Brian Buckham
Analyst · Guggenheim Partners. Shahriar, your line is open.
Sure. Yes, James, this is Brian. So, a few things you have to look at in terms of how many credits we'll use. I'll give you this answer first. You have to look at it separately each year. There's not a specific number that we would say is going to be used every year. There is an upper limit, right? First of all, there's an upper limit to credits. Right now, as of the end of the year, we had 86 million in the mechanism. We do expect to add some more to that from the 2023 batteries as they go into service and are paid for. In terms of future additions to the mechanism, that takes regulatory action. We'd actually have to go into the regulator and ask for additional ITCs to be put into the mechanism, whether they're current balance sheet credits or credits that come off of renewable projects and batteries we install in the future. Depending on what that balance is, the number is going to depend on a lot. One thing that's a big factor is equity, for example. When equity is issued, it increases book equity. And as that is incorporated into our financial statements, that could use additional credit to catch up to that higher book equity. Now, that moves EPS as well, of course. And then, we have to look at financial headwinds every year. For example, in 2024, we've talked about higher depreciation and interest expense. So, to the extent we have to absorb that, tax credits would be used to absorb some of the financing costs associated with our growth. Beyond that, I would say on the credit side, it's going to depend on the size of the bucket in any given year as to what we're going to be using. So, you can't just take a straight line look at tax credits. As we go to the regulator and we increase our cash collection, for example, we would expect our rate-based earnings power to eliminate the need for as many credits. So, over time, we would expect the need to rely on credits to earn close to our authorized rate of return would go away. But that's something that fortunately these credits in the interim do provide us with earnings support.