But on the financial side, we invested over $7 billion in critical energy infrastructure, a record amount for our company, and we delivered full year 2021 adjusted earnings per share of $8.43 well above our increased adjusted earnings per share guidance range of $7.75 to $8.35 per share.
Today, we're announcing approval by our board of directors of an increased annualized dividend of $4.58 per share, consistent with our long-standing commitment to return value to our shareholders, record five-year capital plan of $36 billion with nearly 94% dedicated to our utilities, continued confidence in our full year 2022 earnings per share guidance range and the issuance of our full year 2023 earnings per share guidance range.
And finally, we're announcing a projected long-term earnings per share growth rate for the company of 6% to 8%.
We've completed a series of transactions to form Sempra Infrastructure, a simplified growth platform with scale and portfolio synergies, all while generating over $3 billion by selling a noncontrolling interest to support growth and the return of capital to our owners.
Moving on, we continue to advance our capital plan in 2021, deploying over $7 billion with a continued focus on supporting the strong growth at our utilities.
From a safety standpoint, we had record employee safety results at Sempra California and Sempra Infrastructure also had a great year, advancing construction at ECA LNG Phase 1 on time and on budget with over 1 million hours worked without a lost time injury.
Our three platforms combined for nearly 300,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines, all in key markets in North America, while serving nearly 40 million consumers.
These integrated growth platforms generated approximately $2.6 billion in 2021 full year adjusted earnings and position us to grow earnings well into the future.
But at a high level, our projected growth of 6% to 8% is supported by strong continued investment at Sempra California to support safety, reliability and the state's ambitious energy transition goals; investment in our Texas utilities to support strong economic growth and a significant interconnection queue loaded with renewables; and, disciplined investments at Sempra Infrastructure for fully contracted assets currently under construction; and, potential upside to projected growth from projects we currently have in development.
In California, SDG&E completed its inaugural issuance of $750 million in green bonds and secured regulatory approval for three new energy storage projects expected to total 161 megawatts.
Additionally, SoCalGas achieved over 4% renewable natural gas deliveries to core customers in 2021.
In 2021, Oncor connected nearly 2,200 megawatts of wind and solar generation, bringing the total renewables connected to Oncor system to approximately 15,500 megawatts.
In addition to progress on its operations, Oncor has also entered into a new $2 billion revolving credit facility with sustainability-linked performance metrics.
The company recently filed an amendment with FERC to incorporate electric drives at our proposed Cameron LNG Phase 2 project, which could help reduce facility emissions by up to 40% while continuing to help decarbonize global markets.
Also, the CPUC authorized a memorandum account effective January 1, 2022, to track any differences in revenue requirements resulting from the interim cost of capital decision expected later this year.
Oncor service territory continued to grow as well, with Oncor connecting approximately 70,000 additional premises in 2021.
Here, the key takeaway is that we're making progress on our announced sale of an additional 10% interest in the business to ADIA.
This transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and third-party and regulatory approvals, valued Sempra Infrastructure at an enterprise value of approximately $26.5 billion, which was $1 billion higher than the KKR transaction.
This compares to fourth quarter 2020 GAAP earnings of $414 million or $1.43 per share.
On an adjusted basis, fourth quarter 2021 earnings were $688 million or $2.16 per share.
This compares to our fourth quarter 2020 earnings of $668 million or $2.28 per share.
Full year 2021 GAAP earnings were $1.254 billion or $4.01 per share.
This compares to 2020 GAAP earnings of $3.764 billion or $12.88 per share.
On an adjusted basis, full year 2021 earnings were $2.637 million or $8.43 per share.
This compares favorably to our previous full year 2020 adjusted earnings of $2.342 billion or $8 per share.
The variance in full year 2021 adjusted earnings compared to the prior year was affected by the following key items: $78 million of lower earnings due to the sales of our Peruvian and Chilean utilities in April and June of 2020, respectively.
$126 million of lower earnings from a CPUC decision in 2020 that resulted in the release of regulatory liabilities at Sempra California related to prior year's forecasting differences that are not subject to tracking in the income tax expense memorandum account.
This was offset by $216 million due to higher earnings from Cameron LNG JV primarily due to Phase 1 achieving full commercial operations in August of 2020, and asset and supply optimization primarily driven by changes in natural gas prices and higher volumes.
$139 million of lower losses at Parent and Other, primarily due to the lower preferred dividends from the mandatory conversion of preferred stock and lower net interest expense.
$52 million of higher CPUC base operating margin, net of operating expenses at SDG&E and SoCalGas, $44 million charge in 2020 for amounts to be refunded to customers related to the energy efficiency program at SDG&E, $37 million of higher earnings at Sempra Texas Utilities, primarily due to increased revenues from rate updates to reflect increases in invested capital and customer growth.
We continue to see robust opportunities to invest in our Utilities and Infrastructure businesses, resulting in a $36 billion five-year capital plan, the largest in our history.
And notably, a $4 billion increase over the prior plan we announced last year.
This plan is anchored by $33 billion of Utility investments, representing nearly 94% of the total capital plan.
In 2017, we had $14 billion of rate base at the California utilities.
And through adding our interest in Oncor, as well as organic growth at both our California and Texas utilities, we grew our rate base to $41 billion in 2021 and expect to grow it even further to $62 billion by 2026.
Notably, over the next five years, our rate base mix is not expected to change materially with approximately 70% of total rate base dedicated to electric infrastructure, which reflects how well-positioned we are to continue supporting strong trends in electrification in our core utility markets.
Over the past few years, you've seen us rotate capital to fund utility growth while also strengthening the balance sheet, finishing 2021 in a strong position with 47% total debt to capitalization and 18% FFO to debt.
Our robust utility capital plan is further supported by cash generated from Sempra Infrastructure where projected cash distributions to Sempra, combined with the proceeds from the sales to KKR and ADIA are expected to provide over $7 billion from 2021 through 2026.
We continue to target a payout ratio of approximately 50% to 60%, which allows us to aggressively invest in utility growth while supporting the dividend.
We're reaffirming our 2022 earnings per share guidance range of $8.10 to $8.70 per share, and we're introducing our 2023 earnings per share guidance range of $8.60 to $9.20 per share.
The aforementioned guidance includes plans to continue returning capital to our owners in the form of $1 billion of share repurchases.
This would be an addition to the $500 million of share repurchases we recently completed.
Our historical execution, combined with the growth opportunities in front of us, give us confidence in providing a long-term earnings per share growth rate of an annual average of 6% to 8% starting at the midpoint of 2022 earnings per share guidance through 2026.
This 6% to 8% growth is driven by our five-year capital plan and continued operational excellence across our businesses.
It is anchored by an 8.5% projected rate base growth at our utilities and only includes projects currently in construction at Sempra Infrastructure.

Summary:
And finally, we're announcing a projected long-term earnings per share growth rate for the company of 6% to 8%.
But at a high level, our projected growth of 6% to 8% is supported by strong continued investment at Sempra California to support safety, reliability and the state's ambitious energy transition goals; investment in our Texas utilities to support strong economic growth and a significant interconnection queue loaded with renewables; and, disciplined investments at Sempra Infrastructure for fully contracted assets currently under construction; and, potential upside to projected growth from projects we currently have in development.
Also, the CPUC authorized a memorandum account effective January 1, 2022, to track any differences in revenue requirements resulting from the interim cost of capital decision expected later this year.
On an adjusted basis, fourth quarter 2021 earnings were $688 million or $2.16 per share.
We're reaffirming our 2022 earnings per share guidance range of $8.10 to $8.70 per share, and we're introducing our 2023 earnings per share guidance range of $8.60 to $9.20 per share.
Our historical execution, combined with the growth opportunities in front of us, give us confidence in providing a long-term earnings per share growth rate of an annual average of 6% to 8% starting at the midpoint of 2022 earnings per share guidance through 2026.
This 6% to 8% growth is driven by our five-year capital plan and continued operational excellence across our businesses.