DOMINION ENERGY Q1 FY26 earnings call D

Since the business review over two years ago, management has focused on three priorities: consistent achievement of financial commitments, CVOW construction milestones, and constructive regulatory outcomes. Q1 delivered operating earnings of $0.95 per share (GAAP $0.69), and the company affirmed all guidance provided on the Q4 call — operating earnings, credit, dividend, and long-term growth. Management characterized the financial plan as 'appropriately conservative, but not unreasonably so,' explicitly monitoring catalysts that could enhance and/or extend the long-term growth rate.

CVOW is now over 75% complete, having delivered First Power to customers in March. All 176 transition pieces and all three substations are installed, deepwater export cables are in, and array cable installation is on track. Turbine fabrication stands at over 86% of towers, ~69% of nacelles, and ~45% of blades. Nine turbines are complete as of the call, with the last four averaging ~2 days per installation. The project budget was cut ~$100M to $11.4B, unused contingency stands at $123M, and updated analysis projects ~$5B of customer fuel savings over the first 10 years of operations.

Two events could move project cost. First, certain regional transmission projects were captured in both the PJM transition cycle (allocating network-upgrade costs to CVOW) and the broader RTEP award package; management expects the transition-cycle network-upgrade costs allocated across all generation projects, including CVOW, to be reassessed and reduced. Second, recently updated steel and aluminum (Section 232) tariffs carry a potential ~$200M impact, pending supplier data and agency interpretive guidance. Management expects the two effects to roughly offset, though without precision on the balance. Beyond July 2027, each additional quarter of turbine installation would add $150M-$200M, a portion allocated to the financing partner.

Dominion now has over 50 GW of data center capacity in various stages of contracting, including ~10.4 GW contracted under electric service agreements. Management reports accelerating and durable demand with no detectable change despite PJM capacity-pricing and cost-allocation uncertainty, and commitments added across all contracting stages since December. Recently approved large-load provisions in the 2025 biannual ensure large customers fund the infrastructure required for their growth, protecting smaller customers from cost shifts and mitigating stranded-cost risk.

HB 895 and SB 448, now signed into law, require Dominion to petition for 20 GW of short- and long-term storage by 2045 — up sharply from the prior 3 GW by 2035 requirement. The current $65B five-year capital plan already includes ~$2B (~3%) for battery storage, recovered via a rider mechanism in Virginia, at an assumed ~$2.5B-$3B per gigawatt overnight installed cost (including transmission upgrades). Management will update its IRP in the fall and the capital plan on the Q4 call, and expects upward bias to the five-year plan with a higher run-rate in the 2030s. Long-duration storage remains at the pilot stage.

The existing Millstone PPA is contracted a little more than half (~55%) through August 2029; Governor Lamont and Commissioner Dike recently highlighted the hundreds of millions in customer savings the contract delivers. In March, the facility bid into Connecticut DEEP's zero-carbon RFP; solicitation decisions are expected in Q2, negotiations with local utilities in Q3, and CT PURA approval could take up to 180 days. There is no stated limit on how much could be contracted with the state, and management would be willing to contract more than 55%. Other New England states have expressed interest, and data-center interest continues, though any outcome must have Connecticut stakeholder support.

Dominion holds an early site permit at North Anna and has been exploring SMRs. Asked about a utility consortium pursuing new AP1000s with hyperscaler cost-inflation protection and potential federal backstop, management reiterated three governing principles for any nuclear development: address first-of-a-kind risk, address cost-overrun risk so customers and shareholders don't bear the burden, and protect the balance sheet and business-risk profile. Virginia's pro-nuclear posture (gubernatorial and Senate support, cost-recovery legislation, nuclear supply chain and navy) underpins the optionality.

The DESC South Carolina electric rate case progresses toward a late-June decision with July rates. A new DENC North Carolina case was filed to recover ~$400M placed in service since 2024, with a February 2027 decision and December 2026 interim rates. Dominion plans fuel securitization in Virginia to minimize the rate impact of unrecovered fuel costs. Management emphasized customer affordability — competitive rates versus the national average, bills expected to grow roughly with inflation long term, and bill-management programs (budget billing, energy share, a new online platform) plus AI deployment in the contact center.