CenterPoint Raises 2026 EPS Guidance, Expands Capital Plan to $70.7 Billion

CenterPoint Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNP) raised its 2026 non-GAAP earnings guidance after third-quarter adjusted earnings increased, while expanding its 10-year capital plan by $4 billion to support transmission capacity, grid resilience and growing electricity demand.

The utility now expects 2026 non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.90 to $1.92, representing nearly 9% growth at the midpoint from its 2025 result. CenterPoint also initiated 2027 non-GAAP EPS guidance of $2.07 to $2.09, about 9% growth at the midpoint from the updated 2026 range. Management continues to target annual non-GAAP EPS growth of 7% to 9% through 2035 and expects performance in the mid-to-high end of that range from 2026 through 2030.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, CenterPoint reported GAAP net income of $331 million, or $0.50 per diluted share, compared with $293 million, or $0.45 per share, a year earlier. Non-GAAP income rose to $354 million, or $0.53 per diluted share, from $328 million, or $0.50 per share.

Growth and rate recovery contributed $0.09 per share to the year-over-year change in non-GAAP EPS, while weather and usage added $0.03. Those benefits were partly offset by a $0.05 impact from financing expenses and equity dilution and a $0.04 decline from other items, primarily the reversal of a prior-year tax benefit and related factors.

Electric rate recovery contributed $0.10 per share, with customer growth adding $0.01, although depreciation and other taxes reduced electric results by $0.04. In the natural gas business, rate recovery added $0.05 per share and depreciation and other taxes reduced earnings by $0.03. Interest expense lowered quarterly EPS by $0.03, while equity dilution reduced it by $0.01. CenterPoint said year-to-date operations and maintenance expense declined 1%.

For the first nine months of 2026, GAAP net income was $891 million, or $1.34 per diluted share. Non-GAAP income totaled $990 million, or $1.49 per share. The company’s non-GAAP measures exclude items including changes in the value of its ZENS securities, merger and divestiture effects, and impacts related to temporary emergency electric energy facilities removed from its regulated business.

Capital plan expands as Houston demand grows

CenterPoint increased its 2026-2035 capital investment plan to approximately $70.7 billion from $66.7 billion. The plan includes about $51.5 billion for electric operations, $19 billion for natural gas operations and $0.2 billion for corporate and other investments.

Planned capital spending for 2026 through 2030 rose to $38.7 billion from $34.2 billion. The updated five-year plan incorporates $4 billion of new transmission projects intended to expand load-serving capability and accelerates $1.5 billion of previously planned investment. CenterPoint expects enterprise rate base to grow at a compound annual rate of more than 14% through 2030.

The company identified at least $10 billion of additional opportunities outside the current 10-year plan, including electric transmission, resilience and grid modernization projects, data center-related investments in Indiana and next-generation smart-meter deployment.

In Houston, CenterPoint expects approximately 12 gigawatts of potential large-load demand from projects submitted through the ERCOT Batch Zero process, plus 2 gigawatts of distribution and lower-voltage transmission growth by 2030. The projected Batch Zero demand would represent more than a 55% increase from Houston Electric’s current system peak demand of 21 gigawatts.

The company estimated cumulative energization of about 3 gigawatts in 2027, 8 gigawatts in 2028, 11 gigawatts in 2029 and 12 gigawatts in 2030. Those estimates remain subject to ERCOT decisions, studies and customer execution. CenterPoint noted that actual demand could be lower and that projects classified as studied load rather than base load could face delayed energization.

Electric throughput rose 1% year over year in the third quarter to 35,845 gigawatt-hours, while residential throughput increased 10%. Total electric metered customers grew 2% to approximately 3.06 million. Natural gas throughput increased 1% to 94 billion cubic feet, and total gas customers rose 1% to about 4.03 million.

Ohio sale and financing plan

CenterPoint completed the sale of its Ohio natural gas local distribution company on Oct. 1 and received an initial $1.4 billion of proceeds. The transaction carried a gross purchase price of approximately $2.62 billion and expected net proceeds of about $2.4 billion after taxes and transaction costs.

The company plans to redeploy cash proceeds into other jurisdictions to fund near-term capital investments. A seller’s note receivable carries a 6.5% annual interest rate and matures in September 2027, with proceeds at maturity expected to support additional growth investments.

CenterPoint increased its planned common-equity financing needs by $1.6 billion through 2035 and now expects approximately $5.6 billion of common equity over the 2026-2035 period, including about $1.1 billion of previously executed forward sales to be settled no later than February 2027. Management said temporary-generation transactions, portfolio optimization, reduced regulatory lag and incremental large-load demand charges could reduce equity requirements.

Trailing-12-month adjusted FFO-to-debt was 13.7% under Moody’s methodology at the end of the third quarter. CenterPoint reported about $3.5 billion of available liquidity and said all its 2026 financing needs had been completed. Moody’s revised its outlook on the company to stable.

CenterPoint continues to target a long-term FFO-to-debt cushion of 100 to 150 basis points above its downgrade threshold through 2035. It also targets a 6% increase in dividend per share for 2026 and average annual controllable O&M reductions of 1% to 2% across its electric and natural gas businesses.

The outlook depends on timely regulatory approvals, execution and recovery of capital spending, large-load customer connections, access to financing and control of operating costs. Other uncertainties identified by the company include severe weather, supply-chain and labor constraints, inflation and interest rates, regulatory proceedings, customer affordability, project delays or cancellations, and changes in electricity and natural gas demand.