Steven Keith Young
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Duke Energy
Thanks, Lynn. And good morning everyone. 2021 marked a year of strong growth in our core businesses. As shown on slide 7, our full year adjusted earnings per share was $5.24 above the midpoint of our revised guidance range. In the electric segment, we benefited from 2% volume growth. The full year impact of constructive rate case outcomes in North Carolina and Indiana, increases in Florida from their previous multi-year rate plan and solar installations, and continued rider investment in the Midwest. Additionally, we met our goal of delivering $200 million in sustainable cost savings in 2021.
In our gas LDC business, we saw higher results from Piedmont rate cases in North Carolina and Tennessee and contributions from customer growth and rider mechanisms. Results from commercial were lower due to fewer growth investments, compared to 2020 and the impact of winter storm, Yuri, in February 2021.
Turning to slide 8, we are introducing our $5.30 to $5.60 guidance range in 2022. For electric utilities and infrastructure, we expect growth due to expansion in our robust service areas and earnings on infrastructure investments. Specifically in Florida, we begin the first year of our new multi-year rate plan coupled with the benefits of strong customer growth. In the Carolinas, we will see earnings growth from new customers, grid investments and wholesale revenues.
In the Midwest, we continue to benefit from the steady investment in T&D infrastructure. Our Gas Utilities and Infrastructure segment is expected to benefit in 2022 from customer additions and integrity management investments, as well as base rate increases, following settlements approved in North Carolina and Kentucky.
In Commercial Renewables, we expect fewer projects in 2022 as we ramp up deployment of renewable assets in Florida and the Carolinas and provide breathing room to work through supply chain challenges. As such, the timing of some commercial renewables projects will shift within the five-year plan. Finally, we expect the other segment to be unfavorable primarily due to higher interest expense as we grow our energy investment base.
Turning to slide 9. Let me touch on electric volumes and economic trends. Consistent with our updated guidance on our Q3 earnings call, we achieved 2% growth for total retail volumes. This includes residential load growth of 0.7%, helped by the continuation of remote work and strong customer growth of 1.6%. In fact, three of the states we serve were among the top five states for net population migration in 2021, strong evidence of our attractive growth profile. Since the pandemic began, approximately 200,000 new customers have moved into our service areas, boosting the need for energy infrastructure. Commercial and industrial sales rebounded nicely due to increased demand for goods across many sectors. We expect continued expansion in 2022 and project load growth to increase approximately 1.5% in 2022. After '22, we expect longer term growth to moderate to flat to 0.5% per year.
As I mentioned before, we delivered on our O&M target for 2021. On slide 10, you will see the work we've undertaken to lower our cost structure and bolster our potential growth. Duke Energy is a leader in the industry when it comes to cost mitigation, driven by digital capabilities, data analytics and re-skilling our workforce. Since 2016, we have not just absorbed inflation, but we have removed approximately 400 million of O&M creating value for our customers and our shareholders. For every dollar of O&M we eliminate, we can invest about $7 of capital without increasing cost to customers. Our $400 million in savings over the past five years, has created headroom for approximately $3 billion worth of capital projects with no incremental bill impacts.
Looking forward, we expect to hold O&M flat throughout our plans. We believe there are significant opportunities across the enterprise to further improve efficiencies, which could lower the O&M trajectory as we advance our fleet transition strategy replacing coal assets, replacing O&M intensive forms of generation is a perfect example of this and the investments we are making are designed to lower our cost structure while maintaining high standards of safety and reliability. Our size and scale remain key differentiators as we work to mitigate supply chain constraints and inflationary pressures across our cost structure.
Turning to slide 11, we expect to deploy over $130 billion over the next decade, with 63 billion to occur over the next five years. This represents a 4 billion increase over our previous five-year capital plan and strengthens our rate base growth to 6.5% to 7%. Approximately $52 billion or over 80% of our capital plan throughout 2026 will fund investments in our fleet transition and grid modernization. This will include improved reliability and resiliency as we add more renewables to the system and extend the life of our carbon free nuclear fleet to better serve our growing customer base.
As coal was phased out from our generation profile, it will be replaced with zero carbon resources and prudent investments in cleaner natural gas. We formed strategic partnerships to study the long-term potential of hydrogen co-firing the storage, including a pilot program we launched this year. And we believe our natural gas units are well positioned to take advantage of hydrogen technology as it evolves.
Turning to slide 12, our sizable capital plan, high growth service territories, proven capability to control costs and constructive regulatory frameworks, give us confidence in our ability to consistently grow earnings of 5% to 7%, and the potential to earn the top half of the range in the back half of the plan.
Moving to slide 13, our ability to execute our robust capital program is underpinned by a healthy balance sheet and we remain committed to our current credit ratings. In September 2021, we received $1 billion in cash proceeds upon closing the first tranche of our minority interest sale of our Indiana Utility. The second closing will occur by January 2023 and will result in another cash infusion of $1 billion. This, combined $2 billion of proceeds, provide good support to our credit metrics. We close out 2021, in line with our 14% FFO to debt target and we expect to maintain 14% in 2022 and beyond.
Our financing needs are driven by our investments, and we have constructed a plan that achieves 5% to 7% earnings growth through 2026 while maintaining our current credit profile. Our current plan does not contemplate any additional common equity through 2026, but we will monitor a variety of things that may influence future needs, including the pace and size of our capital deployment, future regulatory outcomes, and the potential for supportive of tax policy. To the extent that becomes a need for additional equity, we will evaluate all options and pursue the ones that finance our growth in the most efficient manner and support our earnings growth trajectory.
Before we open it up for questions, let me close with slide 14. Our focus on the future, sound investment strategy and demonstrated dexterity offer a strong long-term growth proposition. And our commitment to the dividend remains unchanged. We understand how important it is to our shareholders, and that's why 2022 will mark the 96th consecutive year of paying a quarterly cash dividend. We intend to keep growing the dividend, balancing our desire to offer investors a strong 65% to 75% payout ratio with our need to fund our capital plan. 2021 was exceptionally productive and we have a strong momentum as we begin 2022. We look forward to updating you on our progress throughout the year.
With that, we'll open the line for your questions.
