Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Charles MacFarlane: Yeah. And we would estimate the current capacity in sort of revenue for that site would be between 60 million and 65 million. So an upgrade of an additional 40 million.

Unidentified Participant: And then how much visibility do you have there with the — those same customers? And are you expecting a slowdown there in the near term?

Kevin Moug: In terms of Georgia?

Unidentified Participant: Just in the Manufacturing segment there, you talked about the additional business from current customers.

Kevin Moug: Yeah. I mean, we’ve seen really continued healthy growth with John Deere across our kind of footprint of plants, Mike. We continue to experience growth with Polaris as well. And then in the Southeast, in Dawsonville, we continue to — because of that acquisition we did in 2015 and the growth there, we continue to see good growth with companies like Stanley Black & Decker, Caterpillar as well.

Unidentified Participant: Got it. Thanks. Then turning back to the North Dakota rate case filing, is there anything specific that will stand out? Any new mechanisms you’ll be exploring?

Charles MacFarlane: Michael, one thing we may look at is implementing some form of a sales adjustment. I would not consider it decoupling, but we have large customers in North Dakota, and an ability to adjust on a sales basis is something we’ll bring forward. We don’t have — currently have decoupling in North Dakota.

Unidentified Participant: Great. Thanks for answering my questions. Best of luck, Kevin. Look forward to seeing you guys in a couple of weeks.

Kevin Moug: Thanks, Mike.

Operator: Thank you. One moment please for our next question. And our next question comes from the line of Brian Russo with Sidoti.

Brian Russo: Yeah. Hi. Good morning.

Charles MacFarlane: Good morning, Brian.

Kevin Moug: Good morning, Brian.

Brian Russo: Hey. Apologize, if I missed this earlier, but where are you in the development of your tranche — MISO Tranche 1 transmission projects?

Charles MacFarlane: Sure, Brian. It’s Chuck. We have two projects; one in North Dakota that goes from our existing Jamestown substation to a — Ellendale substation owned by MDU. And we are in the process of routing, securing easements or options for easements and those types of things in that facility. And then one that goes from our Big Stone South, which is just outside of Minnesota, in South Dakota, to Alexandria, Minnesota. And we have — in Minnesota, there’s a process where you file a certificate of need that has been filed jointly with Xcel because this line ultimately emanates in a second circuit on an existing line down to the northwest corner of the Twin Cities. And then once the certificate of need is reviewed by the commission, then we also would put in for a routing permit.

We have held public meetings with landowners, one round. We’ll do another round of that as the potential routing window narrows in those processes. So because of kind of the two step process, you get a certificate of need first, followed by a route permit in Minnesota. That process generally takes a little longer than in North Dakota where it’s sort of a single certificate of need and routing process.

Brian Russo: Okay. Great. And then just also on the utility, what was the EPS impact of weather versus normal in the third quarter?

Kevin Moug: It was $0.02, I believe.

Brian Russo: Okay. And then just lastly, on that…

Kevin Moug: I’m sorry, it was $0.01. It was $0.01, Brian.

Brian Russo: All right. Got it.

Kevin Moug: It was $0.02 negative to Q3 of ’22.