Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group Inc. today reported fourth quarter net income of $432.6 million, or $1.36 per share, up from $194.4 million, or 61 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Fourth quarter operating revenues were $2.1 billion, up from $2 billion in the year-ago quarter.
For the full year, WEC reported net income of $1.2 billion, or $3.79 per share, up from $939 million, or $2.96 per share, in 2016.
Full-year operating revenues totaled $7.6 billion, up from $7.5 billion in 2016.
The marked increase in profits in both the fourth quarter and full year was attributed to one-time, non-cash adjustments equal to 65 cents per share as a result of the new federal tax law, which was applied to WEC’s assets. On an adjusted basis, WEC’s fourth quarter earnings were 71 cents per share. Its adjusted full-year earnings were $3.14 per share.
Retail electricity usage was down 1.6 percent for WEC’s Wisconsin and Michigan utilities in 2017. Residential electricity use declined 3.3 percent, and small commercial and industrial use fell 1.4 percent. Large commercial and industrial users, however, increased usage by 0.4 percent for the year. WEC attributed the decreases to a cooler summer compared to 2016.
“These latest results reflect a disciplined focus on cost control, efficiency gains and executing on the fundamentals of our business,” said Gale Klappa, chairman and chief executive officer at WEC. “On virtually every meaningful measure – from network reliability to customer satisfaction to community involvement – the company continued to perform at a high level during 2017.”
WEC Energy Group utilities increased their customer count by a total of 11,000 electric and 20,000 natural gas over the past year. With six utilities serving 4.4 million electric and natural gas customers in four states, WEC Energy Group is one of the largest utilities – and one of the largest corporations – in the country. It has about $30 billion in assets, 8,500 employees and 55,000 stockholders of record.
