The new range is $4.02 a share to $4.05 a share, and our expectation is that we will reach the top end of that range.
As you may know, we expect our ESG progress plan to drive average annual growth in our asset base of 7%.
A good example of our progress is the announcement we made just a week ago about a $400 million investment in the Sapphire Sky Wind Energy Center.
We've also made great progress on our plan to build 1,800 megawatts of regulated solar, wind and battery storage.
Recall that, back in May, we set near-term goals that are among the most ambitious in the industry: reducing carbon emissions by 60% from our electric generation fleet by 2025 and achieving an 80% reduction by the end of 2030, both from a 2005 baseline.
So ahead that we now expect only 8% of our regulated electricity supply to come from coal by the end of 2030.
Of course, our long-term goal remains net-zero carbon emissions from our generating fleet by 2050.
And our ongoing effort to upgrade our gas delivery networks and introduce renewable natural gas into our system will help us achieve another aggressive goal: net-zero methane emissions by 2030.
Wisconsin's unemployment rate, in fact, stands today at 3.9%.
And now Milwaukee Tool is redeveloping a vacant downtown office tower to provide space for one,200 new employees over the next five years.
The new range is $4.02 a share to $4.05 a share, and our expectation is that we will reach the top end of that range.
As you may know, we expect our ESG progress plan to drive average annual growth in our asset base of 7%.
A good example of our progress is the announcement we made just a week ago about a $400 million investment in the Sapphire Sky Wind Energy Center.
We've also made great progress on our plan to build 1,800 megawatts of regulated solar, wind and battery storage.
Recall that, back in May, we set near-term goals that are among the most ambitious in the industry: reducing carbon emissions by 60% from our electric generation fleet by 2025 and achieving an 80% reduction by the end of 2030, both from a 2005 baseline.
So ahead that we now expect only 8% of our regulated electricity supply to come from coal by the end of 2030.
Of course, our long-term goal remains net-zero carbon emissions from our generating fleet by 2050.
And our ongoing effort to upgrade our gas delivery networks and introduce renewable natural gas into our system will help us achieve another aggressive goal: net-zero methane emissions by 2030.
Wisconsin's unemployment rate, in fact, stands today at 3.9%.
And now Milwaukee Tool is redeveloping a vacant downtown office tower to provide space for one,200 new employees over the next five years.
The new range is $4.02 a share to $4.05 a share, and our expectation is that we will reach the top end of that range.
As you may know, we expect our ESG progress plan to drive average annual growth in our asset base of 7%.
A good example of our progress is the announcement we made just a week ago about a $400 million investment in the Sapphire Sky Wind Energy Center.
We've also made great progress on our plan to build 1,800 megawatts of regulated solar, wind and battery storage.
Recall that, back in May, we set near-term goals that are among the most ambitious in the industry: reducing carbon emissions by 60% from our electric generation fleet by 2025 and achieving an 80% reduction by the end of 2030, both from a 2005 baseline.
So ahead that we now expect only 8% of our regulated electricity supply to come from coal by the end of 2030.
Of course, our long-term goal remains net-zero carbon emissions from our generating fleet by 2050.
And our ongoing effort to upgrade our gas delivery networks and introduce renewable natural gas into our system will help us achieve another aggressive goal: net-zero methane emissions by 2030.
Wisconsin's unemployment rate, in fact, stands today at 3.9%.
And now Milwaukee Tool is redeveloping a vacant downtown office tower to provide space for one,200 new employees over the next five years.
The new range is $4.02 a share to $4.05 a share, and our expectation is that we will reach the top end of that range.
As you may know, we expect our ESG progress plan to drive average annual growth in our asset base of 7%.
A good example of our progress is the announcement we made just a week ago about a $400 million investment in the Sapphire Sky Wind Energy Center.
We've also made great progress on our plan to build 1,800 megawatts of regulated solar, wind and battery storage.
Recall that, back in May, we set near-term goals that are among the most ambitious in the industry: reducing carbon emissions by 60% from our electric generation fleet by 2025 and achieving an 80% reduction by the end of 2030, both from a 2005 baseline.
So ahead that we now expect only 8% of our regulated electricity supply to come from coal by the end of 2030.
Of course, our long-term goal remains net-zero carbon emissions from our generating fleet by 2050.
And our ongoing effort to upgrade our gas delivery networks and introduce renewable natural gas into our system will help us achieve another aggressive goal: net-zero methane emissions by 2030.
Wisconsin's unemployment rate, in fact, stands today at 3.9%.
And now Milwaukee Tool is redeveloping a vacant downtown office tower to provide space for one,200 new employees over the next five years.
At the end of June, our utilities were serving approximately 4,000 more electric customers and 18,000 more natural gas customers compared to a year ago.
Retail electric and natural gas sales volumes are shown on a comparative basis, beginning on page 13 of the earnings packet.
Overall retail deliveries of electricity, excluding the iron ore mine, were up 7.1% from the second quarter of 2020 and on a weather-normal basis were up 5.8%.
For example, small commercial and industrial electric sales were up 10.4% from last year's second quarter and on a weather-normal basis were up 9.2%.
Meanwhile, large commercial and industrial sales, excluding the iron ore mine, were up 14.8% from the second quarter of 2020 and on a weather-normal basis were up 13.9%.
Natural gas deliveries in Wisconsin were down 4.9%.
And on a weather-normal basis, natural gas deliveries in Wisconsin grew by 2.5%.
As Gale noted, we have agreed to acquire a 90% ownership interest in the Sapphire Sky Wind Energy Center.
The site will consist of 64 wind turbines with a combined capacity of 250 megawatts.
We plan to invest $412 million for the 90% ownership interest.
This represents approximately $2.3 billion of investment.
We expect to invest an additional $1.1 billion in this segment over the remainder of our five-year plan.
As you may recall, we own 100 megawatts of this project in Southwest Wisconsin, and Madison Gas and Electric owns the remaining 50 megawatts.
The order recommends a $4.2 million rate increase on a 9.67% ROE and 51.6% equity component.
This settlement stipulates a 9.85% return on equity and a revenue increase of $9.25 million with an equity layer of 51.5%.
Our 2021 second quarter earnings of $0.87 per share increased $0.11 per share compared to the second quarter of 2020.
We grew our earnings by $0.09 compared to the second quarter of 2020.
First, continued economic recovery from the pandemic drove a $0.06 increase in earnings.
Also, rate relief and additional capital investment added $0.04 compared to the second quarter of 2020.
Lower day-to-day O&M contributed $0.01, and all other factors resulted in a positive variance of $0.02.
These favorable factors were partially offset by $0.04 of higher depreciation and amortization expense.
Overall, we added $0.09 quarter-over-quarter from Utility Operations.
Earnings decreased $0.02 compared to the second quarter of 2020.
While we picked up $0.01 in the current quarter from continued capital investment, this was more than offset by a $0.03 benefit recognized in the second quarter of 2020 related to a FERC order.
Recall that this order allowed ATC to increase its ROE from 10.38% to 10.52% retroactive to November 2013.
Earnings at our Energy Infrastructure segment improved $0.01 in the second quarter of 2021 compared to the second quarter of 2020.
Finally, we saw a $0.03 improvement in the Corporate and Other segment.
Lower interest expense contributed $0.02 quarter-over-quarter.
We recognized a $0.03 gain from our investment in a fund devoted to clean energy infrastructure and technology development.
These positive variances were partially offset by a reduction of $0.01 in rabbi trust performance and $0.01 in taxes and other.
In summary, we improved on our second quarter 2020 performance by $0.11.
For the full year, we expect our effective income tax rate to be between 13% and 14%.
Excluding the benefit of unprotected taxes flowing to customers, we project our 2021 effective tax rate will be between 19% and 20%.
Net cash provided by operating activities decreased $153 million.
Total capital expenditures and asset acquisitions were $1.1 billion for the first six months of 2021, a $93 million increase as compared with the first six months of 2020.
In fact, in June, we refinanced $300 million of debt at Wisconsin Electric, reducing the average coupon of these notes by over 1.2% and extending the maturity to 2028.
We are expecting a range of $0.72 to $0.74 per share for the third quarter.
As a reminder, we earned $0.84 per share in the third quarter last year.
This includes an estimated $0.05 of better-than-normal weather.
And as Gale mentioned earlier, we're raising our 2021 earnings guidance to a range of $4.02 to $4.05 per share with an expectation of reaching the top end of the range.
In addition to raising our annual guidance, we are reaffirming our projection of long-term earnings growth of 5% to 7% a year with a strong bias toward the upper half of that range.
As you may recall, in January, our Board of Directors raised the quarterly dividend by 7.1% to $0.6775 a share.
We continue to target a payout ratio of 65% to 70% of earnings.

Summary:
The new range is $4.02 a share to $4.05 a share, and our expectation is that we will reach the top end of that range.
The new range is $4.02 a share to $4.05 a share, and our expectation is that we will reach the top end of that range.
The new range is $4.02 a share to $4.05 a share, and our expectation is that we will reach the top end of that range.
The new range is $4.02 a share to $4.05 a share, and our expectation is that we will reach the top end of that range.
Our 2021 second quarter earnings of $0.87 per share increased $0.11 per share compared to the second quarter of 2020.
And as Gale mentioned earlier, we're raising our 2021 earnings guidance to a range of $4.02 to $4.05 per share with an expectation of reaching the top end of the range.