Pinnacle West Capital 10-Q 2021-09-30

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2021

OR

For the transition period from to

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark whether each registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

PINNACLE WEST CAPITAL CORPORATION

ARIZONA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether each registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date.

Arizona Public Service Company meets the conditions set forth in General Instruction H(1)(a) and (b) of Form 10-Q and is therefore filing this form with the reduced disclosure format allowed under that General Instruction.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

This combined Form 10-Q is separately provided by Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (“Pinnacle West”) and Arizona Public Service Company (“APS”). Any use of the words “Company,” “we,” and “our” refer to Pinnacle West. Each registrant is providing on its own behalf all of the information contained in this Form 10-Q that relates to such registrant and, where required, its subsidiaries. Except as stated in the preceding sentence, neither registrant is providing any information that does not relate to such registrant, and therefore makes no representation as to any such information. The information required with respect to each company is set forth within the applicable items. Item 1 of this report includes Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements of Pinnacle West and Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements of APS. Item 1 also includes Combined Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This document contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations. These forward-looking statements are often identified by words such as “estimate,” “predict,” “may,” “believe,” “plan,” “expect,” “require,” “intend,” “assume,” “project,” “anticipate,” “goal,” “seek,” “strategy,” “likely,” “should,” “will,” “could,” and similar words. Because actual results may differ materially from expectations, we caution readers not to place undue reliance on these statements. A number of factors could cause future results to differ materially from historical results, or from outcomes currently expected or sought by Pinnacle West or APS. In addition to the Risk Factors described in Part I, Item 1A of the Pinnacle West/APS Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 (“2020 Form 10-K”), Part II, Item 1A of this report and in Part I, Item 2 — “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of this report, these factors include, but are not limited to:

• the potential effects of the continued Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic, including, but not limited to, demand for energy, economic growth, our employees and contractors, supply chain, expenses, capital markets, capital projects, operations and maintenance activities, uncollectable accounts, liquidity, cash flows or other unpredictable events;

• our ability to manage capital expenditures and operations and maintenance costs while maintaining reliability and customer service levels;

• variations in demand for electricity, including those due to weather, seasonality (including large increases in ambient temperatures), the general economy or social conditions, customer and sales growth (or decline), the effects of energy conservation measures and distributed generation, and technological advancements;

• the potential effects of climate change on our electric system, including as a result of weather extremes such as prolonged drought and high temperature variations in the area where APS conducts its business;

• power plant and transmission system performance and outages;

• competition in retail and wholesale power markets;

• regulatory and judicial decisions, developments and proceedings;

• new legislation, ballot initiatives and regulation, including those relating to environmental requirements, regulatory and energy policy, nuclear plant operations and potential deregulation of retail electric markets;

• fuel and water supply availability;

• our ability to achieve timely and adequate rate recovery of our costs through our rates and adjustor recovery mechanisms, including returns on and of debt and equity capital investment;

• our ability to meet renewable energy and energy efficiency mandates and recover related costs;

• the ability of APS to achieve its clean energy goals (including a goal by 2050 of 100% clean, carbon-free electricity) and, if these goals are achieved, the impact of such achievement on APS, its customers, and its business, financial condition and results of operations;

• risks inherent in the operation of nuclear facilities, including spent fuel disposal uncertainty;

• current and future economic conditions in Arizona, including in real estate markets;

• the direct or indirect effect on our facilities or business from cybersecurity threats or intrusions, data security breaches, terrorist attack, physical attack, severe storms, or other catastrophic events, such as fires, explosions, pandemic health events, or similar occurrences;

• the development of new technologies which may affect electric sales or delivery;

• the cost of debt and equity capital and the ability to access capital markets when required;

• environmental, economic and other concerns surrounding coal-fired generation, including regulation of greenhouse gas emissions;

• volatile fuel and purchased power costs;

• the investment performance of the assets of our nuclear decommissioning trust, pension, and other postretirement benefit plans and the resulting impact on future funding requirements;

• the liquidity of wholesale power markets and the use of derivative contracts in our business;

• potential shortfalls in insurance coverage;

• new accounting requirements or new interpretations of existing requirements;

• generation, transmission and distribution facility and system conditions and operating costs;

• the ability to meet the anticipated future need for additional generation and associated transmission facilities in our region;

• the willingness or ability of our counterparties, power plant participants and power plant landowners to meet contractual or other obligations or extend the rights for continued power plant operations; and

• restrictions on dividends or other provisions in our credit agreements and Arizona Corporation Commission (“ACC”) orders.

These and other factors are discussed in the Risk Factors described in Part I, Item 1A of our 2020 Form 10-K, Part II, Item 1A of this report, and in Part I, Item 2 — “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of this report, which readers should review carefully before placing any reliance on our financial statements or disclosures. Neither Pinnacle West nor APS assumes any obligation to update these statements, even if our internal estimates change, except as required by law.

PART I — FINANCIAL INFORMATION

INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES

PINNACLE WEST CAPITAL CORPORATION

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME

(unaudited)

(dollars and shares in thousands, except per share amounts)

Showing the first 8K of 289K characters. Open the full section

INTRODUCTION

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with Pinnacle West’s Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and APS’s Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and the related Combined Notes that appear in Item 1 of this report. For information on factors that may cause our actual future results to differ from those we currently seek or anticipate, see “Forward-Looking Statements” at the front of this report and “Risk Factors” in Part 1, Item 1A of the 2020 Form 10-K, and Part II, Item 1A of this report.

OVERVIEW

Business Overview

Pinnacle West is an investor-owned electric utility holding company based in Phoenix, Arizona with consolidated assets of about $22 billion. For over 130 years, Pinnacle West and our affiliates have provided energy and energy-related products to people and businesses throughout Arizona.

Pinnacle West derives essentially all of our revenues and earnings from our principal subsidiary, APS. APS is Arizona’s largest and longest-serving electric company that generates safe, affordable and reliable electricity for approximately 1.3 million retail customers in 11 of Arizona’s 15 counties. APS is also the operator and co-owner of Palo Verde — a primary source of electricity for the southwest United States and the largest nuclear power plant in the United States.

COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be an evolving situation. The Company is operating under long-standing pandemic and business continuity plans that exist to address situations including pandemics like COVID-19. We are focused on ensuring the health and safety of our employees, contractors and the general public by helping limit the spread of this virus and ensuring continued, safe and reliable electric service for APS customers.

We identified business-critical positions in our operations and support organizations, with backup personnel ready to assist if an issue arose. Additionally, efforts to ensure the health and safety of our employees resulted in bifurcated control rooms, thus reducing the number of employees in mission-critical locations. We also established COVID-19 safety protocols, social distancing practices and offering virtual options whenever possible. The Company also took rapid action to implement an all Company COVID-19 hotline, a focused COVID-19 team, and procured on-site COVID-19 testing at key facilities early in the pandemic. Through this testing, case management and contact tracing, the Company has been able to significantly limit COVID-19 transmission in the workplace. As a result of these efforts, we were able to maintain the continuity of the essential services that we provide to our customers, while also managing the spread of the virus and promoting the health, physical and mental well-being and safety of our employees, customers and communities. In the summer of 2021, the Company began transitioning employees that were previously working remotely back to the workplace on a limited basis and began the reduction of our COVID-19 safety protocols and restrictions. Due to the COVID-19 Delta variant and increased transmission rates, the Company has delayed its full transition back to the workplace and COVID-19 safety protocols and restrictions remain in place.

Essential planned work and capital investments are continuing during the pandemic with priority given to support fire mitigation and summer storm efforts, as well as heat related outages. Raw material shortages and natural disasters are putting increased pressure on the global supply chain. APS is experiencing some delays in raw materials from Asia but currently, it has not experienced material supply chain shortages that impact its ability to serve its customers’ needs. If APS continues to experience delays in materials, it could experience an increase in purchased power costs for summer generation needs. Such increased purchased power costs would be expected to be recoverable through the PSA (See Note 4 for additional information on the PSA). APS has measures in place to continually monitor and evaluate resource needs and supply chain adequacy but cannot predict whether there will be material supply chain shortages in the future.

The Company’s operations and maintenance expenses, exclusive of bad debt expense, increased by approximately $3.6 million for the period ended September 30, 2021 due to costs for personal protective equipment and other health and safety-related costs related to COVID-19. We expect the Company’s operation and maintenance expenses will continue to be impacted for 2021 by the need for additional personal protective equipment and other health and safety-related costs related to COVID-19.

While the total expected impact of COVID-19 on future sales is currently unknown, APS experienced higher electric residential sales and lower electric commercial and industrial sales from the outset of the pandemic through April 2021. Beginning in May 2021, electric sales to commercial and industrial customers increased to levels in line with pre-COVID sales. APS cannot predict whether sales from commercial and industrial customers has fully recovered, but it expects sales trends to continue normalizing during 2021 as business activity continues to recover and more people return to work. Based on past experience, a 1% variation in our annual kWh sales projections under normal business conditions can result in increases or decreases in annual net income of approximately $20 million.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act allows employers to defer payments of the employer share of Social Security payroll taxes that would have otherwise been owed from March 27, 2020 through December 31, 2020. We deferred the cash payment of the employer’s portion of Social Security payroll taxes for the period July 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 that was approximately $18 million. We will pay half of this cash deferral by December 31, 2021 and the remainder by December 31, 2022.

On June 30, 2020, FERC issued an order granting a waiver request related to the existing AFUDC rate calculation beginning March 1, 2020 through February 28, 2021. On February 23, 2021, this waiver was extended until September 30, 2021. On September 21, 2021, it was further extended until March 31, 2022. The order provides a simplified approach that companies may elect to implement in order to minimize the significant distorted effect on the AFUDC formula resulting from increased short-term debt financing during the COVID-19 pandemic. APS has adopted this simplified approach to computing the AFUDC composite rate by using a simple average of the actual historical short-term debt balances for 2019, instead of current period short-term debt balances, and has left all other aspects of the AFUDC formula composite rate calculation unchanged. This change impacts the AFUDC composite rate in both 2020 and 2021, but does not impact prior years. Furthermore, the change in the composite rate calculation does not impact our accounting treatment for these costs. The change did not have a material impact on our financial statements. See Note 1.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, APS voluntarily suspended disconnections of customers for nonpayment and waived late payment fees beginning March 13, 2020 until December 31, 2020. The suspension of disconnection of customers for nonpayment ended on January 1, 2021 and customers were automatically placed on eight-month payment arrangements if they had past due balances at the end of the disconnection period of $75 or greater. APS is continuing to waive late payment fees. APS has experienced

and is continuing to experience an increase in bad debt expense associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summer Disconnection Moratorium and the related write-offs of customer delinquent accounts. APS currently estimates that the Summer Disconnection Moratorium, the suspension of disconnections during the COVID-19 pande

Showing the first 8K of 104K characters. Open the full section

See “Key Financial Drivers” and “Market and Credit Risks” in Item 2 above for a discussion of quantitative and qualitative disclosures about market risks.

(a) Disclosure Controls and Procedures

The term “disclosure controls and procedures” means controls and other procedures of a company that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.), is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to a company’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Pinnacle West’s management, with the participation of Pinnacle West’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, have evaluated the effectiveness of Pinnacle West’s disclosure controls and procedures as of September 30, 2021. Based on that evaluation, Pinnacle West’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that, as of that date, Pinnacle West’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective.

APS’s management, with the participation of APS’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of APS’s disclosure controls and procedures as of September 30, 2021. Based on that evaluation, APS’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that, as of that date, APS’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective.

(b) Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

The term “internal control over financial reporting” (defined in SEC Rule 13a-15(f)) refers to the process of a company that is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP.

No change in Pinnacle West’s or APS’s internal control over financial reporting occurred during the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2021 that materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, Pinnacle West’s or APS’s internal control over financial reporting.

PART II — OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

See “Business of Arizona Public Service Company — Environmental Matters” in Item 1 of the 2020 Form 10-K with regard to pending or threatened litigation and other matters.

See Note 4 for ACC and FERC-related matters.

See Note 8 for information regarding environmental matters, Superfund-related matters and other disputes.

In addition to the other information set forth in this report, you should carefully consider the factors discussed in Part I, Item 1A — Risk Factors in the 2020 Form 10-K, which could materially affect the business, financial condition, cash flows or future results of Pinnacle West and APS. The risks described in the 2020 Form 10-K are not the only risks facing Pinnacle West and APS. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial also may materially adversely affect the business, financial condition, cash flows and/or operating results of Pinnacle West and APS.

The risk factors below are an update to our 2020 Form 10-K.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic could negatively affect our business.

The outbreak of COVID-19 is a continually developing situation around the globe that has led to economic disruption and volatility in the financial markets. The continued spread of COVID-19 and efforts to contain the virus and mitigate its public health effects, including but not limited to a vaccine mandate, could decrease demand for energy, lower economic growth, impact our employees and contractors, cause disruptions in our supply chain, increase certain costs, further increase volatility in the capital markets (and result in increases in the cost of capital or an inability to access the capital markets or draw on available credit facilities), delay the completion of capital or other construction projects and other operations and maintenance activities, delay payments or increase uncollectable accounts, impact our ability to hire or retain qualified employees, or cause other unpredictable events, each of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, from March 2020 through April 2021, APS experienced higher electric residential sales and lower electric commercial and industrial sales and the cumulative impact on weather normalized retail electricity sales usage was a net increase as compared to 2019. APS is also experiencing an increase in bad debt expense associated with the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in a negative impact to its 2020 operating results and APS is anticipating a negative impact to its 2021 operating results. In mid-March 2020, we drew on our revolving credit facilities as a result of the commercial paper markets failing to function normally due to COVID-19, but we were subsequently able to utilize the commercial paper market in April 2020 and we have paid down the revolving credit facilities completely. We are also experiencing increased operations and maintenance expenses due to the need for personal protective equipment and other health and safety-related costs related to COVID-19.

Despite our efforts to manage the impacts, the degree to which the COVID-19 pandemic and related actions ultimately impact our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows will depend on factors beyond our control including the duration, spread and severity of the outbreak, the actions taken to

contain COVID-19 and mitigate its public health effects, including but not limited to a vaccine mandate, the impact on the U.S. and global economies and demand for energy, and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions resume.

We are subject to employee workforce factors that could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

Like many companies in the electric utility industry, our workforce is maturing, with approximately 31% of employees eligible to retire by the end of 2025. Although we have undertaken efforts to recruit, train and develop new employees, we face increased competition for talent. We are subject to other employee workforce factors, such as the availability and retention of qualified personnel and the need to negotiate collective bargaining agreements with union employees. Additionally, any regulatory changes requiring us to enforce a COVID-19 vaccination mandate could impact the availability of, and our ability to attract and retain, sufficient qualified employees. These or other employee workforce factors could negatively impact our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We are subject to cybersecurity risks and risks of unauthorized access to our systems that could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

We operate in a highly regulated industry that requires the continued operation of sophisticated information technology systems and network infrastructure. In the regular course of our business, we handle a range of sensitive security, customer and business systems information. There appears to be an increasing level of activity, sophistication and maturity of threat actors, in particular nation state actors, that seek to exploit potential vulnerabilities in the electric utility industry and wish to disrupt the U.S. bulk power system, our information technology systems, generation (including our Palo Verde nuclear facility), transmission and distribution facilities, and other infrastructure facilities and systems and physical assets. We have been and could be the target of attacks, and the aforementioned systems are critical areas of cyber protection for us.

We rely extensively on IT systems, networks, and services, including internet sites, data hosting and processing facilities, and other hardware, software and technical applications and platforms. Some of these systems are managed, hosted, provided, or used for third parties to assist in conducting our business. Malicious actors may attack vendors to disrupt the services these vendors provide to us or to use those vendors as a cyber conduit to attack us. As more third parties are involved in the operation of our business, there is a risk the confidentiality, integrity, privacy or security of data held by, or accessible to, third parties may be compromised.

If a significant cybersecurity event or breach were to occur, we may not be able to fulfill critical business functions and we could (i) experience property damage, disruptions to our business, theft of or unauthorized access to customer, employee, financial or system operation information or other information; (ii) experience loss of revenue or incur significant costs for repair, remediation and breach notification, and increased capital and operating costs to implement increased security measures; and (iii) be subject to increased regulation, litigation and reputational damage. If such disruptions or breaches are not detected quickly, their effect could be compounded or could delay our response or the effectiveness of our response and ability to limit our exposure to potential liability. These types of events could also require significant management attention and resources, and could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

We develop and maintain systems and processes aimed at detecting and preventing information and cybersecurity incidents which require significant investment, maintenance, and ongoing monitoring and updating as technologies and regulatory requirements change. These systems and processes may be

insufficient to mitigate the possibility of information and cybersecurity incidents, malicious social engineering, fraudulent or other malicious activities, and human error or malfeasance in the safeguarding of our data.

We are subject to laws and rules issued by multiple government agencies concerning safeguarding and maintaining the confidentiality of our security, customer and business information. One of these agencies, NERC, has issued comprehensive regulations and standards surrounding the security of bulk power systems, and is continually in the process of developing updated and additional requirements with which the utility industry must comply. The NRC also has issued regulations and standards related to the protection of critical digital assets at commercial nuclear power plants. The increasing promulgation of NERC and NRC rules and standards will increase our compliance costs and our exposure to the potential risk of violations of the standards. Experiencing a cybersecurity incident could cause us to be non-compliant with applicable laws and regulations, such as those promulgated by NERC and the NRC, privacy laws, or contracts that require us to securely maintain confidential data, causing us to incur costs related to legal claims or proceedings and regulatory fines or penalties.

The risk of these system-related events and security breaches occurring continues to intensify. We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, threats and attempted intrusions to our information technology systems and we could experience such threats and attempted intrusions to our operational control systems. To date, we do not believe we have experienced a material breach or disruption to our network or information systems or our service operations. We may not be able to anticipate and prevent all cyberattacks or information security breaches, and our ongoing investments in security resources, talent, and business practices may not be effective against all threat actors. As such attacks continue to increase in sophistication and frequency, we may be unable to prevent all such attacks from being successful in the future.

We maintain cyber insurance to provide coverage for a portion of the losses and damages that may result from a security breach of our information technology systems, but such insurance is subject to a number of exclusions and may not cover the total loss or damage caused by a breach. Coverage for cybersecurity events continues to evolve as the industry matures. In the future, adequate insurance may not be available at rates that we believe are reasonable, and the costs of responding to and recovering from a cyber incident may not be covered by insurance or recoverable in rates.

None.

(a) Exhibits

*Furnished herewith as an Exhibit.

In addition, Pinnacle West and APS hereby incorporate the following Exhibits pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 12b-32 and Regulation §229.10(d) by reference to the filings set forth below:

(1) Reports filed under File Nos. 1-4473 and 1-8962 were filed in the office of the Securities and Exchange Commission located in Washington, D.C.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, each registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.