Oncor Reports Second Quarter 2021 Results

DALLAS, Aug. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC ("Oncor") today reported three months ended June 30, 2021 net income of $169 million compared to net income of $176 million in the second quarter of 2020. The $7 million quarter-over-quarter decrease in net income was driven by increases in operation and maintenance expense, costs associated with additional investment (primarily depreciation and amortization and property taxes), partially offset by a net increase in revenues contributing to earnings primarily from increases in base transmission and distribution rates and customer growth, net of lower consumption primarily attributable to milder weather.

"I am proud of our second quarter execution and the excellent performance of the men and women of Oncor. In spite of unseasonably mild weather, we experienced continued revenue and customer growth, as people and businesses continued to move to Texas. Our second quarter results again demonstrate that the Oncor service territory is one of the most attractive in the nation, with strong premise, economic development, and transmission interconnection growth," said Oncor CEO Allen Nye. "This morning Oncor also released its annual corporate sustainability overview. As a company, being good stewards of our environment and good partners to the communities we serve is critical to our operations, and integral to building a safer, more reliable, more sustainable electric grid for Texas."

Oncor's net income of $337 million in the six months ended June 30, 2021 compared favorably to net income of $307 million in the six months ended June 30, 2020. The $30 million period-over-period net income improvement was driven by increases in revenues contributing to earnings primarily from increases in base transmission and distribution rates and customer growth, and favorable changes in other income and deductions, partially offset by increases in costs associated with additional investment (primarily depreciation and amortization and property taxes) and operation and maintenance expense.

Oncor's total distribution base revenues in the three and six months ended June 30, 2021 as compared to the prior year periods decreased 0.3% (2.2% increase on a weather normalized basis) and increased 4.3% (1.9% increase on a weather normalized basis), respectively. The change in Oncor's total distribution base revenues in the second quarter of 2021 as compared to the second quarter of 2020 included a 4.9% decrease in distribution base revenues from residential customers (0.2% increase on a weather normalized basis) and a 3.7% increase in distribution base revenues from large commercial and industrial customers.  The change in Oncor's total distribution base revenues in the six months ended June 30, 2021 as compared to the six months ended June 30, 2020 included an increase of 5.7% in distribution base revenues from residential customers (0.6% increase on a weather normalized basis) and a 3.1% increase in distribution base revenues from large commercial and industrial customers. Financial and operational results are provided in Tables A, B, C and D below.

Capital Expenditure Plan
Oncor now expects capital expenditures of $2.5 billion in 2021, an increase from its previous guidance of $2.4 billion. In July, Oncor's board of directors approved a 2022 capital plan of $2.8 billion, an increase from Oncor's previous 2022 guidance range of between $2.4 billion and $2.5 billion. Oncor's management also currently expects to recommend to its board of directors capital expenditures of $2.7 billion to $3.0 billion in each of the years 2023 through 2026, for a 2022-2026 capital plan projection of approximately $14.0 billion compared to the previous 2021-2025 capital plan guidance of $12.2 billion. Oncor's increased capital plan projections are due to Texas's continued and expected growth in premises, transmission interconnection requests and renewable generation interconnections, as well as additional anticipated grid resiliency investments. Approximately 97% of Oncor's capital expenditures are recoverable in rates through trackers. 

Oncor serves many of the country's fastest growing cities and counties. Since 2018, Oncor has seen approximately 2% year over year premises growth and expects this to continue, especially in the Dallas/Ft. Worth region. In the three- and six-month periods ended June 30, 2021, Oncor connected approximately 23,000 and 43,000 additional premises, respectively. 

New transmission interconnection requests are on pace to exceed prior 2018 record levels by 30 percent. Transmission interconnection requests increased in the second quarter, driven by an increase in requests relating to data centers, crypto-currency mining and oil and gas development. Currently, Oncor has more than ten cryptocurrency related requests in queue across its service territory, with electric load requirements ranging from 5 MW to 1.5 GW. A growing emphasis on process electrification has also resulted in an increase in requests in West Texas.

Operational Highlights
In the second quarter of 2021, Oncor completed its joint project with Lubbock Power and Light ("LP&L"), a municipal electricity utility company, owned by the City of Lubbock, Texas. The approximately $370 million project involved the build out of 175 miles of transmission lines and associated station work in the Lubbock and surrounding Texas panhandle areas to join the City of Lubbock to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas ("ERCOT") market, with the resulting assets split between Oncor and LP&L. 

During the quarter, Oncor constructed and placed in service 47 miles of new build transmission lines, including 40 miles associated with the LP&L integration, 93 miles of re-build lines and 21 major substation projects.

On the consumer front, Oncor launched its Energy Collaborative Community, an online portal that brings innovation and communication together to create a new avenue for our customers to share real-time feedback and perspective on how Oncor can better meet customer needs and expectations.

2020 Corporate Sustainability Overview
This morning, Oncor released its 2020 Corporate Sustainability Overview, highlighting environmental, social and governance issues related to the company. The report is available on Oncor's website at oncor.com, under the Investor Relations section.

Rate Proceeding Update
In May, Oncor filed an application with the Public Utility Commission of Texas ("PUCT") requesting to extend its deadline for filing a base-rate case from October 1, 2021 to June 1, 2022. All of the stakeholders represented in Oncor's previous rate and other related PUCT proceedings either supported or were unopposed to the requested extension.  On July 29, 2021, the PUCT approved the extension. 

Sempra Internet Broadcast Today
Sempra (NYSE: SRE) (BMV: SRE) will broadcast a live discussion of its earnings results over the Internet today at 12 p.m. ET that will include discussion of second quarter 2021 results and other information relating to Oncor. Oncor Chief Executive Officer Allen Nye will also participate in the broadcast. Access is available by logging onto Sempra's website, sempra.com. An accompanying slide presentation will also be posted at sempra.com. For those unable to participate in the live webcast, a replay of Sempra's teleconference will be available a few hours after its conclusion on Sempra's website or by dialing (888) 203-1112 and entering passcode 1398783.

Oncor's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2021 will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after Sempra's conference call and once filed, will also be available on Oncor's website, oncor.com.

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Headquartered in Dallas, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC is a regulated electricity distribution and transmission business that uses superior asset management skills to provide reliable electricity delivery to consumers. Oncor (together with its subsidiaries) operates the largest distribution and transmission system in Texas, delivering power to more than 3.8 million homes and businesses and operating more than 139,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines in Texas. While Oncor is owned by two investors (indirect majority owner, Sempra, and minority owner, Texas Transmission Investment LLC), Oncor is managed by its Board of Directors, which is comprised of a majority of disinterested directors.

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Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to Oncor within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts (often, but not always, through the use of words or phrases such as "expects," "estimates," "projected," "intends," "plans," "will likely result," "are expected to," "will continue," "is anticipated,"  "should," "target," "goal," "objective" and "outlook"), are forward-looking statements. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements include: legislation, governmental policies and orders and regulatory actions; legal and administrative proceedings and settlements, including the exercise of equitable powers by courts; weather conditions and other natural phenomena; health epidemics and pandemics, including the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on Oncor's business and the economy in general; acts of sabotage, wars or terrorist or cyber security threats or activities; economic conditions, including the impact of a recessionary environment; unanticipated population growth or decline, or changes in market demand and demographic patterns; ERCOT grid needs; changes in business strategy, development plans or vendor relationships; unanticipated changes in interest rates or rates of inflation; unanticipated changes in operating expenses, liquidity needs and capital expenditures; inability of various counterparties to meet their financial obligations to us, including failure of counterparties to perform under agreements; general industry trends; hazards customary to the industry and the possibility that we may not have adequate insurance to cover losses resulting from such hazards; changes in technology used by and services offered by us; significant changes in our relationship with our employees, including the availability of qualified personnel, and the potential adverse effects if labor disputes or grievances were to occur; changes in assumptions used to estimate costs of providing employee benefits, including pension and retiree benefits, and future funding requirements related thereto; significant changes in critical accounting policies material to us; commercial bank and financial market conditions, access to capital, the cost of such capital, and the results of financing and refinancing efforts, including availability of funds in the capital markets and the potential impact of disruptions in U.S. credit markets; circumstances which may contribute to future impairment of goodwill, intangible or other long-lived assets; financial and other restrictions under our debt agreements; our ability to generate sufficient cash flow to make interest payments on our debt instruments; actions by credit rating agencies; and our ability to effectively execute our operational strategy.

Further discussion of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's current projections, forecasts, estimates and expectations is contained in filings made by Oncor with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Specifically, Oncor makes reference to the section entitled "Risk Factors" in its annual and quarterly reports. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and Oncor undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

SOURCE Oncor Electric Delivery Company, LLC