News Details

EL PASO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

El Paso Electric (NYSE:EE):

Overview

• For the third quarter of 2013, El Paso Electric Company ("EE") reported net income of $50.6 million, or $1.26 basic and diluted earnings per share, respectively. In the third quarter of 2012, EE reported net income of $51.8 million, or $1.29 basic and diluted earnings per share.
• For the nine months ended September 30, 2013, EE reported net income of $87.4 million, or $2.17 basic and diluted earnings per share. Net income for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 was $86.0 million, or $2.15 and $2.14 basic and diluted earnings per share, respectively.

"Earnings for the quarter ending September 30, 2013 met our expectations despite slightly cooler weather in 2013 than in 2012," said Tom Shockley, Chief Executive Officer. "We also continue to move through the required regulatory processes for the construction of clean and efficient local generation necessary to meet the needs of our growing customer base while providing enhanced flexibility to support additional renewable resources."

Earnings Summary

The table and explanations below present the major factors affecting 2013 net income relative to 2012 net income.

Third Quarter 2013

Income for the quarter ended September 30, 2013, when compared to the same period last year, was positively affected by:

• Decreased operations and maintenance expense at Palo Verde partially due to reduced employee benefit costs and other operations expenses.

Income for the quarter ended September 30, 2013, when compared to the same period last year, was negatively affected by:

• Increased taxes other than income taxes due to increased property tax accruals reflecting both increased property values and estimated assessment rates.
• Increased interest on long-term debt due to interest on $150 million of 3.30% senior notes issued in December 2012.

Other items impacting earnings included lower operations and maintenance expenses at fossil fuel generating plants and higher deregulated Palo Verde Unit 3 prices reflecting higher proxy prices offset by lower retail base revenues and higher administrative and general expenses.

Year to Date

Income for the nine months ended September 30, 2013, when compared to the same period last year, was positively affected by:

• Decreased fossil-fuel plant operations and maintenance expense primarily due to the timing of planned maintenance of our gas-fired generating units. In 2012, we performed scheduled major maintenance at Rio Grande Unit 8 and Newman Unit 1 with a reduced level of maintenance activity in the current period.
• Increased revenues from retail sales of deregulated Palo Verde Unit 3 power due to a 15.8% increase in power prices in 2013 and a 14.7% increase in generation at Palo Verde Unit 3 due to the 2012 spring refueling outage with no comparable outage in the nine months ended September 30, 2013. Palo Verde Unit 3 began its next scheduled refueling outage on October 5, 2013.
• Increased allowance for funds used during construction ("AFUDC") due to higher balances of construction work in progress subject to AFUDC.
• Decreased operations and maintenance expense at Palo Verde primarily due to reduced operations expense at Unit 3.

Income for the nine months ended September 30, 2013, when compared to the same period last year, was negatively affected by:

• Increased interest on long-term debt due to interest on $150 million of 3.30% senior notes issued in December 2012.
• Increased administrative and general expense primarily due to increased outside services related to software systems support and improvements.
• Decreased retail non-fuel base revenues primarily due to decreased revenues from sales to our commercial and industrial customers reflecting the reduction in our non-fuel base rates in Texas effective on May 1, 2012 partially offset by higher revenues from increased retail kWh sales to our residential customers.
• Increased taxes other than income taxes due to increased property tax accruals reflecting higher valuations and assessments.

Retail Non-fuel Base Revenues

Retail non-fuel base revenues decreased $0.6 million, pre-tax, or 0.3% in the third quarter of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012. The decrease in retail non-fuel base revenues was primarily due to a 1.9% and 0.5% decrease in kWh sales to small commercial and industrial customers, and residential customers, respectively, reflecting slightly cooler weather in 2013 as compared to 2012. Cooling degree days decreased 3.5% compared to the same period last year and were slightly lower than the 10-year average. The decreases in kWh sales to small commercial and industrial customers, and residential customers were partially offset by a 1.0% increase in the average number of small commercial and industrial customers served and a 1.3% increase in the average number of residential customers served. While kWh sales increased 6.0%, non-fuel base revenues from sales to large commercial and industrial customers decreased 1.3% which reflected increased use of lower off-peak and interruptible rates by several customers. The decrease in retail non-fuel base revenues was partially offset by increased non-fuel base revenues from sales to public authorities of 1.3%. KWh sales to public authority customers increased by 1.4% primarily due to increased sales related to municipal water pumping. Non-fuel base revenues and kilowatt-hour sales are provided by customer class on page 10 of the release.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2013, retail non-fuel base revenues decreased $1.3 million, pre-tax, or 0.3% compared to the same period in 2012. The decrease in retail non-fuel base revenues was primarily due to decreased revenues from our commercial and industrial customers which reflect the impact of the reduction in non-fuel base rates for our Texas customers which became effective May 1, 2012 and primarily impacted commercial and industrial customers. Non-fuel base revenues from sales to small commercial and industrial customers and large commercial and industrial customers decreased 1.7% and 4.2%, respectively. KWh sales to small commercial and industrial customers decreased 0.7% while kWh sales to large commercial and industrial customers increased 2.3%. The decrease in retail non-fuel base revenues was partially offset by an increase of 1.3% in non-fuel base revenues from sales to residential customers reflecting a 1.2% increase in kWh sales to our residential customer class. The increase in kWh sales to our residential customers reflects a 1.3% increase in the average number of residential customers served. Retail non-fuel base revenues from sales to public authorities remained relatively unchanged. Cooling degree days decreased 3.6% when compared to the same period last year but were higher than the 10-year average by 3.7%. Heating degree days increased 16.8% over last year and were 9.7% higher than the 10-year average. Non-fuel base revenues and kilowatt-hour sales are provided by customer class on page 12 of the release.

Capital and Liquidity

We continue to maintain a strong capital structure to ensure access to capital markets at reasonable rates. At September 30, 2013, common stock equity represented 46.8% of our capitalization (common stock equity, long-term debt, and short-term borrowings under the revolving credit facility (the"RCF")). At September 30, 2013, we had a balance of $61.9 million in cash and cash equivalents. Based on current projections, we believe that we will have adequate liquidity through our current cash balances, cash from operations, and available borrowings under the RCF to meet all of our anticipated cash requirements for the next twelve months. We may issue long-term debt in the capital markets to finance capital requirements in 2014.

Cash flows from operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 were $184.9 million compared to $201.8 million in the corresponding period in 2012. The primary factor affecting the decreased cash flow was an under-collection of fuel revenues in 2013 versus an over-recovery in the prior year period. The difference between fuel revenues collected and fuel expense incurred is deferred to be either refunded (over-recoveries) or surcharged (under-recoveries) to customers in the future. During the nine months ended September 30, 2013, the Company had a fuel under-recovery of $8.4 million compared to an over-recovery of fuel costs, net of refunds, of $14.0 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2012. At September 30, 2013, we had a net fuel under-recovery balance of $3.7 million, including an under-recovery balance of $6.6 million in Texas and an over-recovery balance of $2.9 million in New Mexico. In October 2013, we implemented an increased fixed fuel factor in Texas which was based upon a formula that reflects projected prices for natural gas.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2013, our primary capital requirements were for the construction and purchase of electric utility plant, payment of common stock dividends, and purchases of nuclear fuel. Capital requirements for new electric plant were $165.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and $144.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2012. Capital requirements for purchases of nuclear fuel were $19.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and $41.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2012. Rio Grande Resources Trust (the "RGRT") is the trust through which we finance our portion of nuclear fuel for Palo Verde and is consolidated in the Company's financial statements.

On September 30, 2013, we paid a quarterly cash dividend of $0.265 per share or $10.7 million to shareholders of record on September 13, 2013. We have paid a total of $31.4 million in cash dividends during the nine months ended September 30, 2013. At the current dividend rate, we would expect to pay cash dividends of approximately $42.1 million during 2013.

No shares of common stock were repurchased during the nine months ended September 30, 2013. As of September 30, 2013, a total of 393,816 shares remain available for repurchase under the currently authorized stock repurchase program. The Company may repurchase shares in the open market from time to time.

We maintain the RCF for working capital and general corporate purposes and financing of nuclear fuel through the RGRT. The RCF has a term ending September 2016. The aggregate unsecured borrowing available under the RCF is $300 million and the amounts we borrow under the RCF may be used for working capital and general corporate purposes. The total amount borrowed for nuclear fuel by RGRT was $125.5 million at September 30, 2013 of which $15.5 million had been borrowed under the RCF and $110 million was borrowed through senior notes. Borrowings by RGRT for nuclear fuel were $139.5 million as of September 30, 2012, of which $29.5 million had been borrowed under the RCF and $110 million was borrowed through senior notes. Interest costs on borrowings to finance nuclear fuel are accumulated by RGRT and charged to us as fuel is consumed and recovered through fuel recovery charges. No borrowings were outstanding at September 30, 2013 under the RCF for working capital or general corporate purposes. At September 30, 2012, $32.0 million was outstanding under the RCF for working capital and general corporate purposes.

We have received approval from the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission and have filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to amend our existing $300 million revolving credit facility to include an option, subject to lender's approval, to expand the amount of the potential borrowings available under the facility to $400 million and extend the maturity date by up to four years to September 2020. The applications also included requests for authorization to issue up to $300 million in new long-term debt and to guarantee the issuance of up to $50 million of new debt by the RGRT to finance future purchases of nuclear fuel and to refinance existing nuclear fuel debt obligations.

2013 Earnings Guidance

We are revising our 2013 earnings guidance to a range of $2.25 to $2.40 per basic share from a range of $2.20 to $2.50 per basic share.

Conference Call

A conference call to discuss third quarter 2013 earnings is scheduled for 10:30 A.M. Eastern Time, on November 6, 2013. The dial-in number is 888-505-4375 with a conference ID number of 7695768. The international dial-in number is 719-457-1512. The conference leader will be Steven P. Busser, Vice President - Treasurer. A replay will run through November 20, 2013 with a dial-in number of 888-203-1112 and a conference ID number of 7695768. The replay international dial-in number is 719-457-0820. The conference call and presentation slides will be webcast live on the Company's website found at http://www.epelectric.com. A replay of the webcast will be available shortly after the call.

Safe Harbor

This news release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This information may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) increased prices for fuel and purchased power and the possibility that regulators may not permit EE to pass through all such increased costs to customers or to recover previously incurred fuel costs in rates; (ii) recovery of capital investments and operating costs through rates in Texas and New Mexico; (iii) uncertainties and instability in the general economy and the resulting impact on EE's sales and profitability; (iv) unanticipated increased costs associated with scheduled and unscheduled outages of generating plant; (v) the size of our construction program and our ability to complete construction on budget; (vi) potential delays in our construction schedule due to legal challenges or other reasons; (vii) costs at Palo Verde; (viii) deregulation and competition in the electric utility industry; (ix) possible increased costs of compliance with environmental or other laws, regulations and policies; (x) possible income tax and interest payments as a result of audit adjustments proposed by the IRS or state taxing authorities; (xi) uncertainties and instability in the financial markets and the resulting impact on EE's ability to access the capital and credit markets; and (xii) other factors detailed by EE in its public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. EE's filings are available from the Securities and Exchange Commission or may be obtained through EE's website, http://www.epelectric.com. Any such forward-looking statement is qualified by reference to these risks and factors. EE cautions that these risks and factors are not exclusive. EE does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of EE except as required by law.

El Paso Electric
Media Contacts
Eddie Gutierrez, 915-543-5763
Eduardo.gutierrez@epelectric.com
or
El Paso Electric Investor Relations
Steve Busser, 915-543-5983
steve.busser@epelectric.com
or
Lisa Budtke, 915-543-5947
lisa.budtke@epelectric.com

Source: El Paso Electric

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