Northwest Natural (NWN) Earnings Call Transcript

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DATE

Friday, Feb. 27, 2026 at 11 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

  • President and Chief Executive Officer — Justin Palfreyman
  • Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer — Raymond J. Kaszuba

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TAKEAWAYS

  • Adjusted Earnings Per Share -- $2.93, a record high, up from $2.33 in 2024, driven by new rates in Oregon, rate base growth, and organic customer additions.
  • Sea Energy Contribution -- 18% organic customer growth and $0.33 per share to adjusted EPS, outperforming initial expectations of $0.25 to $0.30.
  • Water Segment Performance -- $0.35 per share contribution, with a $0.21 increase and 12% of consolidated adjusted EPS, exceeding guidance and aided by new Arizona rates and an acquisition.
  • Customer Backlog at Sea Energy -- Nearly 250,000 future meters, reflecting over 30% growth year over year and signaling long-term expansion in Texas.
  • Oregon Rate Mechanism Proposal -- A 1.5% rate increase effective 10/31/2026, designed to recover capital investments during the transition to multiyear rate cases.
  • Capital Expenditures -- $467 million invested in 2025, including $340 million for acquisitions; guidance for 2026 CapEx is $500 million to $550 million.
  • Liquidity -- $590 million at year end, consisting of available credit and cash on hand.
  • MX3 Gas Storage Expansion -- Third expansion at Mist, adding 4-5 Bcf capacity with $300 million estimated cost and 25-year customer contracts specifying a 12.5% ROE and 50% equity layer after notice to proceed.
  • 2026 Earnings Guidance -- Initiated at $2.95 to $3.15 earnings per share, projecting Sea Energy and water to provide roughly 25% of consolidated earnings.
  • Long-term EPS Growth Target -- Reaffirmed at 4%-6% annually through 2030, with a potential increase to 5%-7% should MX3 storage project proceed.
  • Dividend Record -- Marked 70 consecutive years of dividend increases, with payout ratio moderating and a long-term target of 55%-65%.
  • Sea Energy Rate Case Strategy -- Management is evaluating the use of the GRIP mechanism in Texas, supported by favorable recent legislation.
  • Financing Plan -- 2026 expects $150 million net long-term debt issuance (after $160 million maturities), and equity issuances via the ATM program of $40 million to $50 million.
  • Water Segment Growth Outlook -- Anticipates 2%-3% organic customer growth and 10%-15% of consolidated EPS in 2026, with a continued steady cadence of regulatory rate cases.
  • Rate Base Growth Guidance -- Expects consolidated rate base growth of 6%-8%, supported by a five-year CapEx plan totaling $2.6 billion to $2.9 billion through 2030.
  • Contracted Earnings for MX3 -- MX3 customer contracts feature long-duration, fixed returns, and stability through FERC regulation.
  • AFUDC Recognition -- CFO Kaszuba confirmed, "yes, we would also receive AFUDC during the construction period."

SUMMARY

Northwest Natural Holding Company (NYSE:NWN) reported a record year with new rates and acquisitions driving notable growth in all core segments. Customer backlog surged in Texas, supported by Sea Energy's organic expansion, while the water business achieved scale and outpaced previous earnings guidance through both rates and M&A. The Mist MX3 storage project reached key milestones including all major regulatory permits and binding 25-year customer agreements, positioning for a potential re-rating of long-term EPS expectations. Management outlined a robust capital plan and intends to sustain disciplined financial execution, targeting stable returns and dividend increases as the business diversifies across regulated natural gas and water utilities.

  • Contracted customers for MX3 include investment-grade regional utilities and midstream providers, supporting predictable, long-term earnings streams separate from current EPS guidance.
  • Sea Energy is expected to provide 10%-15% of consolidated earnings in 2026, as management sees continued rapid scale despite recent housing headwinds in Texas.
  • The transition to multiyear rate cases in Oregon and Washington is framed as key for earnings visibility, reducing historic earnings volatility from episodic rate cases.
  • Water utility growth combines organic expansion, greenfield opportunities, and acquisition pipeline execution across six states, with management actively expanding regulated service territory and selectively pursuing tuck-in deals where additive.
  • FERC regulation and permitted return structure for MX3 are confirmed, with ATM equity issuance viewed as sufficient to fund equity needs on current projections.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

  • ATM program: At-the-market equity issuance mechanism allowing the company to sell new shares incrementally on public exchanges as needed to raise capital.
  • AFUDC: Allowance for Funds Used During Construction; the accounting process allowing regulated utilities to capitalize interest and equity costs incurred on construction projects prior to in-service date.
  • GRIP mechanism: Gas Reliability Infrastructure Program; a Texas regulatory mechanism that allows gas utilities to recover qualifying infrastructure investment costs between general rate cases.
  • FERC: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; the U.S. agency regulating the interstate transmission and sale of electricity and natural gas, including storage facility rates and returns.
  • CTN: Certificate of Convenience and Necessity; a regulatory authorization permitting a utility to serve a defined geographic area or customer group.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Justin Palfreyman, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Raymond J. Kaszuba, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Justin will provide highlights from 2025 and a look forward, and Ray will walk through our financial results and guidance. After Justin and Ray's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. With that, I will turn the call over to Justin.

Justin Palfreyman: Thanks, Nikki. Good morning, and welcome, everyone. We are excited to share our results for the year and our expectations for the future. Northwest Natural Holding Company began a new chapter in 2025, delivered record adjusted earnings per share at the top of our guidance range, deployed a record amount of capital to support our customers, and reported our strongest organic customer growth in nearly two decades. Those results are not an accident. They were driven by deliberate strategic decisions we have made as a company, reflect our management team's focus on execution, and foreshadow the strength of our platform going forward.

Over the last few years, we have taken steps to diversify into the water utility business, expand into multiple and add Texas gas utilities to further enhance our long-term growth prospects. What began as a single utility in the Pacific Northwest has evolved into three thriving businesses serving customers across six states. Our 2025 performance is a result of these strategic decisions. We have set the stage for growth while fulfilling our mission of delivering safe, reliable, and affordable service to our growing customer base. We are still in the early chapters of our success story. As you know, we are in an age of tremendous energy demand.

Natural gas plays a critical role in meeting that need, and we are uniquely positioned to address it. That is why we are excited to announce our new MX3 storage expansion project in the Pacific Northwest, a project that will enhance regional reliability and capacity and one that has the potential to drive our long-term earnings growth target to 5% to 7% once we receive notice to proceed. As our story progresses, we remain focused on disciplined execution and delivering consistent, growing earnings and returns for our shareholders. The momentum we have built positions us for even greater success in the future.

Moving to our Northwest Natural Gas Utility, which now more than ever plays a critical role in energy affordability and reliability across Oregon and Washington. As we noted on our last call, we successfully settled our Oregon rate case in 2025, with new rates effective October 31. In Washington, I am pleased to report that we have been working collaboratively and productively with parties and have reached settlement in principle resolving the revenue requirement in the case. We expect to file the multiparty settlement in the coming month. Both cases set Northwest Natural up to recover significant safety and reliability investments in 2026 with a focus on maintaining customer affordability.

In fact, on average, Northwest Natural residential customers are paying about the same today for their natural gas service as they did 20 years ago. We are also diligently working on dockets with the Oregon Public Utility Commission to complete rulemaking on multiyear rate cases. We believe moving to multiyear rate cases will ultimately provide greater clarity and certainty for both customers and utilities. While the rulemaking process is taking shape, we filed an alternative rate mechanism to recover certain capital investments made in the interim period. The proposal results in a modest 1.5% increase to customer rates with an effective date of 10/31/2026. Stepping back, we feel very good about our positioning over the next several years.

Historically, our earnings trajectory relied on a single large Oregon rate case every few years, which created uneven growth and limited predictability for customers and shareholders. The transition to multiyear rate cases in both Oregon and Washington, combined with the growing earnings profile of our Sea Energy and water businesses, should create a more balanced and linear consolidated earnings profile year to year, while maintaining rate affordability and predictability. As I mentioned, we are excited to announce that Northwest Natural Holding Company intends to expand its gas storage facility at Mist. This project, which we call MX3, is the third major gas storage expansion we have undertaken at Mist since its initial construction in 1989.

MX3 will add 4 to 5 Bcf of storage capacity and serve customers across the region. Northwest Natural's gas system is more essential to the region than ever, especially given the heightened focus on reliability and affordability. Our system delivers about 45% more energy than any other Oregon utility, gas or electric, over the course of a year. Today, the region's energy system is struggling to reliably meet demand during peak events. The Pacific Northwest electric grid faces a potential 9 gigawatt capacity shortfall by 2030. That is why our storage capabilities are so important. They are uniquely positioned, expandable even beyond MX3, and offer a cost-effective solution to our region's growing energy challenges.

Our customers for the MX3 storage expansion see this clearly. They consist of large investment-grade regional utilities and midstream providers. Once we receive notice to proceed, these customers have agreed to 25-year contracts, underscoring the demand for long-term, affordable energy solutions. We are in the development phase of the project with signed customer agreements, the Energy Facility Siting Council permit secured, FERC approval received, and engineering, procurement, and construction, or EPC, providers identified. These new storage services will be regulated by FERC and are expected to provide stable returns with customer agreements that specify a fixed 12.5% return on equity and a 50% equity layer.

Our Northwest Natural team has deep experience with the geography of the Mist storage field and its depleted gas reservoirs. We expect to work with major EPC contractors who know our operations well. We are working to obtain the remaining permits, and early-stage engineering and design work is already authorized and underway. The project is estimated to cost approximately $300 million, and we expect the facility to be in service by 2029. I am very excited about this project and the value it provides to the region. MX3 is not included in our long-term guidance today, which we are reaffirming at 4% to 6%.

However, we do expect the project to have a meaningful positive impact on earnings growth and plan to include the project in our guidance when we achieve notice to proceed, which would raise our long-term EPS outlook from 4% to 6% to 5% to 7%. Another important growth engine for Northwest Natural Holding Company is Sea Energy, our Texas gas utility. We closed the Sea Energy acquisition in January 2025, and in June, we supplemented our Texas expansion with the acquisition of Pines. Both utilities have been successfully integrated into our business. Texas is one of the most exciting growth drivers in our portfolio.

Sea Energy provided 18% organic customer growth in 2025 and contributed 11% of our consolidated adjusted earnings per share. At the same time, Sea Energy posted a sizable increase to its customer backlog, nearing 250,000 future meters. That is more than a 30% increase in customer backlog in a year, a testament to Sea Energy's strong relationships with developers and the expected growth in the Texas housing market for years to come. I am very pleased with Sea Energy's performance in our first year of ownership. We expect our LDC in Texas to continue to scale rapidly and produce 15% to 20% customer growth each year through 2030.

For 2026, we expect Sea Energy to generate between 10% to 15% of our consolidated earnings per share. We are strongly considering filing a general rate case for Sea Energy sometime this year. We will carefully weigh several factors, including customer affordability, in our decision. Sea Energy has been supported by exceptionally strong customer growth, and today, their rates are among the lowest of our Texas LDC peers. In 2025, our water and wastewater utility platform achieved a scale that allowed us to drive business efficiencies through standardized processes and centralization, and is well positioned for continued growth. The water segment outperformed our expectations, contributing $0.35 per share, or 12% of our consolidated adjusted earnings per share, in 2025.

Last year, we completed seven rate cases for our water and wastewater utilities and expect to process another five in 2026. We continue to follow a steady regulatory cadence to recover key safety and infrastructure investments while maintaining affordable and predictable customer rates. The water business has a clear runway for growth supported by organic customer additions, significant greenfield opportunities, and a healthy acquisition pipeline. Looking ahead, we expect water to produce between 2% to 3% organic customer growth through 2030 and provide 10% to 15% of consolidated earnings per share in 2026.

We expect both Sea Energy and water to outpace the overall consolidated growth rates of the company in the next five years, further diversifying our customer base and footprint. Confidence in our outlook is driven by strong organic opportunities across all three of our utilities, including 2% to 3% consolidated organic customer growth and rate base growth of 6% to 8%. These fundamentals are supported by a record $2.6 billion to $2.9 billion of planned capital expenditures through 2030 and underpinned by healthy customer growth and critical safety and reliability spend. Importantly, we believe we can achieve our growth targets while keeping our services affordable for customers and maintaining a strong balance sheet with solid investment-grade ratings.

For 2026 specifically, we expect another record year for both capital investment and earnings. At the same time, we are focused on returning capital to shareholders. 2025 was the 70th year in a row of dividend growth for Northwest Natural Holding Company. We are one of only three companies on the New York Stock Exchange with this impressive record. In 2025, our dividend payout ratio moderated, supported by strong earnings growth across the business. As earnings continue to grow, we expect to deliver steady dividend increases, outpacing our trend in recent years, as we target a long-term dividend payout ratio of 55% to 65%.

In summary, we have built a powerful platform, a strong set of businesses positioned for long-term growth. This marks the start of an important new chapter, and I have never been more confident in our strategy, our team, and our future. With that, I will pass it off to Ray for a more detailed update on our financial performance.

Raymond J. Kaszuba: Thank you, Justin, and good morning, everyone. I will start by echoing Justin's sentiment about our strong performance in 2025. This was a year defined by disciplined execution as we delivered record adjusted earnings per share and are creating a strong platform positioned for long-term growth. For the full year 2025, we reported record adjusted earnings per share of $2.93 compared to $2.33 per share for 2024. Earnings growth was fueled by new rates in Oregon, healthy rate base growth across the business, and continued strong organic customer growth. For our Northwest Natural Gas Utility segment, adjusted earnings per share improved $0.45, primarily reflecting new rates in Oregon, partially offset by higher operations and maintenance and depreciation expenses.

Sea Energy contributed $0.33 per share for 2025. In our first year of ownership, margin and net income was strong, driving results above our expectations of $0.25 to $0.30 per share. Our water segment earnings per share increased $0.21 and contributed $0.35 per share to 2025 results, which was also above our expectation of $0.25 to $0.30 per share. The key drivers were new rates at our largest water and wastewater utility in Arizona and additional revenues from an acquisition late in 2024. Finally, the adjusted net loss of our other segment increased $0.39 per share compared to the same period last year, primarily due to higher interest expense at the holding company.

For 2025, we generated $270 million in cash provided by operating activities, about 35% above 2024. We invested a record $467 million in our systems related to safety, reliability, and technology. Roughly 75% of those capital expenditures were for Northwest Natural Gas, with about 15% for Sea Energy, and 10% deployed for water. We invested nearly $340 million for acquisitions. Cash provided by financing activities was $533 million, including $47 million of equity through our ATM program, which was less than we originally expected. On 12/31/2025, we had liquidity of approximately $590 million, including significant availability on our lines of credit and cash on hand. Turning to our 2026 guidance.

We are initiating 2026 earnings per share guidance of $2.95 to $3.15. Together, we expect Sea Energy and Northwest Natural Water to contribute approximately 25% of consolidated earnings this year. As Justin mentioned, we are reaffirming our long-term earnings per share growth rate of 4% to 6% compounded annually from 2025 adjusted earnings per share through 2030. We are seeing the benefits of our strategy resulting in a more consistent, linear year-over-year earnings trajectory.

Our long-term growth target is supported by multiple durable drivers including healthy consolidated rate base growth of 6% to 8% including significant investment at Northwest Natural Gas, substantial customer growth from Sea Energy of 15% to 20%, and strong 2% to 3% organic customer growth at Northwest Natural Water, resulting in a robust consolidated organic customer growth rate of 2% to 3%. Our guidance is grounded in projects we have clear line of sight into. For 2026, we anticipate consolidated capital expenditures of $500 million to $550 million.

Our five-year CapEx plan has between $2.6 billion and $2.9 billion in investment through 2030, with about 65% related to Northwest Natural Gas Company, approximately 25% related to Sea Energy, and the remaining 10% related to Northwest Natural Water. As Justin mentioned, we are not including the impact of the MX3 gas storage expansion project in our guidance today. Including MX3, our expected long-term EPS growth rate is projected to increase to 5% to 7%. Once approved, the project is expected to cost approximately $300 million. MX3 is expected to be earnings accretive and credit positive, improving cash flow quality through long-duration contracted revenue streams. Related to our financing, our balance sheet and funding strategy support our growth.

We are committed to maintaining strong investment-grade credit ratings across our rated businesses long term. For 2026, we expect to support our CapEx program through strong cash from operations, incremental net long-term debt of approximately $150 million after considering modest maturities of $160 million, and issuing equity off our ATM in the range of $40 million to $50 million. Over the five-year planning horizon, capital expenditures will be funded largely through operating cash flows along with a balanced mix of long-term debt and equity. Through 2030, we expect to meet our equity needs through our ATM program. We also remain committed to returning capital to shareholders.

With continued earnings growth, we expect dividend growth to be at a higher pace than shareholders have seen recently, while moderating our payout ratio to 55% to 65% over the next several years. With record adjusted earnings in 2025, and multiple sustainable growth drivers expected to result in a strong 2026 and beyond, we are excited about the future. With that, we will open up the line for questions.

Operator: Thank you, Ray. If you change your mind and would like to exit the queue, please press star followed by two. When preparing to ask your question, please ensure that your device is unmuted locally. We will now open for questions. Our first question will be from the line of Chris Ellinghaus with Seabrook Williams Schenk. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Chris Ellinghaus: Hey, everybody. Congratulations on a great year. Given what you have said about potentially raising the guidance or the growth range, where do you guys see yourselves within the existing range, and does Mist move the needle that much? What do you, or when do you expect the notice to proceed, and what are the any hang ups that might delay that? C seems to be maybe ahead of the curve, certainly ahead of what I was kind of expecting on a pro forma basis. How much ahead do you see it relative to what your expectations were, and are you at a level at this point where maybe the 2026 case is not as critical?

If I recall correctly, Texas passed legislation that is constructive. Would that bypass GRIP, or would you stick with that sort of older mechanism? Given the mechanism that you filed for in Oregon, your guidance suggests considerably lower growth, right? Are you anticipating receipt of that mechanism within the guidance? One last question. What is the next step for water? You have always had a robust M&A pipeline. Is it expanding regionally or is it just continuing to do tuck-ins in your existing service areas? What are your thoughts on what water is up to? One more short question. Mortgage rates have come down a decent amount over the last 12 months.

Have you seen some alleviation of the headwinds against housing or new customers, housing development expansion in Texas over the course of 12 months?

Justin Palfreyman: Thanks for the question, Chris. Without the 4% to 6% long-term EPS growth guidance, with the project, once that achieves notice to proceed, we expect that we will increase that to the 5% to 7% that we just described, and we are very comfortable with our current range with everything else that we have got in our plan. We expect notice to proceed by the end of next year. We have a lot of milestones that we have achieved with this project already, including our Oregon permit, the Energy Facility Siting Council permit, we have got that completed. We have FERC approval in place. We have got our customer agreements executed, and we are finalizing our EPC contracts.

That is one item that we still need to finalize. And then we are also finalizing some local permits before we achieve notice to proceed. We have been really pleased with the growth that we have seen at Sea Energy, despite a slowdown in the housing market in Texas. We had incredible growth this year. We also had record additions to our backlog, which bodes well for the long-term future growth at Sea Energy. I would say we are really pleased with what we are seeing. It has probably exceeded our expectations. However, we have not gone in for a rate case yet, and there are still some remaining items that we want to see on an execution standpoint.

So, we are contemplating a rate case this year and studying that heavily right now. But I can say that overall, the growth has been strong. It has been a few years since they have been in for a rate case, and there are certain elements of the rate case that we are evaluating that could be more beneficial down the road as well, including using the GRIP mechanism in Texas. We are evaluating that now, Chris. But I would expect that, when we do go in for a rate case, that we would look at the GRIP mechanism.

The 4384, which I think you are referring to, has been helpful from an earnings perspective, and that is reflected a little bit in our results even in 2025. But I would expect that, because of the way the mechanism works for GRIP, that is likely what we would be looking at in a future rate case. Yes. We are expecting receipt of that rate mechanism here in Oregon as part of that guidance. It is a relatively modest increase to rates, about 1.5%, and that is effectively just to recover on capital investments that we are making in this interim period while we are working through the multiyear rate planning.

And so it is actually, we think, beneficial to have this modest incremental increase in the interim so that we avoid a scenario in the future where you have a larger rate shock for customers. We are always looking opportunistically at acquisition opportunities that really add long-term shareholder value and would drive more incremental growth. That being said, we are really happy with the platform that we have built. We are in six states now with our water business, and we have some great service territories that have a lot of organic growth embedded in them. So we are very focused on executing, both investing in the business, ensuring timely recovery on those investments, and then also looking at expansion.

So we are expanding our CTNs, or our regulated service areas, in a number of our jurisdictions across the water business. And we are focused on greenfield growth as well. So in Texas in particular, where we have seen incredible growth with our Sea Energy business, our water platform is a lot smaller in Texas, so we are trying to find ways to combine our business development efforts down there to achieve greater greenfield growth in the future. And then we always look at tuck-in acquisitions.

It is probably a little less of a focus for us right now given some of the other opportunities that we see to drive shareholder value in the near term and some of the growth that we are excited about in our existing service territories. I would say that we saw a slowdown roughly around 2025 in new housing starts and completions. It does seem that the more recent moderation in interest rates and perhaps other factors has had a little bit of an uptick back the other way, which we think is positive. But it is pretty early to tell here in 2026 where that is going. Certainly, reduction in mortgage rates is helpful.

The Texas economy more generally continues to benefit from a lot of growth in terms of industrial and commercial activity in the state, companies relocating there, announcing new manufacturing facilities, and that drives residential growth as well. So, we are very optimistic long term about the growth in the Texas market, and I think any reduction in interest rates is just going to be a tailwind around that.

Chris Ellinghaus: Great. Thanks for the update. Appreciate it.

Justin Palfreyman: Yep. Thanks, Chris.

Operator: The next question will be from the line of Alexis Kania with BTIG. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Alexis Kania: Good morning. I have a follow-up question on MX3, or actually two questions on MX3. First is just for the perspective of thinking about the earnings profile associated with that project. It sounds like FERC-regulated projects. Would you be able to get AFDC over the course of construction? And the second question related to that is, just funding plan, you know, kind of whenever the notice to proceed happens, you add the roughly $300 million of CapEx. Would you still be able to fund any incremental equity needs through the ATM in that instance, or would you need to think of alternatives there?

And just so I heard the previous question right, the idea that target would be notice to proceed would be the you are targeting by the end of next year, 2027, right?

Raymond J. Kaszuba: Yep. Good morning, Alex. So first on the funding plan, in terms of the profile, because we are still working to dot some i's and cross some t's with our EPC contractors, we are not providing the actual cash flow profile at this point. But you are correct that we believe we would be able to fund any equity through normal issuances under our ATM. And then to your first question, yes, we would also receive AFUDC during the construction period.

Justin Palfreyman: Correct.

Alexis Kania: Okay. Great. Thank you very much.

Raymond J. Kaszuba: Thanks, Alex.

Operator: As a reminder, please press star followed by one to ask a question. The next question will be from the line of Selman Akyol with Stifel. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Selman Akyol: Thank you. Good morning. Just a real quick one for me. So very pleased to see the storage expansion, but I am just kind of curious, maybe you can talk about other opportunities that you may be seeing like that, and one in particular, just thinking about you having any conversations, anyone approaching you on sort of behind-the-meter opportunities?

Justin Palfreyman: Yeah. Thanks, Selman. The opportunities at Mist are long term in nature and fairly exciting in that we do have other reservoirs that can be developed for additional gas storage beyond MX3. They all have their own characteristics and cost profile and what comes with them. But it is something that we keep an eye on. We do believe there is strong customer demand for this. So MX3, all the capacity is spoken for with our existing customers there. And just what you are seeing in the broader energy constraints in the Pacific Northwest region, with one major interstate pipe serving the region, gas storage is uniquely valuable here.

So I do think there will be opportunities over the long term. It is very premature to comment on any specifics there. In terms of behind-the-meter opportunities, it is something we have been approached by numerous customers looking for access to really consistent, reliable energy in order to site data centers and other types of facilities here. We do evaluate that on a case-by-case basis if there is a storage potential use case there, but there is nothing that we have today to announce on that front.

Selman Akyol: Okay. Thank you very much.

Justin Palfreyman: Thank you.

Operator: That will conclude our Q&A. I would now like to hand the call to Justin Palfreyman for closing remarks. Thank you.

Justin Palfreyman: Thanks, everybody, for joining us this morning. We really appreciate the questions and your interest in Northwest Natural Holding Company. We are really proud of what we achieved in 2025 and even more excited about the momentum we are carrying into 2026. As you heard today, we are entering this next chapter with a focus on our strategy, execution, and continuing to grow our utility business. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Nikki with any further questions, and thank you for participating today.

Operator: This concludes the Northwest Natural Holding Company Q4 2025 earnings call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

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