Alliant Earnings Fall as Utility Costs Weigh
The utility raised its load-growth outlook to 60% by 2031 as three data centers advanced construction.
Alliant Energy Corporation (LNT), the utility holding company, reported second-quarter earnings of $0.65 a share, down 4% from $0.68 a year earlier as weaker utility results outweighed gains elsewhere in the business.
The decline reversed the year-earlier quarter’s earnings increase and followed first-quarter 2024 GAAP earnings of $0.87 a share. For the first half, GAAP earnings edged up to $1.52 a share from $1.50, while ongoing earnings slipped to $1.47 after excluding a $0.05 deferred-tax remeasurement benefit.
Utilities and Corporate Services earnings fell to $0.57 a share from $0.74, with income dropping to $148 million from $190 million. Interstate Power and Light contributed $0.25 a share, down from $0.38, while Wisconsin Power and Light declined to $0.30 from $0.34.
The two utilities drew different benefits from rate-base growth. IPL recorded a $0.09-a-share contribution, down from $0.13 from higher revenue requirements a year earlier, while WPL’s contribution increased to $0.09 from $0.06.
Weather reduced operating income by $11 million and earnings by an estimated $0.03 a share after adding $6 million and $0.02 a share a year earlier. Higher labor, planned-maintenance, distribution and generation costs extended a four-quarter stretch of operating-and-maintenance pressure, while financing and depreciation expenses also increased.
Results outside the core utilities provided an offset. Non-utility and Parent operations swung to a $0.03-a-share profit from a $0.10 loss, and ATC Holdings earnings rose to $0.05 from $0.04. Total utility gas volume increased 7.5%, driven by a 10.3% rise in transportation and other volume, while retail gas usage declined 4.9%.
Alliant reaffirmed its 2024 ongoing earnings guidance of $3.36 to $3.46 a share and said results are trending in the upper half of that range. The guidance now assumes a negative 35% effective tax rate, compared with negative 29% in the first-quarter outlook.
Three data centers were making significant construction progress and large-customer load remained on schedule for 2024. Alliant shifted its growth update toward those projects and the higher load forecast after reporting about 3.4 gigawatts of contracted data-center demand in the first quarter.