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Entergy Corp (ETR -0.96%)
Q3Â 2019 Earnings Call
Oct 30, 2019, 11:00 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing-by to the Entergy Corporation Third Quarter 2019 Earnings Release and Teleconference. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, David Borde, Vice President, Investor Relations. Thank you. Please go ahead, sir.
David Borde -- Vice President of Investor Relations
Thank you. Good morning, and thank you for joining us. We will begin today with comments from Entergy's Chairman and CEO. Leo Denault and then Drew Marsh, our CFO will review results. In an effort to accommodate everyone who has questions, we request that each person ask no more than one question and one follow up.
In today's call, management will make certain forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements, due to a number of factors which are set forth in our earnings release, our slide presentation, and our SEC filings. Entergy does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
Management will also discuss non-GAAP financial information. Reconciliations to the applicable GAAP measures are included in today's press release and slide presentation, both of which can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website.
And now, I will turn the call over to Leo.
Leo P. Denault -- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, David and good morning, everyone. We are pleased to report third quarter adjusted earnings per share of $2.52. Drew will go over the details but the bottom line is that these are strong results that allow us to raise our 2019 guidance midpoint by $0.05 and narrow the range. We also remain firmly on track to achieve our longer-term outlooks. With three quarters behind us, we've completed many of our key deliverables for the year, to keep us on track to achieve our goal to be the premier utility, including a few important milestones this quarter.
Furthering our orderly exit from EWC, in late August the NRC approved our license transfer application for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. Shortly after that, we completed the sale to a subsidiary of Holtec International . This is the second sale that we have successfully completed of a non-operating nuclear plant, and the third in the industry.
This is also the second time the NRC has determined that Holtec has the financial and technical capabilities to decommission nuclear plants. As a reminder, we have agreements to sell our last two remaining merchant nuclear plants to Holtec.
We've also had significant accomplishments at the utility. Providing added clarity to our investment plan, the Mississippi Public Service Commission approved our proposal to purchase the Choctaw Generation Station. We expect to close the transaction soon. The Commission's order also included a stipulation supporting timely and full cost recovery of the asset. We expect the plant to be included in rates with minimal lag, similar to how we have recovered costs of past acquisitions in Mississippi.
Purchasing this clean and modern 810-megawatt combined cycle natural gas turbine is a good outcome for our stakeholders, and is expected to result in approximately $100 million in net benefits for Entergy Mississippi's customers. We also have a solid track record of completing major generation projects on time and on budget, or better. Supported by a solid capital projects management team, we are on track with Lake Charles Power Station and New Orleans Power Station, which are expected to come online next year. Montgomery County Power Station in Texas is also on schedule and expected to come online in mid-2021.
On the renewables front, construction has begun on one of the largest solar facilities currently planned for Louisiana. Capital Region Solar is a 50-megawatt solar project being built in West Baton Rouge Parish. Once completed, the facility will offset the equivalent of nearly 19,000 passenger vehicles emissions each year. We will purchase the output under a 20-year agreement. We are working with our regulators to expand and customize our portfolio of renewable energy solutions to meet our customers' expectations and to achieve our sustainability goals.
Turning to regulatory proceedings, Entergy Louisiana's new rates became effective in September. The company's annual FRP evaluation provides a simpler process that aligns rates and cost better than traditional rate cases. In Arkansas, we have reached an unopposed settlement on the company's annual FRP which we are filing today. The settlement is in line with our initial expectations. We anticipate a final decision from the Arkansas Commission by the end of the year.
In New Orleans, the Council Utility Committee issued a resolution that, if adopted, would set a revenue requirement that is below what we believe to be just and reasonable for Entergy New Orleans and our customers. We continue to work with council members to reach a fair outcome with the council takes up the matter in early November. This continued progress on regulatory proceedings is an important component of our success, as it improves clarity on the recoverability of our investments, and solidifies our financial commitments.
Another growing part of our company that we are excited about is our Innovation Center. This group is developing product and service concepts to meet the evolving expectations of our utility customers and the communities we serve. The team employs a rigorous work process, focused on exploring customer frictions and feedback, product design, market opportunities and more.
For example, last quarter I highlighted Entergy New Orleans' new program that puts solar panels on low-income customers homes. Under this program, Entergy will install the rooftop solar system at no cost to the customers, and give them a credit on their monthly bills. That idea came out of our innovation team.
Another concept developed that is now being implemented is a customer-sited backup generation solution for commercial and small industrial customers. The generators will be owned by Entergy, and would allow those businesses to operate as usual during widespread outages. For example, retail businesses would be able to provide services to the general public during significant weather events. In other times, when needed, the resource can be deployed by the utility, which benefits all customers.
Entergy-owned customer sited generation is an innovative win-win solution. It provides an economic alternative to businesses to remain open when our communities need them most, and it provides us, the utility, an added resource when the system needs it. Entergy Texas recently announced a pilot of this concept in its service area, and Entergy Mississippi has a filing pending before the Public Service Commission. Our plan is to eventually implement this idea at all operating companies.
Innovation and new technologies will be an important part of our business as we continue to explore solutions to improve our customers everyday lives. As many of you know, there have been three significant storms in the last few months. Hurricane Dorian made landfall on the East Coast in early September. Entergy sent nearly 500 workers to the Carolina coast to help with the restoration efforts.
Then, a few weeks later, Tropical Storm Imelda made landfall in Texas, bringing 20 to 40 inches of rain over the impacted service area. We deployed more than 1,000 workers, both from Entergy and from other utilities. At the peak, we had approximately 38,000 customers without power. Service was restored to 95% of our customers within four days.
Just this past weekend, Tropical Storm Olga moved through Louisiana. The storm brought heavy rain and winds in excess of 50 mph. At its peak, Olga disrupted electric service to more than 92,000 customers. A storm team of more than 1,000 workers restored the vast majority of outages within two days.
Entergy employees have a long history of working together after natural disasters. They work to restore power for our customers, and to assist our communities after an event. They also help co-workers who are impacted. In addition to volunteer support, the company has established employee assistance funds to provide financial assistance for affected employees.
Providing support in times of need, whether manpower or financial contributions, is important. Ongoing efforts that support our communities are also vital to our success. In September, for the 12th consecutive year, Site Selection magazine named Entergy as one of the nation's top utilities in economic development . Entergy plays a vital role in economic development efforts across our service area, which brings business, jobs and community support to our states.
Sustainability is a key focus here at Entergy. Once again, we were named to the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index. We are very proud of this achievement. DJSI is one of the most respected independent sustainability measures in the world. We are the only electric utility to receive this honor 18 years in a row, and for the past five years, we have made a perfect score in the climate strategy category. To be named to this respected list year after year is a clear acknowledgment of Entergy's commitment to implementing the sustainability practices that serve our customers, employees, communities, and our owners.
Last Friday, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.93 per share. This is the fifth straight year of steady, predictable growth in our dividend and with this declaration, we will pay a total of $3.66 per share in common dividends this year, just under 70% payout at our guidance midpoint. As we mentioned last quarter, we expect to grow our dividend each year and plan to increase the growth to be more in line with our earnings, starting in 2021.
This has been another successful quarter for our company and our stakeholders, as we continue to execute on our path to be the premier utility in every aspect of our business. We have among the lowest retail rates in the country; the states we serve benefit from strong industrial growth; we are an industry leader in sustainability; we invest in our communities, and we invest in our employees and our culture. The fundamentals that underlie our steady, predictable growth are strong.
First, we have a robust capital plan which benefits our customers and supports the growth of the business and economic development in our communities. We have no shortage of investment opportunities beyond our current forecast period. As a utility with some of the lowest rates in the country, we always remain diligent in managing the cost impact to our customers, and we'll continue to do so.
Second, we have constructive regulatory mechanisms which give us the opportunity for fair and timely recovery of our capital plan. As we've noted in the past, we have a unique line of sight, with approximately 90% of our capital plan ready for execution from a regulatory perspective, and approximately 90% expected to be recovered through annual FRPs and riders.
Third, we have a proven track record and ability to execute on major capital projects with cost and schedule certainty. This clear line of sight on our ability to execute our capital plan on time and on budget, combined with the progressive regulatory mechanisms to ensure timely recovery of our investments, supports our outlooks today. As we continue to identify sources of customer savings, including O&M and production cost efficiencies, energy efficiency and industrial growth, we aspire to do even better.
I will now turn the call over to Drew.
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Leo. Good morning, everyone. As Leo mentioned, we had another successful quarter and with our strong results, we are raising the midpoint of our 2019 guidance by $0.05, and narrowing the range. Also, we remain firmly on track to meet our longer-term outlooks.
As you can see on Slide 4, on a per-share basis, Entergy adjusted earnings were $2.52, $0.17 higher than the third quarter of 2018, including the effect of dilution.
Turning to Slide 5, rate actions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas contributed positively to the quarter's results, as did higher sales volume in the unbilled period. Overall, revenue was a little higher than we anticipated due to weather. Billed sales volume declined versus last year, which was in part due to fewer days billed. Volume in the unbilled period was positive, as it captured the offset to fewer days billed, as well as warmer weather at the end of September. Other drivers for the quarter's results included regulatory charges last year to return the benefits of the lower federal tax rate to customers; higher other O&M, due largely to higher spending on information technology and customer initiatives, including distribution operations, partially offset by lower nuclear costs; drivers related to our growth, such as higher depreciation expense, including the St. Charles Power Station which came online at the end of May; lower decommissioning trust fund returns; and lastly, the higher share count affected this quarter's results on a per-share basis.
Looking at EWC on Slide 6, as reported, earnings were $1.27 per share lower than the prior year. Drivers for the quarter included the absence of tax items recorded in the third quarter 2018; low revenue due to the shutdown of Pilgrim; as well as lower capacity pricing, lower decommissioning trust fund returns, and higher asset write-offs and impairment charges related to the sale of Pilgrim. Partially offsetting the decrease was lower other O&M due to lower spending on nuclear operations. Looking ahead, we still expect EWC to provide slightly positive net cash to parent from 2019 through 2022.
Moving to Slide 7, operating cash flow for the quarter was $1.065 billion, a $286 million increase from a year ago. The change was driven by a lower amount of unprotected excess ADIT returned to customers, lower pension contributions, and lower ARO spending at EWC. Partially offsetting were higher severance and retention payments at EWC.
Turning to our guidance and outlooks on Slide 8, for 2019 we've raised the midpoint to $5.35 as a result of weather returning back to normal for the year, and mitigating strategies we put in place earlier in the year. We expect our results to come in around the midpoint of our updated range. Our targeted adjusted EPS growth remains at 5% to 7% off of our original 2019 guidance midpoint. Our outlooks include a new year, 2022, which is in line with this growth rate. More information will be available in our EEI materials.
Moving to our credit metrics on Slide 9, our parent debt to total debt is 20.5% and our FFO to debt is 14.2% . This includes the effects of returning $469 million of unprotected excess ADIT to customers over the last 12 months. Excluding this give back and certain items related to our exit of EWC, FFO to debt would be 17.6%. While we still have to return some unprotected excess ADIT to customers, I'm happy to report that the bulk of the credit impact is now behind us. We remain committed to our targets of at or above 15% for FFO to debt by 2020, and below 25% for parent debt to total debt, as well as maintaining our investment grade profile.
This is another successful quarter with strong results. We were able to raise our 2019 guidance midpoint, and we are firmly on track to achieve longer-term outlooks. We continue to execute on our plan to deliver steady, predictable growth in earnings and dividends through customer-centric investment. As Leo mentioned, we aspire to do even better as we continue to develop our culture of continuous improvement.
And now, the Entergy team is available to answer questions.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
[Operator Instructions] And our first question is from Praful Mehta from Citi. Your line is now open.
Praful Mehta -- Citigroup -- Analyst
Thanks so much. Hi guys.
Leo P. Denault -- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Praful.
Praful Mehta -- Citigroup -- Analyst
Good morning. Congrats on a good quarter. I just wanted to first understand in terms of nuclear operations, I know we haven't touched on it in a while. I just wanted to see where it stands today, how are operations? Are there any other NRC items to be watched right now?
Leo P. Denault -- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Hey Praful, this is Leo. Effectively, everything is on track with what we laid out a couple of years ago in terms of spending, staffing, capital investments in the plants, and so the performance is as we would expect. I think the last remaining thing you'll see from an NRC standpoint is the return of Grand Gulf to Column 1, it's in Column 2 at the moment, but we would anticipate that that would happen this year. Other than that, it's just a continuation of the plan. We should start to see a leveling off of the cost structure there, as we've mentioned before, given the fact that we've done the ramp up in the staffing and put the processes and procedures in place that we need, to keep things on track.
That's kind of it. That's the next thing that you'll see publicly. As I mentioned before, I think in the last call, we have one more outage at Grand Gulf that would be considered part of the catch-up in terms of the investment profile, so it will be a long outage. Our next outage in 2020 at Grand Gulf will be the final one in terms of getting things back to where they need to be, and then it's just to continue to client excellence.
Praful Mehta -- Citigroup -- Analyst
Got you, that's super helpful, Leo. And then maybe on the operating cash flow, it was great to see the significant increase versus 2018, but I guess that part of that is the ADIT. Could you just talk about what portion of that increase was ADIT, and what was just overall improvement in cash flow?
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Hey, Praful, this is Drew. Yes, so on the ADIT, it's a little bit, around $200 million, I think, is the ADIT year-over-year element, and then a little bit of that is pension expense. The rest is continued improvement in our operating cash flow. You can see that in our -- well, you'll be able to see that in our three-year outlook on operating cash flow for EEI, especially as that ADIT piece rolls off. In our three-year outlook, we should be back up over $10 billion when we get the EEI.
Praful Mehta -- Citigroup -- Analyst
Got you, and Just a quick follow up on that, which is, it's great that the ADIT is rolling off, because I look at the FFO to debt and you're still below your 15% target . I just wanted to see how that 15% target flows through over the next year or so, ADIT rolls off.
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, so by the end of next year we should be at, around that 15% level, and as you looked at the number this quarter without the excess ADIT in it, it's up actually over 17%, so we are on track to to move toward that target.
Praful Mehta -- Citigroup -- Analyst
Okay, well thanks so much, guys and congrats again.
Leo P. Denault -- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Praful.
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] And our next question comes from Julien Dumoulin Smith from Bank of America. Your line is now open.
Julien Dumoulin-Smith -- Bank of America -- Analyst
Hey, good morning to you.
Leo P. Denault -- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Julien .
Julien Dumoulin-Smith -- Bank of America -- Analyst
Hey, so perhaps just to pick up of of Praful's last questions here. Can you talk about through the forecast period, given the success that you've seen this year in Arkansas, specifically in moderating the pace of just overall bill inflation and O&M, what you're seeing through the forecast period, as best you look at your plan today? I just wanted to understand how sustainable some of the more moderate trajectory of overall rate inflation is against your current capital budget. I just wanted to revisit that, in light of the success.
And then perhaps I'll ask a second question at the same time. Can you talk a little bit more about capex reflected in your outlook around both renewables in light of what ADP and Wind Catcher is doing in Arkansas, and prospects to mirror that to any extent? And also, given your peers in MISO, if there has been any change in transmission? I suspect not, but I figured I'd ask. So, a lot to throw at you, but I figure get it out all at once.
Leo P. Denault -- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
That was a very, very robust question, Julien. I'll go ahead and start, then I'll let others fill in. Our objective, and we believe we will continue to meet it, has been to keep our bill inflation level consistent with inflation. As you recall, even last quarter when we were able to come up with some continuous improvement ideas and change our capital plan, the bill path actually went down from where it would have otherwise been. So, we think we're going to continue to be able to manage that with the current capital plan that we have going forward.
I'm not sure I'm going to remember all of these, but I think on the renewables, from a capex standpoint, we mentioned on the last call that we still see the need to replace a significant amount of our aging generation, and that a portion of that will be gas, and a portion of that, we view, could be renewables. We outlined a 7,000 to 8,000 megawatt need, and roughly 50-50 gas to renewables standpoint there. We are not really doing anything outside of meeting our own customer's needs with the generation that we've got. That is that 2022 to 2030 timeframe. That's still, obviously, we're adding some scale on the renewable front, and there are scale economies, obviously, of us doing it. We continue to see that as a part of our resource plan, but it's really just part of the resource plan like everything else, given the fully integrated nature that we have.
As far as transmission and the expenditures, nothing has really changed in that from the last quarter. I'll open it up to my team to correct me. I think I answered all of your questions.
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
I don't have anything to add.
Julien Dumoulin-Smith -- Bank of America -- Analyst
Okay, just to clarify quickly. I mean, I suppose if I were to summarize what AEP's efforts in Arkansas seem to be with respect to Wind Catcher, it is something of an acceleration, given the tax credit regime. Obviously, they are focused on wind. Depending on the receptivity from the commission and staff around those efforts on the second go around, could we see any pivot in how you guys are approaching the state and some of that resource need in the 2022 through 2030 period, in light of the credit situation?
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Julien, this is Drew. We are still looking. Leo mentioned that we have over 1,000 megawatts that we have in various stages of development, and that we are looking at scale, and what does that mean to us? As renewables become a bigger portion of our portfolio, we think that there might be opportunities for us to take scale into consideration, and use that as part of a program. I don't know if that's going to take the same tact as perhaps AEP is taking. There isn't, you know, Leo mentioned, we want to have renewables near our customers. There isn't a whole lot wind. It may be more solar oriented. But we are thinking about that scale opportunity and what that might look like for us as well.
Julien Dumoulin-Smith -- Bank of America -- Analyst
That's fair enough. I'll leave it there. Thank you all very much.
Leo P. Denault -- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from Greg Gordon from Evercore ISI. Your line is now open.
Greg Gordon -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
Thanks. Congratulations. You guys are having a great year.
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
Greg Gordon -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
A couple of questions. The call earlier today, I know it's not your region, and you have different industrial drivers than they do, but Southern Company was talking about how they too were seeing a little bit of a slowdown in the demand expectations versus their initial forecast. Can you sort of point to anything in particular that you're seeing, as it relates to perhaps the global economic conditions? The trade war or other things that might be driving things on power demand to below your prior guidance range? You give pretty good sensitivities in the appendix of how we should think about those impacts, should they deviate from the forecast. But then again, we also see that you're under-earning in Arkansas and there could be improvements there.
As we think about how you sort of stay inside the skids, sort of, of the high end to the low end of your guidance range through time, how are you adjusting to those conditions?
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, Greg, this is Drew and I'll start, and then Rod can add in. The first thing, I think, from our perspective is that the macro fundamentals that we see that have been driving our industrial growth are still very much in place. The low inputs from an energy perspective, low gas prices, for example, or low power prices, the spreads of natural gas to oil, or the spread geographically to Europe or Asia, those still remain very fundamentally sound. Along with, of course, some of our natural advantages here on the Gulf Coast. The access to the Gulf Coast, the access to the river, the ready, willing and able workforce, and the strong and supportive communities. All of those things continue to be very supportive.
And then you take our industrial base. It is some of the most modern and competitive in the world, and so we expect it to continue to run. In fact, that's what we have seen for our large industrials this year. We've seen our refiners, our core alkali facilities, our petrochem facilities continue to perform very well.
Where we've had challenges are people that are coming up online. We have new construction that is in place or taking place, and it's just not ramping up as fast as we anticipated. We've been talking about that for a couple of quarters. In the small industrial space, our small industrial space has been surprisingly strong, despite all the economic headlines, except for one area in Arkansas. We've had some agricultural customers which are seasonally oriented and typically are pumping a lot of water. We had a lot of floods in the spring, and that carried over into the summer, into this quarter. Our small industrial sales were down, but that was two-thirds of the driver, right there.
We continue to see opportunities in the industrial space, with all the fundamentals still in place. I'll turn it over to Rod to talk about what we have been seeing.
Rod West -- Group President, Utility Operations
This is Rod West. Good morning. Because of the fundamentals that Drew just mentioned, and the fact that over the last five years, we have been upskilling and upscaling our commercial and economic capabilities. We're actually engaged with not only our large, existing customers, but we have direct line of sight with the pipeline, that we are probability weighting to determine how we think about our outlooks from a growth perspective.
Today, we have approximately 1,000 megawatts of projects that we probability weighted such that we're comfortable putting those in the plan. What we don't, and we have not yet disclosed because of where those potential pipeline projects are in their industrial development cycle, we have about four times that 1,000 megawatts that is in the potential pipeline. But, we are tracking that in real time with those prospective companies who have expressed an interest in locating in our service territory; the significant ones being Louisiana and Texas who are taking advantage of those macroeconomic advantages that Drew just made reference to.
But our line of sight gets clearer and clearer as we further refine our outlooks, because we've been successful in upskilling our internal capabilities.
Greg Gordon -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
That's fantastic. And then, in terms of, you've also given a very good detailed list of all the rate activity and what your earned ROEs look like today. It does look like you sort of deserve the opportunity to get better outcomes in Arkansas. Do you expect the rate activity there should drive better earned returns in the next 12 to 24 months?
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, Greg, this is Drew. When you look at our sort of trailing 12-months view in Arkansas, and you actually see this in Mississippi as well, last year we over-earned, and in the fourth quarter because of that, we took a charge to get us back down to the allowed return levels, in both those jurisdictions. We haven't over-earned this year, but we still have the charge, so you see our ROEs where you would normally anticipate in both those jurisdictions.
But I guess the short answer to your question is yes, we would anticipate the ability to earn our allowed return in both Arkansas and Mississippi.
Greg Gordon -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
Thank you, guys.
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
Leo P. Denault -- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Greg.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from Sophie Karp from KeyBanc. Your line is now open.
Sophie Karp -- KeyBanc -- Analyst
Hey guys, congrats on the quarter. Most of my questions have been answered, so a very detailed discussion on volumes. I'll just jump back into the queue. Thank you.
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
All right, thanks, Sophie.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from Shar Pourreza from Guggenheim Partners. Your line is now open.
Shar Pourreza -- Guggenheim Partners -- Analyst
Hey. Good morning, guys.
Leo P. Denault -- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Shar.
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Morning.
Shar Pourreza -- Guggenheim Partners -- Analyst
Let me just shift to Texas for a second, and maybe just around Montgomery County. Obviously, it's progressing really well. Can we just get a sense on how we should think about the recovery, i.e. a GRC process, or you know, using the current rider that was approved? More or less, post-Montgomery County, how we should think about the rider mechanism, because it was obviously approved after you guys came out with your original plan. As you guys think about adding additional generation in the rider. Is that sort of incremental to your growth prospects?
Rod West -- Group President, Utility Operations
Shar, it's Rod. As we stated in prior conversations, that rider was not going to create an immediate material difference in our outlook. What we talked about was, particularly given the schedule with Montgomery County, that we would shape the rate case to the extent that we needed, to ensure that the recovery of Montgomery County that's reflected in our existing plan will shape with the timing of that rate case.
That said, the rider that was passed gave us an opportunity, as we look beyond Montgomery County, to have more contemporaneous rate recovery. From a regulatory process perspective, we still have to have , remember the legislation only enabled the commission to provide that relief. We still have to go through the process of rule-making through the PUCT to put that rider in effect. From our vantage point, as we think about the capital plan in Texas, we have not yet determined how we wish to time the availability of a rate case as a mechanism, and the contemporaneous rule-making around that rider. We still have to go to the PUCT.
And candidly, that conversation is ongoing, because there are other parties who would be part of that regulatory process. But think about it this way, we would go to the commission to ask for rule-making that would take advantage of the legislation to put the actual rider in effect for ongoing recovery, from a timing standpoint. We don't want to set an expectation that there is this immediate upside, so will be shaping the rate case and the regulatory process around that rider as we make the capital plan for Texas in the generation space a little more clear. There will be more on that, but it's not something immediate, and I don't want to set that expectation.
Shar Pourreza -- Guggenheim Partners -- Analyst
Got it.
Leo P. Denault -- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
In terms of, Shar, driving future capital, I mean, the resource plan will be what the resource plan will be. I mean, that's the dynamic of our business across all the generation types, is that we've got that aging fleet that needs to be refurbished, and we've been doing that for over 10 years. If you look back in time, since we started our portfolio transformation, we've added and deactivated roughly equal amounts of capacity, and we'll continue to do that going forward.
Obviously, what the regulatory mechanisms do is provide an opportunity for there to be more certainty for our customers and for our investors, in terms of us having the financial flexibility to make sure we continue to make those investments. Same goes on the renewable front. They will be part of the resource plan to meet the needs our customers have. We're not doing them outside of that customer base to meet any other need. The regulatory process isn't going to drive a need for a new power plant, for example, but it will provide a lot of certainty around the financial flexibility we have to invest in those power plants.
Shar Pourreza -- Guggenheim Partners -- Analyst
Got it. That will at minimum, I guess, improve some of the regulatory lag. Okay. I'm sure Drew is going to be excited to talk about this at EEI, but maybe just a little preclude as far as equity needs. Do you, I guess, envision seeing a change from what you prior disclosed around equity being somewhere between 5% to 10% of your capex needs post 2020? Do you see that at all changing?
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Hey, Shar, this is Drew. We don't anticipate any changes to that outlook from an equity needs perspective, and it still remains the same as it was at our Analyst Day a little over a year ago, and those needs wouldn't kick in until 2021 and beyond.
Shar Pourreza -- Guggenheim Partners -- Analyst
Terrific, guys, and congrats today. Congrats.
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
Leo P. Denault -- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Shar.
Operator
Thank you. At this time, I'm showing no further questions. I would like to turn the call back over to David Borde for closing remarks.
David Borde -- Vice President of Investor Relations
Thank you Gigi, and thanks to everyone for participating this morning. Our Annual Report on Form 10-Q is due to the SEC on November 11th, and provides more details and disclosures about our financial statements. Events that occur prior to the date of our 10-Q filing that provide additional evidence of conditions that existed at the date of the balance sheet would be reflected in our financial statement, in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
Also, as a reminder, we maintain a webpage as part of Entergy's Investor Relations website called Regulatory and Other Information, which provides key updates on regulatory proceedings and important milestones on our strategic execution. While some of this information may be considered material information, you should not rely exclusively on this page for all relevant company information.
This concludes our call. Thank you very much.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]
Duration: 39 minutes
Call participants:
David Borde -- Vice President of Investor Relations
Leo P. Denault -- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Andrew S. Marsh -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Rod West -- Group President, Utility Operations
Praful Mehta -- Citigroup -- Analyst
Julien Dumoulin-Smith -- Bank of America -- Analyst
Greg Gordon -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
Sophie Karp -- KeyBanc -- Analyst
Shar Pourreza -- Guggenheim Partners -- Analyst
