I'll note, that includes over 140 call center associates who we moved very quickly to seamlessly continue to provide customer service from their homes, and that includes the oversight folks as well, an incredible job by the IT group there, as well as our field employees who continue to prepare for our peak summer season.
The refueling outage had a reduced scope to allow the completion of the essential work, with 40% less contractors than normal.
We were able to quickly secure 3,000 masks for APS, including an expedited quantity of 300 for Palo Verde employees at a time when masks were harder to come by.
As with many other aspects of our operations, mitigation plans are in place to minimize any potential supply chain disruptions.
At the request of the commission staff, that date has been extended to August 3, and the hearing is now scheduled to begin on September 30.
On May five and 6, the commission held open meetings discussing our rate comparison tool, how to refund or collect the demand-side management funds and treatment for cost associated with COVID-19.
As a result of the discussion, the commission voted to return $36 million of overcollected demand-side management funds to customers through a onetime bill credit in June.
Following that workshop, Chairman Burns, Commissioner Kennedy and Commissioner Marquez Peterson all publicly expressed support for a 100% clean by 2050 standard.
We've never experienced anything like COVID-19, but we've been through many challenging times in our 136 years of service to Arizona.
2020 started out strong, earning $0.27 per share compared to $0.16 per share in the first quarter of 2019.
We also experienced 2.2% customer growth and 0.8% weather-normalized sales growth in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2019.
Excluding the last two weeks of March, weather-normalized sales for the quarter were within our original 2020 annual guidance range of 1% to 2%.
From March 13, the date when many Arizona schools and businesses closed, through April 30, we have seen an approximate 14% reduction in weather-normalized commercial and industrial load compared to the same period last year, partially offset by an approximate 7% increase in weather-normalized residential load.
The reduction in C&I load equates to an earnings decrease of around $0.14 per share, while the increase in residential usage contributes about $0.04 per share for a net reduction of approximately $0.10 compared to our original expectations for this period.
Despite the fact that Arizona has already started to reopen, if we assume the trend we experienced from March 13 through April 30 continues through the end of the second quarter, we would anticipate a net weather-normalized sales decrease of approximately 7% compared to the second quarter 2019 and an earnings per share decrease of approximately $0.20 compared to our original second quarter 2020 expectations.
Historically, approximately 56% of our annual earnings comes from Q3, 28% from Q2 and only 6% from the first quarter.
As we saw last year, with the weather impact of negative $0.25 per share, weather alone can play a significant factor in our annual earnings.
This year, Phoenix reached triple-digit temperatures already in April, setting record highs, and we've maintained above 100 degrees every day this week with excessive heat warnings already in effect.
For example, by the end of this year, we'll have deployed 28 bots across the enterprise as part of our digital transformation program.
The use of technology to automate this process will save employees about 1,800 hours per year.
Just five of the automations planned for the first part of this year are expected to produce an NPV benefit of $1.8 million over the next five years.
According to the Arizona Technology Council's quarterly impact report, Arizona tech sector is growing at a rate 40% faster than the U.S. overall.
Through February, employment in Metro Phoenix increased 3.2% compared to 1.5% for the entire U.S. Construction employment in Metro Phoenix increased by 5.4%, and manufacturing employment increased by 2.1%.
This data reflects pre COVID-19 conditions, and we expect to see the 2.2% customer growth rate we experienced in the first quarter to slow in the near term.
In regard to our future capital investments, we remain committed to the $4.7 billion capex forecast for the 2020 through 2022 time frame, largely driven by clean energy investments.
Similarly, we continue to believe 2020 Pinnacle West consolidated earnings of $4.75 to $4.95 per share remain achievable, assuming the impacts for COVID-19 dissipate by the end of the second quarter, and customer and sales growth resumes once the economy normalizes.
We currently have $1.2 billion in revolver capacity with an option to increase by another $500 million.
As of May 1, we have drawn down $310 million on our revolvers.
In addition, all remaining Pinnacle West long-term debt maturing in 2020 will occur in November and December, and APS's $200 million term loan matures in August.
Further, at year-end 2019, our pension was 97% funded.
With our liability driven investment strategy, our pension was 96.4% funded as of March 31, 2020, highlighting our resilience to the market volatility.
Last week, we proudly celebrated 136 years of service to Arizona customers and communities, and we've been through plenty of challenges before.

Summary:
As with many other aspects of our operations, mitigation plans are in place to minimize any potential supply chain disruptions.
2020 started out strong, earning $0.27 per share compared to $0.16 per share in the first quarter of 2019.
Similarly, we continue to believe 2020 Pinnacle West consolidated earnings of $4.75 to $4.95 per share remain achievable, assuming the impacts for COVID-19 dissipate by the end of the second quarter, and customer and sales growth resumes once the economy normalizes.