Alliant Energy Corporation (LNT) Business Profile

What it does

Alliant Energy Corporation is a regulated utility holding company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded in 1981, it is led by President and Chief Executive Officer Lisa M. Barton. Its principal business is providing electricity and natural gas to customers in the Midwest through two utility subsidiaries: Interstate Power and Light, or IPL, and Wisconsin Power and Light, or WPL.

IPL generates and distributes electricity and distributes and transports natural gas in selected Iowa markets. WPL performs those functions in selected Wisconsin markets. The utilities serve homes, businesses and industrial facilities, and they also sell electricity to wholesale customers. Their gas transportation service moves gas owned by commercial and industrial customers through the utilities’ distribution systems to customers’ meters.

The utilities meet electricity demand with their own generating facilities, power purchase agreements and purchases from wholesale markets. Their generation uses natural gas, renewable resources and coal. They rely on transmission systems operated by other companies to move electricity over longer distances before distributing it locally.

Alliant also has non-utility holdings. These include interests in electric transmission businesses, a stake in an Oklahoma wind farm, and Travero, a supply-chain business offering rail, freight terminal, brokerage and warehouse services. A non-utility natural gas facility is leased to WPL. Alliant had 2,948 full- and part-time employees at December 31, 2025.

How it makes money

Alliant earns most of its cash from electricity and gas sales by IPL and WPL. Customers pay for utility service under rates overseen by state and federal regulators. Those payments reimburse the utilities for prudently incurred expenses and generally provide a return of and a return on the assets used to serve customers. The utilities also earn revenue by transporting customer-owned natural gas and selling electricity to wholesale customers.

For FY2025, electric revenue was $3.7 billion and gas revenue was $525.0 million; for Q3 2026, Alliant reported GAAP earnings of $1.52 per share.

IPL and WPL are the utility reportable segments. Their electric and gas revenue reflects service to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while electricity revenue also includes wholesale and bulk-power sales. Electric demand normally peaks in summer, when customers use air conditioning; gas sales have a winter heating peak. Weather therefore affects the amount customers buy from year to year.

Both utilities periodically request changes to retail base rates. Iowa regulators oversee IPL’s retail rates, while Wisconsin regulators oversee WPL’s. IPL’s Iowa retail electric base-rate moratorium originally ran through September 2029; Alliant has since announced an extension of its rate stability plan through the end of 2030. That plan concerns base rates rather than every component of a customer’s bill.

Gas tariffs provide for later adjustments reflecting the cost of gas sold to retail customers. The utilities also have mechanisms for recovering certain fuel and transmission costs. Their non-utility holdings provide other income, including earnings from transmission interests and businesses outside regulated utility service. Large projects and debt retirement are expected to require external financing in addition to operating cash flow.

Customers and how it sells

Alliant’s utility operations are concentrated in Iowa and Wisconsin. IPL served approximately 505,000 electric and 230,000 natural gas retail customers in Iowa at December 31, 2025. At the same date, WPL served approximately 505,000 electric and 205,000 natural gas retail customers in Wisconsin. IPL also sells electricity to wholesale customers in Illinois and Iowa, while WPL sells to wholesale customers in Wisconsin.

Retail electric customers include households and businesses across farming, agriculture, industrial manufacturing, chemicals, pipeline transportation, packaging, food and data centers. Wholesale customers consist primarily of municipalities and rural electric cooperatives. Gas customers include businesses in research, education, hospitality, manufacturing and chemicals, as well as households. Some commercial and industrial customers buy their own gas and pay IPL or WPL to transport it locally.

Alliant has signed electric service agreements with data-center customers. Google is taking transmission service in Iowa, and Meta is taking distribution service in Wisconsin. QTS Cedar Rapids expects to complete commissioning its first two buildings in Q4 2026. Alliant also understands that Mesabi Metallics expects to locate plants in its Lee County service territory; the company has included Mesabi’s initial capacity needs in its refreshed plan.

Suppliers and costs

Alliant buys natural gas from numerous suppliers in producing regions of the United States and Canada. Its utilities use transportation and storage contracts to move and hold gas, including purchases made in warmer months for delivery during the winter heating season. For gas-fired power plants, the company also uses commodity, pipeline and storage agreements, along with hedging practices.

IPL and WPL use coal from the Wyoming Powder River Basin. Coal contracts with different suppliers provide specified volumes at known prices, while remaining requirements may be met through future contracts or spot purchases. The utilities also buy electricity under power purchase agreements and in wholesale markets.

IPL and WPL do not own their electric transmission service assets. They receive transmission services from ITC and ATC, respectively, and pay rates based on federally approved formulas. Alliant also owns an interest in ATC through its non-utility holdings.

Operating and maintenance expenses, depreciation, fuel, transmission and financing are among the costs of running the business. Alliant expects maintenance costs to increase as it adds generation facilities. Gas tariffs allow subsequent rate adjustments for the cost of gas sold to retail customers; other cost recovery depends on the applicable regulatory mechanisms.

Competitive position

Retail electric customers in Iowa and Wisconsin cannot currently choose their electric supplier, and IPL and WPL are obliged to serve retail electric customers in their territories. Gas customers likewise cannot choose their gas distributor. The utilities operate under state regulation: IPL uses non-exclusive franchises in incorporated Iowa communities, while WPL operates in Wisconsin municipalities under permits of indefinite duration and state statutes.

Our reading: The established distribution territories and lack of retail supplier choice give Alliant a meaningful local position, although that position operates within a regulated system that also imposes service obligations and controls rates.

The utilities face alternatives even within their service areas. Large industrial customers can generate their own electricity, and customers or third parties can own generation such as solar panels. Iowa communities can petition to municipalize service, and Wisconsin municipal utilities can expand territory through annexations. Gas commodity sales and related services face competition from alternative fuels such as propane.

Wholesale electricity markets are competitive: IPL and WPL compete with independent power producers, other utilities and purchases in the MISO market. No competing company is named in the available business descriptions.

Our reading: Local infrastructure and the obligation to serve support the retail position, but self-generation, alternative fuels and competing wholesale supply limit the protection those arrangements provide.

Growth opportunities

Alliant’s growth plans center on serving additional electricity demand and investing in generation, storage and distribution systems. Its earlier resource plan called for new natural gas resources, renewable generation and energy storage, as well as improvements to existing gas plants and refurbishment of wind farms. It also plans investments in electric and gas distribution reliability and gas delivery.

Alliant’s refreshed capital investment plan totals $15.9 billion for 2027 through 2030. The company says incremental investments in the plan include 1.2 gigawatts of additional natural gas combustion turbines and 200 megawatts of additional energy storage. It expects to use operating cash flow, renewable tax-credit proceeds, debt, hybrid financing and common equity to fund the plan. The company has closed a $5.1 billion guaranteed loan program with the U.S. Department of Energy.

Data centers are a source of expected demand. Alliant says five data centers support its expectation for greater than 60% contracted demand growth by 2031, and that three sites account for 3.4 gigawatts of load growth. It expects approximately 1 additional gigawatt of contracted large load within the next 6 months, but would update its capital plan only as opportunities meet its planning criteria.

The company has filed a Wisconsin large-load tariff and an individual customer rate application for a second Google project in Cedar Rapids. It expects decisions on both in the first half of 2027. It also plans an individual customer rate application for the QTS Clinton data center in the first half of 2027.

Structural risks

• Regulatory recovery: Regulators determine rates, authorized returns and which costs can be recovered. IPL and WPL may not receive timely or sufficient rate relief, and certain costs or capital expenditures may not be recoverable.
• Large-load demand: Serving data centers and other large customers may require investment before returns are realized. Customers may use less energy than expected, start later, or fail to meet contractual obligations; individual rates may not fully recover service costs.
• Construction and capacity: New generation, storage and distribution projects depend on approvals, equipment, labor and financing. Delays or higher costs can affect the company’s ability to meet demand, while regional capacity requirements may require changes to resource plans.
• Environmental rules and tax credits: Environmental compliance costs may rise and may not be fully recovered. Changes to renewable tax credits, eligibility requirements or the ability to transfer credits could affect project economics and cash flows.
• Weather and operations: Mild winters or summers can reduce utility revenue and income. Cyberattacks on generating or distribution systems could disrupt service, damage systems or expose sensitive information.

Bottom line

Our reading

Alliant is primarily a regulated electric and gas utility, with established service territories and returns tied to regulator-approved rates and investment. Our reading is that its next phase depends on converting large-customer commitments into actual energy use while building and financing the infrastructure to serve them. Rate recovery, project execution and the timing of customer demand are central exposures to that plan.