new integrated resource plan to the IURC that will continue to outline its long-term generation plans including the planned retirement of Michigan City Generating Station.
The preferred plan that emerges from the 2021 IRP could create additional capital investment opportunities.
We are excited about the significant progress in executing our plan and we look forward to more updates in the future quarters.
I'd like to turn to our foundational commitment; safety.
Our Safety Management System, SMS, is an established operating model within NiSource.
Recent advances in SMS include expanded quality management and achieving Gold Shovel Standard Certification.
We are continuously enhancing process safety capabilities and ensuring effective asset management to reduce risks.
I'd also like to note that we've begun a third-party validation of our SMS implementation and we are working toward accreditation in 2022.
Before turning to the Q&A portion of today's call, I'll share and reiterate a few key takeaways.
With last month's convertible issuance, NiSource is well positioned to execute the next stage of our growth plan driven by continued execution of our safety and asset modernization programs as well as our electric generation transition strategy.
We are narrowing our 2021 non-GAAP deluded net operating earnings guidance to $1.32 to $1.36 per share, which represents the upper half of the previous guidance.
We expect to make approximately $10 billion in capital investments through 2024.
These include annual investments of $1.9 billion to $2.2 billion in growth, safety and modernization programs.
In addition, our investments in renewable generation are now expected to total approximately $2 billion over this period.
As we outlined at our 2020 Investor Day, NiSource continues to expect to grow its deluded net operating earnings per share by 7% to 9% on a compound annual growth rate basis from 2021 through 2024 including near-term annual growth of 5% to 7% through 2023.
In addition, we now have a total of 14 renewable energy projects as part of our Your Energy, Your Future initiative.

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q1 non-gaap operating earnings per share $0.77.
narrowed 2021 guidance (diluted noeps) to upper half of previous rang.
reaffirmed all other near- and long-term growth rates outlined at investor day.

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