Feed - Buzzberg

13:00
Jul 29 ◎

FE FY2026 Q2 Watch

FirstEnergy Corp. (FE) FY2026 Q2 Earnings Call

FE VST CEG PPL EXC ▾

Brian Tierney

Management reaffirms guidance, sees record capital deployment, and highlights growing data center demand (contracted + pipeline up to 25 GW) and generation investments in West Virginia as meaningful upside to the current plan.

"Our existing plan already provides a compelling value proposition. with above industry average organic earnings growth, minimal equity requirements, and significant investment opportunities across our regulated businesses."

FE WATCH

Brian Tierney

Data center demand forecasted on FirstEnergy's system has increased 30% since Q1 to ~25 GW, with contracted demand at 6.4 GW and another 1.5 GW expected to be contracted in the next few weeks, signaling an accelerating pace of power procurement for AI infrastructure. — The pace at which incremental demand is contracted is a strong leading indicator for the broader power demand build-out, directly impacting merchant generators and other utilities in PJM with proximity to load.

"Across our system, total forecasted data center demand has increased 30% since the first quarter to approximately 25 gigawatts. And during the second quarter alone, we contracted an additional 2.1 gigawatts bringing our total contracted"

VST WATCH CEG WATCH

Brian Tierney

FirstEnergy expects to allocate only ~4% of the PJM Reliability Resource Initiative (backstop) auction megawatts to its zone, reducing the cost burden on its customers and potentially signaling that the auction's risks are concentrated in other utilities' footprints. — This reveals that the backstop capacity costs will be unevenly distributed across the PJM footprint, potentially pressuring earnings or customer rates for utilities that receive larger allocations.

"First Energy gets less than 4% of the 68 or 900 megawatts that's going to be allocated. The most important part to us is, are our customers protected? Is there affordability? And the fact that we're being allocated just 4% of that, I think"

PPL WATCH EXC WATCH

Brian Tierney

FirstEnergy's strategy for its next generation plant in West Virginia is to accelerate development by using a GenCo structure, which would require FERC approval for wholesale sales but would bypass the lengthy traditional CPCN process, highlighting a regulatory path to faster capacity additions. — This indicates that regulated utilities are finding alternative structures to speed up capacity additions, potentially increasing the pace of thermal generation build-out in the PJM region.

ETR WATCH AEP WATCH

HIGH

13:00
Apr 29 ◎

FE FY2026 Q1 Watch

FirstEnergy Corp. (FE) FY2026 Q1 Earnings Call

PENN WV JCPL PJM FE ▾

Brian Tierney

Management's engagement with the Governor and their stance on affordability shapes the regulatory environment, though it also imposes pricing caps on capacity auctions for the next few years.

"Governor Shapiro is really thoughtful on these energy issues, and he saved customers and PJM billions of dollars from the caps he negotiated."

PENN WATCH

Brian Tierney

Governor's supportive agenda directly drives FE's growth opportunities in West Virginia, creating a favorable political backdrop for its generation and data center investments.

"This data center growth would support incremental generation and economic development, which is strongly aligned with Governor Morrissey's 50 gigawatts by 2050 initiative and a significant priority for First Energy."

WV WATCH

Brian Tierney

Specific reference to the strong performance of its New Jersey subsidiary in improving reliability and enabling growth in a high-demand area.

"Doug McCoy and his team, the president of JCP&L there, are making that happen."

JCPL WATCH

Brian Tierney

Management explicitly stated they will NOT sign contracts taking commodity risk on generation and energy, even if it means not participating in PJM's phase two procurement, which could cool PJM's plans for utility involvement in new generation builds. — A key potential market participant is signaling it will refuse to accept the proposed risk allocation, undermining the feasibility of PJM's proposed mechanism and de-risking FE against downside exposure.

"We believe that PJM's proposed reliability backdrop procurement auction could be a step in the right direction, although there is a significant amount of detail needed to ensure the right amount of dispatchable generation is procured at"

PJM WATCH

John Taylor

Management explicitly reaffirmed long-term guidance while signaling confidence in targeting the upper end of the 6-8% growth range, supported by increasing rate base and incremental generation opportunities.

"We are also reaffirming our long-term core earnings CAGR of 6 to 8 percent through 2030, and targeting near the top end of that range, with growth based off our 2026 guidance midpoint of $2.72 this year."

FE WATCH

Brian Tierney

Management noted gas turbine prices are in a 'seller's market' and warned that suppliers squeezing pricing will face political backlash, hinting at potential cost overruns or regulatory friction for projects in the region. — As a major turbine buyer, FE's public pressure signals potential cost pressure for the whole supply chain, with political pushback being a new risk factor for large equipment suppliers.

"The sellers need to be thoughtful about how much they're going to squeeze that pricing because that goes to the affordability issue and there are political implications"

GEV WATCH

Brian Tierney

Data center demand in West Virginia grew 50% within a few months, with 6 GW now in the company's pipeline, showing a massive acceleration in load growth expectations for the region. — Demonstrates a rapid surge in credible power demand, which could spur quicker regulatory approvals and grid upgrades, benefiting the utility and its suppliers in the ecosystem.

"Our data center demand in the state continues to grow with approximately 1.8 gigawatts of highly credible projects, an increase of 50% since February."

ORCL WATCH MSFT WATCH

HIGH

14:00
Feb 18 ◎

FE FY2025 Q4 Watch

FirstEnergy Corp. (FE) FY2025 Q4 Earnings Call

ETR ENR.DE FE EQT ▾

Brian Tierney

FirstEnergy was awarded roughly $5 billion in PJM competitive transmission projects since 2022, and expects the 2026 open window solicitation to be similar in scope, with board approval anticipated in Q1 2027. This signals continued, high-value transmission spend for the region. — Continued PJM transmission awards drive sustained congestion relief, but also highlight the ongoing need for grid buildout, potentially impacting merchant generation economics and other regional T&D players.

"Since 2022, our standalone transmission and integrated segments have been awarded approximately $5 billion in competitive transmission projects."

ETR WATCH

Brian Tierney

FirstEnergy is building a long-term relationship with Siemens for turbine supply, positioning Siemens for potential follow-on orders in West Virginia.

"The relationships that we're beginning now with suppliers like Siemens on the turbine side, in terms of what we're doing with the first EPC that we're going forward"

ENR.DE WATCH

Brian Tierney

Management tone is clearly bullish, anchored by a substantial 30% capex increase, near-top-end EPS CAGR guidance of 6-8%, and multiple identified incremental investment opportunities (WV generation, PJM transmission).

"Our $36 billion capital program represents a nearly 30% increase from our previous five-year plan."

FE WATCH

Brian Tierney

FirstEnergy sees a clear path to up to 4 additional 1.2 GW natural gas plants in West Virginia to serve data center load, contingent on PSC approval of the first unit. This signals the potential for a significant increase in firm gas demand in the region. — Each additional 1.2GW plant represents a substantial new demand source for Appalachian natural gas producers, supporting long-term gas takeaway and pricing, but also raises questions about gas infrastructure buildout.

"We will seek to add additional generation in the state to support growing data center activity."

EQT WATCH

HIGH

Feed — Buzzberg