Texas’ record-breaking heat through June boosted CenterPoint Energy’s (NYSE:CNP) second-quarter earnings and led its management to again raise its earning guidance.
The Houston-based utility reported quarterly earnings of $179 million ($0.28/diluted share) as compared to $221 million ($0.37/diluted share) in the same quarter last year, driven primarily by favorable weather and continued customer growth in its Houston Electric footprint.
CEO David Lesar said the performance of its transmission and distribution company gave CenterPoint the confidence to raise its 2022 earnings guidance from $1.37/share to $1.39, a 9% increase and the fifth time in two years his team has done so.
“We are setting a new and higher baseline for future earnings growth,” he said in a statement.
Lesar told financial analysts that Houston Electric accounts for only about 2.5% of ERCOT’s service territory but about 20% of its delivered energy. CenterPoint continues to see about 2% organic customer growth in Houston, which will be important as electric vehicle ownership and electrification increase.
“Consistently hot” temperatures that have reached as high as 105 degrees Fahrenheit in the nation’s fourth largest city have stressed the grid, but it has “held up well,” Lesar said.
CFO Jason Wells said CenterPoint will recover about 80% of its $1.1 billion in incremental gas costs from the February 2021 winter storm when the state’s securitization process begins to distribute funds.
The company’s non-GAAP earnings came in at 31 cents/share, up 11% from the comparable quarter in 2021. That beat Zacks’ consensus estimate of 31 cents/share.
CenterPoint shares were trading at $31.70 in the after-hours market, up 7 cents for the day.
