Newsfilter article unlocker

Good morning, and welcome to Evergy's 2026 Annual Shareholder Meeting. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Heather Humphrey. Please go ahead. Thank you, and good morning, everyone. I'm Heather Hum phrey, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary. Welcome, and thank you for joining us. Before we get started, we'd liketo recognize and thank all of our Evergy employees for delivering another successful year. Their continued focus and teamwork advanced our strategic objectives of affordability, reliability, and sustainability. Today's agenda is reflected on the web portal. The rules of conduct that govern our meeting, voting, and the ability to ask questions are available there as well. Regarding the order of the meeting, after a safety moment, we'll make introductions, then conduct the business portion of our meeting. Afterward, our Chairman and CEO, David Campbell, will share remarks. Then, we'll entertain your questions at the end of the meeting. Averagy promotes an unwavering commitment to safety and emphasizes that commitment by opening all of our meetings with a safety reminder. Today, we want to quickly highlight the importance of safety during thunderstorms. Here in the Midwest, severe storms can develop quickly. Being prepared and knowing what to do during the storm can prevent injuries and save lives. That means staying weather aware. Monitor forecasts and alerts, especially in the afternoon and evenings when storms often form. The thunderstorms are part of life in the Midwest, but preparation and quick action can make all the difference. Stay alert, take warnings seriously, and always put safety first. The Board of Directors set March 2, 2026 as the record date for determining shareholders entitled to vote at this meeting. An affidavit has been delivered confirming that materials for this meeting were mailed beginning on March 26, 2027 to all identified shareholders as of the record day, and that the documents were also made available electronically to shareholders via the Internet. The shareholder list shows that, as of the record date, approximately 230 million shares of common stock were outstanding and entitled to vote at this meeting. Our inspectors of election inform us that a quorum is present for purposes of transacting business. I expect that most, if not all, of you have already voted. Shareholders who sent in proxies, voted via telephone, or voted online need not take any further action unless they wish to change their vote. If you have not yet voted, or if you wish to change your vote, you may do so now by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions at any time before the polls close. While the polls remain open, I'd like to introduce the Evergy Board of Directors attending today's meeting. David Campbell, B. Anthony Isaac, Paul Keglovich, Senator Mary Landrieu, Sondra Lawrence, Anne Mertlow, Dean Newton, Sandra Price, Jonathan Rolfe, James Scarola, Neil Sharma, and C. John Wilder. I would also like to introduce our executive officers. They are Brian Buckler, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Chuck Kaisley, Executive Vice president, Utility Operations, and Chief Customer Officer. Also joining us today are members of Deloitte & Touche, Evergy's independent public accounting firm. Finally, the company has appointed Nancy Hoffman and Kyle Anderson of Broadridge Financial services to act as independent inspectors of election. Each took the oath of inspection before the meeting. The inspectors have election will certify the voting results after the meeting, those results will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As I mentioned a few moments ago, after we adjourn the formal meeting, we will provide time for general questions related to today's meeting. Validated shareholders may ask questions in the designated field, on the web portal. Out of consideration for others, please limit yourself to one question. Our business meeting is now called to order. I'll present the matters to be voted on. The first item of business is the election of directors. The proxy statement lists 12 nominees for election to our board of directors to hold office until the 2027 annual meeting of shareholders or until their successors are duly elected and qualified. They are David Campbell, B. Anthony Isaac, Paul Keglovich, Senator Mary Landrieu, Sondra Lawrence, Ann Mertlow, Dean Newton, Sandra Price, Jonathan Rolf, James Skorola, Neil Sharma, and C. John Wilder. The board has recommended a vote for the election of all nominees. The second item is the advisory non-binding resolution approving the 2025 compensation of our named executive officers as disclosed in our proxy statement, and the Board has recommended a vote for this proposal. The third item is the ratification of Deloitte and Touche as our independent public accountants for 2026. The Board has also recommended a voting for the ratifications. If you are still planning to vote on the web portal, please vote now. Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, I declare the polls for the 2026 AVERGEE Annual Shareholder Meeting closed. We have been informed by the Inspectors of Election that the Preliminary Vote Report shows that the nominees for election to the Board have been duly elected, the compensation of the named Executive Officers has been approved by Advisory Vote, and Deloitte & Touche has been ratified as the independent registered accountants for the company for 2026. As I mentioned, we will report the final vote results with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Thank you for participating in Evergy's annual meeting. With no further business to address, the business portion of this morning's meeting is hereby adjourned. Now, I'm pleased to introduce David Campbell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, to tell you more about the progress of our company. David? Thank you, Heather, and well done. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Before I begin, I would like to thank my fellow Evergy employees who worked tirelessly throughout the year to advance our strategic objectives of affordability, reliability, and sustainability. The team's hard work and execution have laid the foundation for the transformative growth opportunity before us. As we have our first quarter earnings call on Thursday of this week. I'll keep my comments brief today and focus on key achievements from last year. In 2025, we executed on our capital investment plan to improve reliability and resiliency by investing $2.8 billion in infrastructure to modernize our grid, replace aging equipment, and continue providing safe, affordable, and reliable electric service for our customers in Kansas and Missouri. Our 2025 financial results came in below the expectations we set out at the beginning of the year due to significantly milder-than-normal weather, as well as some industrial demand challenges, both of which contributed to lower power usage. Our team worked diligently to manage costs within our control, but were unable to fully offset the magnitude of the weather and load impacts. In 2025, the surge in advanced manufacturing and data centers continue to drive levels of growth in electric demand that we haven't seen in more than 50 years. We made significant progress in advancing economic development opportunities, growing our pipeline to over 15 gigawatts. In February of this year, we announced electric service agreements with four large data center customers with a combined total of 1.9 gigawatths once they reach full capacity. This is a very substantial increase, given that our current peak load across our entire system is approximately 11 gigawatts. ROG is fully committed to investing the resources needed to capitalize on the economic development opportunities in our region. In Kansas and Missouri, we received approval from the Kansas Corporation Commission and the Missouri Public Service Commission to construct three new natural gas facilities and three solar farms, totaling nearly 2.2 gigawatths of capacity. These projects further advance our all-of-the-above generation strategy to support growing customer demand. A key regulatory milestone last year involved the approval of new large-load power service tariffs, called the LLPS, in both Kansas and Missouri last November. These tariffs establish a framework under which new large customers will pay a premium demand rate to locate in our service territories while adequately paying their fair share of existing and new systems costs. This, in turn, will drive affordability benefits for existing customers and support economic growth in Kansas and Missouri. In 2025, we'll work closely with all stakeholders in both Kansas and Missouri to promote policies and deliver outcomes that will enable and support economic growth and prosperity. Senate Bill 4 was passed in Missouri, signaling strong support for infrastructure investment and growth. Among other features, SB4, as it is known, includes provisions that enhance our ability to invest in and timely recover costs associated with new natural gas generation, while also extending the PISA sunset provision to 2035. In Kansas, the Kansas Corporation Commission approved a unanimous settlement agreement in our Kansas Central Rate Case, highlighting the constructive relationships between stakeholders in the process and providing a balanced outcome for customers. Lastly, in November, we raised our dividend by 4% to an annualized rate of $2.78 per share. These accomplishments in 2025 are a testament to our employees' ability to remain focused on safety, customer service, reliability, and affordability. For our company, last year was about turning opportunity into growth, paving the way for a new era for our customers and communities. We are taking a proactive approach to capitalizing on the historic opportunity as part of advancing our strategic goals of affordability, reliability and sustainability. And with that, we'll be pleased to take questions. David, I don't see any questions relevant to the business portion of this meeting, so I'll turn it back to you for any closing remarks. Thank you, Peter. And thanks, everyone, for joining us today. We look forward to discussing our first quarter results with you to our earnings call later this week on Thursday. Thank you. Thank you everyone. This concludes today's meeting. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.