Pinnacle West Lifts 2026 Earnings Outlook After Record Summer

The Tip Desk · November 3, 2026 · 3 min read

The utility raised full-year guidance to $5.05–$5.25 a share after third-quarter net income of $434.2 million, or $3.49 a share.

Pinnacle West Capital Corp. (PNW) reported consolidated net income attributable to common shareholders of $434.2 million, or $3.49 a share, for the third quarter of 2026, compared with $413.2 million, or $3.39 a share, a year earlier. The company said the increase of about $21 million came primarily from higher customer sales and usage, weather versus the same period a year ago, and customer growth, partly offset by higher depreciation and amortization and interest charges.

Operating revenues for the three months ended September 30 were $1,972.7 million, up from $1,820.7 million a year earlier. Operating income was $620.8 million. Fuel and purchased power expense rose to $758.0 million from $656.0 million. Depreciation and amortization increased to $242.5 million, and interest charges rose to $138.8 million from $125.2 million.

Commercial and industrial sales increased 14.5% and residential sales grew 4.5%, contributing to overall weather-normalized sales growth of 9.5%. Overall customer growth increased 1.8%, including 1.9% residential customer growth.

APS customers set an all-time peak demand record of 9,166 megawatts on Aug. 2, with demand exceeding 9,000 megawatts on three occasions during the quarter. APS demand exceeded last year’s previous peak of 8,648 megawatts a dozen times during the quarter, marking the fourth consecutive year of record-setting summer demand. Residential cooling degree days were up 3% from the same period in 2025.

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Ted Geisler said Arizona continues to grow at an extraordinary pace and that years of planning and employee dedication enabled the company to meet strong summer demand while maintaining reliability, returning savings to customers and investing in infrastructure.

Customers’ annual electricity needs are projected to more than double by 2041, while peak demand is expected to rise more than 5,000 megawatts above today’s peak, the company said. APS recently filed its Integrated Resource Plan with the Arizona Corporation Commission, outlining resources needed over the next 15 years. Geisler reiterated the company’s Pledge for Responsible Energy Growth, under which APS will not connect new extra-large customers faster than the grid can reliably support and will require those customers to fund the costs of serving their growth.

Effective in November, APS is providing more than $33 million in bill credits following ACC approval, applied automatically through the Environmental Benefits Surcharge and expected to reduce a typical residential customer’s November bill by about $14. The company is also making an additional $5 million available to support customers experiencing financial hardship, funded by Pinnacle West rather than through customer rates.

Given positive customer and sales growth and the impact of weather through the first three quarters of the year, the company is adjusting its 2026 consolidated earnings guidance upward to a range of $5.05 to $5.25 per diluted share. Key assumptions include retail customer growth of 1.5% to 2.5%, weather-normalized retail electricity sales growth of 8.0% to 10.0%, including a 5.0% to 7.0% contribution from new large manufacturing facilities and several large data centers, and normal weather for the balance of the year.

The Phoenix-based energy holding company has consolidated assets of about $33.5 billion, almost 6,300 megawatts of generating capacity and approximately 6,600 employees in Arizona and New Mexico. Through Arizona Public Service, it provides retail electricity service to about 1.5 million Arizona homes and businesses.