American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Susan Hardwick: Yes. On the first question, Greg, around just settlement expected outcomes. Obviously, that process is proceeding. And we had one settlement approved and the other one fairness hearing has occurred, and we would expect it to ultimately get approved. And then the process begins of claim submittals and really going through the settlement allocation process. So obviously, it’s too early for us to be able to give you any indication of what we think the outcomes will be financially. But as we’ve said all along, these will be cents on the dollar in terms of recovery. We don’t expect, obviously, for it to cover the full cost of exposure here. But the amounts to be recovered through the settlement, we think is quite important and the best avenue, as Cheryl said in her remarks, to to collect dollars on behalf of the customer to reduce the overall obligation the customer has.

So it’s a good process. We’ve been happy to be involved in it. Our team, I think, in a lot of ways, is leading much of the effort around getting this work through the courts and getting outcomes here that are quite favorable. To your second question on how do we view sort of legacy exposure here. I don’t think our view changes. As we said earlier, this will be an environment like all where there will be plaintiff’s attorneys that are looking for an opportunity here and how that ultimately gets worked through the larger process around the MDL, the multi-district litigation is yet to be seen. But in terms of our exposure, we don’t have any different view than we’ve had from a legacy perspective. Again, as Cheryl said, on a go-forward basis, we are treating and we’re preparing to treat, and we’re confident in our ability to do that on a go-forward basis.

Operator: This concludes our question-and-answer session. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.