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Text: The slides that accompany today's call are also available on our website.
We'll refer to those slides by number throughout the call today.
This cautionary note is also included in more detail for your review in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
We also have other company representatives available for a Q&A session after Lisa and Steve provide updates.
slide four shows our quarterly financial results.
IDACORP's 2021 second quarter earnings per diluted share were $1.38, an increase of $0.19 per share from last year's second quarter.
Earnings per diluted share over the first six months of 2021 were $2.27, which were $0.33 above the same period last year.
Both the second quarter and year-to-date earnings are the highest in the history of the company.
Today, we also increased our full year 2021 IDACORP earnings guidance estimate to be in the range of $4.70 to $4.90 per diluted share, with our expectation that Idaho Power will not need to utilize in 2021, any of the additional tax credits that are available to support earnings under its Idaho of regulatory settlement stipulation.
These are our estimates as of today, and they assume normal weather conditions over the last six months of the year and assume a continued return to more normal economic conditions over the balance of 2021.
I'd like to begin my remarks by highlighting the continued robust customer growth we are experiencing across Idaho Power service area.
You'll see on Slide five that the growth remained strong in the second quarter, increasing 2.9% since June 2020.
The influx of businesses and residential customers continues to benefit our company, while we believe the reliable, affordable, clean energy we provide remains one of the drivers for attracting new customers to Idaho.
It has been remarkable to see this trend not only sustain but accelerate over the past several years.
We are also seeing a return-to-normal operations for many of our commercial and industrial customers as our service area rebounds from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of the end of June, unemployment in our service area was 3.5% compared with 6% in June 2020 and the current mark of 5.9% nationally.
Total employment in our service area has increased 6% over the past 12 months.
Moody's forecasted GDP calls for very strong economic growth of 7.6% in 2021 and 6.9% in 2022.
As we speak, like many employers in our area, Idaho Power is in the midst of the return-to-workplace process for many of our office employees.
I'm happy to see more people at our offices and thrilled that safely bringing our employees back reflects a significant step forward to our new normal that is taking place across our service area.
Idaho Power service area continues to experience significant interest from commercial and industrial projects in food processing, manufacturing and distribution.
Multiple developers, both local and national, are moving forward with the construction of commercial sized pac-shelf facilities, to better accommodate the speed to market of prospective projects.
Idaho Power is also -- has also been actively working with Gervan Mining, which announced in early July, it will proceed with final construction of its Idaho Cobalt operations mine in Central Idaho.
And just this past week, Lamb Weston announced a $415 million investment in the planned construction of a new French fries processing line at its existing facility in American Fall with expected capacity to produce more than 350 million pounds of frozen French fries and other potato products annually by mid-2023.
This expansion is expected to add approximately 130 jobs.
In addition to serving more customers than ever, we've experienced very hot dry weather during the second quarter with our service area experiencing several very high temperature days in late June and July.
slide six shows the recent outlook of precipitation and weather from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Current weather projections for August through October shows 50% to 60% chance of above-normal temperatures and a 33% to 50% chance of below-normal precipitation in Idaho Power service area.
If the warm and dry weather continues, we expect to see continued strong sales during the third quarter, particularly for residential and irrigation customers.
At the same time, dry conditions and overall lower reservoir storage levels have decreased our forecasted hydro generation for the remainder of the year, which Steve will address later on.
But it continues to appear, irrigators in most parts of our service area should have enough water to get them through the current growing season.
The combination of customer growth and hot dry conditions has created high demand for energy across our regions, as noted on slide seven.
Idaho Power hit a new all-time peak load of 3,751 megawatts on June 30, and we have exceeded the previous 2017 peak demand of 3,422 megawatts, more than 60 separate hours on 12 different days so far this summer.
The recent heat wave has once again demonstrated the skill and dedication of our employees and the resilience of both our employees and our system.
The Jackpot Solar 120-megawatt project in Southern Idaho is scheduled to come online by the end of next year.
And our company also recently issued a request for proposal to add another 80 megawatts of a capacity resource to meet peak energy needs by summer 2023.
Separately, early modeling in the 2021 IRP suggests that, subject to the timing of coal unit exits, additional capacity may be needed in future years.
The recent spike in energy use and prices also emphasizes the importance of the Boardman to Hemingway transmission line, or B2H, which we plan to bring online as soon as 2026.
B2H will allow Idaho Power to import up to 500 megawatts, which will help meet customers' peak summer demand and increased reliability for our system as well as the region.
Record heat waves don't last forever, but we believe periods of higher demand in the summer months are here to stay.
Idaho Power continues to evaluate its options regarding BPA's interest.
I have a couple of notable Idaho regulatory updates to share.
The first is a recent filing Idaho Power made to accelerate the recovery of depreciation expenses at the Jim Bridger coal-fired plant, which is noted on slide eight.
Our Idaho rates currently reflect a recovery time line through 2034, but preliminary analysis indicate the potential exit of all four units at the plant sooner than the current time line.
If our filing with the Idaho Commission is approved as filed, rates would increase $30.8 million in December of this year.
This would result in a near-term rate increase for our customers but our study shows the potential for customer savings in the long term.
Exiting the Jim Bridger plant early also aligns with our goal to provide 100% clean energy by 2045.
Secondly, as seen on slide nine, the Idaho Commission recently approved Idaho Power's request to defer incremental costs associated with our enhanced wildfire mitigation plan.
This positive regulatory outcome will allow us to defer associated incremental costs to be included in a future rate proceeding.
Our company is working hard to strengthen our grid and keep our customers safe during wildfire events.
On our last earnings call, I stated Idaho Power did not plan to make -- do not plan to file a general rate case in Idaho or Oregon in the next 12 months.
That remains true today.
Steady customer growth, constructive regulatory outcomes, effective cost management and economic conditions, all play significant roles as we look at the need and timing of a future general rate case.
I also commend them for their resilience over the past 17 months as we navigate the challenges of the pandemic together.
Let's now move to slide 10, where you'll see our second quarter 2021 financial results as compared to the same period in 2020.
Overall, we have experienced a very solid first half of the year, with strong customer growth, positive impacts from transmission services and higher revenues resulting from the heat wave that affected much of the Western U.S. Because of these factors, IDACORP's second quarter net income was substantially higher than last year.
On the table of quarter-over-quarter changes, you'll see our continuing customer growth added $3.9 million to operating income.
Also, increased usage per customer drove operating income higher by $22.9 million.
Cooling degree days were nearly double last year's second quarter and the hot and dry conditions led to significantly higher usage across all customer classes.
Irrigation and residential per customer usage increased 25% and 10%, respectively.
A return to more normal economic conditions combined with the hot weather also drove a respective 12% and 8% increase in usage per customer in the commercial and industrial classes.
Continuing down the table, the higher usage for residential and small general service customers was partially offset by $5.1 million lower revenues from the PCA -- or the FCA mechanism.
The FCA mechanism has tempered the effect of the higher usage for these customer classes and could do so again in the third quarter if customer usage continues strong.
Next, you'll see a decrease in operating income of $6.8 million that relates to the change in the per megawatt hour revenue, net of power supply costs and power cost adjustment impacts quarter-to-quarter.
The primary driver of this decrease relates to the amount of net power supply expenses that were not deferred to Idaho Power's power cost adjustment mechanisms.
Recall that Idaho customers generally bear 95% of power supply cost fluctuations.
And those costs were higher as the heatwave impacted wholesale energy prices at a time of increased energy usage by our customers.
The heatwave also affected transmission wheeling-related revenues, which increased operating income by $3.9 million.
Wheeling volumes increased as utilities work to serve high demand by moving energy across our system throughout the region during the quarter.
In addition, wheeling customers paid 10% more for Idaho Power's open access transmission tariff rate that increased last October to reflect higher transmission costs.
Next on the table, other operating and maintenance expenses increased by $5.3 million.
This was primarily due to last year's temporary deferral of certain maintenance projects at Idaho Power's jointly owned thermal generation plant as well as higher accruals of performance-based incentives.
We continue to see decreases in employee travel and training costs related to COVID-19, while our allowance for bad debt remains above historic levels and it's taking longer to collect.
Our net COVID-19 recovery deferral impact, however, continue to remain nominal.
Finally, our higher pre-tax earnings led to an increase in income tax expense of $4.2 million this quarter.
The changes collectively resulted in a net increase to Idaho Power's net income of $9.6 million, or $0.19 per share.
IDACORP and Idaho Power continue to maintain strong balance sheets, including investment-grade credit ratings and sound liquidity, which enable us to fund ongoing capital expenditures and distribute dividends to share owners.
IDACORP's operating cash flows, along with our liquidity positions as of the end of June 2021 are included on slide 11.
Cash flows from operations were about $39 million higher than the first six months of last year.
The increase was mostly related to working capital fluctuations and the timing of net collections of regulatory assets and liabilities.
The liquidity available under IDACORP's and Idaho Power's credit facilities is shown on the middle of slide 11.
At this time, we still do not anticipate raising any equity capital in 2021.
Our combined liquidity, along with expected regulatory support from our annual adjustment mechanisms, is a substantial backstop to our expected capital and operating needs.
slide 12 shows our raised full year earnings guidance and our current key financial and operating metrics estimates.
We now expect IDACORP's 2021 earnings to be in the range of $4.70 to $4.90 per diluted share.
This guidance assumes normal weather and operating conditions for the second half of the year, and assumes economic impacts from the pandemic will continue to normalize.
Our guidance still assumes Idaho Power will use no additional tax credits in 2021.
While we do not currently expect to record sharing of excess revenues with Idaho customers this year, the upper end of our range approaches that level and the final jurisdictional allocation can adjust on that through year-end.
Recall that above a 10% return on equity in the Idaho jurisdiction, Idaho customers would receive 80% of any excess earnings.
Our expected full year O&M expense guidance remains in the range of $345 million to $355 million.
It's fair to say this goal to keep O&M relatively flat for the ninth straight year is being challenged by the amount of customer and load growth we are experiencing.
We also reaffirm our capex forecast for this year in the range of $320 million to $300 million -- $330 million, excuse me.
Our expectation of hydropower generation has decreased somewhat given the weather conditions least represented and is now expected to be in the tightened range of five million to six million-megawatt hours.

user
idacorp qtrly earnings per share $1.38.
idacorp inc increases fy earnings per share view $4.70 to $4.90.
q2 earnings per share $1.38.
sees 2021 idacorp earnings guidance (per share) $ 4.70 – $4.90.

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