PNM Resources, Inc. (NYSE:PNM) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Lisa Eden: Well, we’ve had strong weather in the third quarter, both across Texas and New Mexico. But we’re also — when that happens, we also use that as an opportunity to do some extra maintenance at the utilities. There’s been other offsets in terms of our nuclear decommissioning trust, as you know, we have 80% and asset allocation of 80% fixed income. And so when the fixed income market is dragging that also has an impact and then we also have some interest expense exposure due to both timing of equity as well as the securitization issuance that we’re planning to do later this year.

Pat Vincent-Collawn: Jon, I would say the biggest thing is that we dynamically manage our O&M. And so when we have the opportunity to give the folks in the field some extra dollars, we always do that so that they can invest it in the safety and reliability and resiliency of the system. So, that’s the biggest flex there.

Jonathan Reeder: Okay. So, yes, we should think of it as you kind of flexing that versus the business not performing as expected or something like that.

Pat Vincent-Collawn: Correct.

Jonathan Reeder: That makes sense. And then last, I think kind of following up to Paul’s question, just trying to better understand what is or isn’t in the new CapEx plan. So, the 60-megawatt utility on battery storage project, that’s in there, and that’s represented by the yellow bars, right?

Pat Vincent-Collawn: That’s correct.

Jonathan Reeder: Okay. And then for lack of a better word, the copycat projects of the 12-megawatt battery storage CCN, that’s not in there at this point?

Don Tarry: It’s not in there. It’s just the 12 megawatts is all that’s in there.

Jonathan Reeder: Okay. And then what about potential transmission projects in Texas that you alluded to in your prepared remarks? Are any of those baked in?

Lisa Eden: Yes, they are all baked in.

Jonathan Reeder: Okay. Are there like — is there any way to kind of categorize in what’s in the budget like projects that I guess we should view or not locked in, depending on maybe regulatory approval, stuff like that, like a certain amount of that at risk? I know you already kind of walked through the potential upside.

Don Tarry: The 12-megawatt even though it was completely unopposed is in there in the regulatory process, we would expect to get approval for that. Texas, those are strong projects that flow through. So, we don’t see any issues in that arena. Grid mod, we did move back one year, but we do expect to get Grid mod in the capital budget. So, those are projects that are fluid, but we have capabilities to deliver on themselves.

Pat Vincent-Collawn: They all have high probability of being approved and then we always have other things we can flip in there if something doesn’t get approved. We’ve got to have lots of capital desires. So, there’s always enough to fill the pipeline.

Jonathan Reeder: Okay. So, anything that might slip out Yes, you got other stuff that you think would — but back to.

Pat Vincent-Collawn: Yes.

Don Tarry: And Jonathan, we always balance that with customer impact. So, we’re always looking at the combination of the both. And as Pat said, there’s always additional projects as we harden the system.

Lisa Eden: Yes. And if you see in Texas, I mean, we have tremendous growth in Texas, particularly on the demand both side. And so that really the need for capital investments in Texas is strong. And in particular, when you think about the legislative session with the resiliency ride is coming along, that’s a good area for us to invest in.