Essential Utilities, Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Ryan Connors: Got it. Okay. And then one last one. Look I apologize, I know you don’t want to focus on Bucks County. But if you could just kind of give us your perspective, Chris, on the other one didn’t go your way, you mentioned there is lots of smaller and mid-sized deals. So it’s certainly not the end of the world. But what is your quick postmortem there? I mean, is there anything that the company learned from that process things you – may not have done differently and things that might have changed the outcome there? Just kind of curious what’s your sort of thoughts are now that’s in the rear-view mirror?

Christopher Franklin: Yes. But I think – I’m not sure there was anything that the company could have done differently as you know at the end, release came from the commissioners basically saying that the timing wasn’t appropriate. So whether something happens in the future or not is going to be up to the elected officials. But I think, two takeaways and I would say this holds true for most of these municipal acquisitions. Upfront the seller has to identify clearly why are they selling the assets and what are they doing with the proceeds. And I do think the lack of clarity in Bucks County did hurt the prospect of ultimately completing the transaction. The Bucks County has a structural deficit, they need the money. And so it would have been ideal had they said listen, we’re selling because we got a structural deficit.

And we’re going to hold rates steady for the next decade through a fund, which was the plan and that we’ll go delete or pay-off all county debt. I think those would have been powerful statements. And they just weren’t made and articulated. So I would say, for all the transactions that we’re working through, those two aspects have to be cleared from the seller. Why am I selling and what am I doing with the proceeds? I see time and time again where those aren’t clearly articulated and it just hurts the transaction.

Ryan Connors: Okay. And that was – so that was – these were the two, was that the first or – those are the two?

Christopher Franklin: Those are the two. Yes.

Ryan Connors: Got it. I see. Okay.

Christopher Franklin: Listen, I think politics in Bucks County where it was pretty nicely aligned, I think they – Republics and Democrats get along fairly well in Bucks County, in terms of the economic conditions of the county. So, I really felt pretty good about that and certainly the people who were against the transaction, Ryan, you attended some of those hearings and lot of the same people that continued to attend. One of the disappointments that I think we have is that, so much misinformation was repeated at those public hearings. People were just not well-informed and – or chose not to be well-informed either way, but so much misinformation.

Ryan Connors: Yes. Yes. Well, I appreciate you updating us on that. Thanks for your time today.

Christopher Franklin: Thank you, Ryan.

Daniel Schuller: Take care.

Operator: The next question comes from the line of Julien Dumoulin-Smith from Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Christopher Franklin: Hi, Julien.

Daniel Schuller: Good morning, Julien.