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DATE

Wednesday, April 29, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

  • Chief Executive Officer — Andrew S. Marsh
  • Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer — Kimberly A. Fontan
  • Vice President, Investor Relations — Liz Hunter

TAKEAWAYS

  • Adjusted Earnings Per Share (EPS) -- $0.86, with growth attributed to customer investments, regulatory actions, and offset by higher depreciation, taxes other than income taxes, and interest expense from capital expenditures.
  • Retail Sales Growth -- 6% driven by industrial sales growth of 15% in the quarter, with industrial expansion cited as a primary driver.
  • Revised Guidance -- Management affirmed 2026 adjusted EPS guidance and increased long-term adjusted EPS outlooks, raising 2029 outlook by $0.50 to $6.40 per share, citing 8.5% compound annual retail sales growth through 2029 and 16% compound annual industrial growth.
  • Incremental Capital Plan -- Four-year capital plan raised by $14 billion to $57 billion, primarily from the Meta data center agreement, which involves seven combined cycle units, battery storage, and related assets.
  • Meta Agreement -- The new electric service agreement with Meta will deliver $2 billion in fair share value and is included in a broader $7 billion in estimated customer benefits.
  • Additional Customer Agreements -- Management signed over 1,000 megawatts of electric service agreements this year, extending across multiple industries and operating companies.
  • Data Center Growth Pipeline -- A backlog of 7 to 12 gigawatts in potential new data center customers exists, none included in the current plan.
  • Planned Renewables and Storage -- More than 1,600 megawatts of renewables and storage are in active RFPs, and over 4,500 megawatts are in negotiation, with about two-thirds expected to be owned, though around half is not included in the current plan.
  • Equity Financing Plan -- $6.6 billion in equity identified for the four-year capital plan (10%-15% target), with $1.9 billion already contracted and $4.7 billion to be sourced later, primarily from late 2027 through 2029.
  • Minimum Bill Terms -- All hyperscale data center agreements are booked only at minimum bill levels, resulting in “pretty substantial” minimums that provide some margin before full-load operations commence.
  • Regulatory Developments -- The Louisiana Public Service Commission affirmed Entergy Louisiana’s Meta filing under the “Louisiana Lightning” initiative, targeting a decision at the December B&E meeting.
  • Operational Milestone -- Orange County Advanced Power Station achieved its first fire milestone, with full operations expected in late summer.
  • Cost Efficiencies -- $30 million in capital savings identified and implemented on the Commodore to Churchill 230 kV transmission project.
  • Pending Securitization -- Mississippi legislation authorized securitization of approximately $200 million in Winter Storm Fern costs, with filing due by October 5 and a commission decision expected within 60 days thereafter.
  • Diversified Industrial Drivers -- Future retail sales growth projections include contributions from LNG, industrial gases, petrochemicals, agricultural chemicals, and primary metals, beyond hyperscale data centers.
  • Dividend Philosophy -- Dividend growth rate remains at 6%, with payout ratio balanced against accelerated EPS and sales growth projections.

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RISKS

  • CEO Marsh stated, "We are mindful of what that could mean to the balance sheet of Entergy Louisiana or any of our operating companies," directly referencing cost and risk uncertainty for potential new nuclear investments, and asserting, "We are not going to enter into any agreement that creates an existential risk right off the bat."
  • Mississippi storm cost securitization is estimated at $200 million and is pending commission approval.

SUMMARY

Entergy Corporation (ETR +1.33%) introduced a materially higher capital plan and long-term sales outlook centered on the execution of a sizable data center agreement with Meta, which itself includes substantive fixed and minimum billing provisions. Management highlighted $14 billion of incremental capital spending over four years, major investment in new generation and storage assets for the Meta contract, and the retention of adequate regulatory mechanisms to ensure return of the $7 billion fair share customer benefit. While renewables and nuclear assets tied to these agreements are not yet in the plan, robust data center and industrial demand continues to extend an already considerable growth pipeline. Management confirmed considerable open equity and hybrid capital needs extending into 2027-2029, but affirmed plan flexibility and current credit metric headroom. Discussions reinforced that regulatory approval, project ramp timing, and minimum-take arrangements are expected to align financial returns with capital spend, subject to execution and ongoing customer ramp-up.

  • Management reported that full earnings impact from the Meta agreement will occur as generation assets reach service, with CCCTs closing in 2030-2031 and outlook for continued double-digit EPS growth rates into 2030.
  • Pending regulatory review in Louisiana, new capital outlays for transmission and storage could be incrementally layered as asset financing structures are finalized.
  • The backlog for new data center contracts, cited as 7 to 12 gigawatts, is continuously refreshed, supporting a persistent and expanding opportunity set outside the current forecast period.
  • Liquidity and balance sheet discipline is expected to be maintained through forward equity issuance, constructive AFUDC recovery, and strong pension funding, as described by CFO Fontan.
  • Industrial growth strength in the quarter was supported by both new and expansion projects, with guidance remaining unchanged for full-year projections, reflecting reliance on minimum billing protection should volume timing differ through the year.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

  • CCCT (Combined Cycle Combustion Turbine): A power plant configuration using both gas and steam turbines sequentially to improve generation efficiency and capacity.
  • AFUDC (Allowance for Funds Used During Construction): A regulatory accounting mechanism for earning a return on capital invested in utility assets under construction, recorded as income during build-out.
  • ESA (Electric Service Agreement): A contract between a power supplier and a customer specifying the terms of electric capacity and energy delivery, often with minimum billing and duration provisions.
  • B&E Meeting: Louisiana Public Service Commission’s Business & Executive session, where regulatory matters are decided.
  • FRP (Formula Rate Plan): A regulatory mechanism allowing utility rates to adjust based on a predefined formula to reflect costs and targeted returns between base rate cases.
  • LIHEAP: Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, a U.S. federal initiative providing assistance to eligible low-income households with energy costs.
  • AP1000: A Westinghouse-designed advanced pressurized water nuclear reactor frequently referenced for new-build nuclear opportunities.
  • CIAC (Contribution in Aid of Construction): Utility customer or third-party payments toward the cost of new infrastructure, affecting accounting for capital expenditures.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Andrew S. Marsh: Thank you, Liz. Good morning, everyone. We had a productive first quarter in which we delivered strong financial results. We launched our Fair Share Plus pledge, and we advanced customer initiatives with the execution of several electric service agreements. Beginning with financial results, today we are reporting first quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.86. 2026 guidance remains on track, and we are increasing our already strong adjusted EPS outlooks driven by 8.5% retail sales growth. Now I will cover the business updates for the quarter, and as always, I will start with the customer.

For several years, we have worked with stakeholders to recruit data centers and capture the transformative impact they can have on our communities through investment, jobs, and other support while at the same time protecting and benefiting existing customers. Earlier this year, we formalized that commitment with the launch of our Fair Share Plus pledge. The Fair Share Plus pledge is a set of guiding principles that ensures that data centers pay their fair share for the power they consume, plus additional benefits for customers and communities. Our pledge aligns with the rate payer protection pledge that our customers signed with the White House. Fair share is achieved in several ways. Minimum bills and contract length cover incremental costs.

Termination provisions ensure current customers avoid unneeded costs. Clean energy terms support a potential future transition and strong credit terms give us confidence in all of it. Fair share also means that data centers cover their portion of fixed costs that our current customers pay for today. The fair share portion alone is the source of the estimated $7 billion of benefits we have highlighted, and current customers' bills will be lower than they otherwise would have been because data centers are paying the incremental infrastructure they need as well as their share of fixed costs.

The plus component is all of the community benefits originally envisioned by our state and local leaders, including well-paying jobs and targeted workforce development, a substantial influx of new support for schools, nonprofits, and other state and community needs, and multiplier effects from new businesses and employment opportunities that come about because of the data centers. The plus component also includes a stronger electric system with reliability and resilience benefits, lower average fuel costs driven by more efficient generation, and specific customer benefits like low-income or energy efficiency support. The plus component is clearly valuable, and it is in addition to our estimated $7 billion in customer benefits.

We are proud that the framework we committed to more than two years ago is already providing significant benefits for our customers and communities, and those benefits will compound well into the future. I cannot say enough about the tremendous work our employees have done to create this transformative opportunity for our communities while also providing so much value for our existing customers. And we are not done yet. In late March, we announced a new electric service agreement with Meta for another data center in North Louisiana. The fair share value from this agreement alone is expected to be $2 billion, which is included in the $7 billion I mentioned.

In the plus category, over the next 20 years, Meta has made other commitments: $140 million for energy efficiency programs, and $60 million for our Power to Care program. Entergy Louisiana will match Power to Care funding, bringing the increase to $120 million. For context, that is a five-times annual increase over 2025 levels that will meaningfully improve outcomes for our most vulnerable customers. Shortly after executing the agreement, Entergy Louisiana filed an application with the Louisiana Public Service Commission requesting approval for assets needed as a result of adding the new Meta data center to the system. The investment includes seven new combined cycle units, transmission infrastructure, and battery storage facilities.

The cost of the proposed facilities will be covered by payments from Meta, whether from their tariff or other contributions, yet all customers will realize reliability and resilience benefits and lower fuel costs from these investments. We also agreed to pursue another 2.5 gigawatts of renewables and further investigate CCS, nuclear upgrades, and new nuclear to support Meta's clean energy goals. We will add projects to the plan as assets are identified. This month, the commission affirmed that our request falls under their new Louisiana Lightning initiative, and they directed that the procedural schedule should support a decision at the December B&E meeting.

The commission's Lightning initiative is part of Governor Landry's Project Lightning Speed to support economic development that provides significant benefits to state and local communities. We are requesting approval for more than $15 billion in capital with about $14 billion in our four-year plan. As a result of the agreement, and pending the approval request, we are also raising our sales and adjusted EPS outlooks. Kimberly will discuss in more detail. Beyond the Meta agreement, so far this year, we have signed ESAs totaling over 1,000 megawatts. These agreements were from multiple industries across all our operating companies, and they indicate that customer growth beyond data centers remains robust in our region.

We also continue to receive data center interest within our service area. After all agreements signed to date, including the recent agreement with Meta, we still have a pipeline of 7 to 12 gigawatts of potential data center customers that are not in our plan. Moving beyond the customer growth update, I would like to cover a few more items. Operational excellence remains a key focus area, and we will talk in more detail about that at Investor Day. For today, I will share a couple of highlights. Orange County Advanced Power Station achieved its first fire milestone, bringing it one step closer to delivering reliable power for our customers in Texas.

We expect the plant to be fully online in late summer. Recently, our power delivery team identified more than $30 million in capital savings on the Commodore to Churchill 230 kV project. Our engineers developed a solution which improved the design, lowered materials cost, and enabled faster customer delivery. Importantly, the improvement can be applied to future large transmission projects. This kind of innovative thinking combined with the scale of our capital plan continues to lower cost for customers and unlock additional customer investment opportunities. Entergy Texas is working to expand its firm generation capacity to serve a growing customer base. Following the commission's feedback, they issued an RFP in February for combined cycle capacity and energy.

Across our system, we continue to expand our renewables portfolio driven by our customers' desire for clean energy options. We have active RFPs for more than 1,600 megawatts of renewables and storage, and we have over 4,500 megawatts of renewables and storage in various stages of negotiation, after selections from prior RFPs in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Roughly two-thirds of the megawatts in negotiation would be owned. In addition, we are actively managing proposals through Louisiana's accelerated renewable review process. These are important tools to help us identify projects supporting customers' clean energy goals.

As we indicated on the previous earnings call, Entergy Arkansas filed its base rate case in late February requesting a $45 million rate change, which is less than 2%. Because bill impacts vary by customer type, the residential impact would be less than 1%. Some of the features that we requested include an optional time-of-use rate that provides residential customers with the opportunity to lower bills by shifting energy use to lower-cost hours, and low-income rates that provide a 50% discount on the customer charge for households that qualify for LIHEAP assistance. We also elected to resume Entergy Arkansas four-year FRP after the rate case is resolved. Entergy Mississippi filed its annual formula rate plan with no change requested.

Arkansas and Mississippi both have mechanisms to provide cash allowance for funds used during construction for investments to support significant economic development projects. To that end, Entergy Arkansas filed its first annual Generating Arkansas Jobs Act rider in March, and Entergy Mississippi updated its interim facilities rate adjustment in January. One additional comment about Mississippi: The state recently passed legislation authorizing securitization of costs associated with Winter Storm Fern. Kimberly will provide additional details on that as well. Beyond Fair Share Plus, our employees continue to work every day for the benefit of the communities we serve. We recently participated in the industry's LIHEAP Action Day in Washington, D.C. to advocate for energy affordability for our customers in need.

Congress approved an appropriations package that includes a $20 million increase for LIHEAP, which reflects growing recognition of the program's importance. For more than 15 years, Entergy Corporation has also provided free tax preparation for low- to moderate-income customers at sites throughout our region. In 2025, our customers received $54 million in Earned Income Tax Credits, putting money directly into our customers' pockets. Finally, we are very excited about our upcoming Investor Day in June. We plan to walk through the clear line of sight for our multiyear strategy and outlooks in detail, and you will hear directly from our leadership team on the opportunities ahead.

Highlights will include a conversation with large customers on how we partner together to create better outcomes for our key stakeholders, a view into our operational strategy to successfully execute on the large build cycle ahead of us, a discussion of the work we are doing to unlock additional deployment opportunities, a review of our approach to maintaining financial discipline, and, finally, a deeper dive into the significant near- and long-term customer growth opportunities to sustain our strong growth well beyond our five-year outlook. We had a productive start to 2026 with solid progress and execution across the business, and by continuing to put our customers first, we will deliver premium value to each of our key stakeholders.

We look forward to discussing this in more detail with you at our Investor Day. I will now turn the call over to Kimberly for the financial update.

Kimberly A. Fontan: Thank you, Drew. Good morning, everyone. I will now review our financial results and provide an update on our long-term outlooks. Our results for the quarter were straightforward. Our adjusted EPS was $0.86, as shown on slide 4. The primary drivers were from the effects of investments made for our customers, including regulatory actions, net of higher depreciation expense, taxes other than income taxes, and interest expense from financing capital expenditures. The per-share increase was partially offset by a higher share count from settling equity forwards. Industrial sales growth was very strong at 15% as new and expansion projects continue to ramp up their operations. Overall retail sales increased 6%.

The earnings contribution from retail sales growth was essentially neutral as higher revenue from the industrial growth was offset by the effects of weather, including positive weather in the first quarter of last year. As Drew discussed, the Meta contract creates significant customer and community benefits. In addition, we are refreshing our outlooks to reflect the new agreement and other minor updates. The highlights are summarized on slide 5. This agreement further strengthens our retail sales outlook. We now expect approximately 8.5% compound annual retail sales growth through 2029, driven by 16% industrial growth.

Data centers continue to be a significant driver, along with growth from a variety of traditional Gulf South industries, including LNG, industrial gases, petrochemicals, agricultural chemicals, and primary metals. As a reminder, we only add hyperscale data centers to our plan once we have a signed electric service agreement, and then we include them at minimum bill levels. This conservative approach ensures that we can count on the revenue that we have included in our plan. Our customer-centric four-year capital plan is now $57 billion, which is $14 billion higher than our plan last quarter. The increase includes the investment needs resulting from the new customer agreement, primarily seven new CCCTs as well as battery storage projects.

All seven CCCTs have in-service dates in 2030 and 2031, such that not all of the capital for these units is in our four-year horizon. For the transmission investments in the filing, we have made a conservative assumption not to include them as we work through financing options. We have also not yet included the renewables or Riverbend nuclear upgrade investments discussed in our filing. These would be added to the plan as specific projects are firmed up. The equity associated with our four-year plan is now $6.6 billion at the lower end of our target range of 10% to 15% of the total capital plan.

Our strategy to be proactive in addressing our equity needs provides certainty and flexibility, giving us ample time to raise capital. We have successfully sold forward contracts through our robust ATM program as well as the block transaction we executed last March. The agreements we have in place cover about 30% of our four-year need. With $1.9 billion already contracted, that leaves $4.7 billion to be sourced, which is not expected to be needed until late 2027 through 2029. Our forecast also includes $3 billion of hybrid instruments at parent. Slide 6 summarizes our credit ratings and affirms that our credit metric outlooks remain better than rating agency thresholds.

Our plan reflects FFO to debt at or above 15% from Moody's metric throughout the period, giving us capacity to manage events in the business as they occur. Our financial health is bolstered by the work we have done to strengthen our balance sheet and create benefits for customers, including structuring large agreements to protect existing customers and our credit, solidifying our pension funded status, and receiving constructive regulatory mechanisms. You may recall our system experienced an ice storm earlier this year. Mississippi's recent legislation provides a path to securitize the storm cost, which we estimate in the $200 million range. This will lower the overall cost for customers.

We will submit our filing by October 5, and we expect the commission to issue a decision within 60 days of our filing. As shown on slide 7, we are affirming our 2026 adjusted EPS guidance and updating our outlooks. For 2026, we are firmly on track, and we remain confident that we will deliver on our guidance. Looking ahead to the second quarter, with other movements in our plan, we expect other O&M to be approximately $0.15 higher than the same quarter last year, reflecting higher vegetation spending and the timing of nuclear maintenance.

Beyond 2026, today's update reflects our new capital plan, which includes investment resulting from the latest customer agreement as well as other updates since the third quarter. Our adjusted EPS outlook for next year is now $0.20 higher. As the investment accumulates, the increase grows ratably to $0.50 in 2029 to $6.40. We will extend our full outlook to 2030 at our Investor Day in June. As a preview, the 2028 to 2029 year-over-year adjusted EPS growth was 12%. We expect approximately the same for 2030. Entergy Corporation is executing a differentiated growth strategy delivering strong, sustainable results. Through our disciplined customer-centric approach, we are creating value for all our key stakeholders, including our owners.

Our plan is solid with clear line of sight to achieve our outlooks, and we have significant opportunities before us. This update makes our already strong growth profile stand out even more. And now we are happy to take your questions.

Operator: We will now open the call for questions. Press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. Again, press star 1 if you would like to ask a question. In the interest of time, we ask that you please limit your questions to one primary and one follow-up. Our first question comes from the line of Shahriar Pourreza with Wells Fargo.

Shahriar Pourreza: Hey, guys. Good morning. Morning, Drew. So, obviously, a great update this quarter with the Meta deal. I just want to be crystal clear here as today's results just kind of raise the bar again. Does the CapEx increase today fully support the deal, or do you see additional CapEx and earnings accretion as we shift focus to the Analyst Day? You just had a strong update, so should we assume there could be further updates to the capital plan in addition to the roll forward in the June Analyst Day? Thanks.

Kimberly A. Fontan: Yeah. Good morning, Shar. As I noted, $14 billion was added to the plan. The filing had about $15 billion, and the CCCTs close outside the period. But what is not in the plan is the renewables that are under the agreement as well as some of the nuclear pieces. So, certainly, there is more opportunity both in the period and beyond, but what we have provided here today is largely around the generation pieces that you see in the filing.

Andrew S. Marsh: And what we would probably expect for our Investor Day through 2029—because it is only six weeks away—it is a very short window. We tried to give you a preview of it today.

Shahriar Pourreza: Got it. That is perfect. And then just lastly, in terms of financing, what are the specific mechanisms that keep incremental equity funding for the $15 billion in new CapEx under 20%? Is that something that would get replicated beyond the current CapEx plan? I mean, most of the new investment is in Louisiana, but do you see the same accretion from DC clustering in Arkansas and Mississippi? Thanks.

Kimberly A. Fontan: We have been able to maintain that 10% to 15% rate on our capital plan for some time, and I do not see any factors that change that. There are a number of factors that help support that, whether it is the mechanisms that we have, the forward mechanisms, the recovery of AFUDC during the construction period, I mentioned funding of our pension status. So it is a variety of mechanisms, but no fundamental structural change that I see that causes that to really shift as we think about new capital.

Shahriar Pourreza: Okay. That is perfect. Thank you, guys, and big congrats. You keep raising the bar for the industry.

Andrew S. Marsh: Thanks, Shar.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Nicholas Joseph Campanella with Barclays.

Nicholas Joseph Campanella: Hey. Good morning. Productive quarter, like you said. Thanks for all the updates. I just wanted to follow up on some of your prepared remarks. You said that you have a pipeline of 7 to 12 gigawatts that are still not in the plan. You used to have this nice slide around EEI which kind of showed how much equipment you secured to facilitate growth above the plan. So can you just talk about, after this Meta announcement and the other gigawatt that you highlighted as well that you executed on in the quarter, what does the equipment outlook look like for you now? Thank you.

Kimberly A. Fontan: Hi, Nick. Appreciate the question. Yes, Drew did confirm that even after this agreement, our pipeline is still 7 to 12, and that underscores the fact that we continue to see that pipeline move and refresh. From an equipment perspective, we will give you a full update in just a few weeks at Investor Day, but we have additional turbines lined up, and we are not standing still relative to continuing to ensure that we can support that incremental growth. We will also talk about what else is out there relative to all of our other industrial customers in just a few weeks.

Nicholas Joseph Campanella: Okay. Thank you. Looking forward to that. There was some discussion in the filing at the regulator about exploring new large-scale nuclear studies at certain sites. And, Drew, just maybe given your involvement in NEI, can you talk about where the company stands on committing to large-scale nuclear at this point, what the industry still needs to move forward, and what Entergy Corporation would need to move forward? Is this something that we should be keeping in mind as we get to the Analyst Day update? Thank you.

Andrew S. Marsh: Thanks, Nick. Certainly, new nuclear is something that we believe we will need when we look out into the long term. We have talked about this in the past. We do not think we will get to something like 2050 without having new nuclear as part of our portfolio. So it is something that we are continuing to actively explore and investigate, and the agreement that we signed with Meta helps move that forward a little bit. We are in the same spot from a financial risk perspective that we always have been, and that is that there are significant challenges that we still have to overcome from a cost and cost-uncertainty perspective.

We are mindful of what that could mean to the balance sheet of Entergy Louisiana or any of our operating companies. We are not going to enter into any agreement that creates an existential risk right off the bat, and we have said that many times. At our Investor Day, we will have some ideas about how we could manage that and how we could move the needle on the costs and the risk associated with construction. That could help us get there, but our balance sheet is not big enough to cover the whole risk by ourselves, and we are aware of that.

Nicholas Joseph Campanella: Thank you.

Andrew S. Marsh: Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Jeremy Bryan Tonet with J.P. Morgan.

Diana Niles: Hi, good morning. This is Diana Niles on the call for Jeremy. Thanks for taking my questions today.

Andrew S. Marsh: Absolutely. Good morning.

Kimberly A. Fontan: Good morning.

Diana Niles: Could you elaborate on the 1,000 megawatts of additional ESAs beyond the Meta agreement, and maybe how you would characterize the kind of industrial breakdown there and ramp going forward?

Andrew S. Marsh: They are things that you are familiar with—steel, petrochem. I do not have a specific by-industry breakdown. Lots of smaller ones. There are many that are in the less-than-20-megawatt range, but altogether, they add up to 1,000 megawatts. I do not have a specific breakdown for you. I will also add that we probability-weight those non-data-center projects. They are not all in at 100%. And as Kimberly noted in her remarks, the data centers only go in whenever we have a signed ESA.

Diana Niles: Got it. Thank you. So to maybe clarify there, there could be upside should the more traditional industrial load all come on at the full capacity?

Andrew S. Marsh: That is correct. If it were all to come on—they are probability-weighted for a reason because that does not usually happen—but if they were all to come on, yes, there would be upside.

Diana Niles: Got it. Thank you. And to piggyback on the prior question, I saw that the study in the Meta agreement speaks to AP1000s. Was that selection of technology a preference from Entergy Corporation or from the customer?

Andrew S. Marsh: We are supportive of any of the technologies out there, and we are investigating and talking with the vendors for all kinds of different technologies. Certainly, the AP1000 is one that has been constructed and built, and there is a full design. It is also a technology that we are familiar with because it is a PWR. So I think those are things that we are comfortable with, and there are some benefits associated with that, but we are more or less agnostic to the technology. What we are more concerned about is the risk sharing for construction.

Diana Niles: Got it. Thank you. Appreciate that.

Andrew S. Marsh: Thanks.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Richard Sunderland with Truist Securities.

Analyst: Hey. Good morning. Thanks for the time today.

Andrew S. Marsh: Hey. Good morning.

Analyst: Sticking with some of those other CapEx elements for Meta that are out of the plan, could you speak a little bit more to guardrails, timing, other elements you have an eye to before you would go and add those to the plan? And then, similarly, on the size and scope, I know the transmission you outlined, but what are you thinking about as an order of magnitude on the other buckets? Thank you.

Kimberly A. Fontan: Good morning, Richard. Certainly, we saw Meta as well as other customers make commitments or sign up for new solar in multiples of gigawatt amounts. We do have open RFPs to build those as well as looking at our own self-builds that we would put into those RFPs to fill that, and we would be looking to fill that over the next several years. You could see some of that come into this four-year plan, and you could see some of it stretch a little bit beyond that.

From a size and scope perspective, 2,500 megawatts in this Meta agreement, 1,500 megawatts in the previous agreement—all provide a good framing around incremental solar that we can have, and then you can have incremental in other areas as well. And I said solar, but it could also be batteries as well.

Analyst: Got it. Thank you. That is helpful context. And then turning back to the 7 to 12 gigawatt backlog. Did the Meta addition today move through the backlog and then you backfill with new interest to get back to the 7 to 12 gigawatts? And even on the industrial side, how have some of those trends been relative to crystallizing the 1,000 megawatts that you also referenced today? Any color there?

Kimberly A. Fontan: On the 7 to 12, you are exactly right. Meta would have moved through that. It is now in our plan, so it is not in the 7 to 12. That reference is data center opportunity that is outside of our plan. Our 7 to 12 was never our full scope of plan. As things move through, we have additional things coming in as well as additional interest. On the broader customers, what Drew referenced on the 1,000 megawatts is really closing out specific customers—either getting them to sign agreements, which would adjust the probabilities as well. We will give you a full update on that pipeline again in a few weeks, but that continues to be strong as well.

Analyst: Great. Thank you. Looking forward to the updates.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Paul Zimbardo with Jefferies.

Paul Zimbardo: Hey. Morning. Can you hear me okay?

Andrew S. Marsh: Yes. You were breaking up, but we can hear you now.

Paul Zimbardo: Thank you. And again, setting a low bar for everyone by saying a productive quarter—my goodness. One, I did want to clarify, and Kimberly mentioned a little bit, in terms of the conservatism on the minimum take-or-pay minimum bills, is there any way to frame what that benefit can be to earnings or cash flow? Any parameters would be helpful there.

Kimberly A. Fontan: We have not given specifics around the minimum bill levels, except to say that on all of our industrial customers we have minimum demand charges, and on all the hyperscalers it is significantly higher than what we have had on traditional customers for the amount of incremental investments that they drive onto the system. In the forecast period, these customers are going to be ramping up, so their minimum bills are coming in during the period and they go into the ramping period. You are going to have more opportunity once they get to full load versus a minimum bill, but certainly there could be some opportunity near term if perhaps they ramp faster.

Generally, the minimums are pretty substantial, so there is some margin but it is not equal to full-load operations.

Paul Zimbardo: Okay. That is helpful. One other I add—and again, cannot wait for the Investor Day. As we think about the capital you put into the plan today relative to the $0.50 of increase in 2029, is there any information on shaping? Is that kind of back-end weighted in the 2029 CapEx? It seems like there are more earnings to come from that capital. Any flavor you could provide would be helpful.

Kimberly A. Fontan: You can see the chasing of the earnings through 2027, 2028, 2029 in the materials. And in my comments, I noted as a preview to 2030 that we would expect the year-over-year from 2029 to 2030 to be roughly the same as the year-over-year from 2028 to 2029. That gives you some indication of how that shapes into that fifth year.

Paul Zimbardo: Awesome. Well, thank you very much.

Andrew S. Marsh: Thanks, Paul.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of UBS. Please go ahead.

Analyst: Yes. Hi. Good morning. Just isolating the Meta update here. Is the $14 billion of incremental capital entirely attributable to the expansion of that agreement?

Kimberly A. Fontan: Yes, that is essentially the add here, consistent with what is included in the filing. I went through what we included and what was not, but that is essentially the add.

Andrew S. Marsh: There has been a bit of capital added since our last earnings change—you will recall that we added Cottonwood, and there have been some other things that have happened—but certainly, the $14 billion is the key driver here.

Analyst: Right. And then on top of that, there is still some residual generation spend that will show up in 2030, and then you talked about the transmission and renewables also not included. When we think about the totality of what that Meta deal is worth in terms of CapEx, it is obviously something north of the $14 billion—an incremental several billion. Is that fair?

Kimberly A. Fontan: Yes. Drew mentioned in his comments that it was more than $15 billion that happens outside the period, and certainly depending on where the solar and battery—the renewables—land gives you some upside opportunity there.

Analyst: And when should the full earnings run rate be realized on the Meta expansion? I know you are talking about the CODs are 2030 into 2031. Is that when we think about the entirety of the return on the capital being reflected in financials—around mid-2031?

Kimberly A. Fontan: The CCCTs finish closing in 2031, so most of your capital is in by then. We gave you the ramp-up through 2030, and we will talk about what longer term visually looks like—without giving you specific outlooks—at Investor Day.

Analyst: Okay. That is it for me. Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Steven Isaac Fleishman with Wolfe Research.

Steven Isaac Fleishman: Hi. Thanks. I think a lot of my questions got answered on this. But it sounds like there is meaningful earnings that come from the Meta CapEx—even though it is largely in place through 2029, the earnings tail a little later as the projects come on?

Kimberly A. Fontan: Yes. With all construction projects, you have AFUDC leading up through the construction period and then again in 2030. I would see a similar uptick ratably as to what we saw in the years that we gave you, getting you to the similar type of growth rate in 2030.

Steven Isaac Fleishman: Great. And then the $14 billion that you added to CapEx, is that before CIAC or after? Because we do not have rate base to match up.

Kimberly A. Fontan: I would think about that related to CCCTs as largely overnight cost. We did not include transmission, and the financing costs are largely not included in there either.

Steven Isaac Fleishman: Okay. You also mentioned this renewables RFP separate from Meta—the 4.5 gigawatts, of which two-thirds would be owned. Is that in your plan at two-thirds owned or not?

Kimberly A. Fontan: About half of that is not in our plan. We had some projects that we worked to safe harbor or get ahead of relative to other solar interests, but there is a good bit that is not in the plan.

Steven Isaac Fleishman: And then on equity—you do not need equity for a while, timing-wise, late 2027 or 2028–2029. How are you thinking about approaching equity? Are you continuing to try to get out ahead of that? Any thoughts on ways to approach getting the equity for this?

Kimberly A. Fontan: We do not require equity until well into 2027, but we have been proactive about ensuring that we stay ahead of that. Thirty percent is already on the table. The ATM has been an effective tool, and we were able to use a block last year. We do not require additional equity until 2027, so we cannot speak to specific timing, but I would think about it that way.

Steven Isaac Fleishman: Okay.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Sophie Ksenia Karp with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Sophie Ksenia Karp: Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my question, and congratulations on a strong update here. Maybe if you could talk a little bit about the regulatory mechanisms you have, particularly in Louisiana and other areas that may experience significant growth. Do you feel like you have sufficient regulatory recovery mechanisms in place? And is there a risk of some regulatory fatigue if the capital grows as much as it has been growing?

Andrew S. Marsh: Thanks, Sophie. Good morning. I think we have adequate regulatory mechanisms in place. You have seen our regulators begin to change some of their processes. A good example is in Louisiana—the Louisiana Lightning initiative—to accelerate reviews for strong economic development projects. That is really the key: if we are providing significant benefits for customers and communities, I think the regulators will be very supportive of these kinds of ongoing activities. I do not know that there would be necessarily any fatigue associated with that. That is why we have really been focused on these things.

If we cannot provide benefits, that would be a different story, but we have been able to do that pretty well so far, and we would expect to continue that story going forward.

Sophie Ksenia Karp: Thank you. And then a real quick one: how are oil markets and the conflict in the Middle East impacting your industrial customers—either positively or negatively—on the ground in your territory?

Andrew S. Marsh: Generally, I would say it has been positive for most of our industrial customers. The spreads between oil and gas have increased, as have geographic spreads between the Gulf Coast and Asia/Europe. Our industrial customers along the Gulf Coast have benefited somewhat from the conflict because it has dislocated prices a little bit. But it is not out of alignment with where we have been over the last decade to 15 years.

Prices for oil were a little bit lower early in the year and are higher now, but the spreads they pay attention to are similar to what they have been seeing for a long period, and, frankly, we would expect them to continue to stay in place well after the conflicts are resolved.

Sophie Ksenia Karp: Appreciate it.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of RBC Capital Markets.

Analyst: Drew and Kimberly, thanks very much for taking my question. If I look at the change in terawatt-hour sales growth from April to this update, it looks like it is just about 3 terawatt-hours. If I try to back into what that means for incremental load from data centers, it seems like it is only 400 or 450 megawatts. Can you talk a little bit about how the Meta facility ramps? If it is 5.5 incremental gigawatts, it feels like there is a ton of terawatt-hour sales that are going to come beyond 2029. I want to understand what that means both for earned returns and also capital deployment beyond 2029.

Kimberly A. Fontan: You cut out a little bit, but I think your question was how the Meta agreement ramps and how to think about the terawatt-hour sales you are seeing. Certainly, we have to build to support this customer. You see that in the CCCT deployment, which come online in 2030 and 2031. They are able to get some ramp in the period, but full loads are not going to come online until all of those assets come online.

Recall that we have minimum bills on these customers as they ramp, and that minimum bill is reflective of ensuring that they cover the incremental cost they drive over the life of the contract, so that minimum bill may not be directly in sync with the ramp. What we have included in our forecast is the minimum bill here, but you should continue to see a ramp as those assets come online.

Analyst: And any flavor for what adding 5 gigawatts to the existing sales forecast does to sales figures through 2032 or so? It seems like a very significant incremental step up. Does it have customer benefits or rate benefits that you can pass back? Any way to think about that?

Kimberly A. Fontan: We will give you the sales growth through 2030 in just a few weeks, and then we will show you how we think about opportunities longer term. All customers are benefiting from this ramp and from the minimum bills, to Drew’s point—both from the fair share component ensuring that they are paying their portion of the incremental cost, and that will flow through the traditional mechanisms in Louisiana and similarly in other jurisdictions. So there is opportunity and benefit there for other customers. We will provide you that sales forecast in just a few weeks through 2030.

Analyst: Great. Thanks. That is all I had.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Chris Ellinghaus with Siebert Williams.

Analyst: Drew, vis-à-vis the Iran issue, is that providing some impetus or interest in new ESAs and in companies’ calculus of where the world markets are?

Andrew S. Marsh: Perhaps. We have a lot of natural advantages associated with where we are located. We are along the river and the Gulf Coast, we have access to global markets, significant energy infrastructure with pipelines and low energy costs, and rail and other transport availability to domestic markets. We are well-situated with a supportive community that values industrial investment. All of that has meant that when people look around for places to invest in industrial facilities, they look at the Gulf Coast. Over the last few years, we have seen a lot of interest in onshoring because of geopolitical uncertainty. I would say that this current situation is a continuation of that.

To the extent that people around the world are looking for a stable place to invest, given the opportunities and advantages associated with the Gulf Coast, it becomes a natural potential location. It is a very attractive place to invest. So this situation may cause people to look a little more, but it is not a new scenario, and it goes with the long-term commodity spread discussion I mentioned a minute ago.

Analyst: That makes sense. Are there any other Cottonwood-type transactions in your mind, sort of in the hopper?

Andrew S. Marsh: We normally do not talk about M&A, but in this case, there is really just not much in terms of other generators that are around. I would not expect asset M&A to be a significant part of our potential capital outlay going forward beyond Cottonwood.

Analyst: Given the significant increase to the CapEx, can you give us any idea of how it might alter your thinking about the cadence of dividend payouts over the four-year horizon?

Kimberly A. Fontan: We have historically had a 6% growth rate on our dividend, and we are obviously growing faster than that, which affects the payout ratio. Our philosophy has been to balance the growth rate in earnings and sales relative to the growth rate in the dividend. To date, that has been our approach, and I think that is an appropriate balance over the next four years.

Analyst: Lastly, Mississippi data center interest seems to be exploding. Can you talk about what is in the plan at this point and whether there is a significant bucket of unplanned at this point?

Kimberly A. Fontan: I would reference you back to our 7 to 12 gigawatts, which is not OpCo-specific but our enterprise view of the data centers. We do not provide that breakdown by where they are in the pipeline or by operating company. Still a significant opportunity before us—one that we are working to shore up and capture as much as we can. Lots of opportunity there, but no specifics by operating company.

Andrew S. Marsh: And the data centers that are in our plan are already signed. We do not have any data centers in our plan that are prospective.

Analyst: Right. Okay. Thanks for all the updates. A great quarter.

Operator: Our last question for today comes from the line of Andrew Weisel with Scotiabank.

Andrew Weisel: Hey, everybody. Good morning. Two for me. First, in terms of financing the incremental $15 billion of CapEx or so for Meta, I understand that Meta is going to be paying for that under the Fair Share Plus commitment as part of the setup, but you are including that in the CapEx and the equity plan. Help me understand how that works from a timing and cash flow perspective. If you are not going to collect the revenue—or how and when will you collect the revenues relative to the construction and equipment payments—and how and when will the $2 billion or $7 billion be returned to customers?

How does that work in terms of the timing and how that impacts your credit metrics? I know you reiterated credit metrics, but how does that work in terms of the short-term impacts on credit rating metrics and your conversations with the agencies and cash flows?

Kimberly A. Fontan: Our Fair Share Plus is our commitment to ensuring that these customers are paying their fair share, and that covers a number of areas. One is ensuring that they are paying to support not just the incremental costs that they drive, but also the embedded costs that are already in customers' bills. That shows up in ways like in Mississippi—we have talked before about Superpowered Mississippi—where they are deploying $300 million of capital without incremental cost to customers because the embedded costs that AWS is supporting enable us to continue to make investments for customers without incremental cost.

Another example is in Louisiana—we have securitized storm costs on bills already related to previous storms, and these customers will pick up their allocable portion of those costs. Customers that were paying will see slightly less cost. That is how that $7 billion effectively flows back to customers.

Andrew Weisel: And in terms of the credit metrics and timing issues, is there going to be temporary pressure on the credit metrics during construction?

Kimberly A. Fontan: As I noted in my comments, our credit metrics on a Moody's basis are 15% or better throughout this four-year forecast period during this heavy construction period. That has a lot to do with all the constructive mechanisms we have as well as how we are contracting. It does not, in and of itself, put pressure on the metrics because it enables you to make investments as these customers pay a portion of incremental costs that customers otherwise would have paid previously.

Andrew Weisel: Okay. Very impressive. And one last one, if I may. The 15% industrial sales growth in the first quarter was notably better than your guidance of 10% for the year, and a big pickup from last year's full-year results of 7%. You mentioned it was a combination of new and expansion projects. Can you elaborate a little bit on what you are seeing? And does that change your expectation for the full year?

Kimberly A. Fontan: We did have a good first quarter, but on a year-over-year basis we expect the customers to ramp up—that is what you are seeing there. It does not change what we expect for the full year. It does shore up that those are coming online. Even if the volumes were off a little bit, you would not see a decrement because of the minimum bills and other structures that we have to support. We are comfortable with our guidance, and we are pleased to see the volumes starting to come in.

Andrew Weisel: Does it position you toward the high end, or is it too early to say something like that?

Kimberly A. Fontan: It is way too early. It is first quarter, so we obviously have to get through the summer and through the end of the year.

Andrew Weisel: Okay. Sounds great. Thank you very much.

Andrew S. Marsh: Thank you, Andrew.

Operator: Thanks, Andrew. And that concludes our Q&A session for today. I will now turn the call back over to Liz for closing remarks. Liz?

Liz Hunter: Thank you, John, and thanks to everyone for participating this morning. Our quarterly report on Form 10-Q will be filed with the SEC at a later date and provides more details and disclosures about our financial statements. Events that occur prior to the date of our filing that provide additional evidence of conditions that existed at the date of the balance sheet will be reflected on our financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Also, as a reminder, we maintain a webpage as part of Entergy Corporation's investor relations website called Regulatory and Other Information, which provides key updates of 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: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect your lines.