Similarly, we will refer to our 6% to 8% non-GAAP utility earnings per share target growth rate as utility earnings per share growth rate.
First, we delivered very strong results for the first quarter of 2021, including $0.47 of utility EPS.
In addition, our first quarter results are in line with recent historical trends in which the first quarter contributed close to 40% of the full year utility EPS.
We are, of course, reaffirming our full year utility earnings per share range for 2021 of $1.24 to $1.26 and our long-term 6% to 8% utility earnings per share annual growth target.
The landmark valuation was 2.5 times 2020 rate base.
We saw extraordinary interest from over 40 parties, 17 of which made bids, including strategics, infrastructure funds and PE firms.
You sell at 2.5 times rate base and invest at 1 times rate base.
Our Investor Day plan highlighted that we had the opportunity to spend an additional $1 billion over our current $16 billion five-year capital plan.
At this price, the LDC transaction will provide us with $300 million of incremental proceeds on an after-tax basis compared to the five-year plan we showed you on our Analyst Day.
We will first look to deploy this $300 million in incremental proceeds into high-value utility capital spend opportunities that are part of those additional $1 billion in capital opportunities.
On the contrary, we believe this will even more strongly support consistent 6% to 8% utility earnings annual growth rate in our industry-leading 10% rate-based CAGR targets.
And to reiterate what we said when we announced the news of a transaction back in February, completing this transaction also will not change our 6% to 8% utility earnings per share annual growth target or our 10% rate base CAGR.
First, in part by actively engaging, auditing and challenging our gas suppliers, we have reduced our incremental gas costs by over $300 million since our initial estimates, resulting in reduced customer incremental gas cost exposure of $2.2 billion.
We remain on course for a $16 billion-plus capital spending program and industry-leading 10% compounded annual rate base growth target over the next five years.
For 2021, we are on track to spend the full $3.4 billion outlined on our Investor Day.
As stated previously, we have opportunities above our current $16 billion five-year plan and the $300 million in incremental proceeds from the ultimate sale of our Arkansas and Oklahoma LDC assets transaction will provide additional capacity for us to pursue some of these, if we so choose.
Despite the impact of COVID, we again saw about 2% growth rates quarter-over-quarter, reinforcing the value of the fast-growing markets that we serve.
We are on track to reduce O&M by 2% to 3% in 2021.
On a GAAP basis, we reported $0.56 for the first quarter of 2021 compared to a loss of $2.44 for the first quarter of 2020.
We reported $0.59 of non-GAAP earnings per share for the first quarter of 2021 compared to $0.60 for the first quarter of 2020.
Our utility earnings per share was $0.47 for the first quarter of 2021, while midstream investments contributed another $0.12 of EPS.
The notable drivers when comparing the quarters are strong customer growth across all of our jurisdictions and rate recovery, which makes up $0.05 of the favorable impact.
Our disciplined O&M management contributed another $0.03 of positive variance for the quarter.
The growth drivers were partially offset by the $0.09 from share dilution due to the large equity issuance back in May 2020 and $0.03 due to the nonrecurring CARES Act benefit we received last year.
As shown on the slide, this transaction priced at $2.15 billion, inclusive of $425 million of incremental gas cost recovery.
The $1.725 billion in proceeds, after the natural gas cost recovery, represents a multiple of 2.5 times 2020 rate base and a multiple of 38 times 2020 earnings for those businesses.
This earnings multiple is based on the purchase price of $1.725 billion, reduced by approximately $340 million of implied regulatory debt compared to $36 million of 2020 full year earnings.
The net proceeds from this sale are estimated to be $1.3 billion after tax and closing costs as our Arkansas and Oklahoma assets have a relatively low tax basis of approximately $300 million.
Therefore, the headline is the competitive auction process will, at close, result in generating an additional $300 million in after-tax proceeds than what was assumed in the original five year plan.
To zero in on the use of the incremental $300 million of proceeds, we will prioritize funding an increase in our capital investment plan.
As a reminder, we will have $385 million of energy transfer preferred units that we can liquidate at any time after the merger closes.
The $200 million of Energy Transfer common units we will receive in the merger will be registered through a process that will likely take two to three months after close.
As we've noted in the past, our negative tax bases at Enable will carry over to Energy Transfer units and will result in an effective 50% tax on the sale.
As a result, I'd like to reaffirm that the sale of the Energy Transfer units will not change our utility earnings per share growth target of 6% to 8% annually.
As Dave mentioned, we have actively worked with suppliers, which has, in part, helped to reduce the overall incremental gas costs from the winter storm to $2.2 billion, down from $2.5 billion we signaled last quarter.
Between the securitization, the sale of the gas LDCs and the interim rate recovery, we now expect between $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion of the total incremental gas costs to be recovered before the one year anniversary of the storm, assuming the Texas securitization bill is signed into law.
We closed our $1.7 billion CERC senior notes offering on March 2, which included $1 billion of floating rate notes and $700 million of fixed rate notes, both due in 2023.
The proceeds for the $1.7 billion issuance were used to pay for the incremental gas costs for the winter storm and the notes have an optional redemption date at any time on or after September two of this year, giving us full flexibility to pay down this debt consistent with our regulatory recoveries.
Our current liquidity remains strong at approximately $2.1 billion after the issuance of the senior notes proceeds and the payments made for the incremental gas costs.
Our long-term FFO to debt objective is between 14% and 14.5% and is consistent with the expectations of the rating agencies.
Our growth rate target of 10% outstrips the peer average of about 7%.
Our resulting utility earnings per share growth target at 6% to 8% every year is well above the peer average of 5%.
And our customer growth at 2% is something we would celebrate at my old company, with top quartile customer satisfaction, we still seek to hold down customer price increases, reducing our O&M cost by 1% to 2% every year.
Five months ago, we showed you our five year plan to reduce costs 1% to 2% each year.
We plan for a fast start with 2021, down 2% to 3%, with results in the first quarter faster yet.
We still expect to reduce costs by about 2% to 3% for the year.
We will continue to deliver sustainable, predictable and consistent 6% to 8% earnings growth year after year.
With our industry-leading organic customer growth and our disciplined O&M management, we believe we can generate robust capex and 10% rate base growth while continuing our focus on safety.
We have executed on our capital recycling strategy through our announced gas LDC sale at 2.5 times rate base and investing at 1 times rate base, and we will continue to explore opportunities to do more of this.
While myself, our team and our employees are only 10 months into this new journey, I could not be more pleased by the momentum we have, what we've accomplished and the bright future we see for CenterPoint.

Summary:
We are, of course, reaffirming our full year utility earnings per share range for 2021 of $1.24 to $1.26 and our long-term 6% to 8% utility earnings per share annual growth target.
We remain on course for a $16 billion-plus capital spending program and industry-leading 10% compounded annual rate base growth target over the next five years.
On a GAAP basis, we reported $0.56 for the first quarter of 2021 compared to a loss of $2.44 for the first quarter of 2020.
We reported $0.59 of non-GAAP earnings per share for the first quarter of 2021 compared to $0.60 for the first quarter of 2020.