WEC Energy Group NYSE: WEC reported second-quarter 2026 earnings of $0.91 per diluted share, up $0.15 from the same period a year earlier, and reaffirmed its full-year earnings guidance of $5.51 to $5.61 per share, assuming normal weather for the remainder of the year.
President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Lauber said the company’s results reflected continued execution, financial discipline and operating efficiency. Management also maintained its long-term outlook for compound annual earnings-per-share growth of 7% to 8% from 2026 through 2030, based on the midpoint of 2025 adjusted guidance, and expects growth to move toward the upper half of that range beginning in 2028.
Data-center development supports capital plan
Lauber pointed to continued data-center development in Wisconsin as a foundation for the company’s $37.5 billion five-year capital investment plan. The plan is focused on projects management characterized as low risk and executable, including investments to serve large customers. WEC expects approximately 15% of its asset base to be dedicated to very large customers by the end of 2030.
At Microsoft’s Pleasant Prairie site, the first data-center facility is fully operational, Lauber said. Microsoft has acquired more than 2,200 acres in the I-94 corridor south of Milwaukee, where WEC is preparing to serve a forecasted 2.6 gigawatts of demand through 2030, with potential for additional expansion.
North of Milwaukee, Vantage Data Centers is constructing facilities for Oracle on about 1,900 acres. The initial phase is being built on 670 acres, with Vantage expecting to invest $15 billion to complete that phase in 2028. Structural framework has been completed on multiple buildings, and the first facility could enter service as early as late 2027, according to Lauber.
WEC currently forecasts 1.3 gigawatts of demand at the Vantage site over the next five years, with potential demand eventually reaching 3.5 gigawatts. Lauber said the company is also discussing potential projects with other large customers, generally in the range of 400 to 500 megawatts rather than the scale of the Microsoft and Vantage developments.
Construction is also continuing on natural-gas generation facilities in Paris and Oak Creek, Wisconsin, which WEC expects to begin coming online in late 2027. Looking ahead, Lauber said a future plan could include a combined-cycle generating facility rather than only simple-cycle generation, as the company evaluates the need for both energy and capacity to support customer demand.
Second-quarter earnings drivers
Chief Financial Officer Xia Liu said utility operations contributed $0.06 more to earnings than in the second quarter of 2025. Weather reduced quarter-over-quarter earnings by approximately $0.05, as weather had an estimated negative $0.03 impact in the 2026 quarter compared with a positive $0.02 effect a year earlier.
Rate-base growth added $0.13 per share, including $0.09 from incremental allowance for funds used during construction equity and $0.02 from incremental cash returns associated largely with projects under construction supporting very large customers. Sales growth, taxes and other items added a combined $0.06.
Those gains were partly offset by $0.05 from higher depreciation and amortization expense and $0.03 from higher day-to-day operations and maintenance costs. At American Transmission Company, capital investment growth added $0.03 to quarterly earnings versus the prior-year period.
Weather-normalized retail electric sales increased 4.2% year over year, driven by very large customers. Excluding the iron ore mine and very large customers, sales rose 1.2%, supported by higher volumes across all customer classes. Despite the quarterly performance, management expects full-year 2026 weather-normalized electric sales, excluding those customers, to be relatively even with 2025.
The energy infrastructure segment’s earnings increased $0.11 per share from the prior-year quarter. Liu said the comparison included the absence of a prior-year storm-related asset impairment and an insurance payment received during the current quarter, which together accounted for a net $0.04. The remaining improvement was largely related to operations and maintenance timing, production tax credits, capacity payments and other items. Liu said some of the favorable O&M timing is expected to reverse in the fourth quarter.
Regulatory and financing updates
In May, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin issued its written order for WEC’s very large customer tariff. Lauber said the tariff requires large customers to pay their full share of costs. The company is working with Oracle to update financial security requirements for the Port Washington project in accordance with commission requirements.
Lauber said Oracle remains committed to the project and that construction is continuing on time and on budget. He said the company sees other potential users for the site in a worst-case scenario in which Oracle did not expand, but added that he had no indication such an outcome was expected.
WEC’s Wisconsin rate request for forward-looking test years 2027 and 2028 remains pending. Staff and intervener testimony is due in mid-August, with final commission orders expected by year-end and new rates scheduled to take effect in January 2027 and 2028. In Illinois, the Illinois Commerce Commission in May unanimously approved settlements involving the Rider QIP and bad-debt rider, resolving 12 open dockets. WEC also expects a decision by year-end on its Illinois utility rate request for the 2027 test year.
Liu said WEC had locked in about $760 million of common equity in the first half, including approximately $40 million under an employee benefit plan and $720 million through forward contracts under its at-the-market program. The company expects to issue about $1.1 billion of common equity during 2026 and said incremental capital beyond the current plan is expected to carry 50% equity content.
For the third quarter, WEC expects earnings of $0.92 to $0.98 per share, incorporating July weather and assuming normal weather for the balance of the quarter. The board’s 6.7% dividend increase announced in January marked the company’s 23rd consecutive year of higher dividends, Lauber said.
About WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC)
WEC Energy Group is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin–based regulated energy holding company whose primary businesses are the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and the distribution of natural gas. The company operates through a set of utility subsidiaries that provide bundled energy service, customer billing and energy-related programs to residential, commercial and industrial customers. As a regulated utility group, WEC's operations focus on delivering reliable service while managing infrastructure investment and compliance with state and federal utility regulation.
Its utility subsidiaries include well-known regional operators such as We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service, along with Chicago-area natural gas utilities that were part of the Integrys Energy Group acquisition.
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