Full Transcript: Canadian Utilities Q1 2026 Earnings Call

On Wednesday, Canadian Utilities (TSX: CU ) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below. Benzinga APIs provide real-time access to earnings call transcripts and financial data. Visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/ to learn more. Access the full call at https://event.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=uBfSkWmz Summary Canadian Utilities reported strong year-over-year earnings growth in Q1 2026, with adjusted earnings of $242 million, up from $232 million in Q1 2025. The company is focused on three strategic pillars: growth and prosperity, operational excellence, and financial leadership, with a significant $12 billion capital investment plan over the next five years. Key projects include the Yellowhead Pipeline, which has received environmental approval and is expected to start construction in Q3 2026, and additional potential projects post-2030 such as the McNeil Converter Station. Operational excellence initiatives have resulted in substantial cost savings, with over $500 million in savings anticipated across the utilities through 2028. Funding strategies include issuing debentures and leveraging cash flow from regulated utilities, with no immediate need for common equity issuance. Management expressed optimism about future growth opportunities, particularly in Australia and through natural gas storage expansions in Canada. Full Transcript OPERATOR 2026 conference call on the line with me today we have Bob Miles, Chief Executive Officer and Katie Patrick, Chief Financial and Investment Officer. Before we move into today’s remarks, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the numerous traditional territories and homelands on which our global facilities are located. Today. I am speaking to you from our ATCO Park head office in Calgary which is located in the Treaty 7 region. This is the ancestral territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy comprised of the Siksika, the Kainai and the Piikani nations, the Sutina Nation and the Stoney Nakota nations which include the Chiniki, Bearspaw and Goodstoney First Nations. I also want to recognize that the city of Calgary is home to the Metis Nation of Alberta districts 5 and 6. We honor and respect the diverse history, languages, ceremonies and culture of the Indigenous peoples who call these areas home. Today’s remarks will include forward looking statements that are subject to important risks and uncertainties. For more information on these risks and uncertainties, please refer to our filings with the Canadian security regulators. During today’s presentation, we may refer to certain non GAAP and other financial measures including adjusted earnings, adjusted earnings per share and capital investment. These measures do not have any standardized meaning under ifrs and as a result they may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other entities. Please refer to our filings with the Canadian securities regulators for further information. And now I’ll turn the conference call over to Bob for his opening remarks. Bob Miles (Chief Executive Officer) Thanks, Colin and good morning everyone. To kick off 2026, we remain focused on our three strategic pillars: first, growth and prosperity. This includes our project pipeline across all of our business segments. Next is operational excellence and lastly, we remain focused on financial leadership, which Katie will speak to in her remarks. Consistently executing across these three pillars will help us achieve our growth in the year ahead. Looking at our first pillar, growth and prosperity, I want to start by discussing our positive view on the Alberta environment, which is tied to our strong growth plans and continued focus on driving affordability through the efficiencies our teams deliver. As you can see on the slide, Alberta continues to be at the forefront of population growth amongst Canadian provinces heading into 2026. Economic fundamentals coupled with an affordability advantage are expected to sustain above average interprovincial migration in the year ahead, a positive sign that momentum persists. Looking ahead, the Government of Alberta forecasts that the province’s electricity demand is projected to double by 2050. Last year, public and private investments in Alberta’s utility sector totaled over $5 billion and we anticipate an increase to this spend in the years ahead. As Alberta’s energy landscape continues to evolve, it’s crucial we invest in projects that address our province’s changing energy needs. Enhancing Alberta’s energy infrastructure while enabling a modernized system that can readily accommodate generation specific to our regulated utilities, we see a significant growth opportunity ahead. As such, we are investing a significant amount of capital, $12 billion over the next five years, our largest investment plan to date, looking at the graph on the slide this year and 2027 are driven by our natural gas transmission spending which is fueled by the Yellowhead Pipeline project. In our view, this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our investment plan. The back half of the five year plan does not account for some of the other major infrastructure projects needed in the regulated utilities across the province in which we would expect to participate. When secured, these potential projects would be additional growth on top of the current plan. I want to reiterate that for all of our regulated investments, affordability and minimizing the impact on customer rates continues to be a priority in Alberta. Our gas utility has driven significant efficiencies that have resulted in our distribution charges growing less than inflation since 2013. Similarly, the focus of our electric utility on cost savings has resulted in their distribution charges growing less than our peers in the province since 2013. This is a significant accomplishment and one I will speak to further in the presentation. The capital plan that I discussed drives our 5 year compound annual growth rate or CAGR of 6.9%. This CAGR incorporates the regulated utility business including the Yellowhead Pipeline project. I will also add that it does not include the growth plans related to our non regulated assets including natural gas storage expansions which will drive further growth for Canadian utilities. With the Yellowhead Pipeline project being a driver of the growth under our current five year plan, I want to provide an update on recent milestones as we work towards the start of construction. In March, the project received its key environmental approval under Alberta’s Environmental Project Protection and Enhancement act from the Alberta Energy Regulator. In all projects we undertake we are committed to environmental responsibility and regulatory compliance. This approval reinforces our commitment to ensuring the land and community impacted by our project are respected. The approval of the facility application from the AUC will be the final milestone we are working towards and is required in order for construction to proceed. Once received, construction can begin which we still currently expect to commence in the third quarter of this year. Something that I would like to remind everyone is that the yellowhead pipeline is 100% contracted with our customers, an indication that this project and infrastructure is greatly needed in the province as we look beyond 2030 in our regulated utilities, we also believe there are opportunities to increase rate base in our electric service territory tied to the ISO’s long term outlook. Namely, the ISO forecasts an increase in load growth as a result of an expected increase in industrial activity, electrification and emerging loads. These developments require additional transmission capacity across the province specific to our service territory. A significant opportunity we see post 2030 is the McNeil Converter Station, the only intertype point between Alberta and Saskatchewan. We have now received a needs identification document for this project which confirms the need for the proposed transmission system upgrades. We have submitted a proposed project scope and schedule to the ISO who is currently evaluating our submission. The preliminary cost estimate for this work is approximately $1 billion with the vast majority of costs expected to occur between 2030 and 2034 period. Beyond this needed project, there continues to be ongoing conversations and excitement over the longer term. Of note, in March of this year the Government of Alberta and the Government of the Northwest Territories signed a first of its kind partnership agreement with on Transmission enter ties with the goal of modernizing electricity transmission and building a more resilient energy future across Canada. While these discussions are very early days, given this intertie would fall within our service territory, we see this … Full story available on Benzinga.com