Exelon still targeting 7.3% rate base growth through 2023 despite virus impacts

摘要

Exelon Corp. revised its 2020 full-year guidance downward from between $3 and $3.30 per share to $2.80 to $3.10 per share due to a warm winter and a lowered ROE for subsidiary Commonwealth Edison Co. tied to the coronavirus pandemic. However, Exelon CEO Chris Crane said despite the virus outbreak the company's value proposition remains "unchanged," telling investors during a May 8 earnings call that Exelon is still targeting 7.3% rate base growth and 6% to 8% earnings per share growth through 2023. On the regulated utility side, Exelon's chief financial officer Joseph Nigro said $0.10 of the $0.20 projected share degradation is related to ComEd. A little over $0.05 is due to ComEd's distribution ROE in Illinois being tied to the 30-year yield on U.S. Treasurys, which has plummeted in response to the global pandemic. Record mild weather caused another $0.05 of share degradation. Temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic region that were 5 to 7 degrees higher than average in January through March. The remaining $0.10 of share degradation is due to the expected performance of Exelon subsidiary and competitive power supplier Exelon Generation Co. LLC. Nigro said $0.05 of the drag is from the very mild Q1 weather while COVID-19 related impacts on customer load caused the other $0.05 drop.