Alliant Energy may get earnings bump from July heat wave

Alliant Energy said Thursday it expects hot July weather to add an additional 12 to 14 cents per share to its fiscal year earnings.

Alliant Chief Financial Tom Hanson made the remarks in a conference call with analysts on Thursday, August 4, as the company released second-quarter earnings that were essentially unchanged from a year earlier.

Hot weather boosts electrical demand due to air conditioning loads. Hanson said the company isn't yet revising its full-year earnings guidance to reflect the weather experienced in July.

July is only the first month in Alliant's third fiscal quarter, and company officials reinforced that second-half results tend to drive the company's full-year earnings.

July's prolonged heat wave brought a new record demand peak for the company's Interstate Power & Light Utility in Iowa of 3,150 megawatts on July 18.

"The hot, humid weather tested our plants and electrical grid, but we are pleased to report that we met the demand of our customers and kept outages to a minimum, storms notwithstanding," Hanson told analysts.

Alliant' s second quarter earnings were mostly unchanged from a year earlier, as utility rate increases were offset by regulatory and other charges.

The company reported adjusted earnings of 44 cents per share. It implemented new retail rates at the company's Wisconsin Power & Light utility, but also had higher depreciation and operating expess for its Bent Tree wind project, and accounting charges for a tax benefit rider at its Interstate Power & Light utility.

Overall retail electric sales increased 1 percent during the first half of 2011, the company said. Sales to industrial customers rose 3 percent, while sales to the residential and commercial customer classes were flat.

The company affirmed its 2011 earnings guidance, which projects utility earnings of $2.73 per share and earnings from non-regulated operations of 15 cents per share.