Nov 3 (Reuters) - Pinnacle West Capital PNW.N reported a rise in third-quarter profit on Monday, boosted by rising power demand due to scorching summer heat, lower operations and maintenance costs, and customer additions.
The Phoenix, Arizona-based electric utility said its service areas experienced record temperatures during the summer months, leading to higher electricity consumption.
"Driven by one of the fastest-growing service territories in the country and the third-hottest Arizona summer on record, we experienced an increase in retail sales that helped contribute to solid third-quarter financial results," said CEO Ted Geisler.
Company's unit, Arizona Public Service (APS), which provides electricity to about 1.4 million customers, intends to invest more than $2.5 billion annually through 2028 for infrastructure additions and upgrades, it said.
Utilities in the U.S. have been adding billions of dollars to their spending budgets as they field massive requests for new power capacity from Big Tech companies in search for viable locations for data centers, which could support complex AI-related tasks.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration in October forecast power demand to hit record highs in 2025 and 2026. The S&P index tracking utilities .SPLRCU also rose 6.8% in the quarter ended September 30.
The utility said net income attributable to common shareholders climbed to $413.2 million, or $3.39 per share, for the quarter ended September 30, from last year's $395 million or $3.37 per share.
Operating revenue for the third quarter was reported at $1.82 billion, up from $1.77 billion a year ago. Operations and maintenance expenses fell nearly 3% to $299.62 million from a year ago.
The utility forecast current-year consolidated earnings forecast between $4.90 and $5.10 per share, higher than its prior outlook of $4.40 to $4.60 apiece.
Pinnacle expects 2026 consolidated earnings of $4.55 to $4.75 per share.
(Reporting by Varun Sahay and Pooja Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
((Varun.Sahay@thomsonreuters.com; Pooja.Menon@thomsonreuters.com;))
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