Entergy Corporation (ETR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome you to the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Entergy Corporation. I would like to introduce Marcus Brown, Entergy's Executive President -- Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Marcus, I will hand it over to you.

Thank you, and good morning, and welcome to the virtual webcast of Entergy's Corporation's 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I'm Marcus Brown, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Entergy Corporation. While we don't expect any technical difficulty today, in the event you lose our audio or our webcast connection and are unable to provide any updates, please wait up to 10 minutes for resolution of the problem. You also may refer to the 2021 Annual Shareholders Meeting site on the Events section of our Investor Relations website for updates. In today's webcast, we may make certain forward-looking statements about our expectations or predictions about the future. Because these statements are based on current assumptions and factors that may involve risks and uncertainties, the company's actual results could differ materially from those forward-looking statements. This may be due to a number of factors, which are set forth in our Form 10-K, which we filed with the SEC on February 26, 2021, and our subsequent SEC filings. Entergy does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Shareholders may submit questions electronically until the end of the business portion of this meeting. [Operator Instructions] Appropriate questions received during the meeting that are not answered live will be answered on our Investor Relations website following the meeting. And with that, I will turn the call over to Leo Denault, Entergy's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, who will share a few opening remarks.

Thank you, Marcus. Good morning, and thank you for attending the 72nd Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Entergy Corporation. As stated in our proxy materials, we are holding the annual meeting in a virtual format again this year due to the continuing impact of COVID-19 in order to protect the health and safety of our shareholders, directors, officers, employees and other stakeholders. The Board and I miss greeting you in-person, but we are excited to embrace this approach and provide expanded access, improved communication and cost savings for our shareholders. I want to acknowledge and welcome the Entergy Board of Directors and our senior leadership team, who are joining this virtual meeting today by phone. I would also like to acknowledge the hard work of our employees through one of the most challenging times any of us have ever faced. I have a privilege to represent and speak on behalf of our more than 13,000 employees who make extraordinary things happen, often while overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges. It is a humbling responsibility to tell Entergy's story. When I had the opportunity to share some thoughts with you at last year's virtually held shareholders' meeting, I never imagined that this devastating pandemic would still be affecting the way we live and work a year later. But here we are. 2020 will likely be one of the most analyzed and scrutinized years in modern history and will be discussed for decades to come. Whatever 2020 threw at us, our hard-working employees did not back down. Whenever we encountered obstacles, we stuck together and worked through each day as one team. That's what our stakeholders expect from us, and that's what it takes to be the premier utility. To those who say there was no way to prepare for 2020, all I can tell you is that the employees of Entergy were prepared for the extraordinary. Every day, our team helped ensure we live up to our mission statement, We Power Life. In times of extraordinary and unexpected hardship, we understand that our customers and our communities need us now more than ever. Last year, our employees demonstrated, once again, why Entergy is best-in-class in storm response. During a storm season, as active as we've experienced in our history, their commitment to health, safety and preparedness was one of our proudest achievements, all while navigating the safety procedures put in place to help mitigate against the spread of the virus. When 5 named storms devastated portions of our service area, including Hurricane Laura, the strongest storm to hit Louisiana in over 160 years, our storm response teams worked around the clock to safely, restore service, rebuild infrastructure and help our communities recover, all while following preventative safety measures. The widespread storm damaged deep in the crisis for many of our communities already struggling from the impacts of the pandemic, and Entergy led economic recovery efforts through charitable donations and volunteer support that helped our communities build back. 2020 did not diminish our resolve to pursue the strategies that matter to our stakeholders. In fact, it was another milestone year for Entergy's environmental leadership and our actions to combat climate change. After more than 2 decades of setting and achieving voluntary emissions reductions targets, we accelerated our commitments with the pledge to achieve net 0 carbon emissions by 2050. Our long-standing commitment to sustainability has led to measurable undeniable results. For the past 2 decades, our emissions rate has been well below the sector average. Our utility carbon dioxide emissions rate has decreased approximately 37% since 2000. And today, we operate one of the cleanest large-scale power generating fleets in the nation, and we're getting cleaner. We recognize that creating a clean energy future calls for greater investments in renewable energy, advancing the use of emerging technologies and creating innovative partnerships to accelerate our net 0 carbon emissions actions. Becoming a premier utility means doing our part to creating a more sustainable future for everyone. Today, Entergy is a national leader in critical measures of sustainability. We have among the lowest retail rates in the country. We are leading the clean energy transformation for the power industry. We have a 2-decade record of achieving voluntary actions to combat climate change. We operate in a region that benefits from strong industrial growth. We invest in our employees to create a workforce for the future. We are recognized as a socially responsible growth engine for our communities and our aspirations for our customers are aligned with the goals of our regulators. These attributes alone make Entergy a compelling long-term investment today. But this is also the foundation on which we will grow, innovate and expand our investment profile for tomorrow. We have several exciting new near-term goals in 2021 that continue to move us toward a path toward becoming the premier utility. Among them, we announced the creation of a new position in the hiring of our first Chief Customer Officer to accelerate our focus on customer centricity and deliver extraordinary experiences for our customers. We are planning 4 new renewable energy projects totaling 1,300 megawatts of carbon-free power, and we are on target this year to complete installation of approximately 3 million advanced meters that will help our customers better manage their energy usage and potentially lower their bills. Looking ahead a bit longer term, some of our strategies include plans for more than 5,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030, the intent for any future flexible power station construction projects to be hydrogen capable on day 1, and we expect that Entergy will play a leading role in advancing net 0 technologies. Perhaps our most important initiative of 2020 was the continued progress and commitment to championing diversity, inclusion and belonging. For Entergy, our focus on diversity, inclusion and belonging is also a critical business imperative and our ability to deliver sustainable value to our stakeholders now and in the future depends on it. Last June, the executive team and I held an employee town hall on race and equality with the goal to foster transparent, productive and even raw conversations among employees and leaders at all levels. Since that time, teams and individuals across the company have been having critical conversations with each other and working hard to lay a firm foundation, upon which to continue building and strengthening our culture. While we can acknowledge the progress we have made as a company, we know there is more work to be done in our mission to become the premier utility for all stakeholders. Financially, we are off to a strong start to 2021 and had a solid first quarter. This keeps us on track to deliver on our commitments to you, our owners, and all of our stakeholders. We are entering an exciting period of unprecedented opportunity as we prepare for the future. We have the plans as well as the talent needed to execute on those plans, and I am excited about the future of Entergy. I hope you are as well. I thank each of you for your continued support and wish you a safe and healthy year ahead. We will now begin the business portion of the meeting and address the matters covered by the proxy statement. After that, we'll have some time for questions from our shareholders. At this time, I officially call the meeting to order, and the polls are now open. It is my intent to chair and conduct this meeting in the manner stated in the agenda and the rules of conduct and procedures for the meeting. I would now like to introduce the other members of the Board in attendance at today's meeting through this live webcast. John Burbank is an independent strategic adviser. Pat Condon is a retired audit partner of Deloitte & Touche. Kirkland Donald is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Systems Planning and Analysis, and as a retired admiral and former Director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. Brian Ellis is the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Danaher Corporation. Philip Frederickson is a retired Executive Vice President of ConocoPhillips. Alexis Herman is the Chair and CEO of New Ventures, LLC. Alexis also served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor during President Bill Clinton's administration. Lisa Hyland is a former Senior Vice President of EQT Corporation. Stuart Levenick is our Board's Lead Director. He's also a former group President and executive office member of Caterpillar Inc. Blanche Lincoln is the founder and principal of the Lincoln Policy Group, and a former United States senator and congresswomen from the State of Arkansas. Karen Puckett is the former President of Harte Hanks, Inc. Representatives of Deloitte & Touche, our independent accountants, are also participating in today's meeting and will be available to answer any accounting questions you may have. I will now ask Marcus Brown, our Executive Vice President and General Counsel, to report on the mailing of the notice for this meeting, the presence of a quorum and other business we will consider today.

The agenda is shown at the top right corner of the webcast screen. Rules of conduct for the meeting are posted on the online meeting platform in the Media Materials section. These rules outline how we will proceed in today's meeting. To ensure we have an orderly meeting and to permitting enough time for questions, we ask that you abide by these rules. There will also be a business question-and-answer period after the business portion of the meeting has been concluded. Participants are not permitted to use any recording devices. However, this meeting is being recorded and a replay will be available on our Investor Relations website. The notice of the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Entergy Corporation was provided to shareholders of record as of March 9, 2021. The notice and the proxy statement were distributed to shareholders beginning on March 26. A list of the shareholders and available -- is available on the virtual medium portal for today's meeting. As of the record date, they are 201,068,427 shareholders of common stock outstanding. Beth VanDerbeck, our appointed inspector of elections, is in attendance today and has informed us that we -- that more than the majority of the shares entitled to vote at the meeting are represented today. Accordingly, we have a quorum and we may proceed with the business of the meeting. I will now review the matters to be voted on. As noted, the polls are open. If you have already submitted your vote, you will not need to vote again. Your shares will be voted in accordance with the directions you previously provided. If you have not already voted your shares or wish to change your vote, you may do so by clicking on the vote button at the bottom of the right corner of the webcast screen. The polls will remain open until we conclude the matters to be voted on portion of this meeting. However, once the polls close, no further proxies or votes or any revocations or changes may be accepted. The first proposal is the election of directors and the director nominees are: John Burbank, Pat Condon, Leo Denault, Kirkland Donald, Brian Ellis, Philip Frederickson, Alexis Herman, Lisa Hyland, Stuart Levenick, Blanche Lincoln and Karen Puckett. The next items are 3 management proposals. Proposal 2 is a ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche as our independent registered public accountants for 2021. Proposal 3 gives our shareholders the opportunity, on an advisory basis, to approve our named Executive Officer compensation. And proposal 4, amend our Certificate of Incorporation to allow us to issue preferred stock. That concludes the matters to be voted on. The polls are now closed. The inspector of elections will collect and tabulate all of the proxies and ballots. Subject to the formal verification by the inspector of elections, I can report that each of our director nominees has been elected. The appointment of Deloitte & Touche as our independent registered public accountants for the fiscal year ending 2021 has been ratified. The advisory vote to approve named executive officer compensation has been approved. And the proposal to amend our Certificate of Incorporation has been approved. After the meeting, we will complete the final vote tabulations and provide the final voting results on our website and in a Form 8-K that will be filed with the SEC. I will now turn the call back over to Leo.

Thank you, Marcus. There being no further business to come before the meeting, I declare the 72nd Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Entergy Corporation adjourned. As noted, at this time, we will address questions received from shareholders. We received several questions from shareholders prior to the meeting.

We received one question that asked about the reasons we are seeking shareholder approval of a charter amendment that would authorize the Board to approve future issuance as the preferred stock. This question is answered more thoroughly in the proxy statement, but essentially, we feel that it's important for us to have that means of raising capital available to us just as it is for most of our peer companies. The terms of each specific preferred stock issuance will be negotiated with the purchasers of the stock or their representatives, and the specific terms will be approved by the Board or a committee of the Board. Without the amendment, we would have to take each of these issuances to the shareholders for approval, which would be impractical and inefficient. The amendment puts the issuance of preferred stock on the same footing as issuances of common stock, so we can choose whichever type of equity issuance best meets the company's need at that time. The next question received is how we handled the closing of the plant in Westchester. The Indian Point Energy Center Unit 3 shutdown is -- it's nuclear reactor on Friday, April 30, marking the end of nearly 60 successful years of safe, virtually carbon-free power generation at the facility. We expect to complete the sale of that plant within the next several weeks. The Indian Point team finished plant operations strong and is now defueling the reactor. In fact, they finished operations so strong that they set a new world record for the longest continuous run for a light-water reactor. I would like to thank the employees of Indian Point for their dedicated service to the plant, New York and to Entergy. Through this higher shutdown and sale process, we've remained committed to our employees, and all those qualified and willing to relocate have been offered positions. We look forward to them starting the next phase of their career with us. We also received a question asking us how many women are on the Board. We have 4 women on our Board, Alexis Herman, Lisa Hyland, Blanche Lincoln and Karen Puckett. You can view the full Board of Directors' list and their biographies under the About Us section of our website or in our proxy statement. The next question we received is how much compensation is recommended? We're assuming that this question relates to the proposal #3 on the ballot today, our say on pay advisory shareholder vote. In this proposal, the Board unanimously recommended that shareholders approve the compensation paid to the executive officers named in the proxy statement. All is further described and explained in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis section of the proxy statement. The advisory vote is intended to address our overall executive compensation policies and practices as they relate to our named executive officers rather than any specific element of compensation. Because your vote is advisory, it will not binding upon the Board or the Personnel Committee. However, the Board and Personnel Committee value your opinion and will review and consider the voting results when evaluating our executive compensation programs. We also received a question that asked, will the transformation to a more environmentally friendly generation technologies help to grow the rate base and authorized earnings more quickly? Working with our regulators and stakeholders, we anticipate new growth and new load opportunities as we transform our power generation and storage portfolio in a responsible manner that balances reliability, affordability and environmental stewardship. To achieve these outcomes, we expect substantial increases in clean renewable generation, battery storage, hydrogen and carbon capture investments. Beyond portfolio solutions, we also see many opportunities to partner with our customers through beneficial electrification as we help them achieve their growing sustainability objectives. This beneficial electrification in the industrial and transportation sectors will create new load opportunities and growth in the business. Additionally, to the extent we own these clean power generating assets versus contract for them, when it's in the best interest of our customers, there will be incremental rate base growth opportunities for Entergy. We will always pursue the resource options that are the right choice for our customers. We did receive one question live that I'll answer. And that question is, did Entergy learn anything from the 2020 hurricane response that can be implemented in preparation in recovery from future storms? As with all storms that happened or any kind of event, such as the pandemic or anything else, through our incident response, we'll take all the learnings that we get from this storm season and apply those to our future planning and our future incident response. There are always lessons to be learned because each storm is different and each storm presents unique challenges and opportunities for us to improve our level of service for our customers and our communities. I will say that we also learned a lot about the investments that we're making in new technology across the system. What we saw, particularly in Hurricane Laura, this -- in 2020, was that many of the new investments that we're making in our transmission and distribution infrastructure that have a hardening aspect to them that withstand higher wind speeds, for example, that those assets have performed tremendously well during those times. So for example, the Lake Charles transmission project was designed to handle -- to withstand winds up to 140 miles an hour. All of those transmission structures and lines remained in place after Hurricane Laura when some of the older technology infrastructure around it was devastated. As we went through and replaced the assets that have been destroyed, we're replacing them with the newer technologies that have proven to be more resilient in follow-on storms since then. So we're learning a lot about our process and our operations and how we attack storms, which is normal. We're also learning a lot, and the industry has learned a lot from those storms in terms of the new technologies that we're deploying and the fact that they really do work as intended. Also, we're finding that some of the technology investments that we made to allow us to restore power more quickly to customers through our digital technologies are also having an impact as well. So this concludes the Q&A session. Additional questions received during the meeting that complied with the rules of the meeting will be answered on our Investor Relations website. The replay of today's meeting will be posted on our website within 24 to 48 hours. Thank you for attending the Annual Meeting of Shareholders, for your continued support of Entergy. This concludes today's webcast, stay safe and stay well.