OGE Energy Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE) reported third-quarter financial results on Wednesday. The transcript from the company’s third-quarter earnings call has been provided below.
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Summary
OGE Energy reported consolidated earnings of $1.52 per share, with net income increasing to $316 million from $231 million year-over-year, driven by warmer weather and higher electricity consumption.
The company is advancing strategic initiatives, including filing for pre-approval to construct a new 755-megawatt plant and completing Horseshoe Lake Units 11 and 12 ahead of schedule, adding significant generation capacity.
Looking ahead, OGE Energy raised its 2026 earnings guidance to $2.62-$2.68 per share, with expectations for continued customer and load growth, and plans to establish an at-the-market equity program to support capital needs.
Operational highlights include a focus on reliability and affordability, with expanded customer assistance programs and investments in infrastructure to meet growing demand.
Management emphasized the intent to own and operate new generation resources and highlighted legislative benefits for customers related to new investments.
Full Transcript
OPERATOR
Third quarter earnings and business update call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker’s presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you’ll need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker for today, Casey Strange, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Casey Strange (Investor Relations)
Thank you, Lisa, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to our call. With me today, I have Sean Trauschke, our Chairman, President and CEO, and Chuck Walworth, our CFO. In terms of the call today, we will first hear from Sean, followed by an explanation from Chuck of financial results. And finally, as always, we will answer your questions. I would like to remind you that this conference is being webcast, and you may follow along at OGE.com. In addition, the conference call and accompanying slides will be archived following the call on that same website.
Before we begin the presentation, I would like to direct your attention to the safe harbor statement regarding forward-looking statements. This is an SEC requirement for financial statements and simply states that we cannot guarantee forward-looking financial results, but this is our best estimate to date. I will now turn the call over to Sean for his opening remarks.
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
Thank you, Casey. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. This morning we reported consolidated earnings of $1.52 per share. And before Chuck provides more detail on our third quarter results, I’ll highlight the team’s outstanding performance during an unusually hot summer and outline the key milestones we anticipate over the coming quarters. This summer underscored the importance of a reliable, resilient electric grid. Our service area experienced more than 45 days of triple-digit temperatures compared with just one last year. Through the prolonged heat, our system performed exceptionally well, and our team safely delivered the power customers depend on. For context, we hit a new peak load four times this summer, with 15 days exceeding our 2024 peak record. But at no time were there calls for the public to conserve energy.
Our system is built to withstand these extremes. A note that’s important. While our residential price per kilowatt-hour was actually 7% lower in August and September than a year ago, extended air conditioning use drove higher electricity consumption. Weather impacts tend to balance out over time, and this summer’s elevated cooling demand followed several quarters of milder temperatures and lower weather-driven usage. Our reliability focus shapes the Oklahoma rate review. This is our first since December of 2023. The filing reflects investments to strengthen our system, support growth and meet evolving requirements while expanding assistance and payment flexibility for our customers. The review includes the following expanded assistance and payment options to help customers manage their bills. We are expanding both the Senior Discount and Low Income Assistance program.
We are launching an innovative pilot program to help customers with past due balances get back on track with payments, and we’re offering new Choose My Due Date and prepayment options that give customers more flexibility to manage their household budgets. As the regulatory process moves forward, we remain focused on balancing reliability and affordability, considering the impacts of inflation and interest rates, and creating long-term value for customers and shareholders.
Looking ahead, we are advancing additional generation resources to serve growing demand and maintain reliability. We filed yesterday with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission seeking pre-approval to construct a new 755-megawatt combined cycle plant at our Horseshoe Lake site and will file in coming weeks with the Arkansas Public Service Commission. We’re finalizing evaluations and negotiations from our competitive request for proposals and expect to submit projects to both commissions as agreements are completed.
We remain committed to delivering capacity customers need responsibly and cost effectively, and we anticipate submitting additional pre-approval filings before year-end. Meanwhile, that broader generation strategy is taking shape. Horseshoe Lake Units 11 and 12 were completed ahead of schedule and $12 million under budget. Bringing the units online early allowed us to avoid up to $16 million in capacity purchases this winter. These units add approximately 448 megawatts of flexible generation capacity, bringing the total additions this year to 544 megawatts. Units 13 and 14 are under construction and will add another 440 megawatts, and the Horseshoe Lake projects build on a more than 100-year legacy at that site while supporting reliable, efficient generation for the future.
As we build and invest in our system, we are also strengthening support for our communities. We refreshed our Lend a Hand bill assistance program with a broader network of trusted nonprofit partners and a financial commitment from the OGE Energy Corporation Foundation to match customer donations. And we’ll continue to support our vulnerable customers and assist communities as we deliver reliable electricity at low cost for everyone. As we move forward, we’ll continue our disciplined approach to securing generation resources needed to serve growing demand, advancing projects through the regulatory process, and delivering investments that maintain our competitive low-rate advantage. Our progress to date positions us for several milestones over the coming quarters. So on our fourth quarter earnings call we will provide an update on the SPP notices to construct that we accepted.
On the first quarter call, we will provide an update on the Oklahoma rate review and the Horseshoe Lake 15 pre-approval case, and then on our second quarter call we’ll provide an update on the regulatory approval for the additional generation filings we’re making in this year. Together, these regulatory, generation, and community initiatives position the company for long-term success while preserving the reliable, low-cost service our customers enjoy.
In doing so, they establish a foundation for the investments needed to meet growing demand across our service area. So with that, thank you, and I’ll turn the call over to Chuck.
Chuck Walworth (Chief Financial Officer)
Thank you, Sean, and thank you, Casey. Good morning, everyone. I’m pleased to review 2026’s third quarter results with you today. Let’s start on Slide 5. Consolidated net income was approximately $316 million, or $1.52 per diluted share, compared to $231 million, or $1.14 per share, in the same period of 2025. In our core business, the electric company achieved net income of approximately $321 million, or $1.54 per diluted share, compared to $243 million, or $1.20 per share, in the same period of 2025.
The increase in net income was primarily driven by significantly warmer third quarter weather, partially offset by increased income tax expense. The holding company reported a loss of approximately $5 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, compared to a loss of $12 million, or $0.06 per share, in the same period of 2025. These results were driven by higher income from energy-related investments and lower interest expense. Turning to our 2026 outlook, weather through the third quarter was significantly warmer than normal, with summer temperatures reaching levels we haven’t experienced in 15 years. As a result, we are raising our 2026 consolidated earnings guidance range to $2.62 to $2.68 per share. This updated range assumes normal weather for the remainder of the year and reflects opportunities to execute work planned for future years. Demand across our service area remains healthy, with both customer growth and weather-normalized load growth at approximately 1%.
The variance on load is largely timing-related, reflecting customer ramps as well as maintenance outages that have reduced usage among some of our larger customers. Customer commitments remain firmly in place, giving us continued confidence in the stronger longer-term growth ahead. That growth is translating into important investment opportunities across our system, and Horseshoe Lake Unit 15 is a great example. As Sean discussed, the project was selected through our 2026 All Source RFP and was the highest-ranked project in that process. Unit 15 will add efficient, dispatchable generation while leveraging the existing infrastructure at Horseshoe Lake. The project represents approximately $1.75 billion of investment with an expected in-service date in 2031.
Recent legislation in Oklahoma provides significant benefits for customers as we make these investments. It provides CWIP recovery, which we estimate will save customers more than $900 million over the life of the asset while smoothing the impact on customer bills during construction. The legislation also established a timely 180-day regulatory review process for pre-approval filings, providing greater certainty as we work to bring needed resources online.
With the addition of Unit 15, we have approximately 1.1 gigawatts of remaining capacity need. As we continue to finalize solutions to meet that remaining need, you should expect to see additional pre-approval filings. The bottom line is that our growing service area is creating a clear need for additional infrastructure, and we are moving quickly to advance investments that support reliability, serve that growth, and deliver long-term value for customers. With that growth and investment need in mind, let me turn to a financing update. We are establishing an inaugural at-the-market equity program, which authorizes up to $750 million of common equity issuances. The ATM gives us a flexible and efficient way to access equity as our capital needs grow, while its forward sale feature allows us to align issuance with the timing of our investments.
That flexibility supports our growing capital plan while maintaining a strong balance sheet. With the approval of Frontier and the recent NTCs, our five-year capital plan now includes an incremental $555 million of investment. This includes $395 million related to the Frontier Energy Storage project, which received regulatory approval during the third quarter, and $160 million of transmission investments planned between 2027 and 2030. As we’ve consistently communicated, projects are incorporated into our capital plan once we have received the appropriate approvals, at which point we will also provide our associated financing assumptions.
With these investments now reflected in the plan, we expect approximately $200 million of incremental equity over the planning horizon, which we expect to raise through the ATM program. This balanced financing approach allows us to fund these investments while supporting strong credit metrics. In closing, our momentum continues to build. We remain focused on executing with discipline, maintaining affordability and a strong balance sheet, and making investments needed to serve growing demand. That focus positions us to deliver long-term value for both customers and shareholders. With that, I’ll turn it back to Sean, and we’ll be happy to take your questions.
OPERATOR
Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone. You will hear an automated message advising that your hand is raised. We also ask that you wait for your name and company to be announced before proceeding with your question. One moment while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question will be coming from the line of Aidan Kelly of J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.
Aidan Kelly (Analyst at J.P. Morgan)
Hey, guys, good morning. Thanks for the time today.
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
Hey, good morning.
Aidan Kelly (Analyst at J.P. Morgan)
Yeah, good morning. Just maybe want to follow up on the Horseshoe Lake 15 filing, if I could. Maybe. How are you thinking about the likelihood of utility ownership versus third party procurement for the remaining 1.1 gigawatt of capacity needs, as you kind of think through that?
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
Yeah, yeah, thank you for the question, Aidan. I think it is our intent to own and operate the majority of that. We think we’ve proven that. And, you know, when we have weather extremes, we want the ball, so to speak, to kind of operate those plants and make sure we keep the lights on. So it’s our intent to own and operate this. We will utilize, obviously, some short term bridge capacity and things like that as things are going under construction, but it’s our expectation to own it.
Aidan Kelly (Analyst at J.P. Morgan)
Great, appreciate that. And then just going to the financing side, I know you mentioned the ATM program there, so kind of with up to 200 million of equity supporting that expanded capital plan, I guess, how should we interpret the decision to establish a larger 750 million facility? Is that kind of a read through to the incremental financing into the next plan update or kind of, how do you address the sizing of that?
Chuck Walworth (Chief Financial Officer)
Yeah, Aidan, great question. This is Chuck. Hey. You know, really, I would say it’s not tied to future opportunities. It’s, you know, really, you know, we, frankly, we were one of the few utilities that didn’t have an ATM and, and given the vast opportunities in front of us, we thought it was time to establish one. So we did the usual routine of benchmarking the size and just did something that we thought was appropriate for our company. So again, it’s not the only way to finance projects.
We’ll continue to evaluate all avenues of financing in the future, but it’s definitely something we wanted to have at our disposal. So I wouldn’t read into the numbers any. It’s just us making sure we’ve got all the tools available.
Aidan Kelly (Analyst at J.P. Morgan)
Great, thanks, Chuck. I’ll leave it there and see you guys soon. Bye.
OPERATOR
Thank you. One moment for the next question. And our next question will be coming from the line of Shar Purusa, Wells Fargo. Your line is open.
Whitney Motolemwa (Analyst at Wells Fargo)
Good morning, this is Whitney Motolemwa on for Schar.
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
Good morning.
Whitney Motolemwa (Analyst at Wells Fargo)
Congrats on the quarter so with rate base growing at E 9.6 CAGR against the long term earnings growth rate, could you help us bridge that gap? Specifically, what I’m looking for is how many basis points of regulatory lag you’re running today versus your authorized return and then how much of that you’d expect the rate review in Oklahoma as well as the quip rider to close over the plan.
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
Hey, Whitney, good morning. Great to hear from you. You know, I think a couple of things on that, you know, one, historically we’ve done a fairly good job, you know, through cost control and capital allocation to really earn close to our allowed ROE. So I guess that’s point number one. And then in terms of the rate case impact, I mean, obviously that’s a key impact there. But also remember that with plant and service accounting and load growth, that’s a pretty good bridge as well between that.
So, you know, I guess what I’m trying to get to is that I would expect our earned ROE to continue to be smooth into the future, you know, rather than, you know, taking, you know, step function changes and resetting with rate cases. So hopefully that helps paint a picture for you.
Whitney Motolemwa (Analyst at Wells Fargo)
Yes, yes, I totally understand. And then just as a follow up to Aidan’s question on the new ATM, I saw that there’s a lower 55 to 60 payout target is the 35 to 40 equity share on today’s additions. A reasonable framework for Horseshoe Lake 15 and the 765 as they come in.
Chuck Walworth (Chief Financial Officer)
You know, Whitney, we look at every project individually and, you know, not only on the project, but you know, where other conditions are at the time that we finance and the length of it and the attributes and everything. So, you know, you’ve kind of seen two announcements from us now on equity raises, so you can kind of use that as a gauge. But at the end of the day, we’re solving for our credit metrics over the long term and that’s going to dictate how we finance it.
Whitney Motolemwa (Analyst at Wells Fargo)
Well understood. Thank you, gentlemen. See you at eei.
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
All right, thanks, Whitney.
OPERATOR
Thank you. One moment for the next question. And our next question is coming from the line of Nicholas Campanella of Barclays. Please go ahead.
Nicholas Campanella (Analyst at Barclays)
Hello, Sean. Hello, Chuck.
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
Good morning.
Chuck Walworth (Chief Financial Officer)
Good morning, Nick.
Nicholas Campanella (Analyst at Barclays)
First question is, of the one point of the 14 winning bids, how many will be owned and how many are PPAs?
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
Are you talking about the remaining generation need we have? You know, I think it’s our intent. Our intent, with what we’ve demonstrated today, to own this. We will utilize some bridge capacities, obviously during construction and periods like that. And we’ve not finalized all those negotiations yet, but I want to reiterate one more time that it’s our intent to own these. We think that’s the better outcome for our service territory.
Nicholas Campanella (Analyst at Barclays)
Okay, thank you.
OPERATOR
One moment for the next question, please. And our next question will be coming from the line of Julian Demolyon Smith of Jefferies, please go ahead.
Brian Russo (Analyst at Jefferies)
Hi, good morning. It’s Brian Russo on for Julian.
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
Hey, good morning, Brian.
Brian Russo (Analyst at Jefferies)
Good morning, Sean. Good morning, Chuck. Hey, could you just talk about OGE Energy’s positioning and or strategy with the upcoming SPP 2026 ITP? What can we expect from that board meeting? I think is planned for November.
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
Yeah. Hey, Brian. Obviously, it’s something we’ve been tracking and been involved in very closely. You know, I think, you know, if you recall, you know, the 2025 ITP kind of took a while to play out, and as we indicated in our remarks, you know, we expect some closure on the NTCs, you know, later this year. So, you know, I can’t give specific dates, but, you know, I wouldn’t think it’d be unreasonable that the 26 ITP follows kind of a similar cadence.
So you’re right. There is a SPP board meeting in November, and then there’s another one in February. And so I believe the one in February will likely address which lines are direct assigned due to reliability reasons, and then the process will kind of go from there. So it’s a little early still for the 26 ITP, but, you know, again, the numbers that are out there publicly are, you know, are pretty impressive and, you know, definitely a lot of good stuff out there.
Brian Russo (Analyst at Jefferies)
Okay, great. And just to clarify, the 160 million you added to the base plan for transmission, that is not the Shreveport to Seminole line, correct?
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
No, it is. No, it is not. So it is. Out of the 25 ITP, there were a number of projects assigned to us out of the 25 ITP, the largest being the Seminole to Shreveport now Longwood line. But there were a couple other smaller ones. And so those are the ones that we’ve added today.
Brian Russo (Analyst at Jefferies)
Okay, great. And then can you just comment on your existing cryptocurrency load and any, you know, migration or conversion towards the proposed or pending xlpl. How might that change, you know, your. Your resource plans, you know, in the future? I guess, excluding this 1.1 gigawatts that’s remaining under the 2026 IRP RFP.
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
Brian, I think, you know, as we’ve indicated before, you know, crypto load converting to AI is something that we, you know, continue to see an interest in. You know, we don’t have anything to announce on that other than, you know, that continues to be a theme. And I think, you know, the main thing to remember as it pertains to the 1.1 gigawatts is, you know, really the nature of the load. Right. So you know, and the requirements from the SPP. So, so to the extent that the load changes its nature and it increases our capacity needs, you’re going to see that 1.1 go up.
Brian Russo (Analyst at Jefferies)
Okay, great. And then just lastly, I assume you’re reaffirming the top end of the 5 to 7 EPS CAGR even with now the 9.6% rate base growth versus 9% previously. When might we, we expect the next kind of update on the CAGR? Would it be with the notice to construct on the SPP line or further into 2027 after we get approval of this Horseshoe Lake 15?
Chuck Walworth (Chief Financial Officer)
Yeah, Brian, we’ll definitely take a fresh look at it next year. And as Sean mentioned, we’ve got really a pretty busy calendar of quarterly events next year. So whatever decisions we make on that, we’ll do it holistically with all those events in mind.
Brian Russo (Analyst at Jefferies)
Okay, great. Thank you very much.
OPERATOR
Thank you. One moment for the next question. And our next question will be coming from the line of Rue Jia of Mitutu. Please go ahead.
Ru Jia (Analyst at Mitutu)
Hi, good morning, this is RU for Anthony Cordell. Thank you for taking my question.
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
Good morning.
Ru Jia (Analyst at Mitutu)
Good morning. Thank you. So just to follow up on the Horseshoe Lake project following your pre approval filing and you mentioned the 180 day review timeline and given the history on this project, can you just walk us through what are some of the key factors for the review and which area would you expect to see? Some scrutinies on that? Thank you.
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
In terms of. Yeah, so I think it’ll just be the normal and customary discussions. You know, we follow the commission process in terms of going through a robust RFP. The staff initiated an independent reviewer that evaluated all of the bids along with us. And then I think it’s duly noted or should be duly noted that you know, being able to utilize brownfield sites and really to capture those benefits and really further reducing the cost in particular Horseshoe Lake 15, it’s material and it really moves the needle.
So I think the last point would be our demonstrated excellence around bringing these projects in on time and on budget. We’ve been building gas plants for a while now. This isn’t a new thing for us. And so we’ve got the track record. So normally you’d have a discussion about need that’s evident to all involved. Sometimes you’d have a discussion about if you follow the process, we’ve done that to a tee. Sometimes you’d have a discussion around can you do this?
Do you have the capabilities to do this? We’ve demonstrated that before. And then the last point, is it economic? And clearly on a price per kilowatt it stacks up very, very well. So, you know, nothing. I don’t want to suggest there won’t be discussions. There’s always going to be discussions. But I think the fact pattern around Horseshoe Lake 15 is very strong.
Ru Jia (Analyst at Mitutu)
Perfect. Super clear. Thank you so much.
OPERATOR
Thank you. One moment for the next question. Our next question is coming from the line of Ian Rapp of Scotiabank. Please go ahead.
Ian Rapp (Analyst at Scotiabank)
Hey, good morning guys. Thanks for taking my question. Maybe you’ve gone back to Horseshoe Lake again as you work through the remaining RFP submissions. I know obviously we don’t want to front run those negotiations and those announcements, but looking at capacity types and technologies, this was kind of framed as the number one option in terms of the ranking in the RFP both on cost and other attributes being responsive to SPP rules. But just curious how we should think about your plan around different technology types and whether this cost per kilowatt is repeatable for the 1.1 gigawatts remaining.
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
Well, as Chuck mentioned, this was the number one rated project. We are sensitive to the cost of the projects and the value it brings to our customers. You know, I think we’ve been straightforward in terms of primarily it’s going to be gas, maybe some combination of some solar and storage, but principally gas. And I’ll probably leave it there because we’re still finalizing these negotiations and just don’t want to give anything away.
Ian Rapp (Analyst at Scotiabank)
Fair enough, that’s helpful. And then maybe this has already been asked and answered to an extent, but just philosophically, as you guys kind of think about the EPS CAGR updates and balancing sort of the seemingly increasing number of buckets of incremental capex versus your preference to be conservative with guidance and making sure that it’s sustainable, how are you thinking about kind of the cadence of step changes there? Is that something that you’re going look at once per year, continue to look at the EPS CAGR on a project by project basis as they roll in?
Chuck Walworth (Chief Financial Officer)
Yeah, you came in a little choppy there, but I think I got it. Cadence of EPS CAGR updates. You know, kind of similar to the question earlier, I mean, we don’t necessarily look at tiny discrete areas, right. So like, you know, this project is this and so on. Again, we’ll take a holistic view of it next year in light of the timing of various projects and the opportunities that we see. But, again, kind of keep in mind what we’ve done in the past, right? We have the multi-step process where we tell you about the projects we’re working on, we get them approved, we add them to the plan, we tell you what that’s doing in terms of rate base growth, we tell you how we’re going to finance it. So there’s a lot of keys to information along the way, right. And then, when we think that there’s kind of a critical mass, we’ll give the appropriate update at the time.
OPERATOR
Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone. One moment for the next question, please. Our next question is coming from the line of Stephen D’Ambrasi of RBC. Please go ahead. Your line is muted. Please unmute your line. As there are no more questions in the queue, I would like to turn the call back over to Sean Trauschke. Please go ahead for closing remarks.
Sean Trauschke (Chairman, President & CEO)
Well, thank you, Lisa, and thank you everyone for joining us today. We look forward to seeing you in a few weeks, and I hope everyone has a great day.
OPERATOR
Thank you all for joining the program today. You may now disconnect.
Disclaimer: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, there may be errors or omissions in this automated transcription. For official company statements and financial information, please refer to the company’s SEC filings and official press releases. Corporate participants’ and analysts’ statements reflect their views as of the date of this call and are subject to change without notice.