BLACK HILLS CORP /SD/ has recently released its 10-Q report. Black Hills Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas utility in the United States, with two reportable segments: Electric Utilities and Gas Utilities. It serves customers across Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming, and also includes non-regulated services such as home repair plans and utility-related construction services.
In management’s discussion, the company said it serves more than 1.37 million customers across 800+ communities and has operated for 142 years. It highlighted a pending merger agreement with NorthWestern entered into on August 18, 2025, along with several utility developments, including South Dakota wildfire liability legislation effective July 1, 2026, a 1.8 GW data center generation reservation agreement for Wyoming Electric on April 22, 2026, and Colorado Electric’s 50-MW battery storage project, which began construction in late 2025 and is expected to finish by year-end 2027. The company also noted Wyoming Electric set a new peak load of 393 MW in January 2026.
For the three months ended March 31, 2026, Black Hills reported operating income of $201.9 million, down from $205.0 million a year earlier, while net income available for common stock fell to $131.0 million from $134.3 million. Diluted earnings per share declined to $1.73 from $1.87, even as diluted weighted average shares rose to 75.6 million from 71.8 million.
Electric Utilities posted operating income of $59.9 million, up from $54.3 million. Revenue rose to $241.6 million from $236.7 million, and electric utility margin increased to $174.8 million from $169.5 million. The company said the margin increase was driven by $13.3 million of new rates and rider recovery, partly offset by $3.6 million from lower residential and commercial usage, $3.2 million from weather, and $1.2 million of other factors. Operations and maintenance expense fell to $65.1 million from $68.8 million, while depreciation and amortization increased to $40.6 million from $37.1 million.
Electric retail sales totaled 1,589.6 GWh, up from 1,568.0 GWh. Industrial sales rose to 707.4 GWh from 609.8 GWh, while residential sales fell to 358.9 GWh from 406.4 GWh. By business unit, Wyoming Electric revenue increased to $74.8 million from $66.6 million, Colorado Electric revenue declined to $69.2 million from $72.4 million, and South Dakota Electric was nearly flat at $86.7 million versus $86.9 million.
Gas Utilities reported operating income of $146.5 million, down from $151.5 million. Revenue fell to $543.1 million from $572.4 million, while gas utility margin declined to $271.9 million from $279.8 million. The company attributed the decline mainly to unfavorable weather, partly offset by new rates and rider recovery from the Kansas Gas and Nebraska Gas rate reviews and lower operating expenses. Gas cost of natural gas sold dropped to $271.2 million from $292.6 million, and operations and maintenance expense fell to $41.1 million from $46.2 million.
Corporate and Other posted an operating loss of $4.5 million, compared with a loss of $0.8 million a year earlier, with the company citing costs tied to the pending NorthWestern merger. Interest expense, net, edged up to $51.9 million from $51.3 million. Today the company's shares have moved 1.76% to a price of $75.225. For more information, read the company's full 10-Q submission here.
