Our third quarter GAAP earnings per share was $0.71, while adjusted earnings per share was $0.13, $0.05 over a $0.08 performance in the comparable prior year period, reflecting strong execution across our diversified business and increased margins at UGI International.
On a year-to-date basis, our GAAP earnings per share of $4.48 and adjusted earnings per share of $3.30 represent record earnings through the first three quarters of the fiscal year.
During the Q2 earnings call, we shared the revised earnings per share guidance of $2.90 to $3 for this fiscal year.
These investments, which are primarily focused on replacement of cast iron and bare steel, are expected to drive continued reliable earnings growth as our PA utility has seen a rate base CAGR of 11.4% over the past five years.
The Utilities team also continues to focus on adding new customers across our system with more than 2,200 new residential heating and commercial customers added in Q3 and roughly 10,000 added on a year-to-date basis.
We are confident that this will allow us to continue to deliver long-term earnings per share growth of 6% to 10% and 4% dividend growth.
We delivered adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.13, an increase of $0.05 over the prior year fiscal quarter.
Our reportable segments had EBIT of $98 million compared to $81 million in the prior year.
As you can see, our adjusted diluted earnings exclude a number of items such as: the impact of mark-to-market changes in commodity hedging instruments, a gain of $1.09 this year versus $0.55 in the third quarter of fiscal 2020.
Last year, we recorded an $0.18 impairment of our ownership interest in the Conemaugh Station.
Also last year, we had a $0.02 loss on foreign currency derivative instruments.
We adjusted out $0.07 of expenses associated with our LPG business transformation initiatives compared to $0.02 in the prior year.
Lastly, we had a $0.44 impairment related to our PennEast assets.
Looking at our year-over-year quarterly performance, this chart provides some additional color to the $0.05 improvement in earnings we achieved versus the prior year period.
This performance was largely due to higher volumes at our international LPG business on weather that was almost 55% colder than prior year.
At the corporate level, we saw a $0.15 decrease versus the prior year period, largely due to CARES Act tax benefits that were realized last year.
When we shared our revised FY 2021 guidance range of $2.90 to $3, we noted that this included $0.10 of anticipated COVID headwind in tax benefits of roughly $0.12 from CARES and other strategic tax planning actions.
Delivering at the top end of our guidance range and given our year-to-date non-GAAP results of $3.30, we expect that Q4 will see a sizable reduction that is primarily driven by tax items when compared to the prior year period.
AmeriGas reported EBIT of $11 million compared to $19 million in the prior year.
There was a slight increase in total retail volume driven by an 18% increase in national account volumes in comparison to the prior year period.
This volume increase fully offset a 19% decrease in cylinder exchange volume that we saw as sales normalized after a significant uptick in Q3 of FY 2020.
When compared to 2019 third quarter, there was a 5% increase in cylinder exchange volume this quarter.
Overall, the business saw a decline of $14 million in total margin that was largely attributable to customer mix.
Other income increased by $7 million, largely due to higher finance charges, which were suspended in response to the COVID pandemic in the prior year period and onetime gains on asset sales in the current period.
UGI International generated EBIT of $41 million compared to $21 million in fiscal 2020.
Retail volumes increased by 21%, largely due to the significantly colder than prior year weather that I described earlier.
This increase in bulk and cylinder volumes drove the higher total margin and offset the slightly lower unit margins given the 81% increase in average wholesale propane prices over prior year.
We saw roughly an $18 million or 86% improvement in the year-over-year constant currency performance in EBIT.
Midstream & Marketing reported EBIT of $21 million, which was fairly consistent with fiscal 2020.
UGI Utilities delivered a strong performance for the quarter and reported EBIT of $25 million, $4 million higher than the prior fiscal year.
Cash flows remained strong with a 9% increase in the year-to-date cash provided by operating activities over the corresponding prior year period.
As of the end of the quarter, UGI had available liquidity of $2.4 billion, approximately $800 million more than the prior year period.
Our next step will be to file a proposed order by August 10, seeking the commission's approval.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the Electric division would be permitted to increase base rates by $6.15 million, and we anticipate new rates going into effect in November 2021.
Separately, the second phase of the gas base rate increase of $10 million went into effect on July 1.
During the quarter, we launched Cynch in three additional markets, bringing the total to 23 cities across the U.S. As we look forward to the remaining quarter in this fiscal year and fiscal year 2022, we are pleased with the strong year-to-date performance and the investment opportunities available to us as we execute on our strategy.
I remain confident that we're well positioned both strategically and financially to continue executing and delivering reliable long-term earnings per share growth of 6% to 10% and return capital to shareholders through a robust dividend that we expect to grow at 4% over the long term.

Summary:
Our third quarter GAAP earnings per share was $0.71, while adjusted earnings per share was $0.13, $0.05 over a $0.08 performance in the comparable prior year period, reflecting strong execution across our diversified business and increased margins at UGI International.
During the Q2 earnings call, we shared the revised earnings per share guidance of $2.90 to $3 for this fiscal year.
We delivered adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.13, an increase of $0.05 over the prior year fiscal quarter.