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Here are 1-3 brief analogies to describe CMS Energy:

• CMS Energy is like the Comcast or AT&T for electricity and natural gas in Michigan, providing essential utility services to homes and businesses.
• Think of CMS Energy as Michigan's version of Con Edison, a large regulated utility providing electricity and natural gas across the state.
• CMS Energy is essentially Michigan's primary power and natural gas company, similar to how Waste Management (WM) is a dominant provider of essential waste disposal services across many regions.

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• Electric Service: Provides the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity to residential, commercial, and industrial customers primarily in Michigan.
• Natural Gas Service: Distributes and transports natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers throughout Michigan.

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CMS Energy (symbol: CMS) is an energy company based in Michigan, primarily operating as a utility through its Consumers Energy subsidiary. As a utility, CMS Energy sells electricity and natural gas directly to end-users, rather than to a few major corporate customers for resale.

The company serves a broad base of customers, which can be categorized as:

1. Residential Customers: Individuals and households who use electricity and natural gas for their homes.
2. Commercial Customers: Businesses, offices, retail establishments, and other non-industrial enterprises.
3. Industrial Customers: Manufacturing plants, large factories, and other industrial operations that require significant amounts of energy.

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• Landis+Gyr (Symbol: LAND.SW)

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Garrick J. Rochow, President and Chief Executive Officer

Garrick J. Rochow was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of CMS Energy and its principal subsidiary, Consumers Energy, in December 2020. He has been with CMS Energy for over two decades, holding various leadership positions including Executive Vice President of Operations, where he was responsible for the company's electric and natural gas distribution and transmission operations, generation, and overall operations performance. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President of Distribution and Customer Operations and Vice President of Customer Experience, Rates and Regulation and Quality and Chief Customer Officer. Mr. Rochow currently serves on the corporate boards of Priority Health and Hubbell Incorporated. He holds a bachelor's degree in environmental engineering and a Master of Business Administration.

Rejji P. Hayes, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Rejji P. Hayes was named Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of CMS Energy and Consumers Energy in 2017. In this role, he is responsible for treasury, tax, investor relations, accounting, financial planning & analysis, internal audit services, supply chain, fleet, facilities, and mergers & acquisitions. Before joining CMS Energy, Mr. Hayes served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of ITC Holdings Corp., a regulated electric transmission utility. While at ITC Holdings Corp., he co-led the strategic review that resulted in the sale of the publicly traded company to Fortis, Inc. His prior experience includes financial leadership and strategy roles at Exelon Corporation, Lazard Freres & Co., and Banc of America Securities. Mr. Hayes serves on the board of Fortive Corporation and chairs its audit committee. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree from Amherst College.

Tonya L. Berry, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Tonya L. Berry was named Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of CMS Energy and Consumers Energy in 2025. She is responsible for overseeing the company's electric supply, electric distribution, and natural gas delivery business units. Previously, Ms. Berry served as Senior Vice President of Transformation and Engineering for CMS Energy and Consumers Energy.

Shaun M. Johnson, Executive Vice President of Business Transformation and Chief Legal and Administrative Officer

Shaun M. Johnson will serve as Executive Vice President of Business Transformation and Chief Legal and Administrative Officer. In this role, he will oversee the Legal, Compliance, Rates, Regulatory, Lean, Information Technology, and Application and Analytics Teams.

Lauren Snyder, Senior Vice President and Chief Customer and Growth Officer

Lauren Snyder is the Senior Vice President and Chief Customer and Growth Officer for CMS Energy and Consumers Energy. She is responsible for Customer Operations, Customer Experience, Sales, Marketing, Customer Programs, and Economic Development.

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The key risks to CMS Energy's business are primarily centered around its highly regulated environment, significant capital investment requirements for its clean energy transition, and the increasing impact of severe weather events.

1. Regulatory Risks: As a regulated utility, CMS Energy's operations and profitability are highly dependent on decisions made by state and federal regulatory bodies, particularly the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC). Adverse changes in regulations, unfavorable outcomes in rate cases, or regulatory lag in approving cost recovery for investments can directly impact the company's revenue, return on equity (ROE), and ability to fund necessary infrastructure upgrades.
2. High Capital Expenditure and Clean Energy Transition Risk: CMS Energy is undertaking a substantial clean energy transformation, which involves significant capital investments in infrastructure and renewable energy projects. This transition requires the retirement of fossil fuel plants while ensuring service reliability, leading to considerable capital outlays for new generation capacity, transmission, and distribution upgrades. This level of expenditure can strain financial flexibility and carries execution risk. Furthermore, interim reliance on natural gas during this transition exposes the company to commodity price volatility and potential stranded-asset risks if policies tighten.
3. Climate Change and Severe Weather Events: CMS Energy faces ongoing risks from climate change and increasingly frequent and severe weather events. These events can lead to significant costs for storm recovery, grid resilience measures, and potential disruptions to service. The company's geographical concentration in Michigan further exposes it to regional weather-related and economic risks.

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The increasing adoption of distributed generation, particularly rooftop solar and battery storage solutions, poses a clear emerging threat to CMS Energy's traditional business model. As these technologies become more affordable and prevalent, they enable customers to generate and store their own electricity, reducing their reliance on grid-supplied power. This trend threatens to erode CMS Energy's sales volumes and revenue, while still requiring the utility to maintain costly grid infrastructure for backup and reliability services. The ongoing debate and evolution of net metering policies further highlight this systemic challenge to the utility's long-standing revenue streams and operational framework.

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CMS Energy (symbol: CMS) is expected to drive future revenue growth over the next 2-3 years through several key initiatives and market trends:

1. Significant Capital Investments in Electric Grid Modernization and Reliability: CMS Energy has a robust five-year, $20 billion utility customer investment plan (up $3 billion from its prior plan), with $8.5 billion allocated for electric distribution and other improvements. This plan aims for 8.5% rate base growth through 2029. These investments are part of the company's 5-year, $7 billion electric reliability roadmap, focused on improving service to customers and enhancing grid technology for automation and machine learning. The goal is to move to second-quartile reliability performance by the end of the decade, which helps to support rate cases and recovery of investments.
2. Growing Demand from Data Centers and Manufacturing: The company is experiencing robust industrial growth, with a projected 2% to 3% annual load growth over the next five years driven by increased power demand from AI data centers and hyperscalers, as well as general manufacturing expansion in Michigan. CMS Energy has already connected approximately 450 megawatts year-to-date out of a planned 900 megawatts in its five-year plan, with another roughly 100 megawatts of signed contracts. There is also a significant data center agreement in the pipeline that could bring up to 1 gigawatt of load starting in early 2030.
3. Clean Energy Transition and Renewable Energy Investments: CMS Energy is heavily focused on its clean energy transformation strategy, supported by constructive regulatory outcomes. The company's 20-year Renewable Energy Plan details its clean energy investments, with a goal of achieving 60% renewables by 2035. This includes an approved additional 8 gigawatts of solar and 2.8 gigawatts of wind through 2035, and an identified $10 billion for renewable energy development through 2035. The company's Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), expected to be filed in mid-2026, anticipates additional storage and gas capacity due to sales growth and the retirement of existing capacity, with an early estimate of an additional $5 billion in investment opportunities outside the current five-year plan.
4. Constructive Regulatory Environment and Rate Relief: Management has consistently highlighted a strong and supportive energy policy in Michigan, which ensures timely recovery of investments and incentives. Positive outcomes in electric and gas rate cases have been a significant driver of financial performance, with the company receiving constructive orders that support infrastructure investments. This regulatory environment is crucial for enabling the large capital expenditure plans and ensuring the recovery of associated costs, translating into revenue growth.

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Share Repurchases

• CMS Energy repurchases common stock primarily to satisfy the minimum statutory income tax withholding obligations for vested common shares under the Performance Incentive Share Plan (PISP).
• For the three months ended December 31, 2024, CMS Energy repurchased 550 shares at an average price of $69.35.
• As of December 31, 2024, there were no other publicly announced share repurchase programs or plans.

Share Issuance

• In 2023, CMS Energy initiated an equity offering program to sell up to $1 billion in common stock, although no sales had occurred under this program as of September 30, 2024.
• In January 2024, CMS Energy settled remaining forward sale contracts from a previous equity offering program, issuing shares for net proceeds of $266 million at a weighted average price of $70.31 per share.
• The company's 2025 outlook includes a planned equity issuance of up to $500 million.

Capital Expenditures

• CMS Energy and its subsidiary, Consumers Energy, project $4.3 billion in capital expenditures for 2025.
• The company plans substantial capital investments of $20 billion for the 2025-2029 period, an increase from a previous $17 billion plan for 2024-2028.
• These investments primarily focus on infrastructure modernization, enhancing electric reliability (e.g., deploying line sensors, automatic transfer reclosers, iron utility poles), and expanding clean energy generation, including solar and battery storage projects, while working towards eliminating coal-fueled generation by 2025.