Jeff Guldner

Jeff Guldner leads Pinnacle West Capital as Chairman and CEO, operating Arizona Public Service Company (APS) — the largest electric utility in Arizona, serving approximately 1.3 million customers in one of the fastest-growing regions in the United States. Arizona's Phoenix metropolitan area has been one of the top destinations for domestic migration, and the state has attracted massive new industrial investment that is driving extraordinary electricity demand growth. APS is experiencing some of the highest load growth rates of any U.S. utility, driven by several converging factors: TSMC's massive semiconductor fabrication campus in north Phoenix ($65+ billion investment), Intel's expanded Chandler fab operations, hyperscale data centers from Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, general population and commercial growth, and increasing electrification. This combination is requiring APS to add substantial new generation and transmission capacity — a capital investment opportunity that drives rate base growth and utility earnings. APS operates a diverse generation portfolio including the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station (the largest nuclear power plant in the U.S. and APS's largest single generating asset), natural gas plants, solar farms, and battery storage. Key stock drivers include regulated rate base growth, Arizona Corporation Commission rate case decisions, industrial and data center load growth, residential customer additions, generation resource planning, renewable energy and storage investment, and the interest rate environment (which affects utility valuations and borrowing costs).