Canadian Utilities Limited (CU) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Well, good morning. What a beautiful day, and one of my favorite days of the entire year, being here with all of you. And it's great to see everybody for this, believe it or not, 99th Annual Meeting of Shareowners for Canadian Utilities, 99 years. But we've been around longer than that, too. I'll get into that later. It's a true pleasure to see so many of you here today and so many familiar faces, so many shareowners, long-standing, so many people from our companies here and taking the time to be here means a lot to all of us. Your trust, enduring trust in our company and our management teams, all the people of Canadian Utilities, our Boards of Directors, is very meaningful and purposeful, and I want to thank you all for that. I guess, first order of business is safety. And in terms of housekeeping, if there is an emergency, you'll hear a bell, an alarm, a PA, and please evacuate through the exit doors in case of an emergency, walk to our muster point, which is the Frank Oliver Park just outside the hotel, or the Westin hotel. Both will be our mustering points. And today, as we gather here, it is important to acknowledge that we are on the traditional lands of the people who have stewarded this land many, many, many centuries before us. And I'd like to acknowledge the traditional territories and the homelands upon which all of our operations are located around the world. We honor and respect the diverse ceremonies, languages, history, culture of the indigenous peoples who call all of these areas home. But right now, here in Edmonton, we're on the traditional meeting ground of Treaty 6. And it is also a place where gathering occurred. It was a traveling route for the Cree, the Saulteaux, the Blackfoot, the Metis, Dene, and Nakota Sioux nations. All gathered right here at the crossroads to the north and to the south. And I also want to appreciate and thank so many of the communities within Treaty 8 that are willing to work as true partners with our businesses and develop sovereign economic prosperity for all nations. I would also like to take a few moments to welcome a few special guests. And there's one walking in right now. But it's really a pleasure to have Aaron Engen join us again, and Dwight Dibben. Dwight is the Chief Administration Officer of the Village of Forestburg. Where are you, Dwight? Right there. Forestburg, as many of you know who are long-standing shareholders that [indiscernible] you'll remember how difficult it was to close down the coal plants here in Alberta. And Forestburg is a community like many grassroot communities in Alberta. The spirit of their people in that community is remarkable. Resilience would be the #1 characteristic of Forestburg. We lost the majority of the business that was employing the people in the town. And today, they are back at it, hungry and ready to build big and bold. And it's great to have you here, Dwight. Thank you. And I'll just mention a few of our long-standing shareholders that are here, the owners of our company. Doug Hornbeck is here, in his fancy shirt. Yes. Right there. Joginder, it's so nice to see you again. And Ernest, great to have you back. And Carlos, 15 years, I think, Carlos, you said now as a shareowner. Susan -- where's Susan and Wendy? They're over there. Great to have you. And Doug Densmore. Brand new shareowners, Jane and Lisa. Where are you sitting? Right over there. Just 1 year share owner for Jane and a couple of years for Lisa, and they're very happy, and it's a good meeting to come to. [ Brad Guthrie ] and so many more. I know many, many of you are friends and caretakers in terms of your ownership of your great company. Thanks all of you so much for coming. Now, I can't not say a few words about the state of affairs in our country. We are at a very consequential moment in time, not just for our company, but for our country. As we've seen conflict return to the Middle East and persist so acutely in Ukraine, where we must have a Ukraine victory if we actually want the principles of sovereignty and democracy and international law to endure. Around the world, long-standing assumptions are being tested now, trade routes and supply chains. They've been taken for granted for a long time, but now they have been completely disrupted on many fronts. Energy and trade infrastructure, once optimized chiefly for great efficiency, is now being reassessed and rightly so through the lens of security. Across the jurisdictions that Canadian Utilities serves, common themes are emerging. Number one, for sure, affordability truly, truly matters. We are all feeling the effects of the conflict and uncertainty in the world today. Reliability matters, that we can rely on each other. We can rely on the products and the services that we provide for each other. And above all, certainty matters. We are at the cusp in Canada and Canadian Utilities of uncommon opportunity. But it's something that calls for confidence, capability and the courage to lead. And the world increasingly needs what Canada can provide, and it's incumbent upon us to deliver it. For generations before us, our country had a determined willingness to build, not just for today, but for generations that would follow far into the future. And as a result, Canada was known for punching well above its weight, earning influence not through might, but through steadfast partnerships based on trust, the reliable provision of our natural resources, our expertise and our reliable infrastructure. Once again, the moment is ours to meet. From confederation onward, Canadian businesses have been the bedrock of nation building, not as a substitute for government, but as a partner in ambition. And when this country required pipelines, railroads, highways, ports, power systems, industry stepped up, mobilizing capital and capability, and to translate public purpose into a reality. That's what we're known for, and that's what we are proud of as Canadians. And that is the tradition that has actually shaped your company, Canadian Utilities. For more than a century, we played a quiet but a very essential role in supporting a vibrant Canada and particularly here in the West, a vibrant Alberta, building the energy systems that enable our communities to grow, our industries to compete, and prosperity to take route. And that commitment to long-term thinking and investment and to translating national ambition into lasting economic progress, that's what continues to guide your company today. And you'll hear a lot more about that from the Rookie of the Year, CEO, Bob Myles. There's a focus today from all levels of government, driving very practical conversations about how policy can best enable investments and provide certainty and support sustained growth. And these discussions are important. And the consequences for Alberta and Canada cannot be overstated. But for our shareowners, the message is really straightforward. And for us, it's straightforward. Regardless of how these discussions ultimately take shape, Canadian Utilities is so well positioned for continued growth. Our portfolio is designed for resilience. And Bob will talk more about that in his remarks. Our success does not rely on any single policy outcome, because in a 100 years, we've been through a lot of different policy outcomes. But that's the magic of your company. The growth in our regulated electricity and natural gas businesses are driven by fundamental long-term demand, and that includes the full value chain of the energy system from carbon capture, storage, clean fuels, renewables, the entire value chain. And demand is growing here in Alberta from our population growth and industrial activity. And of course, it's growing globally as well. And the world wants what we can all provide. The need for electricity systems and natural gas infrastructure and the transmission and distribution networks that enable all forms of energy, it's not cyclical. And we were talking about that a little bit, Lisa and Jane. It's structural. It is, in many regards, resistant to the big cycles of ups and downs that we experience, particularly in this province. And it -- that plays directly into the strengths of your company. And it's wonderful to see right now the momentum that we have, the momentum to build, to invest with intention, to lead with excellence, and to act in belief -- in the true belief that the best years for Canadian Utilities and all of our share owners and future generations is yet to come. And that's my belief. It is a message of optimism. And now let's commence with the formal business of today's meeting, to be followed by presentations from the executive team joining me on the dais. As I mentioned, I would last year -- I'm so excited to announce Bob Myles as the CEO -- the new CEO for Canadian Utilities, and he has had -- he actually gets the Calder Memorial Trophy for winner Rookie of the Year for sure. For those of you that don't know hockey, it's a big trophy. Great job this past year in your first year, Bob. But now, we all want to know what you're going to do for us next year. Also, a star this past year and for many years at Canadian Utilities is Katie Patrick, our Chief Financial and Investment Officer. And joining Katie is Kyle Brunner. Kyle is our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. And it's great to have you both here. Many people of our corporation are also with us today. I'll act as your Chair. Can't get rid of me, it seems. And Kyle will act as Secretary for this year's meeting. Gloria Gherasim of Odyssey Trust, our registrar and transfer agent, will act as scrutineer. Notice calling this Annual Meeting, along with the form of proxy and management circular, were sent to all registered shareowners as record -- as of record March 24 of this year. And copies of these materials are also available online on the company's SEDAR+ profile. But there's also hard copies here for anyone that didn't get them. We have confirmed that there is a quorum, and this meeting is duly and properly constituted for the transaction of business. And in order to facilitate the business of the meeting efficiently, we have shareowners who have been designated to move and second the 2 motions that are before us today. First item that I'd like to present is the company's annual consolidated financial statements. Again, you can receive these if you didn't get them through e-mail, then you can have the hard copy outside. And this also contains the auditor's report. As I mentioned, they were mailed to registered shareowners and on SEDAR+. Representatives of our auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, are here with us today. So if you have any questions, I'll introduce them in a few minutes, and you can talk to them directly. Next item of business is the election of directors as proposed in the management information circular. The corporation's nominees with one exception, Roger Irwin has retired from the Board and is no longer standing for reelection, is up for a motion to elect those nominees. This document, and there's their pictures. May I have a motion, please?

Good morning. I'm Becky Penrice, and I'm a proud shareowner. I move that Matthias Bichsel, Loraine Charlton, Robert Hanf, Kelly Koss-Brix, Robert Normand, Alexander Pourbaix, Robert Routs, Nancy Southern, Linda Southern-Heathcott, Wayne Wouters and Jennifer Westacott be elected as directors to serve until the next Annual Meetingof Shareowners or until their successors are elected or appointed.

Thank you very much, Becky Penrice. May I have a seconder, please?

Good morning. My name is Colin Jackson, and I'm also a shareowner, and I second the motion.

Thank you very much, Mr. Jackson. Last item of business is the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the corporation's auditor for the ensuing year. May I have a motion, please?

I move that PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP be appointed auditor of the corporation to hold office until the next Annual Meeting or share -- of Shareowners.

Thank you, Becky.

And I am happy to second the motion.

Thanks very much, Colin. I'll now ask Kyle Brunner, our Secretary, to read the results of voting provided by the scrutineer.

Scrutineer's report indicates that the voting of share -- sorry, the voting shareowners have voted in favor of the election of each director who is nominated for election at this meeting and the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the corporation's auditor for the ensuing year.

Thank you very much, Kyle. I, therefore, declare the motions passed. And I would like to, on behalf of all shareowners, congratulate our Board of Directors. I want to thank each of you individually on behalf of the shareowners for your tremendous commitment, your dedication and the contributions that you give to our company. Thank you. I'd also like to introduce, as I said, so you can talk to the auditors, from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Courtney Kolla, Armando Pinedo, nice to see you, and Daria Koziak. Nice to have you. And thank you all very much for joining us. I'm going to now declare the formal part of this meeting terminated and turn the podium over to the Rookie of the Year, Bob Myles.

Before turning to my update, I want to first thank you, Nancy, for setting the stage this morning. You've captured exactly why this moment is so important for our country, for our company, for our shareowners, and for our customers. But before I go any further, I also want to thank you with my utmost appreciation for your leadership as our Executive Chair this past year and for making my transition into this role so wonderful. Your mentorship, I can never say enough about that. So thank you very much, Nancy. As I thought about my remarks for this year's meeting, a few themes stood out. We have a clear strategy, a team that is refining and growing our portfolio. We are delivering the largest capital program in our history, and we are doing so safely and responsibly with affordability front of mind. Our progress is showing up in our results and in the market's response to our strategy. Let me unpack our strategy for a moment because it anchors our performance and our plans for the future. Think of it as our house. Our ambition on top, supported by disciplined choices of focus and execution. Our ambition is straightforward, to be a modern, customer-focused, diversified energy company, drive a relentless drive for growth, simplicity and safety. We execute through 3 pillars: Growth and prosperity, which involves investing to strengthen our regulated core business and to scale complementary businesses; operational excellence, this means continuing to refine our operating model focused on safety, reliability and continuous improvement; and financial leadership, this is the disciplined funding and strong consistent performance that enables our growth ambitions. And it's all underpinned by team members living our values. With that framework, let's look at the scale of the business and the momentum and the optimism we are carrying into 2026. So why am I optimistic? Because we have a clear strategy and a team that is aligned, focused and executing against it. Let me share a snapshot of the momentum underway across your company. We have grown significantly in Canadian Utilities with $25 billion in assets. Today, we serve more than 4 million customers around the world, relying on us every day for safe, reliable, and affordable energy. We don't take their trust for granted. It is earned and sustained through our performance. This customer-centric focus was key to our success in 2025, which saw us deliver $658 million in adjusted earnings, up year-over-year despite meaningful headwinds. We continued that momentum into the start of 2026, as we announced yesterday, delivering another quarter of year-over-year adjusted earnings growth. That earnings performance, combined with our capital plan and funding approach, supports strong share price performance. So let's dive into that for a moment. At the beginning of 2025, Canadian Utilities' share price was just over $34. As of about 20 minutes ago, our share price is just under $48. Importantly, what this chart shows is that our share price to earnings multiple has closed the gap on our utility peers. It's a clear signal that the market recognizes the strength of our regulated growth profile and the value of our diversified portfolio. But you don't have to take my word for it. Recent commentary from the investment community provides an independent view of our performance. And in my view, it captures the 2 main reasons for the performance you saw on the previous slide. Firstly, it's about our strong compound annual growth rate and a solid capital plan. And secondly, it's about our ability to deliver the Yellowhead Pipeline. These comments and the price-to-earnings ratio improvements are concrete evidence of the external buy-in to the -- our strategy and our direction. I'd like to provide a reminder of the scale of the business generating that momentum. We operate across 7 jurisdictions with more than 8,000 employees and a market capitalization of approximately $13 billion. Our regulated utilities in Alberta, Western Australia, Canada's North, are the core of our business. In fact, this year marks 125 years of operating in the Yukon, underscoring our commitment to the north and to delivering service in some of the most challenging conditions in the world. Our nonregulated generation and midstream assets in Alberta, Ontario, Mexico, and Australia, complement our utilities foundation of disciplined cash-generating growth where customers need storage and power solutions. Many of you are familiar with our Australia operations. We own and operate more than 15,000 kilometers of natural gas pipelines in Western Australia. And we have 2 gas-fired power plants, one in Western Australia and one in Adelaide in South Australia. But we're also pursuing an energy services strategy to deliver industrial solutions in generation and midstream to Australia's increasingly strategic mining sector. Here at home in Alberta, our role is just as important, to invest in the backbone infrastructure that enables economic and population growth, supports new supply and strengthens the system for the long-term. As many of you know, Alberta leads the country in population growth. That population growth combines with industrial development to drive long-term gas and electricity demand. Our infrastructure makes this growth story possible. In our gas utility alone, we added over 19,000 new connections in 2025. It's the highest level in about a decade. Meanwhile, the government of Alberta forecasts that provincial electricity demand is expected to roughly double by 2050, driving growing needs for storage to maintain reliability during peak periods and extreme weather. Together, these trends align squarely with our strategy of investing in essential infrastructure Alberta needs to grow. And we are executing that strategy today across our utilities, midstream and generation platforms. As I mentioned, we're expanding natural gas networks and the electrical grid to meet rising demand while keeping safety, affordability and reliability front and center. Near term, there are 2 important big delivery milestones. The Central East project is on track to be energized in Q2 of this year, helping relieve grid congestion in Alberta. The Yellowhead Pipeline is our largest ever capital project and a transformative piece of natural gas infrastructure for Alberta. I'll speak a bit more about this project in a moment, but I want everyone to know that it is advancing very well. Beyond utilities, our midstream platform is a powerful cash-generating growth engine. One of the results of the heightened global concern for energy security is that we are seeing a change in attitudes towards conventional energy. We are seeing a renaissance of natural gas and natural gas derivatives in Western Canada. Just last week, we saw Shell's $22 billion purchase of ARC Resources and its production portfolio that is weighted towards natural gas. This improved outlook is great for our natural gas storage business with long-term contracts generating consistent and predictable cash flows. We are expanding our gas storage capacity at Carbon and Alberta Hub by about 10% later this year, and we have the potential for additional expansion opportunities in 2027. One of the key applications for natural gas is power generation, and we are successfully building a diverse generation portfolio. Gas-fired generation plays a key role, strengthening portfolio resilience, improving dispatchability and supporting system reliability. Last year, we acquired an 18-megawatt power plant located near Grande Prairie, Alberta. This power plant functions as a peaking facility, supplying dispatchable power when the system needs it most and capturing value when prices are the strongest. And it just goes to show that being focused on our strategy, looking at the globe around us allows us to adjust accordingly. Now in Puerto Rico, we continue to operate and enhance the island's electric transmission and distribution systems through our 50% stake in LUMA Energy. In my career, I have not seen a more demanding environment than the one that LUMA is operating in today. After years of neglect, the scale of the rebuild is daunting and the regulatory and political hurdles are significant. However, the LUMA team, our LUMA team is making real progress, replacing more than 100,000 power poles, installing 19 transformers, installing more than 140,000 smart meters and installing more than 11,000 grid automation devices. We have also hired a terrific new Chief Executive Officer, Janisse Quinones. She's a seasoned U.S. utility executive whose connections on island are already having a major impact. At its core, our commitment to Puerto Rico is rooted in who we are at Canadian Utilities, a company that stands by its word. To enable our growth across our regulated businesses in Canada and Australia, we're investing a significant amount of capital, $12 billion over the next 5 years. It's our largest investment plan to date. Looking at the graph on this 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 just a portion of our overall investment plan. We expect to see the addition of other major infrastructure projects in the back half of the plan. 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 Here are 2 data points regarding our focus on cost through our performance-based regulation cycles. In Alberta, our gas utility has driven significant efficiencies that have resulted in our gas distribution charges staying below the rate of inflation. Similarly, the focus of our electric utility on cost savings has resulted in our distribution charges growing less than all of our peers in our province. With the Yellowhead Pipeline project being a driver of growth under our current 5-year plan, I want to provide an update as we work towards the commencement of construction. The approval of the facility application from the Alberta Utilities Commission is the final milestone for construction to proceed, which we expect to commence in the third quarter of this year. I would also like to note that the Yellowhead Pipeline is 100% contracted with our customers, an indication of how important this project really is. But beyond regulatory milestones and commercial arrangements, advancing a project like Yellowhead requires something more, earning the trust through meaningful engagement with the communities. This is especially true for our indigenous communities, and I am proud of the commitment our teams have shown in early and sustained engagement and in identifying opportunities to deliver long-term value for our indigenous communities. Now we have a video to highlight our work in this area. [Presentation]

Great job. Jason, Patrick, Nicole, I thought that was a wonderful video. Thank you all very much. I'd like to repeat some of my opening words as I wrap up. We have a great team focused on executing safely, keeping affordability front and center and delivering long-term value. Their efforts are improving our results and the market is responding positively. With that, I will turn things over to Katie Patrick. And I truly appreciate your interest and definitely your support.

Thank you, Bob, and thank you all for attending our meeting and being interested and invested in Canadian Utilities. I really like the simplicity and clarity that Bob creates with you as investors, partners, and also with our employees and leadership teams. In a world of misinformation and miscommunication, being clear and concise is crucial to creating the understanding of our strategy and confidence in our future. Simply put, my goal is to share some information and numbers, a lot of numbers, with you related to the financial performance of Canadian Utilities. This is part of the house that Bob brought up on the screen earlier. I want to highlight our stable regulated earnings, prudent capital allocation and balance sheet strength. Let's dig into 2025 earnings. Last year, Canadian Utilities delivered adjusted earnings of $658 million or $2.42 per share. This is up from $647 million in 2024. What made these results particularly noteworthy is that we had some significant headwinds to overcome in 2025. You can see, this on the chart shown in the gray boxes. These include regulatory items, a decrease in the 2025 return on equity, and the completion of the efficiency carryover mechanism at the end of 2024. It also includes our strategic decision to redeploy capital from the sale of ATCO Energy to our core regulated businesses, which did create an earnings obstacle relative to 2024. Okay. So that created approximately $57 million of headwinds during the year. Under the leadership of Bob and our leadership team, our entire Canadian Utilities team rallied. I kind of feel like I need the rocky theme now for what comes next. We successfully fought through those headwinds, and our comeback to these challenges was a 1, 2, 3 punch. First, the deployment of our capital into our core utilities as well as unlocking operational efficiencies helped to generate about $36 million of regulated rate base growth in Alberta. Next, successful regulatory outcomes and frameworks in Australia added an additional $21 million of growth. Finally, we had $11 million of growth within our storage and industrial water segment. That was an impressive 30% increase on a year-over-year basis. This momentum is driving through to our first quarter 2026 results. Looking at the quarter, our performance for Canadian Utilities, we are proud to have delivered another quarter of year-over-year earnings growth. As we announced to the markets just yesterday, we achieved adjusted earnings of $242 million, up from $232 million in Q1 2025. As you can see on this graph, this was primarily driven by earnings growth at ATCO Energy Systems and ATCO Australia. This was moderated by the expected lower earnings within financing and other. Last year, we issued hybrids in September to fund our Yellowhead project, and that had an increased interest expense, which was the primary driver of the year-over-year difference. ATCO Energy Systems delivered adjusted earnings of $246 million in the first quarter, $14 million higher year-over-year. This was driven by a few factors, including rate base growth, coupled with ongoing customer demand as well as lower income tax expense from the reinstatement of accelerated capital cost allowance under C-15. That's a multiple. Within ATCO EnPower, we delivered comparable results to the prior year as our continued challenges in the renewables portfolio was offset by growth within our storage and industrial water business. ATCO Australia had an excellent quarter and was a key driver of the overall growth at Canadian Utilities, delivering adjusted earnings of $21 million, up $8 million year-over-year. In addition to strong operational performance in this business, we also benefited from inflation adjustments, which had about a $5 million positive impact year-over-year. You heard Bob speak about all the exciting growth opportunities that we are -- that are ahead for Canadian Utilities. One of the top questions I get as CFO is, "How are you going to pay for all of this?" So let's first talk about our regulated business. As background, our regulated utilities operate under a regulated capital structure, funded by both debt and equity. To fund our regulated debt requirements, we expect to issue debentures each year during the 5-year capital plan period we outlined. We will also continue our proactive engagement with our credit rating agencies and maintain strong investment-grade credit ratings. For our regulated equity requirements, our utilities are a strong generator of cash flow. We expect to use this cash flow along with the $700 million we raised in 2025 and approximately $850 -- $850 million of an additional capital securities to fund our equity portion of the investment. Our current 5-year capital plan does not require common equity to fund our regulated utility growth. On the nonregulated side, we do not forecast equity issuance to fund the current organic growth profile. Nonregulated growth will be funded with our cash from our current operating assets, combined with project level debt financing and partnerships with the flexibility to access other equity instruments if an opportunistic acquisition arises. If an opportunity were to become available, we would provide the markets with the financing details at that time. Overall, this funding strategy supports our growth initiatives while preserving balance sheet strength. As we look ahead, we are well positioned entering 2026, and we expect to deliver strong adjusted earnings growth on a full year basis. We will continue to execute on our proven strategy and focus on funding efficiencies across our business to ensure we create shareowner value. Thank you again for your trust and interest. And I will now turn it back to Nancy for closing remarks.

That really was a mouthful. I think the great news, though, in what Katie just explained to all of us is that to this point in time, we're able to fund without diluting your ownership in Canadian Utilities and Seymour. I don't think we've seen that kind of capital growth and investment in all the years that we've -- I've known you, you've known me, and it's great to see you here. And [ Belmond ], wonderful that you could make it as well. And I don't know if I mentioned Brad, but I did -- [ Brad Guthrie ], too. One thing, Katie, is that you and Bob both delivered pretty darn good news. It's not often that I can stand up here and be as optimistic as I am today, and I hope you share that. It's been a while. You've trusted us. We've said we would improve, we would continue to invest, we would continue to bring efficiencies. And now after several years of really almost a stagnant growth profile in Alberta and the opportunities that we now see and the work that your team has done, we are actually seeing the results of the hard work. So thank you all for sticking with us, believing in us and your trust. And I'm -- I hope you're as proud of the Canadian Utilities team as I am. Well done. When I -- I mentioned at the outstart of the meeting that this is our 99th Annual General Meeting. But parts of our business have been around even longer. I think Bob mentioned, or it was on the slide, in the Yukon, we've been there 125 years. And ATCO Gas started heating homes and businesses back in 1912 when the original Bow Island to Calgary pipeline went into service. And my grandfather -- my great grandfather actually built the cradles for that pipeline back in those days all by hand, along with the drilling rigs. And it's this longstanding connection between the people of your company, Canadian Utilities and Alberta communities, the entire province of Alberta, but also the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and Australia. We both celebrate and appreciate this longstanding commitment. And our team put a little video together that I wanted to show you, that demonstrates some of the connection that we feel. [Presentation]

Thank you all. Thank you to our Board of Directors, our executive team, all of the people of Canadian Utilities that work so hard, and a special thank you to our shareowners, the owners of our company, for your trust, your commitment and your belief in what is possible. I'll open the meeting now up to any questions that you might have.

And if you don't have any questions -- oh, okay Doug.

Nancy Southern and I have roots in the Netherlands. And so my -- of course, my green thumb brings me to an observation that we talk about excellence in the company, excellence in your green stuff. I noticed even in the [ Carson ] picture, I don't know if you noticed, the trees and the grass. And when I see any building, even the building in Edmonton constantly has beautiful flowers outfront. And so -- and you go to -- another thing that's excellent is the ATCO Kitchen in Calgary. All your buildings are excellent, and you take care of them. And -- so I really want to express my appreciation for the green stuff.

Thank you.

I also want to throw something at you. You know how companies have a symbol like -- it seems like [indiscernible] birds and animals and that sort of thing. And Rice Krispies have the 3 little...

Oh, yes.

Little people that go, crispy, crunchy, all that stuff. Anyways.

Snap, Crackle, Pop.

Thank you. Thank you. I had them this morning, and I'm thinking of the French Cric, Crac, Croc. Anyways, I was thinking that maybe ATCO or CU could come up with -- we have one of the top mascot builders in North America, right, in Edmonton, but we could have some kind of a symbol that -- it could be a Mr. Electric or Mr. Gasman or some really cute thing that represented our company. And this would work with -- people have these images and the ATCO name is famous, but it would be kind of need to have a figure or something that identifies to our company, and especially when we get involved with kids. But even adults like this sort of thing. So to your advertising people, I throw that out.

Doug, I think that's -- obviously, we're not doing a good enough job of highlighting our mascot, I'm a little animal. But Jason Sharpe is going to tell us all about Digger.

Well, I'm thankful that you're not calling me the little animal. So we do have Digger, which is a gopher as our mascot. We use him -- actually, the cool thing about him, it's actually our employees that go in Digger. So the -- when you see him at the stampede or at any of the community festivals here in Edmonton as well or in the north, it's actually one of our employees that's in there. Just a little warning for the employees, if you're under 5.8, you're perfect for this. I am under 5.8, so -- but I have not had the opportunity to be in Digger yet, but I guess that's coming.

We -- He is a lovely mascot, and made here in Alberta. So Doug, thank you for that. And also, I appreciate you recognizing the flowers and the trees. That is definitely something from my Dutch gene pool, my mom carrying through with the landscaping and quality of how we look to the world. Thank you very much for that. Is there any other questions? Yes. Brad.

I hope you don't mind me asking this, but I saw your graph with the peers and how they are very different, we're at the bottom. That brings it up to me as a customer, I look at my bill and I see all the rate riders, franchise fees and all those types of costs in there. Do -- does Alberta, like ATCO Electric, all the other utilities get together every once in a while and figure out can we streamline that or somehow make it more understanding to the regular customer, and therefore, have a better idea of what's being paid for our fees? And then in theory, your peers and ATCO should kind of close the gap between each other, I would think?

Well, we don't really want to share our best kept secrets in improving this constantly. However, I'm in total agreement with you. And I know Bob will have a few comments to add. But the biggest and most important thing, I believe, in this province is that our province listens to customers, not just about a particular price in a particular area. What we need is real transparency. We need to really understand all the costs that are going into our utility bills. And I think there is a hesitancy -- there has been a hesitancy, but I do think this transparency is starting to penetrate as to how we actually present these costs that are associated with transmission and distribution. I'm very proud of the fact that we are in those graphs the most efficient. And -- but I am a believer that a blending so that there's equalization across the province, particularly in electricity, is something we need to look at very, very seriously. Now the problem with getting there is that, that means that the big cities are going to have to share with rural Alberta. And that will mean the cities actually -- the big cities are actually going to, actually face a little higher cost. And as we know, that's politically difficult for the province to get around. But it's the right thing to look at. It's the right thing to try and do. Bob, did you want to add anything?

Nancy touched on the word transparency, and I totally agree with that. I really think the more we can be transparent in the province, I think the better it will be for all of our customers. And so I could not agree more. But to also your point about blending of rates, I think we need to -- we're supportive of that, but it does come with a political awkwardness, if I could put it that way. But I agree with your comments.

Yes. In our province, we have this vast area, so transmission and distribution into towns like Forestburg or your town -- I mean, it's a long way to build these large capital investments. And then we make you pay more because we have to go all the way out there to you, whereas the cities have this density that allows them to share their investment in a much more economic position. But the cities are also big voters, and that's the reality of how our utilities are operating. But I also think that in this province, we have a reluctance to actually blend north-south. And if we -- even if we just did that, we would do that in electric transmission, but we don't even do that in natural gas. So even that piece would at least help some. So I think it's a good point that you've raised. Anybody else? Anybody from our company that has questions? Okay. Well, we get to go enjoy ourselves, have coffee, a cookie, and continue to enjoy each other's company. Thank you all so very, very much for taking the time to attend this meeting today. Next year, 100 years, I look forward to seeing you all next year for 100 -- oh, Seymour?

On behalf of the rank-and-file shareholders, Madam Chair, I want to thank you for your guidance and the team because, as you pointed out in your speech this morning, we are in a very, very challenging time in the world, in the province. And as the team has underscored today in the presentations, Canadian Utilities has what Alberta needs and what Alberta wants and what the world needs and what the world wants. Energy Thank you so much.

Thank you, Seymour. Thank you. We are adjourned. Thank you very much. See you in the reception area for coffee and tea and cookies. Thank you.