Okay, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Avangrid 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Thank you for joining us today. I hope you all are staying safe. We want to express our gratitude for everyone at Avangrid that are continuing to fight this pandemic. To ensure safety and follow best practice, as you know, the meeting is going to be virtual this year. I will preside over the meeting with the assistance of Scott Mahoney, our General Counsel and Secretary. Following the conclusion of the formal meeting, our Chief Executive Officers and I will share some remarks. At this time, I call the meeting to order. An agenda and the rules of conduct for this meeting are already available to you. I would like to begin by welcoming all the members of the Avangrid Board of Directors who have already joined us today. Lastly, we have with us today a representative from KPMG, our auditors. They will be glad to respond to any question if necessary. An affidavit of mailing has been delivered to show that notice of this meeting was given. A copy of both the notice and the affidavit will be incorporated into the records of this meeting. This meeting is then called pursuant to the bylaws of the company. The Board of Directors fixed April 5, 2021, as the record date for this meeting. Bridged notice of the annual meeting and full package of proxy materials or notice of internet availability of proxy materials were mailed beginning on April 16, 2021, to each holder of record of common stock at the close of business on the record date, April 5, 2021. The Board of Directors has appointed Carl Wagner as Inspector of Election. The Inspector of Elections has joined our virtual meeting and has signed our oath of office. The Secretary will now report on the shareholders entitled to vote at this meeting. A complete list of shareholders entitled to vote at this meeting has been available for inspection by shareholders on our virtual meeting platform for 10 days immediately prior to this meeting. There were a total of 309,491,082 shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote at the close of business on April 5, 2021, the record date. A majority of the outstanding shares of the company is present in person or by proxy. A quorum is present, and the meeting is now duly convened. The next item in the agenda, as described by the proxy statement, will be voting on our four proposals. I will now ask the Secretary to present these proposals. The Board of Directors recommends a vote in favor for each of the proposals and adoption of the following resolution that will be read by the Secretary. 14 directors are to be elected today. Directors will be elected by a majority of the votes cast and will hold office until the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders and their successors have been elected and qualified. The Board of Directors of the company has nominated 14 directors for election, as described in the 2021 proxy statement. Resolved, that Ignacio Galán, John Baldacci, Dennis Arriola, Daniel Alcain Lopez, Pedro Azagra Blázquez, Robert Duffy, Teresa Herbert, Patricia Jacobs, John Lahey, José Ángel Marañón Rodríguez, Santiago Martínez Garrido, José Sáinz Armada, Alan Solomont, and Elizabeth Timm be elected to the Board of Directors of the company to hold office until the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders and until their successors have been elected and qualified. Adoption of the remaining three proposals requires the affirmative vote of the majority of the votes cast present in person or by proxy and entitled to vote. The second proposal is the ratification of the selection of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2021. For Proposal two, resolved, that the selection of KPMG LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2021, having been presented and considered at this meeting, is hereby ratified and approved in all respects. The third proposal is the advisory approval of the named executive officer compensation, as described in the 2021 proxy statement. For Proposal three, resolved, that the compensation paid to the company's named executive officers, as disclosed pursuant to Item 402 of Regulation S-K, including the compensation discussion and analysis, compensation table, and narrative discussion, is hereby approved. The fourth proposal is approval of the amendment to the Avangrid, Inc. Amended and Restated Omnibus Incentive Plan. For Proposal four, resolved, that the amendment to the Avangrid, Inc. Amended and Restated Omnibus Incentive Plan is hereby approved. Are there any questions concerning the four proposals? Seeing none submitted through the virtual meeting platform, we will now move on to voting because no further business is on the agenda. Mr. Chairman, you can declare the polls open I declare the polls open. Those shareholders who wish to vote electronically on the virtual meeting platform, please do so now. Proxies previously received will be voted by ballot. Mr. Chairman, you may proceed. I declare the polls closed and ask the secretary to tabulate the ballot. Mr. Chairman, you may proceed. I'm advised that the ballots have been counted. Will the secretary please report the preliminary result of the voting? On behalf of the Inspector of Elections, I wish to report the following. As to the first proposal, in excess of the majority of the votes of the shares of voting stock present in person or represented by proxy and entitled to vote at this meeting were cast in favor of the election of each of the 14 nominees to the board of directors, and each such nominee is hereby duly elected. As to the remaining proposals, in excess of the majority of the votes of shares of voting stock present in person or represented by proxy and entitled to vote at this meeting were cast in favor of each such proposal, and each such proposal is hereby approved. Since there are no further business, we will now adjourn the meeting. This concludes the formal part of the 2021 annual meeting. As we say anytime we make forward-looking statements, these statements reflect management's intentions, plans, beliefs, expectations, or forecasts for the future. The company's actual results may differ materially from these statements. The factors that may affect the risks and uncertainties regarding our expectations are included in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements, of course, are only as of this date, and we do not undertake any obligation to revise or update them. Well, good morning. Thank you all for joining us today. I'm Dennis Arriola, Chief Executive Officer of Avangrid. As health and safety are a core value at Avangrid, we're once again hosting this year's annual shareholder meeting virtually. Our focus from the start of the pandemic has been to safely and reliably deliver clean energy and maintain our essential service for our customers. Since I came on board as Avangrid CEO nearly one year ago, I've been continuously impressed by our team's resiliency, dedication, and our ability to go above and beyond when it matters most for our customers, our communities, and for each other. I want to begin by first saying thank you. Thank you to the Avangrid team for their efforts every day. You make us proud. Now overall, 2020 positions us for tremendous opportunity going forward. We invested approximately $3 billion to create a cleaner, more connected grid and to expand our growing renewables portfolio. In networks, our major achievements include our two-year rate plan in New York. Our teams also work proactively and thoughtfully to respond to major storms like Tropical Storm Isaias. Additionally, your company made a significant strategic announcement with our $8.3 billion merger agreement with PNM Resources in New Mexico and Texas. Once we close the transaction, Avangrid will serve a population of approximately 10 million people. In renewables, we completed approximately 620 MW of new wind projects and 370 MW of repower projects, bringing our total installed capacity to approximately 7.9 GW. 2020 was also defined by our new ESG&F, or Environmental, Social, Governance, and Financial Sustainability strategy. Earlier this month, Avangrid named its first chief sustainability officer. Throughout the pandemic, your company and employees have supported our customers and communities when they've needed it most. Together with the Avangrid Foundation, we donated $2.5 million to aid response and recovery efforts nationwide. And our effort and our commitment to ESG&F was recognized by external organizations like Forbes and JUST Capital, who named Avangrid one of the 2021 JUST 100, an annual ranking of the most just public companies in the U.S. Avangrid was recognized as the industry leader in environment and in community support. In regards to our financial performance, we exceeded our revised 2020 guidance of $1.90-$2.00 in adjusted earnings per share, ending the year at $2.02 per share. Focused on driving execution and delivering strong and consistent results. These are the elements that build trust and confidence, create long-term value, and foster the financial sustainability that is a cornerstone of our ESG&F strategy. Now more than ever, it's clear, sustainability, both in energy and in business, is critical to future success. We see our ESG&F strategy as a better and balanced way to do business, one that creates the best outcomes for all stakeholders and sets us up for long-term success to continue to provide value to you, our shareholders. Our view of ESG&F is segmented into four distinct but balanced components. First, environment, driving investments in a cleaner energy future and building a road to carbon neutrality. Second, social, compelling us to better serve our customers and communities and to enhance our focus on diversity and inclusion. Third, governance, setting the highest ethical standards for how we manage and operate our company. Finally, financial. We believe that you can't make a material and lasting impact if you're not also delivering strong long-term financial results that allow you to invest for growth and to create value. At Avangrid, we aspire to be the leading sustainable energy company in the U.S. It's a bold aspiration, certainly, but it is achievable, and it is with this strategy in hand that we'll do it. We recognize that we must continue to grow and transform our business. We can't rest on our laurels or be satisfied with yesterday's results. By focusing on customer satisfaction, enhancing our employee experience, driving continuous improvement and innovation, building a performance culture, and keeping safety and health at our core, we will make Avangrid better every day and fully harness our growth potential. I'm proud to lead your team at Avangrid and look forward to sharing the accomplishments to come. Now it's my pleasure to hand it back to the Chairman of our Board of Directors, Ignacio Galán, who will share his thoughts on the future of Avangrid and our long-term vision. Thank you, Dennis. The climate crisis is one of the most urgent challenges we face globally. Avangrid's focus on sustainability and its clean generation portfolio positions us to become the national leader. We are leading the way to a cleaner energy future through dozens of renewable and networks investment all around the country, including the largest clean energy project in New England, the Vineyard Wind and Park City Wind offshore project, and New England Clean Energy Connect high-voltage line. With Vineyard Wind, we are pioneers of the new American industry, opening the door for huge investment in our communities and for job creation. Last month, we received the final approval from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. It was truly a historic decision for the entire U.S. energy industry and for the New England. We are proud to have led the way once again. In addition, our 1,200 MW New England Clean Energy Connect project has completed all major permitting, and construction is now underway, bringing jobs and economic benefit to Maine and the New England region. Together, Vineyard Wind and NECEC will create over 5,000 jobs. Our clean energy leadership does not end with the current project under construction. We have approximately 23,000 MW of additional projects in our pipeline that will drive continued growth in renewable for years to come. As you know, last year, we announced the integration of PNM Resources to our family of companies, expanding our network operations into Texas and New Mexico and driving continued growth for Avangrid. We are progressing as planned on the required regulatory approvals, and we are ready to receive the approval from Public Utility Commission of Texas last month. We are focused on obtaining the last remaining approval, including from the commission of New Mexico, and remain on track to close in the second half of this year. The U.S. has a unique opportunity to create new era of economic growth through investment in clean infrastructure. The administration is targeting to reduce emission economy-wide by 50%- 52% by 2030, to decarbonize the power sector by 2035, and to reach net zero by 2050. This is supported by a $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, which includes $100 billion for grid investment and additional transmission, as well as a goal to deploy 30,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030. With our strong presence in networks and renewables, Avangrid is in the best position to lead the way. We will also continue to support the more than 70,000 jobs that depend on our activities and investment in the U.S., which contribute to nearly $10 billion to the country GDP. Between 2020 and 2025, Avangrid plans to invest $35 billion in total, including our investment in PNM Resources, nearly doubling our network rate base and significantly increasing our renewable installed capacity, particularly in offshore wind. This investment will drive sustainable and consistent growth, launching and expanding the new U.S. offshore wind industry, developing additional solar and offshore wind, and building the networks infrastructure required to increase resiliency and integrate new clean energy resources. Avangrid strategy in our ESG+F commitments will create sustainable value for all stakeholders. We are poised to achieve carbon neutrality from our electric generation by 2035. We are also advancing innovation and sustainable supply chain. In 2020, Avangrid made over $3 billion in purchase, 97% of which were from United States suppliers. We have made commitments to enhance supplier sustainability and diversity and to implement new technologies such as storage and green hydrogen. We are also ensuring diversity and equal opportunities at all levels of the organization, and we are proven through our record of ethical business and good governance. In conclusion, our industry is at the unique moment in time to drive historic investment in clean energy and networks to lead a new transition in U.S. and to create jobs and stimulate economic growth. To complete this, we must act quickly. Avangrid has the experience and expertise needed and is prepared to lead the way. Thank you very much for your confidence and your support. Thank you for attending the 2021 annual meeting of shareholders of Avangrid, Inc. This meeting has concluded. You may now disconnect.
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