🧾 What This Document Is

This is a Form 8-K filing from CenterPoint Energy. It's a "current report" that companies use to announce major events to investors. This specific filing contains two key exhibits:

1. Exhibit 99.1: The official press release announcing Q1 2026 financial results and a major update on electric load growth.
2. Exhibit 99.2: An investor presentation slide deck that dives deeper into the numbers and plans.

Think of it as a quarterly report card combined with a look at the company's future project plans.

🏢 What The Company Does

👉 In simple terms, CenterPoint Energy is a major electricity and natural gas utility. They own the "poles and wires" that deliver power to homes and businesses, and they also distribute natural gas for heating.

• They are the only investor-owned utility based in Texas.
• They serve over 7 million metered customers in Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Texas.
• As of March 31, 2026, they owned about $47.8 billion in assets and have roughly 8,800 employees.

Their core business is building, maintaining, and operating energy delivery infrastructure.

💰 Financial Highlights — Q1 2026 Results

The company had a solid first quarter, with growth compared to last year.

Per-Share Earnings:

• GAAP EPS (official accounting): $0.48 (up from $0.45 in Q1 2025)
• Non-GAAP EPS (adjusted for one-time items): $0.56 (up from $0.53 in Q1 2025)

👉 Why it matters: The non-GAAP number is what management focuses on and uses for guidance. It removes the "noise" from unusual events to show the underlying business performance. The $0.03 increase in non-GAAP EPS was driven by growth and regulatory adjustments, though it was partially hurt by less favorable weather and higher interest costs.

The Big Guidance Reiteration: The company confirmed its full-year 2026 earnings guidance of at least $1.89 to $1.91 per share on a non-GAAP basis. The midpoint of this range represents 8% growth over their full 2025 results.

🚀 Key Moves — The Data Center Boom

This is the biggest news in the filing. CenterPoint is experiencing a surge in demand, particularly from industrial customers and data centers in the Houston area.

• Firmly Committed Load: They announced 12.2 gigawatts of firmly committed new industrial electric load. To put that in perspective, that's like adding the equivalent power demand of several large cities.
• Data Center Forecast: They now expect to have 8 gigawatts of data center projects powered up ("energized") in the Greater Houston area by 2029.
• Already Underway: A huge 3.5 gigawatts of that data center load is already under construction.

👉 Why it matters: This is a massive growth engine. The CEO, Jason Wells, stated this accelerating growth will lead to an estimated $4 billion in customer savings over the next decade because the cost of the new infrastructure is spread across a much larger base of electricity users. He called it "one of the most tangible and executable growth plans in the industry."

📦 Financial Position & What's Changing

The company is in the middle of simplifying its portfolio by selling off non-core natural gas businesses to focus on its core electric and gas utilities.

• They completed the sale of their Louisiana and Mississippi natural gas businesses in Q1 2025.
• They have announced the sale of their Ohio natural gas business.
• They are also managing the wind-down of Temporary Emergency Electric Energy Facilities (TEEEF)—temporary power generators that are no longer needed in their rate-regulated business.

These moves explain some of the financial "noise" (gains/losses) in their quarterly results.

🔮 What's Next — The $65.5 Billion Plan

The filing heavily emphasizes a massive, long-term capital investment plan.

• 10-Year Plan: $65.5 billion in investments from 2026-2035.
• First 5 Years (2026-2030): About $33 billion will be spent, with the bulk going to Houston Electric for projects related to resiliency, reliability, and meeting the new data center/industrial load.
• Annual Spending: Investment is planned to ramp from an estimated $7.0 billion in 2026 to around $7.0 billion in 2030.

👉 Why it matters: This huge capital plan is the roadmap for how they intend to meet the growth they're announcing. It signals a period of intense construction and investment, funded through operating cash flow, debt, and potentially future equity.

⚖️ Big Picture — Strengths & Risks

👍 Strengths:

• Visible Growth: The 12.2 GW of committed load, especially from data centers, provides a clear, multi-year demand driver for their electric business.
• Execution: Management highlighted moving "at the speed of business" and connecting new customers quickly.
• Affordability Catalyst: New large customers help lower costs for all existing customers through economies of scale.

⚠️ Risks & Challenges:

• Execution Risk: Successfully managing a $65+ billion capital plan over a decade is a huge undertaking. Delays or cost overruns could impact returns.
• Interest Rate Sensitivity: Higher interest rates increase the cost of financing all this new debt (as already seen in Q1 results).
• Regulatory & Market Risks: Future earnings depend on recovering these investments through customer rates, which involves regulatory approval. Weather and economic conditions also remain unpredictable.

🌍 What This Signals for the Industry

CenterPoint's results are a case study in the "electrification of everything" trend. The explosive growth in AI and cloud computing is creating unprecedented demand for electricity from data centers. Utilities located in cheap energy regions like Texas are becoming critical infrastructure providers for the digital economy. This filing shows a utility pivoting to become a direct enabler of that tech growth.

🔍 The Details — Non-GAAP Explained

The company uses "non-GAAP" metrics because their results include complex one-time items. The main adjustments are:

1. ZENS: Accounting gains/losses from a specific type of old debt (Zero-Premium Exchangeable Subordinated Notes).
2. Merger/Divestiture Impacts: Losses from selling businesses (like the Ohio gas business).
3. TEEF Impacts: Accounting for the retired temporary power generators. 👉 Key Point: These adjustments are meant to show you the profit from their ongoing, core utility operations. Always look at the reconciliation tables to see what's being added or subtracted.

🧠 The Analogy

Think of CenterPoint Energy as a major highway operator. Their traditional business was maintaining existing roads (serving current homes and businesses). Now, they've just gotten building permits and firm contracts to construct entirely new highway lanes (data centers and industrial parks) right next to the existing ones. Their 10-year, $65.5B plan is their construction schedule and budget for this massive expansion. If they build it on time and on budget, the tolls (electric rates) from all the new traffic (data centers) will help pay for it and even lower the average cost for everyone.

🧩 Final Takeaway

CenterPoint delivered strong Q1 results and confirmed its yearly targets, but the real story is the unprecedented scale of new demand from data centers and industry in its territory. This validates its massive $65.5 billion investment plan, positioning it as a key utility benefiting from the AI and electrification boom, though the execution and financing of this growth will be the critical watchpoint for investors.

Media Contact: [email protected] Investors: Ben Vallejo / Ellie Wood, Phone 713.207.6500