American Electric Power Company, Inc. (AEP) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the American Electric Power Annual Meeting of Shareholders. [Operator Instructions] I'd now like to turn the conference over to our host, Chairman, President and CEO, Mr. Nick Akins. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. This is Nick Akins, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Electric Power. I want to thank you all for joining us today, and I hope you and your families are healthy and well. This annual meeting will be conducted according to the formal agenda outlined in the proxy statement dated March 10, 2021. We are here to conduct the business on that agenda and to consider any other matters that properly may be brought before the meeting by the shareholders. With me is Mr. David M. Feinberg, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and our Secretary. Mr. Feinberg will be assisting me in the conduct of this meeting. To support the health and safety of our employees, shareholders and communities, the other directors are not with us in person today. However, I do want to identify the 11 other director nominees: Mr. David J. Anderson of Greenwich, Connecticut, is the former Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Nielsen Holdings plc. He is also retired Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Honeywell International; Mr. J. Barnie Beasley, Jr. of Savannah, Georgia is the retired Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Nuclear Operating Company; Mr. Art A. Garcia of Southwest Ranches Florida is the retired Chief Financial Officer of Ryder Systems, Inc.; Ms. Linda A. Goodspeed of Marco Island, Florida is the retired Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of The ServiceMaster Company; Mr. Thomas E. Hoaglin of Columbus, Ohio is the retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Huntington Bancshares Inc.; Ms. Sandra Beach Lin of Flower Mound, Texas is the retired Chief Executive Officer of Calisolar Inc.; Ms. Margaret M. McCarthy of North Chatham, Massachusetts is the retired Executive Vice President, Technology Integration of CVS Health Corporation; Mr. Stephen S. Rasmussen of West Des Moines, Iowa is the retired Chief Executive Officer of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company; Mr. Oliver G. Richard, III of Lake Charles, Louisiana is the owner and President of Empire of the Seed LLC and former Chief Executive Officer of Columbia Energy Group; Mr. Daryl Roberts of Wilmington, Delaware, is the Senior Vice President and Chief Operations and Engineering Officer of DuPont de Nemours Inc.; and Ms. Sara Martinez Tucker of Dallas, Texas is the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Math and Science Initiative and is a former Undersecretary of Education in the United States Department of Education. I want to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Ralph D. Crosby, Jr. for his 15 years of service on our Board. I also want to thank Mr. Richard C. Notebaert for his 10 years of service. They are retiring effective this meeting today. Okay. We now will proceed with the meeting. The notice of this annual meeting was mailed on March 10, 2021, to all shareholders of record on February 22, 2021, which was the record date fixed by the Board of Directors for determining shareholders entitled to notice of and to vote at this meeting. The Board of Directors of the company has appointed Ms.[ Amelia Reagan ] and Mr. [ Joseph Barca ] of Computershare to act as inspectors of election at this meeting. The inspectors have advised me that there are present, in person or represented by proxy, of holders of over 87% of the shares entitled to vote. This is a sufficient number of shares to constitute a quorum. Since holders of the majority of the shares of the common stock of the company entitled to vote are present and in person or represented by proxy at this meeting, there is a quorum present for the transaction of business. I declare that the 114th Annual Meeting of Shareholders is officially convened. I know that some of you may have questions or matters that you want to discuss. We'll have time for questions after we complete action on the matters set forth on the proxy statement and on any other matters that may properly come before the meeting. The first order of business is the election of 12 directors to hold office for 1 year and until their successors are elected and have been qualified. The Board of Directors recommends the following 12 directors: Nicholas K. Akins; David J. Anderson; J. Barnie Beasley, Jr.; Art A. Garcia, Linda A. Goodspeed; Thomas E. Hoaglin; Sandra Beach Lin; Margaret M. McCarthy; Stephen S. Rasmussen; Oliver G. Richard, III; Daryl Roberts; and Sara Martinez Tucker for election as directors of the company. I note for the record there -- that no nomination for director has been properly made in advance of this meeting by any shareholder. Accordingly, all nominations are closed. I declare the polls open for shareholders to cast their ballots for the election of directors. If there are any shareholders who wish to vote now by ballot with respect to the scheduled items on the agenda, please raise your hand so that ballots may be distributed. [Voting]

The next business to come before the meeting is to consider and take action on the proposal to ratify the appointment by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm of the company for the year 2021. The Audit Committee of the Board of Directors approved PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2021. As indicated in the proxy statement, the Audit Committee considers PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP to be the firm best qualified to perform this important function. The Board of Directors recommends that the shareholders ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's auditors. Is there any discussion on this proposal? There being no discussion is in order for the shareholders at this time to complete their ballots with respect to this proposal. [Voting]

The next business to come before the meeting is to consider and take action on the proposal to approve the compensation of the company's named executive officers as described in the proxy statement. This proposal is a nonbinding shareholder advisory vote. The Board of Directors recommends that shareholders approve the compensation of the company's executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement. Is there any discussion on this proposal? There being no further discussion, it is in order for the shareholders at this time to complete their ballots with respect to this proposal. [Voting]

This concludes the business to be presented to this meeting by the company's Board of Directors. Since there is no other formal business to come before this meeting, will the inspectors of election, please collect and tally the ballots and prepare the report. While they're being tallied, I'll go ahead to give you a brief update of what's going on with the company as the results in 2020. 2020 was a year full of change and challenges for our customers, communities and the company. The COVID-19 pandemic altered how and where we worked while creating financial uncertainty for many of our customers. The racial equity and social justice movement and ignited calls for change in our communities and a contentious election to [ abide ] by their nation. Many states in our service territory also endured severe weather, including 3 hurricanes. Despite a challenged year, I'm proud to say AEP powered through, turning obstacles into opportunities to learn, adapt and improve. Throughout 2020, our employees continued their critical work to keep safe, reliable power flowing to our customers. From our field team members on the front lines to our colleagues working from home, every employee was instrumental to the success of our company over this past year. I'd like to highlight some of these recent accomplishments before we conduct the voting. Our focus on capital investments to enhance service to our customers while also reducing carbon emissions continues to contribute to our strong earnings performance, allowing us to deliver solid shareholder value. Based on our strong financial performance in 2020, we raised our 2021 operating earnings guidance range to $4.55 to $4.75 per share, and we're committed to our long-term growth rate of 5% to 7% from this revised guidance. In 2020, we also raised our quarterly cash dividend, $0.04, to $0.74 a share on the company's common stock. Last year, we made significant progress toward a clean energy future and outpaced our previous goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. We have now acknowledged -- we have now accelerated those goals to achieve an 80% reduction in emissions by 2030 from our 2000 baseline and reached net 0 emissions by 2050. We plan to reach these targets by continuing to diversify our fuel mix, implementing new technologies and building a strong and resilient energy grid. In 2020, we received regulatory approval to proceed with our North Central energy facilities, which will bring 1,485 megawatts of new wind energy to our customers in Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. This project will save customers approximately $3 billion over 30 years. One of the 3 wind farms began operating this month, and we expect the second to be completed later this year and the remaining plant in early 2022. We continue to build the workforce of the future, encouraging an inclusive culture that values all perspectives. We know that is critical for helping us innovate and better serve our customers. This year, we were named one of the Best Places to Work for LGBTQ equality by the human rights campaign and also were included in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index. We also recently received the Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award, which reflects our ongoing efforts to reinvent our company culture. We have continued our commitment to environmental, social and governance issues and we're honored to earn the top rank among utilities on the Forbes JUST 100 list and be recognized by Newsweek as one of America's Most Responsible Companies. Even with the challenges of last year, AEP reached significant milestones while continuing to deliver the clean, reliable and affordable energy our customers expect, and we look forward to continuing this work in 2021. The inspectors of -- by the way, is there any questions from shareholders that are present? Okay. Thank you. The inspectors of election have provided preliminary voting results. The final voting results will be reported in an 8-K that will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the next few days. Mr. Feinberg, will you please inform the meeting as to the voting results.

Yes. Mr. Chairman, the inspectors have tabulated the votes cast for the election of directors, and they have reported that the shareholders present or represented by proxy at the meeting have elected the following 12 persons, directors of this company: Nicholas K. Akins; David J. Anderson; J Barnie Beasley, Jr.; Art A. Garcia; Linda A. Goodspeed; Thomas E. Hoaglin; Sandra Beach Lin; Margaret M. McCarthy; Stephen S. Rasmussen; Oliver G. Richard, III; Daryl Roberts; and Sara Martinez Tucker.

You have heard the inspector's report. I, hereby, declare that the persons named by the Secretary have been duly elected directors of this company. Mr. Feinberg, will you please provide the other voting results?

Mr. Chairman, the inspectors also have tabulated the votes cast for the other proposals presented to this meeting as follows: on Proposal 2, the proposal to ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm of the company, shares representing approximately 99% of the votes cast at this meeting, voted in favor of this proposal so this proposal passed. On Proposal 3, the proposal to approve the company's compensation of the named executive officers as described in the proxy statement, shares representing approximately 96% of the votes cast at this meeting, voted in favor of this proposal so this proposal also passed.

Okay. Thank you. Is there any other business to come before this meeting? If there is no further business to come before this meeting, I declare the meeting adjourned. Thank you all for attending.