Resumen de la conferencia de resultados del 3T de 2026 de Duke Energy

Puntos clave

• Duke Energy registró un BPA reportado y ajustado para el 3T de 2026 de $1,99, un aumento de $0,18 frente a los $1,81 del año anterior.
• La dirección acotó su rango de previsión de BPA ajustado para 2026 a $6,70-$6,80 y espera que los resultados se sitúen cerca del extremo superior de dicho rango.
• La compañía reafirmó su objetivo de crecimiento anual del BPA del 5%-7% hasta 2030, y la dirección se mostró confiada en lograr un crecimiento en la mitad superior de dicho rango a partir de 2028.
• La demanda de electricidad en el tercer trimestre aumentó un 2%, el crecimiento trimestral más sólido desde 2022. Duke Energy mantuvo su perspectiva de crecimiento de la carga del 3%-4% durante el resto de su plan a cinco años.
• El plan de inversiones de 103.000 millones de dólares podría sumar otros 5.000 a 10.000 millones de dólares en inversiones de generación y transmisión una vez finalizados los contratos adicionales de gran demanda, particularmente en Indiana y Florida.
• Duke Energy espera convertir la totalidad de su cartera de proyectos de gran demanda de 15,4 GW en fase avanzada en contratos de suministro eléctrico para el primer semestre de 2027. Otros 5,2 GW de centros de datos en construcción continúan programados para comenzar a consumir energía en el segundo semestre de 2027 y durante 2028.

Datos financieros clave

Desempeño comercial y operativo

El segmento de Servicios Públicos de Electricidad e Infraestructura continuó siendo el principal motor de beneficios de Duke Energy. Las nuevas tarifas y recargos tarifarios (riders), el aumento de los volúmenes de ventas y las altas temperaturas del verano impulsaron la mejora trimestral. Estos factores se vieron compensados en parte por una mayor depreciación, el incremento en los gastos por intereses y la participación minoritaria en Duke Energy Florida.

La dirección señaló que está reinvirtiendo una modesta parte de los $0,22 por acción procedentes de los beneficios climáticos acumulados en el año en operaciones y mantenimiento para reforzar el sistema y reducir riesgos en periodos futuros.

El crecimiento de la carga continuó acelerándose. El incremento de clientes residenciales se mantuvo cercano al 2%, mientras que la demanda de manufactura avanzada comenzó a incorporarse a la red. Se prevé que la carga contratada de centros de datos comience a aportar en 2027.

Duke Energy está llevando a cabo uno de los mayores programas de expansión de generación del sector, con el objetivo de alcanzar 16 GW de capacidad adicional para 2031. Más de 5 GW de generación a gas natural se encuentran en construcción en las Carolinas e Indiana, con otros 5 GW en desarrollo. La compañía también está invirtiendo en aproximadamente 5 GW de baterías y energía solar.

La actividad regulatoria siguió siendo fundamental para el plan de inversiones. Duke Energy espera las resoluciones de Carolina del Norte sobre sus expedientes tarifarios y la tarifa para grandes demandas a mediados de noviembre, con la entrada en vigor de las nuevas tarifas prevista para enero de 2027. En Florida, la empresa planea revisar y volver a presentar su tarifa para grandes demandas tras las observaciones de la comisión, pero afirmó que las negociaciones con clientes y la planificación de infraestructura continúan.

Previsiones de la dirección

La dirección prevé que el BPA ajustado para todo el año 2026 se sitúe cerca de la parte alta del rango acotado de $6,70-$6,80. Duke Energy también reafirmó un crecimiento anual del BPA del 5%-7% hasta 2030, con un avance previsto en la mitad superior de dicho rango a partir de 2028 a medida que los proyectos contratados de desarrollo económico aumenten su actividad.

Para 2027, la compañía prevé nuevas tarifas en varias zonas de servicio, un crecimiento continuo de clientes y una mayor demanda procedente de proyectos de desarrollo económico. Una mayor asignación para fondos utilizados durante la construcción (AFUDC) y la recuperación mediante recargos tarifarios deberían respaldar los beneficios, mientras que un clima normalizado, el aumento de la depreciación y mayores gastos por intereses actuarán como factores compensatorios.

Duke Energy prevé que el despliegue de capital aumente desde aproximadamente 1.500 millones de dólares al mes hasta alrededor de 2.000 millones de dólares al mes de cara a 2027. La empresa está financiando su plan de crecimiento con 10.000 millones de dólares en capital propio y afirmó que ya ha cubierto un tercio de sus necesidades previstas.

Riesgos y áreas de atención

• Los reguladores de Florida retrasaron la propuesta de tarifa para grandes demandas. Duke Energy debe revisarla y volver a presentarla, aunque la dirección señaló que el proceso no ha ralentizado las conversaciones con los clientes.
• La comisión de Carolina del Norte denegó el CPCN para la turbina de combustión Smith tras plantear dudas sobre la planificación de recursos y los requerimientos de carga. La dirección sigue considerando que el proyecto es una opción rentable y espera reevaluarlo tras la decisión sobre el plan de recursos.
• Las negociaciones de contratos para grandes demandas están tardando más debido a su complejidad y al cambiante entorno político y regulatorio. No obstante, la dirección mantuvo su objetivo de convertir la cartera en fase avanzada durante el primer semestre de 2027.
• Se prevé que el retorno a un clima normal, una mayor depreciación y el incremento en los gastos por intereses compensen parte del crecimiento de la empresa en 2027.
• Duke Energy mantiene su interés en nueva generación nuclear, pero afirmó que no seguirá adelante sin protecciones para clientes e inversores, claridad en la cadena de suministro, estructuras viables para los proyectos y salvaguardas para su balance.

Puntos destacados de la sesión de preguntas y respuestas con analistas

Inversión en gran demanda: La dirección señaló que el importe potencial de 5.000 a 10.000 millones de dólares en capital incremental corresponde a la generación y transmisión necesarias para grandes clientes. Dicha cifra se sumaría una vez formalizados los contratos definitivos y complementaría un plan de inversiones que ya está en aumento.

Estructura en Indiana: Duke Energy sigue abierta a una estructura independiente para la filial de generación si esta mejora la rapidez, la asequibilidad o las ventajas para los clientes. En la actualidad, la dirección considera que puede abastecer a los clientes bajo su modelo existente.

Marco tarifario de Carolina del Norte: El acuerdo otorga a Duke Energy la opción de evitar un proceso tarifario en 2029, respaldada por aplazamientos vinculados a la generación e ingresos procedentes de clientes de gran demanda. El mecanismo existente de distribución de beneficios seguiría aplicándose.

Estrategia nuclear: Duke Energy tiene previsto añadir 300 MW mediante mejoras en unidades nucleares existentes a lo largo de cinco años y busca extender su vida operativa a 80 años. Cualquier nuevo proyecto nuclear requeriría un reparto de riesgos y protecciones financieras adecuadas.

Balance: La dirección calificó los fondos anticipados de la inversión minoritaria en Duke Energy Florida como netamente acretivos, ya que reducen el apalancamiento de la matriz y limitan la necesidad de acceder a los mercados de capitales en 2027.

Transcripción completa de la conferencia de resultados

Transcripción completa de la conferencia de resultados

Comentarios de la dirección

Operator

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to Duke Energy Corporation's third quarter earnings conference call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the conference over to Mike Switzer, Vice President of Investor Relations and Core Development. Mike, please go ahead.

Mike Switzer

Thank you, Lucas, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Duke Energy's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Review and Business Update. Leading our call today is Harry Sideris, President and CEO; along with Brian Savoy, Executive Vice President and CFO. Today's discussion will include the use of non-GAAP financial measures and forward-looking information. Actual results may differ from forward-looking statements due to factors disclosed in today's materials and in Duke Energy's SEC filings. The appendix of today's presentation includes information, along with a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures.

With that, let me turn the call over to Harry.

Harry Sideris

Thank you, Mike, and good morning, everyone. It's great to be with you today for our third quarter 2026 earnings call. Today, we announced adjusted earnings per share of $1.99 compared to $1.81 last year building on the solid performance we delivered throughout the year. Results were driven by growth at our electric utilities as we make critical infrastructure investments to meet growing customer demand in our service territories.

With the strong performance year-to-date, we are narrowing our 2026 guidance range to $6.70 to $6.80 and expect to finish the year near the top end. We're also reaffirming our long-term earnings per share growth rate of 5% to 7% through 2030, and we remain confident that we will deliver in the top half of the range beginning in 2028. And when we experienced accelerated growth from the economic development projects already secured under electric serve agreements. Our earnings growth is underpinned by our $103 billion capital plan and we have $5 billion to $10 billion of upside capital to support generation and transmission investments to serve large load customers as we finalize additional contracts, particularly in Indiana and Florida.

We recognize that this is a time of accelerated change for our industry. With growing energy needs in our vibrant jurisdictions, disciplined execution and a relentless focus on customer value are more important than ever. I'm proud of how our team at Duke continues to meet this extraordinary growth in a way that benefits all customers. We are careful stewards of our capital, and we look forward to providing more details on our updated financial plan during the fourth quarter call in February.

Moving to Slide 5. Across our jurisdictions, we're demonstrating how excellent execution is supporting both reliability and affordability. Building on our strong foundation of cost management and operational efficiencies. We continue to work with policymakers to pursue federal funding opportunities to help keep costs as low as possible. In September, we were selected by the Department of Energy for a $50 million grant to support advanced transmission projects in North and South Carolina.

This award brings total announced DOE grant funding this year nearly $150 million, which helped offset the cost of projects to meet increased demand strength in local communities and maintain the dependent service our customers expect. We were also pleased to receive an EEI Emergency Recovery Award, the industry's highest honor for storm recovery for our response efforts to Winter Storm Fern earlier this year. We safely restored nearly 200,000 Carolina customers in January within 48 hours.

We similarly responded to a rare duration in Midwest this summer and then again last month, the Hurricane Isaias, which impacted our Florida and Carolinas customers. I am proud of the team for maintaining their strong track record of operational excellence throughout the year. On the regulatory front, we are making significant progress advancing outcomes that support cost-effective investments to improve reliability and modernize our fleet. Just after the second quarter call, we reached another comprehensive settlement with North Carolina Public staff and other interveners this time in our Deep Energy Progress rate case.

We believe the DC and DEP settlement supported balanced outcome with customer rates expected to remain below the national average. We expect orders on both cases by mid-November with rates effective in January 2027. We also reached a settlement with public staff and several large customers around the proposed large load tariff in early October. We believe the settlement achieves a constructive outcome that balances the goals of protecting existing customers while supporting economic growth.

We expect the commission to issue an order on the tariff, along with the rate cases. Our guiding principle on large loans is similar, ensure everyone benefits from the influx of economic development projects, preserving reliability, powering economic growth and producing shared value. The large load tariffs, we are advancing a line with our Customer Protection Plus commitment and the provisions in our existing ESAs, including long-term contracts with minimum demand charges, early termination penalties, erruptability, credit support and capital advances.

The progression of large load tariffs across our states ensures large customers, users cover the cost of serving the facilities and deliver billions of dollars and benefits for our customers and communities over the life of their contracts. Turning to Indiana. We have provided notice of our intent to follow our first multiyear rate plan later this year. We share the goals of Indiana customers, regulators and policymakers to keep bills as low as possible, maintain reliability while supporting growth in the state.

We start in a strong position with some of the lowest residential rates in the state, and a track record of effective cost management and operational excellence, including storm response. We look forward to developing a cost-effective plan that delivers continued value to our customers.

As outlined on Slide 6, we continue to make significant progress on 1 of the largest generation expansion programs in the industry, adding 16 gigawatts of capacity by 2031. We're advancing resource plans in our largest jurisdictions to reflect the once-in-a-generation growth we experienced. In August, we filed the 2026 Carolinas resource plan in South Carolina. The plan reflects our all-of-the-above generation strategy with additional combined cycles, combustion turbines, increased battery storage and continued solar development. The commission will hold a hearing on the resource plan in April of 27 and issued an order by June of 27. Our resource plans made clear the important role natural gas will play in the near term to ensure reliability.

That's why we're advancing regulatory filings specific to natural gas generation with more than 5 gigawatts under construction in the Carolinas and Indiana and another 5 gigawatts in development. Since our second quarter call, we received approval from the North Carolina Commission on our first say CPCN filing for the Anderson County combined cycle plant and a construction monitoring request for the first person County unit. Just last month, we prefiled CPCNs for 2 combined cycle plants totaling nearly 800 megawatts at the Dave Davidson site in North Carolina and expect to file CPCNs early next year.

We continue to evaluate a liquefied natural gas storage facility on the site to support our generation fleet, which would provide greater supply flexibility and diversity while reducing exposure to price volatility to support reliable and affordable service. In closing, we are leveraging our economies of scale to create value as we progress these generation projects, we are focused on delivery certainty utilizing our framework agreements and repeatable execution models to derisk every dollar and ensure we deliver on time and on budget. With that, let me turn the call over to Brian.

Brian Savoy

Thanks, Harry, and good morning, everyone. As shown on Slide 7, we delivered another strong quarter with both reported and adjusted earnings per share of $1.99 compared to $1.81 in the prior year. Electric Utilities and Infrastructure increased $0.20 as the growth engine of the company continues to produce strong results. Rate cases and riders, along with higher sales volumes, and hot summer weather fueled the growth in the quarter. These drivers were partially offset by higher depreciation and interest expense associated with our growing asset base and the minority interest at Duke Energy, Florida. .

Gas Utilities and Infrastructure was up $0.01, and the other segment was down $0.03 due to lower market returns on Benefit Trust. Our results continue to reflect disciplined execution of our strategy, and I'm proud of the way our teams maintain reliable service through extreme summer heat across our jurisdictions. As we close out 2026, we're reinvesting some weather benefits to further strengthen the system as we exercise O&M agility to deliver consistent, sustainable growth year after year. We also expect lower quarterly results in the gas segment as we enter the first winter heating season following the Piedmont Tennessee sale.

Overall, we are extremely pleased with our year-to-date performance, and are well positioned to deliver full year results near the top end of our narrowed EPS guidance range. Moving to 2027 growth drivers on Slide 8. We we will implement new rates across many of our service territories next year, including in North Carolina, where we will begin our next multiyear rate plan subject to final commission orders. In Florida, we will move into the final year of the current rate plan, utilizing battery tax credits to keep base rates flat for customers.

We also expect continued customer growth and the ramp of economic development projects to support our 3% to 4% load growth outlook. To meet this accelerating demand and maintain reliable service for customers, we will continue to execute our record generation build and grid investment plan, driving higher AFUDC and rider recovery. These positive drivers will be partially offset by a return to normal weather, higher depreciation and higher interest expense as we fund the growth of the business.

The fundamentals underpinning our long-term outlook are as strong as ever. Our communities continue to benefit from population migration and vibrant economies creating an extensive runway of capital investment opportunities well into the next decade. That investment supports sustained earnings base growth with additional upside as we secure large load projects in our pipeline and the efficient recovery mechanisms across our jurisdictions support timely recovery, strengthen the balance sheet and minimize costs for customers, positioning the company to deliver 5% to 7% long-term earnings growth with confidence to earn in the top half of the range beginning in 2028.

Turning to Slide 9. We continue to advance economic development prospects into contracted load and connect customers to the system. Load growth has accelerated through 2026. Third quarter demand increased 2%, our strongest quarterly growth since 2022. Residential customer growth is steady at nearly 2%, outpacing the national average while advanced manufacturing loads are beginning to come online and ramp. These trends reinforce confidence in our 3% to 4% low growth projection over the remainder of the 5-year plan as contracted data center load begins coming online next year.

I also want to reiterate Harry's comments on what we've done in the regulatory space to bring greater transparency to our large load contracts. The constructive settlement we reached in North Carolina formalizes customer protections further ensuring that as data centers come online, they will deliver billions and benefits for customers and communities.

Moving to Slide 10. We remain confident in converting the full 15.4 gigawatt late-stage pipeline to ESAs by the first half of 2027. We are advancing negotiations with prospective large load customers with multiple projects executing preliminary agreements during the quarter and providing deposits to begin initial transmission system work. We are actively planning the generation and transmission investments to serve them with the potential for $5 billion to $10 billion of capital to be added to the 5-year plan upon final contract execution.

Conversion of the remaining pipeline will extend the runway of load growth and capital investment well into the next decade. Finally, the 5.2 gigawatts of data centers currently under construction remain on schedule to begin taking energy in the second half of 2027 and into 2028.

Turning to the balance sheet on Slide 11. We remain on track to achieve our 14.5% FFO to debt target for 2026. Our disciplined financing strategy continues to support a strong balance sheet and provides the financial flexibility needed to execute our investment plans to reliably serve customers. We're supporting our growth capital plan with $10 billion of equity and have already addressed 1/3 of our expected needs. We priced $825 million of equity through our ATM program year-to-date with settlement expected in December of 2027.

In August, we issued $2 billion of mandatory convertible equity units. And we expect to issue $125 million annually for dividend reinvestment plan beginning in 2027. Together, these actions limit near-term dilution and preserve future share price appreciation upside. This proactive approach reduces financing risk on supporting an efficient cost of capital. We are also actively managing interest rate exposure as we address ongoing financing needs.

As we've discussed in prior calls, the Piedmont, Tennessee and Duke Energy Florida minority investment proceeds reduced holding company leverage this December, with the remaining $2 billion to fund it in 2027. The rest of our 2026 plan is nearly complete with our remaining issuances fully hedged. Across the 5-year plan, our long-standing programmatic hedging strategy helps moderate interest rate volatility. We will continue to optimize the timing, duration and structure of our financings to minimize costs and create long-term value for customers and shareholders.

Let me close with Slide 12. Our strategy is clear: seize growth opportunities. execute our all of the above generation plan to reliably serve our customers and work with stakeholders to reach constructive regulatory outcomes that support critical investments while keeping costs as low as possible. We remain on track to deliver results near the top end of our narrowed 2026 EPS guidance range and 5% to 7% EPS growth through 2030 with confidence to earn in the top half of the range beginning in 2028.

Disciplined execution of our capital investment plan will produce value for customers and position us to deliver on our growth targets, which combined with our attractive dividend yield, provide a compelling risk-adjusted return for shareholders. With that, we'll open the line for your questions.

Operator

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Shar Pourreza with Wells Fargo.

Preguntas y respuestas

Shahriar Pourreza

Let me just start on Florida. I know you guys continue to kind of highlight the additional capital opportunities to serve large loads. I guess can you talk about how this week's PSC decision to delay the tariff and any impact to the opportunity set? I guess what's the path bother? Or can you continue to move forward as planned without the tariff in place? .

Harry Sideris

Yes. Great question, Shar. Yes, this week, Florida gave us feedback on our filed tariff. We have the same focus as our regulators as well as our stakeholders, customers and policymakers to make sure that these data centers are paying their fair share, providing benefits to the customers as well as maintaining reliability, so we really appreciate the commissions look at that and the feedback they gave us.

We're making adjustments to our tariff and plan on refilling that. In the meantime, we're continuing to talk to our customers and continuing to advance the process there on what we're going to need to build for them and the commercial terms that we're going to need to have. So no slowdown in what we're doing in Florida. We'll have to refile the tariffs, but we feel confident that we'll be able to reach agreement with the feedback that we received.

Shahriar Pourreza

Okay. Perfect. And then just on Indiana. Obviously, there's been a lot of attention on affordability. So with the potential opportunity you see to serve the large load, I guess, would you consider maybe a Genco type structure, given the benefit of speed to market, obviously, bypassing the CPCN process. And then obviously, that structure has much more visible way to flow back the savings to customers publicly as we've seen with the peer in the state. I guess have conversations started around this structure type? And just what's your view there?

Harry Sideris

Yes, Shar. So again, we share the commission and the governor's focus on affordability. It's something that we've done for over 120 years, making sure that we have reliable service at the lowest cost possible. We're in a strong position in Indiana with the lowest rates in the state. We continue to work with all our stakeholders to make sure that we're providing a reliable service as well as growing the state. We are moving forward, having discussions with customers, advancing the pipeline that we have out there and feel confident that we're going to be able to sign some ESAs before the end of the first half of next year. .

We always are evaluating when we will need or if we will need a Genco kind of operation, so we're open to that. We continue to feel like we can continue to provide the service that we need for our customers and under our current model. But if things change and it makes sense to have a Genco for the reasons that you mentioned, then we will absolutely be doing that.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Julian Demian Smith with Jefferies.

Julien Dumoulin-Smith

Maybe just a follow-up on the Carolinas real quickly. Maybe more of a housekeeping item. But as you think about the next weeks, how do you think about the approval process of the settlement here? I mean there's sort of an element of just follow through. But just want to make sure you guys feel good about that to the extent which if there were to be any tweaks in this, how do you think about that being reflected? Obviously, we've seen commissions, but specifically in the Carolinas, take a lot of focus on large loads and the tariffs and cost allocation appropriately. But again, really narrowly here follow through an approval as is of the settlement? And if there's any twist, how do you think about that?

Harry Sideris

Yes. Julian. Yes, we're very pleased on the settlements that we reached with Public Staff in nearly all the intervening parties in the state think the settlements reflect extensive negotiations that we had amongst the stakeholders and address all the key issues that a lot of them raised during the proceedings. We've really focused, and I believe we were successful in balancing customer affordability with the investments that we needed to be making to improve reliability, harden the grid and support the tremendous growth that we're seeing in our state, both from population growth, data centers as well as other economic development projects.

We have a very strong track record of constructive regulatory outcomes in North Carolina. And we believe that this settlement because it represents a balanced well-supported outcome that we will be successful in getting approval. We will continue to remain focused on other things that we can do, continue to drive affordability with our nuclear PTC credits, our storm securitization or 1 utility that will start off in January. Those are all things, DOE loans. Those are all things that we're doing to help reduce the customer bill, and we'll continue to look for other options to do that as we move forward.

Julien Dumoulin-Smith

Excellent. I appreciate it here. If the plant cost deferral let you delay the next North Carolina rate case, I mean, does your outlook assume kind of a similar earnings sharing? Just the overall framework, maybe is the right way to say it? That still applies in '29 just as you think about the outlook here. If you can elaborate a little bit?

Harry Sideris

Yes. We do, Julien. As part of the settlement, we have the option of staying out in 2029 that is predicated on a deferral for the generation facilities that will be coming online. So we'll be evaluating that as we get closer to that date. But all the other conditions will continue to imply including the earnings sharing mechanism.

Brian Savoy

And Julian, I'll add to that. with the revenue acceleration from the large load customers coming online in 2027 that ramp into 2028 and 2029, really sets the stage that would create the opportunity for the stay out. And that was part of the underpinning the negotiation, and we're excited to see that coming to fruition. .

Julien Dumoulin-Smith

Got it. And your confidence in being able to leverage those kinds of mechanisms just given the pushback in a more discrete fashion in recent months to some of the investments, again, those are discrete and separate factors, but your confidence that you're on the right track to be able to get these plants approved broadly separate issues. But again, I know that there's been some specific nuances here on some of the latest assets you put before the commission.

Harry Sideris

Yes, absolutely, Julian. We feel North Carolina is a constructive place. We're seeing the tremendous growth, and it's a dynamic environment that we have to continue to work with all our stakeholders and policymakers to make sure that we're doing the right things for our customers and for our state to maintain reliability and affordability and serve this tremendous load that we're seeing. So I think everybody is aligned on that.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Nicholas Campanella with Barclays.

Nicholas Campanella

Thanks for all the updates. Maybe just on the -- maybe just on the roll forward, you kind of highlighted this $5 billion to $7 billion -- the $5 billion to $10 billion of additional capital in Florida and Indiana. Can you just kind of talk to what that is worth from like an earnings-based increase or a rate base increase perspective as we think about the roll forward? And then just what are the incremental items that we're not thinking about in the Carolinas or in transmission otherwise, you kind of brought up this natural gas liquids facility as part of the Carolinas IRP. Just what else is worth kind of thinking incrementally from this?

Brian Savoy

Thanks, Nick. And this is Brian. As you pointed out, I mean, we're in the throes of building our next role of the plan and bottom line, capital is increasing, right? We're investing about $1.5 billion a month right now, and that's going to step up to about $2 billion a month with a beginning as we get into 2027. And there's a ton of projects and execution underpinning that capital deployment. And the $5 billion to $10 billion we highlighted for the large load projects that's in the overlapping period.

But if you think about it, as we get deeper in the generation build cycle, when we add 2031, it's much larger than 2026. So the capital plan is moving moving up in a sizable way because we've got 5 gigawatts of natural gas plants under construction along with about 5 gigawatts of batteries and solar in the system. We'll be adding more gigawatts because we got 5 gigawatts of natural gas under development, and those will be beginning invested -- becoming investments in the next role of the plan. The plan is going up and these large load projects even kind of boost the increase in CapEx.

Harry Sideris

And Nick, I would add that our growth opportunities are tremendous. We're seeing population growth over 2%. Charlotte is the fastest-growing city in the U.S. So being able to serve that load with transmission and distribution, those investments as well as the generation. We're seeing no end to the data centers and the economic development projects as we continue to work through the full along those. So a lot of opportunity for investment in the future.

Nicholas Campanella

That's great. Appreciate the color. And then maybe just on the election updates over the last 24 hours. I'm just wondering how you frame it impacting the states that you operate in, understanding there haven't been any major changes in governorship in most states. But just if the attitudes are changing towards large load customers some of the adjacent states outside your territory. Is there any anecdotal pieces that you could offer as it relates to your late-stage pipeline? Could we see upside to that as people come to your territory on the back of what we just saw yesterday.

Harry Sideris

Yes. Well, first off, I want to congratulate everybody on the election. It was kind of a historic night I was watching it. I didn't get any sleep until after limit watching the results come in. But we've always worked with our policymakers and we share their goals, which is reliable service, affordable service and making investments that help grow the state and bring jobs to the states that we serve. And we've been successful for over 125 years doing that.

So we have a track record of that, working with both sides of the aisle to be able to accomplish that. We don't see any changes in that focus or any changes in our ability to work with those that were recently elected. I think they share the same thing that they want to grow the states, they want to bring jobs. And they all agree that we're a vital part of that.

So we'll continue to work through our pipelines and our economic development teams and working closely with the state to bring those jobs and those projects in. I think they're all very supportive. They share our goal too of protecting our customers and making sure these large loads pay for their fair share and provide benefits to customers, which is what our ESA contracts do already and these tariffs that we're following to already. So I feel like we'll be very successful moving forward. They're all aligned with that.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Davenport with Goldman Sachs.

Carly Davenport

Maybe just a quick follow-up. I think 1 of Julian's questions earlier. As you think about the gas build, can you just talk a little bit about the plan to refile the CPCN for the Smith CT. And then just as you think about preparing the filing for the Dave dates and combined cycles, any lessons learned or concerns that you'd have about securing approvals there?

Harry Sideris

Yes. Carly, glad to handle that. Yes. So our Smith CPCN that we filed was denied by the commission. They had some questions. I think they were really focused on the IRP proceeding and validating the load requirements in there. We still feel very confident that that's a good project. It's a small project. But it is a low-cost solution to help the generation need that we have in the state to serve our customers reliably and affordably. .

So we feel confident after the IRP filing that IRP decision that we will be able to reevaluate what we need to do there. We've had the CPCN, the out-of-state CPCN for Anderson County was approved. So we still feel like there's support for these projects in gas field in the Carolinas, and we feel confident that the Davidson CPCN that we file early next year will be successful.

Carly Davenport

And then maybe to follow up, just on nuclear. I guess been continued developments at the federal level to support new large scale reactors. I guess any developments you'd highlight in your discussions with key stakeholders there? And any shifts in how you're thinking about the appetite for new nuclear with some of these moves on the federal side?

Harry Sideris

Yes, Carly, there's really been no shift in our position. We still feel nuclear is very important to our current system as well as our future -- so we're focused on the same things we were before upgrading our current units. So we have 300 megawatts that we'll be adding to our units over the next 5 years as well as extending the lives of our current plants to serve 80 years. So we have 2 already approved and filing the third one, and we'll continue through all 6 of those. .

We continue to work with all the policymakers in Washington, all the stakeholders in the Carolinas on what new nuclear may look like and what is needed. The government has made a lot of steps with the Korean announcement as well as the Japanese announcement and working with those, we're watching Brookfield and the VC Summer restart and what's going to happen there. These are all good things that are happening in the industry.

There's a lot of focus and support for tax credits and monetization of those tax credits to help offset the cost. We're having discussions with hyperscalers as well as the government on risk sharing between EPCs, hyperscalers, Westinghouse and others. So we'll continue to do that. But our position is still the same. We're not going to go forward with anything until we have the protections for our customers and investors. So we have clarity in the supply chain and the executability of these projects as well as being able to protect our balance sheet.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Anthony Crowdell with Missou. Anthony, please go ahead.

Anthony Crowdell

Just I guess, maybe for Brian, you mentioned about reinvesting some of the weather benefits through O&M. Just any chance you could quantify maybe how much you pulled forward or how much gets derisked into '27.

Brian Savoy

Anthony, we're not going to disclose that amount. But you can kind of get there through -- we've got $0.22 of weather year-to-date. We're not going to invest all of that back into the system because some of it is really helping us position for the top end of the range. So -- but you could think a modest amount of that $0.22 we'll be investing to derisk future years.

Anthony Crowdell

Got it. And then just a quick follow-up on maybe the pipeline conversion. You guys talk about this maybe 7.6 gigawatts of the 15.4% pipeline. You signed $7.8 million I guess, what are the gating items to -- to move that 7.6% into, I guess, what you've signed? Is it generation? Is it transmission? Just what is needed to maybe move that into the signed contract bucket? .

Harry Sideris

Yes, Anthony, I'll take that one. This is a dynamic environment. These are complex contracts and terms and negotiations and we're having -- and progressing, and we have lots of letter agreements. But as we've discussed many times before, we're not counting anything until it hits the ESA level because we feel like that is a durable contract and lets us count those earnings and that growth more readily. .

So we're continuing to have those discussions. They're going very well, but it's taking longer because of the complexities. And obviously, with a dynamic environment, I think everybody's experience in this, whether it's elections whether it's tariff proceedings, all those things come into play, but we're making progress on those, and we feel very confident that we'll be able to sign the rest of those between now and the first half of next year.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Nick Amicucci with Evercore ISI. .

Nicholas Amicucci

Just really 1 quick 1 for me. I just wanted to get a sense to when we think about the acceleration of the Florida minority sale proceeds from 2028 and 2026. Just, I guess, the rationale for that? And then how should we balance kind of the avoided holding company interest with -- alongside the kind of the equity requirements? Is it just primarily timing or is there something else to deal.

Brian Savoy

Yes. Nick, I think we always contemplated this was a possibility because Brookfield had the optionality to accelerate their investment tranches. And so it's -- it's been in our planning assumptions that it could happen. And if it did, it's net-net accretive to us. I mean -- and I mentioned in my prepared remarks, in the rising interest rate environment, those deals look better every day, bringing an $8.5 billion to delever holdco when interest rates are moving against us, it's a great thing.

So we definitely have higher ownership percentage for Brookfield for Florida earlier, but that is -- remember, we sold this business minority stake at near 30 PE. So it's accretive to the bottom line for having that interest being sold sooner. And it's a nice help while we don't have to access the market near as much at the holding company in 2027 with these proceeds coming in.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Harry Sideris for closing remarks.

Harry Sideris

So I'll wrap this up real quickly. Our focus is remain straightforward. We're going to maintain operational excellence. We're supporting the once-in-a-generation growth and we're delivering value for our customers. Very pleased with our performance so far this year and continued progress that we're making on our strategic priorities as we move forward. .

We are very confident in our 2026 outlook and in our ability to deliver the upper half of our 5% to 7% earnings per share growth growing in 2028. Our plan is very durable, and we're well positioned to create the long-term value for our customers, our communities and our shareholders. So thank you again for joining us today. We look forward to seeing a lot of you out there Zenalater this weekend. Thank you.

Operator

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.