Gale Klappa
Executive Chairman at WEC Energy Group
From the home of the defending NBA champion, Milwaukee Bucks, good afternoon, everybody, and thank you for joining us today as we review our results for the first quarter of 2022. First, I'd like to introduce the members of our management team who are here with me today. We have Scott Lauber, our President and Chief Executive; Xia Liu, our Chief Financial Officer; and Beth Straka, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations.
Now as you saw from our news release this morning, we reported first quarter 2022 earnings of $1.79 a share. Our results were largely driven by colder-than-normal weather, a strong economy and the performance of our Infrastructure segment. In light of this strong start to the year, we're raising our earnings guidance by $0.05 a share for 2022 to a range of $4.34 to $4.38 a share, with an expectation of reaching the top end of this new range. This, of course, assumes normal weather for the remainder of 2022.
Our balance sheet and cash flows remained strong, and as we discussed, this allows us to fund a highly executable capital plan without issuing equity. We're also making good headway on our $17.7 billion ESG progress plan, the largest five-year capital plan in the Company history. The plan is focused on efficiency, sustainability and growth. Over the past few months, we've received regulatory approval for more than $1.1 billion of needed capital projects in Wisconsin. Scott will provide more detail in just a few minutes. And we're preparing the way for further progress ahead.
As you may have seen, our Wisconsin utilities filed rate reviews with the Public Service Commission for the two-year period in 2023 and 2024. We provided you with details in the earnings packet that we released this morning, and Scott will cover the highlights in just a moment. But the request, ladies and gentlemen, is all about the investments we need to make to enhance reliability for customers and continue the largest clean energy transition in our history. I would add that even with this request, the typical electric bill for our residential customers will remain below the national average.
Switching gears now, many of you have asked about the solar panel investigation by the Department of Commerce. There clearly will be impacts across the industry. And at our companies, we may see some price increases and potential delays, particularly on the solar and battery projects that are still going through the regulatory approval process in Wisconsin. But the important point is that we do not expect the review by the Department of Commerce to have any material impact on our five-year capital plan.
In summary, we're poised to continue our strong track record, delivering among the best risk-adjusted returns our industry has to offer. We expect our ESG progress plan to support average growth in our asset base of 7% a year driving earnings growth, dividend growth and dramatically improved environmental performance. Across our generating fleet, we're targeting a 60% reduction in carbon emissions by the end of 2025 and an 80% reduction by the end of 2030, both from a 2005 baseline. By the end of 2030, we expect our use of coal for power generation will be immaterial, and we're aiming for a complete exit from coal by the end of year 2035. Our capital investments fully support this transition.
Of course, for the longer term, we remain focused on the goal of net-zero carbon emissions from power generation on 2050. We're also investing in our natural gas distribution business and developing sources of renewable natural gas. Our plan is to achieve net-zero methane emissions by the end of 2030.
With those goals in mind, we're working to help shape the future of clean energy. Hydrogen, for example, could be a key part of the solution in the decades ahead. So earlier this year, as you recall, we announced one of the first hydrogen power pilot programs of its kind in the United States. We're joining with the Electric Power Research Institute to test hydrogen as a fuel source at one of our natural gas-powered units in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Engineering specifications and testing protocols are now being developed, and we're on track for actual blending of hydrogen in the unit this fall. We look forward to sharing the results across the industry.
And now let's take a brief look at the regional economy. The latest available data show Wisconsin's unemployment rate at 2.8%, of course, well below the national average. The state's economy recovered throughout 2021 with especially strong growth in the manufacturing sector, and we continue to see major investments from growing companies in our region. For example, Amazon is expanding its presence in Southeastern Wisconsin with plans to lease a 1 million square foot building that is now under development. This expansion could add 400 new jobs to Amazon's workforce, a workforce that is already 3,000 strong in the region.
Uline's workforce is also on the rise. Uline, as you may know, is one of the nation's largest suppliers of packaging and shipping materials. 700 employees joined Uline's workforce in Wisconsin last year, and Uline expects to add 300 more jobs this year. So we remain optimistic about not only the strength but the trajectory of the regional economy.
And with that, I'll turn the call over to Scott for more information on our utility operations and our infrastructure segment as well. Scott, all yours.
