OGE Energy Raises 2026 EPS Outlook as Weather Lifts Q3

OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE: OGE) raised its 2026 consolidated earnings guidance after significantly warmer weather lifted third-quarter electricity demand and helped earnings per share rise to $1.52 from $1.14 a year earlier. The company now expects full-year EPS of $2.62 to $2.68, with favorable weather accounting for the higher outlook.

The company’s regulated electric utility, OG&E, generated third-quarter EPS of $1.54, up from $1.20 in the 2025 period. Warmer weather was the primary positive driver, partly offset by income tax expense. Other operations and holding-company activities recorded a loss of $0.02 per share, narrowing from a $0.06 loss, helped by income from energy-related investments and lower interest expense.

Cooling degree days totaled 1,897 during the quarter, 47% above the prior-year level and 50% above normal. OGE estimated that weather added $0.26 per share to third-quarter 2026 earnings. Including weather effects in the first two quarters, the estimated year-to-date benefit was $0.24 per share.

Five-year investment plan expands to $7.84 billion

OGE updated its 2026-to-2030 investment plan to approximately $7.84 billion after adding the Frontier Energy Storage System and transmission projects associated with notices to construct from the Southwest Power Pool’s 2025 Integrated Transmission Plan.

The plan includes $3.62 billion for Oklahoma distribution, $1.33 billion for transmission, $900 million for generation reliability and $700 million for technology, fleet and facilities. It also allocates $600 million to new generation-capacity projects, $395 million to Frontier Energy Storage, $160 million to the newly added transmission projects and $145 million to Arkansas distribution.

More than 90% of planned spending is tied to base transmission and distribution investments and work addressing current generation reliability. The plan excludes investments arising from the 2026 integrated resource plan and the 765-kilovolt project included in the SPP’s 2025 transmission plan. OGE expects rate base to grow at a compound annual rate of about 9.6% through 2030 from approximately $9.6 billion at the end of 2025.

To help finance the program, OGE is launching its first $750 million at-the-market equity program. Its current forecast assumes up to $200 million of equity issuance to maintain an annual funds-from-operations-to-debt ratio of approximately 17% through 2030. The company reported stable investment-grade ratings from Moody’s, S&P and Fitch.

Regulatory and capacity milestones

OGE expects several regulatory and investment decisions over the coming quarters. A hearing on Oklahoma’s Extra Large Power & Light tariff is scheduled for January 12. The company also expects SPP notices to construct for a 765-kV transmission line in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Preapproval filings related to generation-resource requests for proposals are expected between the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027, following completion of evaluations and negotiations. Management expects a preapproval decision for Horseshoe Lake Unit 15 around the first-quarter 2027 earnings call, with decisions on additional generation preapproval filings anticipated around the second-quarter call.

OGE’s capacity plan calls for adding about 1.7 gigawatts by 2029 through combustion turbines, solar resources, the 300-megawatt Frontier battery system and the planned 755-megawatt Horseshoe Lake Unit 15 combined-cycle plant. The company is also planning for an additional capacity need of about 1.1 gigawatts by 2032 through its 2026 request for proposals.

The company said it will continue prioritizing transmission, distribution, technology and generation spending according to evolving capacity, reliability and economic-growth requirements while seeking to preserve its low-rate position.

OGE’s outlook remains subject to weather variability, timely regulatory recovery of investments and operating costs, access to capital on favorable terms, inflation, interest rates, fuel and power prices, construction-material availability, generation outages, environmental requirements and changing SPP capacity and transmission obligations. The company also identified the creditworthiness of large new customers, including data centers and cryptocurrency businesses, among the factors that could affect future results.