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+5.0%
growth in revenue a year, FY2020 to FY2025
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- Where the profit is made
Profit grew with the plant, not with the sales
Q3 FY2026, the quarter to Sep 30, 2026 · 10-Q filed Oct 30, 2026
Largest source of revenue: IPL, 51.7% of the total.
Retail electric volumes rose 2%, yet operating income rose 11.5%, a gap the filing credits to rates on new investment.
Operating income rose 11.5% to $389 million from $349 million, while retail electric volumes rose only 2%, to 7,146 GWh from 6,974 GWh. Revenue rose 6.2% to $1,285 million and total operating expenses 4.1% to $896 million, so the operating margin widened 1.43 points to 30.3%.1
The filing names higher revenue requirements from IPL's and WPL's capital investments among the main drivers, alongside higher retail electric sales. Fuel and purchased power fell to $222 million from $239 million, while other operation and maintenance rose to $228 million from $204 million, which the filing puts chiefly on higher incentive compensation.1
AnalysisFor a regulated utility this is the expected shape: the return allowed on approved plant, more than the volume of power sold, sets most of the profit. Temperatures also lifted volumes this quarter, a factor that does not repeat on a schedule.
A $67 million tax benefit made taxes a source of profit, and the filing puts part of it on timing.
Income before income taxes was $331 million, up 25.9% from $263 million. Net income attributable to common shareowners was $398 million, up 41.6% from $281 million. The gap is an income tax benefit of $67 million, equal to 20.2% of pre-tax income, against a benefit of $18 million a year earlier.1
The filing names the timing of income taxes first among the drivers of utility profit, and points to additional tax credits from renewable generation and energy storage projects already in service or expected in service this year. Diluted earnings per share were $1.52 against $1.09.1
AnalysisCredits tied to new storage and renewables recur as long as such projects keep entering service, but the part the filing calls timing moves profit between quarters rather than adding to the year. Operating income, which grew more slowly, is the steadier measure of the quarter.
IPL brings in 51.7% of revenue but earned 63.1% of net income, lifted by tax credits rather than sales.
WPL revenue grew 10.2% to $595 million and IPL revenue 2.6% to $664 million, moving WPL's share of the total up 1.68 points to 46.3%. Net income moved the other way: IPL earned $251 million against $165 million a year earlier, WPL $156 million against $123 million.1
IPL's net income equalled 37.8% of its revenue, against 26.2% at WPL. The filing ties IPL's result to additional tax credits from renewable generation and energy storage projects, while WPL's revenue gain came from higher revenue requirements and higher sales to commercial and industrial customers. Together the two utilities earned more than the $398 million consolidated total, because the parent and non-utility operations ran at a loss.1
AnalysisThe two utilities play different roles in the same quarter. Wisconsin shows growth from rates and new demand; Iowa shows how tax credits from storage and wind can carry net income even when sales barely move.
Venture fund gains and a construction credit absorbed most of the $145 million interest bill this quarter.
Interest expense rose 13.3% to $145 million from $128 million, which the filing ties to financings completed this year and last. Yet total other deductions, net of credits, fell to $58 million from $86 million.1
Two credits did the work. Equity income from unconsolidated investments rose 150% to $45 million from $18 million, which the filing attributes to higher valuations in corporate venture funds, including an onsite power company that completed an initial public offering, recognized on a one-quarter lag. The allowance for funds used during construction rose 58.3% to $38 million from $24 million, on storage, gas generation and wind refurbishment work.1
AnalysisThese credits behave differently. The construction allowance tracks the build program and is recovered later in rates, but it is not cash. The venture gain rests on a valuation and need not repeat. Interest, by contrast, is paid in cash and grows with every financing.
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Where Alliant Energy stands among its peers, ten years of growth and cash, where the profit is made, and the edge and the risks.
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Revenue went from $3.7B in FY2008 to $4.4B in FY2025, the operating margin from 13.3% to 23.5%, over 17 years.
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What Alliant Energy's numbers depend on from here, read from the filing: the conditions behind this period's margins and growth, and where a change would show first.
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Business Lens describes Alliant Energy from its own filings with the SEC. It is not a view on its shares, a target, or advice to buy, sell or hold anything; figures are as filed and may be restated by the company later. The filing, the dates and the version are under the financial data above.