$NEE NextEra Energy Q2 2026 Earnings Conference Call

Thanks, Michael, and good morning, everyone. NextEra Energy delivered a strong second quarter with adjusted earnings per share of $1.15, reflecting continued operational and financial execution across both FPL and Energy Resources. Through the first 6 months of the year, our adjusted earnings per share increased 9.8% year-over-year. NextEra Energy continues to be well positioned to deliver on its growth opportunities and its regulated and long-term contracted businesses in 2026 and beyond. Power demand continues to accelerate. NextEra Energy is uniquely positioned to meet the power demand needs of our customers because we have the scale, financial strength, supply chain development expertise, and technology to build all forms of energy. Customers can't afford to wait for an energy partner to secure equipment, land, or financing. And states shouldn't have to choose between economic growth and affordable electric bills. Today, energy partners must deliver both. This is exactly what FPL and Energy Resources consistently do as we execute against our 12 ways to grow. Our deeply experienced teams are focused on serving our customers and delivering them the solutions they need when and where they need it. We believe FPL continues to be one of the best examples of how to serve rapid growth while keeping customer bills low and reliability high. The state remains one of the fastest growing in the nation supported by a large and increasingly diverse economy, continued net in-migration, job creation, and business investment. In fact, Florida's $1.8 trillion annual economy is now the 14th largest in the world, recently surpassing Australia and Mexico. That growth translates directly into electricity demand across our service area, including the Space Coast, and FPL is uniquely positioned to meet it. FPL added more than 90,000 customers in the second quarter compared to the prior year comparable quarter. What differentiates FPL is that we don't choose between affordability, reliability, and serving growth. We consistently deliver all three at the same time. Today, FPL's typical residential bill remains approximately 30% below the national average and is only projected to increase 2% annually, on average, through the end of the decade. We drive consistently low bills through exceptional operational efficiency. FPL's non-fuel O&M is more than 70% better than the industry average on a dollar per megawatt-hour basis. Customers also continue to benefit from top decile reliability. That's more than 60% better than the national average. This performance is a direct result of a proven long-term strategy centered on sustained, disciplined capital investment, scale, a strong balance sheet and credit rating, a highly efficient operating model, and a diverse generation fleet. In fact, during the quarter, FPL placed into service four new cost-effective solar sites to support Florida's growth. And we remain on track to meet our full-year expectations to install approximately 900 MW of solar and over 1.4 GW of battery storage. It's why FPL continues to own and operate more solar and storage than any utility in America. Importantly, FPL is positioned to develop new cost-effective solar and storage for the benefit of its customers because approximately 90% of our generation mix is anchored in base load gas-fired and nuclear generation, the result of sustained investments over the last 25 years to modernize our power plant fleet while meeting power demand from significant population growth. We continue to see very strong interest from hyperscalers and other large load customers that value speed to market, reliability, and competitive power pricing. That is why in May we updated our expectations from 6 GW to 8 GW of large load by 2032. As part of FPL's new four-year rate agreement, we designed our large load tariff to protect our existing customers. We believe our large load tariff is industry-leading. In fact, in May, Florida's governor signed a bill that codified many aspects of FPL's large load tariff into law. And yesterday, along with Dominion Energy and certain other utilities, we announced our support for the White House's ratepayer protection pledge, which reinforces this principle of large load customers paying their fair share. Importantly, it's aligned with how we already approach our infrastructure projects to serve large load customers. We have roughly 21 gigawatts of large load interest at FPL. Of that, we are in advanced discussions on 12 gigawatts, a portion of which we believe we could begin serving as soon as 2028. FPL is advancing negotiations with large load customers and continues to expect to announce at least one large load transaction under FPL's tariff by the end of the year. Initially, we expect every gigawatt of large load under FPL's approved tariff to be equivalent to roughly $2 billion of CapEx and earn the same return on equity as other FPL investments. Bottom line, we believe FPL's opportunity set has never been clearer. A rapidly growing service area, a disciplined and constructive regulatory framework, scale complemented by a best-in-class operating model, and a long runway of investment opportunities, all while continuing to do what matters most, which is delivering reliable, affordable electricity for customers every single day.

Turning to the NextEra Energy Transmission, during the quarter it energized a new transmission line in New Mexico to strengthen the grid in a growing part of the state, demonstrating why it is one of America's leading independent electric transmission companies. The team delivered the 137-mile 345 kV line ahead of schedule and on budget. This project is projected to reduce typical residential electric bills in 2031 by approximately $13 per month based on an independent study performed by the Southwest Power Pool, providing a clear and tangible example of how smart transmission investments can directly improve affordability for customers. The project took just 31 months from being awarded to being placed in service. One of the fastest transmission development and construction projects anywhere in the industry. This reinforces what we believe is a core differentiator for energy resources. Our ability to consistently execute and bring critical infrastructure online at a time when speed matters most for customers. NextEra Energy Transmission also continues to win new competitive transmission projects across the United States. During the quarter, MISO selected NextEra Energy Transmission as part of a consortium to develop two large-scale 765 kV transmission projects in Illinois. NextEra Energy Transmission would have 43% ownership of the approximately $1.6 billion project, which aims to serve as a backbone system to deliver reliable, cost-competitive energy across the Midwest. As I've said many times, power generation alone can't and won't beat this unique moment. This country also needs a new transmission infrastructure to reliably deliver electricity to our communities. It's why NextEra Energy Transmission is focused on delivering the solutions for customers. Including both transmission and generation, Energy Resources has one of the strongest and differentiated energy infrastructure platforms in the country. At a time when customers need tailored solutions, more capacity, and speed to market, Energy Resources is uniquely positioned to deliver.

For the quarter, Energy Resources added 3.6 gigawatts of renewables and storage projects to its backlog, its second largest quarter of additions coming on the heels of last quarter's record 4 gigawatts. Battery storage represented 2 gigawatts of additions this quarter. Battery storage remains an important growth driver, and we believe we are exceptionally well positioned to deliver this capacity solution for customers. That's because we have several ways to develop storage. We can build it as a stand-alone project. We can co-locate storage across our existing renewable sites. We can develop batteries as grid solutions, and we can expand 4-hour batteries to 8-hours at our existing storage sites. Put simply, the opportunity set for battery storage is significant. And because of the size and diversity of our asset portfolio, co-located storage is a meaningful differentiator for us. Our stand-alone and co-located battery storage pipeline sits at over 110 gigawatts without including our expansion opportunities. More broadly, our backlog provides meaningful visibility into future growth and underscores the value of our long-term contracted business. We also continue to execute on recontracting projects within our operating portfolio that are coming off contract. Since the last earnings call, we recontracted over 500 megawatts of existing projects. This brings our year-to-date recontracting total to over 1,100 megawatts of renewables. This quarter's recontractings have been priced on average at a premium of roughly $20 per megawatt hour above recent realized pricing for these projects. And we are also locked in contracts for approximately 15 years on average, reflecting the strong electricity demand environment we're seeing today. As a reminder, Energy Resources has up to 6 GW of renewables and 1.5 GW of nuclear recontracting opportunities through 2032.

Another major area of opportunity is large load demand in our data center hub strategy. Hyperscalers and other large load customers are increasingly focused on speed, certainty, and scalability, and that plays directly to our strengths. We believe Energy Resources is one of the few companies in the country that can support these customers with a full suite of solutions, from renewables and battery storage in the near term to gas-fired generation and potentially nuclear over time. In fact, we now have 30 potential hubs we are discussing with the market, and we continue to expect that number to rise to 40 by year-end. We also have four origination channels feeding into our base case goal of securing 15 GW of new generation to serve large load by 2035. These four origination channels won't just help us achieve our base case of 15 GW, they can also help us achieve our upside case of 30 GW or more by 2035. Our channels include working directly with hyperscalers, with investor-owned utilities, with cooperative and municipal utilities, and with federal partners. Importantly, we continue to position Energy Resources to where the market is moving. Our bring-your-own generation approach with hyperscalers resonates because it provides a way to meet incremental demand either in front of the meter or behind the meter while helping protect affordability for existing retail customers. We believe FERC section 206 show cause orders that were announced in June will create yet another market shift and generate strong demand for the ability to match load with generation. We've spent the last 18 months preparing and positioning our business to deliver that solution for customers.

The recommissioning of our Duane Arnold nuclear plant is a perfect example of matching electric load with power generation. We remain on track to bring the plant back online no later than Q1 2029. Since our last call, the Iowa Utilities Commission approved a generating certificate for the plant. And we also successfully closed on the acquisition of the final 30% minority interest in the plant held by our two cooperative partners, making us the sole owner. We continue to advance development of up to 9 and a half gigawatts of gas-fired generation projects in Texas and Pennsylvania. In March, the president approved the projects which are drawn from our existing inventory of data center hubs. While not yet complete, we continue to progress discussions on definitive agreements with the US and Japanese governments. We also continue to evaluate advanced nuclear, closely evaluating the capabilities of various SMR OEMs. We have 6 gigawatts of SMR co-location opportunities at our nuclear sites, and we are working to develop new greenfield sites. Of course, any new nuclear build would have to include the right commercial terms and conditions with appropriate risk-sharing mechanisms that limit our ultimate exposure. In short, we're off to a strong first half of the year and I'm as confident and excited as ever about our prospects to deliver on our 12 ways to grow in the second half of 2026 and beyond.

At the same time, we continue to advance our combination with Dominion Energy. On July 15th, we filed for merger approval with the Virginia State Corporation Commission, North Carolina Utilities Commission, and the Public Service Commission of South Carolina. The Virginia filing initiated the state's statutory 6-month review process. The companies also filed for merger approval with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. And we filed the S-4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 9th, which became effective yesterday. We expect to distribute proxy materials to shareholders in the near future and expect Dominion to do the same and are anticipating both shareholder meetings to be held in early September. We believe our proposed combination is a natural extension of our capabilities and experience. We're putting a larger NextEra Energy platform behind Dominion Energy at the exact time when scale matters more than ever to face a set of challenges unlike anything the utility industry has seen in decades. As I've said before, this is a merger of addition, not subtraction. The rare example of when 1 + 1 = 3. Simply put, combining NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy would drive affordability, create local jobs, and deliver all forms of energy infrastructure, including battery storage, by leveraging the strengths of the two industry leaders and sharing best practices in grid modernization, storm restoration, customer service, workforce tools, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and process improvement, just to name a few. Let's start with affordability. As we said in May, in the near term, we are offering $2.25 billion in shareholder-funded bill credits to Dominion Energy's customers in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. This is a meaningful, concrete, and substantial benefit, but the combination also adds capabilities that will benefit customers long after we've delivered these initial bill credits. The increased scale and enhanced operating platform of the two companies will help maintain affordability at a time when power demand requires more investment in generation and transmission. Buying, building, financing, and operating energy infrastructure more efficiently benefits customers over time. It's exactly what we've done at FPL, which is why our typical customer bill today is 20% lower than it was 20 years ago in real dollars. The proposed combination would also serve as an economic catalyst. We expect to more than double the size of our combined company by 2032, which would mean good jobs for many years to come for our talented teams across the four states we would serve, and across America where we operate. As with NextEra Energy, Dominion Energy's employees are one of the company's greatest strengths with an unmatched understanding of the customers and communities they serve. In addition, the fabric of a well-run utility is a company that's strongly embedded in the community it serves. That's exactly why the combined company will maintain dual headquarters in Richmond, Virginia and Juno Beach, Florida along with an operational headquarters in Cayce, South Carolina. We also have a retention commitment for Dominion Energy employees, but that just scratches the surface. Remember, building new energy infrastructure creates new jobs. And building that new infrastructure while maintaining affordable and reliable power attracts new residents and businesses, which then requires new infrastructure. The cycle then repeats. Meeting this moment requires all forms of energy infrastructure. That's exactly what this combination will deliver. As I mentioned earlier, we are not dependent on a single piece of technology. NextEra Energy is the world leader in renewables and solar. We're also a leader in gas-fired and nuclear generation, and we're a leader in transmission, and we build and operate energy infrastructure better than anyone in our industry. We'd be taking these capabilities and pairing them up with Dominion Energy's local operations, leadership, expertise, community presence, and history of outstanding service to better position the company over the long term. To be clear, this isn't about changing what's worked for Dominion Energy. Rather, this combination is about Dominion Energy adding the undeniable benefits of being part of a larger combined company with deep skill sets and experience across the energy value chain, providing access to scale and an industry-leading platform and balance sheet. Scale matters because it creates efficiencies that compound over time and to lower cost, better experience, and stronger outcomes for customers, which has never been more important given the challenges being faced today. As we discussed in May, the combined company is expected to support approximately 11% annual growth in regulatory capital employed through 2032 and 9% plus adjusted EPS growth through 2032 with a 9% plus target through 2035 all off a 2025 base. Just as importantly, the opportunity set becomes broader and more diversified. We expect the combination will close in the second half of 2027. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mike.

Yeah, thanks for the question, Steve. Let me just start by talking about the hub program in general, and then I'll turn to the federal hub. So, first of all, we feel really good about where we are on our hub strategy in addition to the execution we've seen on the renewable origination side. I would characterize it as we feel like we're ahead of schedule. When I look at the second half of the year and beyond, shaping up very well. We're making a lot of progress. You can't always time these things around these calls, but I think the takeaway for investors should be ahead of schedule. And let me turn quickly to your question at hand, which is talking about the 9 and a half gigawatts we're working with the United States government and the Japanese government on. It continues to progress. As I said in our prepared remarks, continuing to make progress. It's just when you bring two large nation states together, things don't always go according to schedule in terms of getting things done as fast as you might want, but I wouldn't read too much into that. When I look at our overall origination program, Mike hit on this, but you'll look at where we are. Some of this is reflected in the S-4. Just continuing to make a lot of progress there. So, if you take our four-year program and you look through '29 on the renewables and storage side, we're ahead of schedule. You basically have to do 9 gigawatts a year over the next two years to hit the midpoint of our expectations over that four-year period through 2029. We're taking our federal hubs up from 30 to 40, which is going to give us even more opportunities in the market. I think a lot of those hubs are located in the right areas because we have terrific data sets and technology and a lot of lessons learned on where hyperscalers want to be. So, the bottom line is, things are continuing to track well and feel good about where we are. And also at FPL, that's why we took our forecast up from 6 to 8 gigawatts. Continue to see a lot of interest in Florida and feel good about our ability to announce a large load transaction there by the end of the year, which is the expectation we continue to express to investors.

Yeah, you know, so let me just start with the first one. I'll turn over to Scott here in a minute, but I think a lot of what we're seeing in Florida, Julian, is just a testament to a lot of what I spent my time talking about in the prepared remarks. We've just done a really solid job in execution across Florida. I think that's recognized across the hyperscale space. I think the fact that we can build at a low cost is appealing to folks. And when you think about where the market is heading and what's happened over the last couple of years, a lot of low-hanging fruit from utilities that might have been in excess generation position, that surplus generation's been sold off, right? And now, if you look at the first show cause order matching load with gen and making sure large load pays their own way, it's really going to shift the scales to creating a level playing field where people are going to have to compete on cost, and I think that makes Florida very compelling because of the execution track record we have been able to demonstrate at FPL over a number of years. But with that, Scott, I'll turn it over to you to add any additional points you want to make.

Yeah, well, the last thing I just note there is when things are important to our business, we're going to tell the market, and so we won't wait until the quarter just to have a story for a quarterly call.

Yeah, great question, Julian. When I think strategically about the business, we have put a big priority on vertical integration. If you look at the vertical integration that we have at NextEra across the board, which really translates into our operating platform, we have all the pieces. So when you're not only trying to solve more rudimentary or customary energy solutions for customers, we certainly have a capability to do that, but when you start to think about large load and all the capabilities that have to come together, not only renewable expertise, storage, gas-fired generation, potentially nuclear under the right structure, the ability to bring transmission, the ability to build gas pipelines and laterals, the ability to have a retail energy business to help with the large load queue process, the ability to manage molecules and power flows across the country, the Symmetry acquisition is a good example of improving vertical integration, being the third largest gas marketer now in the country. We have a very good understanding where those gas flows occur and how they translate into valuable solutions for customers. We have similar expertise on the power marketing side as well. When I look across the board and you think about that vertical integration skill set and then you couple that with who is really out there building, there really aren't that many folks out there building new generation solutions because it takes experience and it takes the ability to have all those vertically integrated skill sets come together. And that is what puts us in a unique position. That goes back to my answer to Steve, which is I feel like we're ahead of schedule. A lot of the opportunities that we've put forward and a lot of the work we've done over the 18 months as we anticipated the shift to BYG being the right answer rather than reconstructing existing assets, I think we have a definite first mover advantage and are very excited about the market potential that we see across the board. Obviously, all of those vertically integrated skill sets will help in the Dominion merger immensely, right? Because we have those vertically integrated skill sets, we have net scale, and it really translates into the ability to deliver on affordability, to create jobs, to create economic development in those states, and to be able to deliver the right growth solutions that are right for each of those jurisdictions and do it in a way that results in good outcomes for customers. But it's complicated too. When you think about everything that's going on with PJM and the FERC show cause order, it requires an energy thought leader that has experience across the United States. We've seen what every ISO does. We've had 20 years of experience working across this country. And I think we'll also be a valuable thought leader, being able to bring constructive ideas forward in a very economic and affordable way that will translate into affordable solutions for customers over time and reliable solutions for customers over time.

Yeah, I'll go ahead and start and then turn things over to Brian. So, first of all, when you think about renewables and contracting, we've always said that there's immense option value that translates into terminal value on all the investments that we make. So, when you look at the investment footprint we have across the board on renewables, it translates into a couple of different opportunities. One is recontracting, and obviously we benefit from the fact that we have substantial energy demand that's trying to be met by generation solutions, but supply is not matching demand today, which is resulting in higher pricing across the board. And that's creating significant opportunities that is really improving the terminal value of our entire portfolio. Then you think about the option value embedded in everything that we've built. I talked a lot about storage as being a co-location opportunity around our solar and wind portfolio, but basically every asset that we build comes with an immense storage opportunity. And think about one of the things I don't think we probably spend enough time talking about is the hubs as well on that option value creation opportunity, because when you think about building a hub that's rooted in gas-fired generation, for example, to meet NERC requirements, it's going to have to also come with a behind-the-meter reliability solution around storage. And there'll be significant, every hub we build is a massive enabler for battery storage, which we don't really spend enough time talking about. And then when you think about bringing these hubs together and you think about speed to power, and you think about long-term solutions as you ramp with your hyperscale customer as they grow into their compute capacity at a site, that speed to power solution many times we're finding is starting with a renewable solution because we can get that on the market in 12 to 18 months quickly, then we're moving to gas, then we're moving to more battery storage to provide that redundancy behind the meter. So, there's just immense option value in what we've built. On the return side, continuing to see returns trend up across the board. And I think as we move forward with these scale solutions around hubs, those command, because of the ability to provide a comprehensive solution across generation types and to bring other benefits to bear through our vertical integration strategy and our operating platform, there's a premium to be paid because it's a unique skill set that nobody has and the market's willing to pay you for that. So, that's kind of how I look at it, Nick. Brian, I don't know if you want to add to that.

And then just to bring this back to the financial questions that you asked, these re-contractings and these increased returns that we are seeing are all reflected in the numbers as we discussed in the S-4.

Yeah, I would characterize the conversations as going well. Our whole philosophy and approach is much like the approach we've taken at Florida Power & Light and the track record that we have at Florida Power & Light. It's a customer-first approach. What we've been able to explain to local leadership is that when we look at this opportunity, we really look at an opportunity to help the customer. And help the customer at a time when there is accelerating power demand and the ability to meet the growth, to provide the generation solutions at scale at a lower cost is extremely important to be able to drive affordability over time. And then the ability to have a suite of generation solutions to really help drive reliability is extremely attractive. Our track record on customer service as well. But when you really look at being able to demonstrate the most tangible example we can bring forward for state leadership is again Florida Power & Light. When you have a bill that's more than 30% lower than the national average, 20% lower than it was in 2006 in real dollars, O&M on a dollar per megawatt hour basis that's 70% better than the industry average, top decile reliability that's 60% better than the industry average, storm response in three states where storm response is very important, our track record there is very compelling. The ability to do what these three states are facing because we've done it for 20 years in Florida. We've faced significant growth in Florida for 23 years and have been able to do it by investing in new generation while keeping bills affordable. That track record speaks volumes for what the potential could be here. And then being able to do that in a way that preserves what those states are accustomed to seeing, which is that local feel, all that experience that Dominion brings at the local level, being able to interact with the same folks that are wearing the same shirts, the same name on the bucket trucks. The interaction at the local level is not going to change. We're going to leverage what Dominion does best locally, and its strong track record of operations, the cross learnings that we'll be able to have, but be able to support that local leadership with the scale and the operating platform that comes with the NextEra business, which translates into affordability for customers across the board. So that message I think has been very well received. And I look at it even broader than that, which is the ability to create jobs by a company that's doubling its generation fleet by 2032, which is our expectation. And then the economic development partnership that comes for all three states. When you think about a company that's number one in gas, the combined company, number two in nuclear, world's leader in renewables, world's leader in battery storage, a leader in transmission, we have the ability to bring economic growth to those states through OEMs, through EPC contractors, and whatnot that have to be there to serve our needs and also given the scale and the buying power that we have, are going to be encouraged to help support economic development in the states where we are located. So I think when you put that whole package together, so far it's been well received. But ultimately it'll be up to the states to decide, but so far the conversations at the local level have gone well. In terms of your question on timing, we still are looking at the second half of 2027, but we'd obviously look for opportunities to move that up wherever we can.

Well, when I think about nuclear, Jeremy, first of all, we are doing a lot on the nuclear front. Not only are we commissioning Duane, which is going very well, very happy with the execution that I've seen out of the team there, which I think benefits a lot from the many of the things we spent time talking about on this call. But the focus also that we've had on SMRs and all the work we've done around the OEMs, the commercial, the technical viability assessment that we've had there is encouraging. But I think again, I'll come back to it, anything we do on the nuclear side has to be done under the right commercial structure. So it's finding a way how do we advance from first-of-a-kind to nth-of-a-kind in a way where we're not taking on cost overrun risk, right, which we would not do. But there are a lot of, I'll call them, the four or five wallets that come to the table. It's not only us as a developer. We would put a little bit of capital at risk, but it has to be sensible, it has to be capped. The hyperscaler or the customer, whoever that might be, the US government, the OEM, potentially an EPC contractor that's working as part of that. So, I do remain encouraged that we'll be able to figure out a financial structure, build what I call an insurance tower that equitably allocates risk to the right places. So, again, the end result is we're not taking cost overrun risk, and we're doing this in a measured way that makes sense for all of our stakeholders, including our shareholders.

Well, we're encouraged. I think you all know we brought a senior executive over from Energy Transfer now who leads our gas pipeline effort. We have a substantial gas pipeline opportunities that already put together. Obviously there's a lot of expansion needs around the Southeast as you start thinking about accommodating a lot of the large load demand here and the need that the states in the Southeast are going to have, the expansion opportunities off of MVP, and then as we look at our hub strategy, the need for additional gas supply whether it come from laterals or actual gas pipeline development connected with that build, that's encouraging in terms of what the investment opportunity might look like there. So, I'm very happy with the way things are trending, and I think we'll have some nice opportunities as we look to the future and have a renewed focus on gas pipeline development.

Yeah, you're not going to see us participating in LNG, if that's your question. Jeremy, I think the key piece here is that as we're building, we're putting together capabilities that allow us to provide solutions for our customers. And as we look at our customers, our customers are in Florida, as we combine with Dominion in South Carolina, Virginia, and North Carolina, to our hyperscalers and to our customers across the country. We don't see things like LNG as being part of that. This is all about how do we provide solutions that allow us to grow our company and to help our customers.

Yeah, our timing hasn't changed, Carly, from where the negotiations are to where we're looking for those projects to come online. So, we're continuing to move the development in the background while we work out the Ts and Cs with the government entities. So, our expectation around when those projects will come online remains the same.