EPCOR announces 2024 financial results

EPCOR Utilities Inc. (EPCOR) today filed its annual and fourth quarter results for 2024.

“EPCOR’s people delivered clean water and safe, reliable energy to more than two million residential customers in 2024,” said John Elford, EPCOR President and CEO. “The company’s operational and financial performance was ahead of expectations for the year, driven in part by growth in customer counts, water sales volumes, and commercial opportunities. We invested more than $1 billion in capital across our North American footprint, which will benefit our customers and drive long-term value creation. EPCOR’s capital program is focused on ensuring utility infrastructure is safe, reliable and sustainable, and that we are keeping pace with service needs for growing communities.”

“In addition to organic growth, EPCOR’s North American footprint continued to expand. We celebrated a number of milestones in 2024, including the opening of a demineralized water treatment plant in Ontario, the acquisition of a water and wastewater utility system to service a growing community west of Calgary, and the recent acquisition of an interest in power transmission infrastructure in British Columbia.”

“In November 2024, we announced that based on the EPCOR’s strong performance and growth prospects, we will be increasing the dividend to our shareholder, the City of Edmonton, from $193 million in 2024 to $201 million in 2025.”

Highlights of EPCOR’s financial performance are as follows:

• Net income was $88 million and $427 million for the three months and year ended December 31, 2024, respectively, compared with net income of $95 million and $361 million for the comparative periods in 2023, respectively. The decrease of $7 million for the three months ended December 31, 2024 was primarily due to higher depreciation and amortization, finance expenses, and transmission system access service charge net collections, partially offset by higher Adjusted EBITDA¹ (as described below). The increase of $66 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 was primarily due to higher Adjusted EBITDA, fair value adjustments related to financial electricity purchase contracts, partially offset by lower transmission system access service charge net collections, higher depreciation, finance and income tax expenses.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $291 million and $1,151 million for the three months and year ended December 31, 2024, respectively, compared with $256 million and $1,061 million for the comparative periods in 2023, respectively. The increase of $35 million and $90 million for the three months and year ended December 31, 2024, respectively, was primarily due to higher rates, consumption, customer growth and commercial activity, partially offset by lower commercial construction activity and higher operating costs. In addition, for the three months ended December 31, 2024, there were higher Energy Price Setting Plan (EPSP) margins.
• Investment in capital projects was $1,019 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with $988 million for the corresponding period in 2023.

EPCOR builds, owns and operates electrical, natural gas and water transmission and distribution networks, water and wastewater treatment facilities, and sanitary and stormwater systems in Canada and the United States. EPCOR also provides electricity, natural gas and water products and services to residential and commercial customers. EPCOR, headquartered in Edmonton, is committed to conducting its business and operations safely and responsibly. Environmental stewardship, public health and community well-being are at the heart of EPCOR’s mission to provide clean water and safe, reliable energy. EPCOR is one of Alberta’s Top 85 Employers, is ranked among Corporate Knights’ 2024 Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada and is designated a Utility of the Future Today by the Water Environment Federation.

^{1. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. See the Non-GAAP Financial Measures section in Appendix 1.}

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Appendix 1 Non-GAAP Financial Measures

EPCOR uses earnings before finance expenses, income tax recovery (expense), depreciation and amortization, changes in the fair value of derivative financial instruments, transmission system access service charge net collections and other unusual items (collectively, Adjusted EBITDA) to discuss operating results for EPCOR’s lines of business. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure and is not a standardized financial measure under IFRS and might not be comparable to similar financial measures disclosed by other issuers.

The reconciliation between Adjusted EBITDA to Net income as reported under IFRS Accounting Standards is shown below:

^{1. The change in fair value of derivative financial instruments represents the change in fair value of financial electricity purchase contracts between the electricity market forward prices and the contracted prices at the end of the reporting period, for the contracted volumes of electricity.}

^{2. Transmission system access service charge net collections is the difference between the transmission system access service charges paid to the provincial system operators and the transmission system access service charges collected from electricity retailers. Transmission system access service charge net collections are timing differences, which are collected from or returned to electricity retailers as the transmission system access service charges and customer billing determinants are finalized.}