MGE ENERGY INC

MGE Energy and our subsidiaries, including MGE, operate in a regulated market environment that involves significant risks, many of which are beyond our control. The following risk factors may adversely affect our results of operations, cash flows and financial position and market price for our publicly traded securities. While we believe we have identified and discussed below the key risk factors affecting our business, additional unknown risks and uncertainties may adversely affect our performance or financial condition in the future.

Regulatory Risk

We are subject to extensive government regulation in our business, which affects our costs and responsiveness to changing events and circumstances.

Our business is subject to regulation at the State and Federal levels. The regulations adopted by the State and Federal agencies affect how we do business, our ability to undertake specified actions since pre-approval or authorization may be required for projects, the costs of operations, and the rates charged to recover those costs. Our ability to attract capital also depends, in part, upon our ability to recover our costs and obtain a fair return for shareholders.

MGE Energy is subject to regulation as a holding company by the PSCW. The PSCW regulates MGE's rates; terms and conditions of service; various business practices and transactions; financing; the closure of generating facilities and related cost recovery; and transactions between it and its affiliates, including MGE Energy. MGE is also subject to regulation by the FERC, which regulates certain aspects of its business.

MGE is subject to oversight and monitoring by MISO. Possible changes to MISO's accredited capacity methodology may impact new generating facilities such as solar and wind which may require adjustments to the current resource plan. We may need to add additional resources to comply with MISO's planning reserve margin requirements or procure capacity in the market whereby such costs might not be recovered in rates. The lack of availability of new and existing generating facilities may also impact our current resource plan to be in accordance with MISO's methodology.

ATC, in which we have an investment, is subject to regulation by FERC as to, among other things, rates.

Our utility revenues are subject to regulatory proceedings and/or negotiated settlements, which can affect our ability to recover, and the timing of recovery of, costs that we incur in our operations.

Our utility customer rates have a material impact on our financial condition, results of operations, and liquidity. Our ability to obtain adjustments to those rates depends upon timely regulatory action under applicable statutes and regulations. These proceedings typically involve multiple parties, including governmental bodies and officials, consumer advocacy groups, and various consumers of energy, who focus on differing elements of the rate setting process, including environmental matters and addressing affordability concerns. Decisions are subject to judicial review, potentially leading to additional uncertainty associated with the approval proceedings. Rate regulation is based on providing an opportunity to recover costs that have been reasonably incurred and the ability to earn a reasonable rate of return on invested capital. However, we have no assurance that our regulators will consider all of our costs to have been reasonably incurred. In addition, our rate proceedings may not always result in rates that fully recover our costs or provide a reasonable return on equity. We estimate the impacts of changes in customer growth and weather as part of our customer rates. Any reduction of sales from these factors may not result in rates that fully recover our costs and require adjustments to our rates.

Under applicable accounting for regulated operations, certain costs and revenues are deferred as regulatory assets and liabilities for future recovery or refund to customers, as authorized by our regulators. If recovery of regulatory assets is not approved or is no longer deemed probable, these costs would be recognized as a current period expense and could materially and adversely impact our operations and financial performance in that period.

We could be subject to higher costs and potential penalties resulting from mandatory reliability standards.

MGE must adhere in its electric distribution system to mandatory reliability standards established by NERC. These standards cover areas such as critical infrastructure protection, emergency preparedness, facility design, and transmission operations, among others. The critical infrastructure protection standards focus on physical and access security of cyber assets, as well as incident response and recovery planning. Compliance with these standards affects operating costs and any noncompliance can result in sanctions, including monetary penalties.

We are subject to changing environmental laws and regulations that may affect our costs and business plans.

We are subject to environmental laws and regulations that affect the manner in which we conduct business, including capital expenditures, operating costs, and potential liabilities. The current presidential administration has and continues to undertake an active effort on climate change-related matters, including restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon. While it is difficult to know the extent of possible legislation or regulatory activity, it is expected there will be an increase in the number and scope of environmental laws and regulations aimed at carbon sources, including fossil-fueled generation and the transportation of natural gas. These possible changes, as well as evolving consumer sentiment, have affected and may continue to affect our business plans, make them more costly, or expose us to liabilities for past, present, or future operations.

Numerous environmental laws and regulations govern many aspects of our present and future operations. These include: air emissions limits and reporting; ambient air quality standards; water quality; water intake and discharges; wetlands; solid and hazardous waste; handling and disposal of hazardous substances; protection of endangered resources, such as threatened and endangered species, protection of cultural resources and archaeological sites; remediation and management of contaminated sites; and control of potential pollution from electric and gas construction sites. These evolving regulations affect us by:

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Introducing uncertainty into our planning and capital expenditures processes, as changes in requirements may affect the timing and choice of compliance methods and require costly revisions to prior plans and commitments.

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Imposing or modifying limits on the operations of our facilities in order to meet restrictions on air emissions, water use or water discharges.

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Requiring capital expenditures and changes in operating procedures and costs as a result of the need to install additional pollution controls or more advanced technology or equipment at new or existing facilities.

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Mandating increasing purchases of renewable energy, which affects the use of existing generation, and energy efficiency initiatives, which affect revenues.

We may be subject to future laws, regulations, or actions associated with public concern with fossil-fuel generation, greenhouse gases, and the effects of global climate change.

Our subsidiaries operate or co-own electric power plants that burn fossil fuels, deliver natural gas, and deliver electricity to customers. These business activities are subject to evolving public concern regarding greenhouse gases (GHG), legislative and regulatory action, and possible litigation in response to that public concern. The primary greenhouse gas associated with our subsidiaries' combustion of fossil fuels, and the largest emission in our system overall, is carbon dioxide (CO 2).

Our subsidiaries have incurred and are expected to continue to incur costs from more stringent regulation of GHG from power plants, natural gas delivery, GHG used in power distribution, and efficiencies lost during power distribution. While it is difficult to know the extent of possible legislation or regulatory activity, the federal government is likely to consider, and could pass, some form of greenhouse gas legislation or regulations. In addition, litigation by environmental nongovernment organizations targeting GHG emissions from the electric power industry is also likely if the federal government fails to act on greenhouse gas initiatives.

Climate change could affect us in several other ways:

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Changes in weather patterns, including swings in intensity, could affect use of electricity and gas by our customers, affecting revenues; and could affect the condition of our facilities, affecting our costs.

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We may also incur costs associated with actions taken due to investor interest in reducing our subsidiaries' reliance on fossil fuel generation, and coal in particular. Investors may also move away from investing in fossil fuel generated electricity for reputational or perceived risk-related reasons, which could raise our costs of attracting capital.

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If we are not seen as being proactive in addressing concerns:

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we may experience reputational issues among our customers and the communities that we serve. Those issues could affect customers' energy choices, including efforts at self-supply, and could affect the handling and treatment of our rate requests and cost recovery.

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we may experience difficulty in attracting investors, which could affect the availability and cost of capital and financing.

These matters represent uncertainties in the operation and management of our business.

We face risk for the recovery of fuel and purchased power costs.

MGE has price risk exposure with respect to the price of natural gas, electricity, coal, emission credits, and oil. MGE burns natural gas in several of its electric generation facilities. In many cases, the cost of purchased power is tied to the cost of natural gas. In the event of an interruption in energy supply, whether due to equipment problems, transmission constraints, or otherwise, we may incur additional costs to obtain alternative sources of energy supply, in order to meet our contractual or regulatory obligations to our customers. Electric fuel rules require Wisconsin utilities to defer electric fuel-related costs that fall outside a symmetrical cost tolerance band around the amount approved for a utility in its annual fuel proceedings. Any over- or under-recovery of the actual costs is determined in the following year and is then reflected in future billings to electric retail customers. The electric fuel-related costs are subject to an excess revenue test. Excess revenues are defined as revenues in the year in question that provide MGE with a greater return on common equity than authorized by the PSCW in MGE's latest rate order. The recovery of under-collected electric fuel-related costs would be reduced by the amount that exceeds the excess revenue test. These costs are subject to the PSCW's annual review of fuel costs completed in the year following the deferral. MGE assumes the risks and benefits of variances that are within the cost tolerance band.

Changes in federal income tax policy or our inability to use or generate tax credits may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows, as well as our credit ratings.

If corporate tax rates or policies are changed, we may be required to take material charges against earnings. If tax rates are increased, there could be timing delays before regulated rates provide for recovery of those tax increases in revenues. In addition, certain IRS tax policies, such as tax normalization, may impact our ability to economically deliver certain types of resources relative to market prices.

We have historically reduced our consolidated federal and state income tax liability with the use of various tax credits under the applicable tax codes. We may not be able to fully use tax credits if our future federal and state taxable income and related income tax liability is insufficient to permit their use or if we are unable to transfer tax credits to a third party. In addition, any future disallowance of some or all of those tax credits as a result of legislation or an adverse determination by one of the applicable taxing jurisdictions could materially affect our tax obligations and financial results.

Our utility business currently owns and operates renewable energy generating facilities. These facilities produce PTC and ITC used to reduce our federal tax obligations. The amount of tax credits we earn depends on the date the qualifying generating facilities are placed in service and various operating and economic factors, including facility generation, transmission constraints, unfavorable trends in pricing for wind or solar energy, adverse weather conditions, the breakdown or failure of equipment, and the applicable tax credit rate. These factors could significantly reduce the PTC and ITC produced by our wind or solar farms, resulting in increased federal income tax expense. We could also be forced to replace lost generation capacity with additional power purchases from third parties, potentially leading to increased costs. Any of the considerations mentioned above could have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations, which could be material depending upon the cause of the disruption and its duration.

There is also uncertainty as to when or how credit rating agencies, capital markets, the FERC, or state public utility commissions will treat impacts of any future federal or state tax regulation. These impacts could subject us to credit rating downgrades. In addition, certain financial metrics used by credit rating agencies, such as our funds from operations-to-debt percentage, could be negatively impacted by future rulings.

Operating Risk

We are affected by weather, which affects customer demand and can affect the operation of our facilities.

The demand for electricity and gas is affected by weather. Very warm and very cold temperatures, especially for prolonged periods, can dramatically increase the demand for electricity and gas for cooling and heating, respectively, as opposed to the softening effect of more moderate temperatures. Our electric revenues are sensitive to the summer cooling season and, to a lesser extent, the winter heating season. Similarly, very cold temperatures can dramatically increase the demand for gas for heating. A significant portion of our gas system demand is driven by heating. Extreme summer conditions or storms may stress electric systems, resulting in increased maintenance costs and limiting the ability to meet peak customer demand.

We could be adversely affected by changes in the development, and utilization by our customers, of power generation, storage, and use technologies.

Our revenues and the timing of the recovery of our costs could be adversely affected by improvements in power generation, storage, and use technology.

Advancements in power generation technology, including commercial and residential solar generation installations and commercial micro turbine installations, are improving the cost-effectiveness of customer self-supply of electricity. Improvements in energy storage technology, including batteries and fuel cells, could also better position customers to meet their around-the-clock electricity requirements. It is possible that legislation or regulations could be adopted supporting the use of these technologies that permit third-party sales from such facilities, and allow these facilities to interconnect to our distribution system. Improvements in the energy efficiency of lighting, appliances, and equipment will also affect energy consumption by customers. Such developments could reduce customer purchases of electricity but may not necessarily reduce our investment and operating requirements due to our obligation to serve customers, including those self-supply customers whose equipment has failed for any reason to provide the power they need whether due to inadequate on-site resources, restricted operating hours, or equipment failure. In addition, since a portion of our costs are recovered through charges based upon the volume of power delivered, a reduction in electricity deliveries will affect the timing of our recovery of those costs and may require changes to our rate structures.

Changes in power generation, storage, and use technologies could have significant effects on customer behaviors and their energy consumption. Customers could engage in individual conservation efforts by voluntarily reducing their consumption of electricity through changes in energy use and through the use of more energy efficient lighting, appliances, and equipment. They could also change their consumption of electricity through the installation of alternative energy sources, such as rooftop solar panels and micro turbines for self-supply. Customer energy conservation could adversely affect our results of operations by reducing our revenues without necessarily changing our operating costs due to our obligation to serve.

We are affected by local, national, and worldwide economic activity.

MGE Energy's and MGE's operations are affected by local, national and worldwide economic conditions. The consequences of a prolonged period of reduced economic activity may include lower demand for energy, uncertainty regarding energy prices and the capital and commodity markets, and increased credit risk. A decline in energy consumption may adversely affect our revenues and future growth. Increased credit risk reflects the risk that our retail customers will not pay their bills in a timely manner or at all, which may lead to a reduction in liquidity and an eventual increase in bad debt expense.

Higher levels of development and business activity within our service area generally increases the number of customers and their use of electricity and gas. Likewise, recessionary economic conditions generally have an adverse impact on our results of operations. Our business activities, including those of our subsidiaries, are concentrated in the State of Wisconsin. Changes in our local economy could negatively impact the financial condition of our customers, the growth opportunities available to us and our subsidiaries, and our results from operations.

More recently, our operations have been impacted by domestic and global supply chain disruptions which are delaying the delivery of materials, equipment, and other resources that are critical to our business operations and projects under construction, including our renewable energy projects. Supply interruptions could affect our ability to operate and maintain our system and ability to implement our long-term goals. Inflation has also increased prices of equipment, materials, employee wages and benefits, and other resources. Inflationary pressures in the economy could lead to higher expenses which may adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations.

The ability to obtain an adequate supply of coal could limit the ability to operate the co-owned coal-fired facilities from which we receive a significant portion of our electric supply.

The availability of coal and the means to transport coal could:

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Affect our operating costs due to increased costs associated with lower levels of owned generation or the need for alternate coal supply or transportation,

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Limit the ability to generate electricity if the plant operator is unable to arrange timely deliveries of adequate supplies of coal, and

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Result in potentially higher costs for replacement purchased power as well as potential lost market sales opportunities.

A significant portion of our electric generating capacity is dependent on coal. Demand for coal has been impacted by prevailing prices for natural gas and coal plant closures and may affect mine performance. Consequently, we are exposed to the risk that counterparties to these contracts will not be able to fulfill their obligations. Disruption in the delivery of fuel, including disruptions as a result of transportation delays, weather, labor relations, force majeure events, or environmental regulations affecting any of our fuel suppliers, has affected, and could affect our ability to generate electricity at our facilities at the desired level. Should counterparties fail to perform, or other unplanned disruptions occur, we may be forced to fulfill the underlying obligation at higher prices. The Columbia plant operator has been, and the plant operators may be, forced to reduce generation at our jointly-held coal units, which would cause us to replace this generation through additional power purchases from third parties. These factors may also affect the terms under which any of the existing coal supply or transportation agreements are renewed or replaced upon the expiration of their current terms.

Our ability to manage our purchased power costs is influenced by a number of uncontrollable factors.

We are exposed to additional purchased power costs to the extent that our power needs cannot be fully covered by the supplies available from our existing facilities and contractual arrangements. Those needs, and our costs, could be affected by:

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Increased demand due to, for example, abnormal weather, customer growth, or customer obligations,

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The inability to transmit our owned or contracted power from the generation source to our customers due to transmission line constraints, outages, or equipment failures,

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Reductions in the availability of power from our owned or contracted generation sources due to equipment failures, shortages of fuel or environmental limitations on operations, and

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Failure to perform on the part of any party from which we purchase capacity or energy, whether due to equipment failures or other causes.

An unexpected change in demand or the availability of generation or transmission facilities can expose us to increased costs of sourcing electricity in the short-term market where pricing may be more volatile.

The equipment and facilities in our operational system are subject to risks that may adversely affect our financial performance.

Weather conditions, accidents, and catastrophic events can result in damage or failures of equipment or facilities and disrupt or limit our ability to generate, transmit, transport, purchase, or distribute electricity and gas. Efforts to repair or replace equipment and facilities may take place over prolonged periods or may be unsuccessful. We may also be unable to make the necessary improvements to our operational system, causing service interruptions. Furthermore, our facilities are interconnected with third-party transmission providers. Damage to or failures of these providers' equipment or facilities is out of our control but could lead to service interruptions. The resulting interruption of services would result in lost revenues and additional costs. Lack of gas or decreased gas pressure from interstate pipeline systems may result in unexpected energy interruptions and may lead to additional costs for alternative energy sources. We are also exposed to the risk of accidents or other incidents that could result in damage to or destruction of our facilities or damage to persons or property. Such issues could adversely affect revenues or increase costs to repair and maintain our systems.

Our operations and confidential information are subject to the risk of physical or cyber attacks, which could have an adverse effect on our business and performance.

We operate in a highly engineered industry that requires the continued operation of sophisticated information technology systems and network infrastructure to manage our finances, to operate our control facilities, to provide electric and gas service to our customers, and to enable compliance with applicable regulatory requirements. Our generation and distribution facilities and computer-based systems and other infrastructure or physical assets are vulnerable to interruption, the introduction of viruses, malware, ransomware, security breaches, terrorist-style attacks, fire, power loss, system malfunction, network outages, unauthorized access, and other events that may be beyond our control. System interruptions or failures, whether isolated or more widespread, could impact our ability to provide service to our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial performance.

Generation, transmission systems, and natural gas pipelines are part of an interconnected system. Therefore, a disruption caused by the impact of a cyber security incident on the regional electric transmission grid, natural gas pipeline infrastructure or other fuel sources of our third-party service providers' operations, could also negatively impact our business.

Our business includes the collection and retention of personally identifiable information of our customers, shareholders, and employees, who expect that we will adequately protect such information. In some cases, we outsource certain functions to vendors that could be targets of cyber-attacks. A significant theft, loss, or fraudulent use of personally identifiable information may cause our business reputation to be adversely impacted and could lead to potentially large costs to notify and protect the impacted persons and subject us to legal claims, fines, or penalties.

We maintain security measures to protect our information technology and control systems, network infrastructure and other assets. While we have not been subject to cyber incidents that have had a material impact on operations to date, the safeguards we have may not always be effective due to the evolving nature of cyber-attacks. We cannot guarantee that such protections will be completely successful in the event of a cyber-attack. If the technology systems were to fail or be breached by a cyber-attack, and not be recovered in a timely fashion, we may be unable to fulfill critical business functions, equipment may fail to work and confidential data could be compromised, any additional costs may not be recoverable in rates, or may exceed cyber insurance limits, or may not be covered by cyber insurance and could adversely impact our results of operations.

Catastrophic and unpredictable events, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

A terrorist attack, war, natural disaster, pandemic virus or disease, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic, or other catastrophic or unpredictable event could adversely affect our future revenues, expenses and operating results by: interrupting our normal business operations; causing employee absences or casualties, including loss of our key employees; interrupting or affecting supplier operations; requiring substantial expenditures and expenses to repair, replace and restore normal business operations; and reducing investor confidence. Facilities for electric generation, transmission, and gas and electric distribution are potential targets of terrorist threats and activities both physical or cyber attacks. A terrorist act or catastrophic event at our facilities or the facilities of other companies to which we are interconnected could result in a disruption of our ability to generate, transmit, transport, purchase, or distribute electricity or natural gas. Such an event would have additional adverse effects, including environmental ramifications, increased security and insurance costs, as well as general economic volatility or uncertainty within our service territories. The inability to maintain operational continuity and any additional costs incurred for repairing our facilities or making alternative arrangements could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We face risk in connection with the completion of significant capital projects.

Our capital projects, such as our renewable generation projects, are subject to various completion risks that could cause costs to increase or delays in completion. These risks include shortages of, the inability to obtain, the cost of, and the consistency of, labor, materials and equipment; the inability of the contractors to perform under their contracts; the inability to agree to terms of contracts or disputes in contract terms; work stoppages; adverse weather conditions; the inability to obtain necessary permits in a timely manner; changes in applicable laws or regulations; adverse interpretation or enforcement of permit conditions; governmental actions or tariffs; legal action; and unforeseen engineering or technology issues. In the case of our renewable generation projects, we may face delays in the completion of the necessary transmission system connections or upgrades to accommodate the project.

If a capital project exceeds the approved project costs approved by the PSCW, we may not be able to recover those excess costs through regulated customer rates. If that happens, we may have to finance overruns through cash from operations, which may delay other projects, or by securing additional financing. Any or all of these methods may not be available when or in the amounts needed or may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Inability to recover excess costs, or inability to complete the project in a timely manner, could adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations. Further, our revenues and cash flows may not increase immediately following our expenditure of funds on a particular project, which could affect our liquidity and financial position.

Our stated long-term goals are based on various assumptions and beliefs that may not prove to be achievable in the time frame projected.

Some of our current long-term goals include MGE's targeting of a net‐zero carbon electricity by 2050 and MGE's Energy 2030 framework, which describes our plan for growth in renewables generation. MGE is working to achieve a more sustainable energy future using cost‐effective renewable generation technologies. Management established these goals in conjunction with our board of directors based upon a number of different internal and external factors that characterize and influence our current and expected future activities. These long-term goals are based on certain assumptions regarding the timing, scope, and relative costs of technological advancements, including generation, storage and energy use technologies; levels of customer participation in programs and partnerships, which will be critical to the achievement of the goals; our ability to transition or displace existing coal-fired resources; our ability to complete renewable generation projects in a timely manner and within approved budgets; our ability to obtain recovery of costs in rates; and our ability to obtain the necessary permits or licenses for such projects. These assumptions may differ materially from actual future results. Accordingly, we may not achieve our stated long-term goals in the timeframe projected or at all.

Failure to attract and retain an appropriately qualified workforce could affect our operations.

We must attract, train, and retain a workforce to meet current and future needs. Events such as an aging workforce without appropriate replacements, mismatch of skill sets to future needs, labor market conditions, evolving employee culture expectations, or unavailability of contract resources may lead to operating challenges and increased costs. Some of the challenges include lack of resources, loss of knowledge, and time required for replacement employees to develop necessary skills. Failure to identify qualified replacement employees could increase costs as a result of decreased productivity and increased safety incidents. If we are unable to attract and retain an appropriately qualified workforce, our operations could be negatively affected. We are also subject to multiple collective bargaining agreements covering approximately 317 employees. Future negotiation of these collective bargaining agreements could lead to work stoppages or other disruptions to our operations, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Financial Risk

We are exposed to commodity price risk relating to our purchases of natural gas, electricity, coal, oil, and environmental allowances.

We face commodity price risk exposure with respect to the purchase of natural gas, electricity, coal, oil, and environmental allowances. We also face risk through our use of derivatives such as futures, forwards, and swaps, to manage our commodity price risk. We could experience increased costs as a result of volatility in the market values of those commodities. We could also experience losses on our derivative contracts as a result of that market value volatility or if a counterparty fails to perform under a contract.

Interest rate movements and market performance affects our employee benefit plan costs.

Prevailing interest rates affect our assessment and determination of discount rates and are a key assumption in the determination of the costs and funding of our defined benefit pension plans. Changes in rates may impact the amount of expense and timing of contributions to those plans. The performance of the capital markets affects the values of the assets that are held in trust to satisfy the future obligations under our pension and postretirement benefit plans. We have significant obligations in these areas and hold significant assets in these trusts. A decline in the market value of those assets may increase our current and longer-term funding requirements for these obligations. Changes in the value of trust fund assets may affect the level of required contributions to these trusts to meet benefit obligations. Reduced benefit plan assets could result in increased benefit costs in future years and may increase the amount and accelerate the timing of required future funding contributions.

We are exposed to interest rate risk.

We are exposed to interest rate risk on our variable rate financing. Borrowing levels under commercial paper arrangements vary from period to period depending upon capital investments and other factors. Such interest rate risk means that we are exposed to increased financing costs and associated cash payments as a result of changes in the short-term interest rates.

We are exposed to counterparty credit risk primarily through our regulated energy business.

Credit risk is the loss and additional expense that may result from counterparty nonperformance. We face credit risk primarily through MGE's regulated energy business. Failure of contractual counterparties to perform their obligations under purchase power agreements, commodity supply arrangements, or other agreements may result in increased expenses for MGE as a result of being forced to cover the shortfall in the spot or short-term market, where prices may be more volatile. That risk may be increased during periods of weak or stressed economic conditions.

As a holding company, we are dependent on upstream cash flows from our subsidiaries for the payment of dividends on our common stock.

MGE Energy is a holding company, with no operations of its own, and its ability to pay dividends on our common stock is dependent on the earnings and cash flows of operating subsidiaries and their ability to pay upstream dividends or to repay funds to MGE Energy. Our subsidiaries have financial obligations that must be satisfied before funding MGE Energy. These obligations include debt service and obligations to trade creditors, among others. Our subsidiaries are also subject to contractual and regulatory restrictions on the payment of dividends.

Disruptions in the financial markets or changes to our credit ratings may affect our ability to finance at a reasonable cost and in accordance with our planned schedule.

The credit markets have experienced disruption and uncertainty in prior years. To the extent that such issues affect the ability or willingness of credit providers or investors to participate in the credit markets or particular types of investments, or affect their perception of the risk associated with particular types of investments, our cost of borrowing could be affected. Furthermore, if we are unable to access the capital and credit markets on favorable terms, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity and our ability to repay or refinance our debt. We also rely on our credit ratings to access the credit markets. If our credit ratings are downgraded for any reason, borrowing costs would increase, the number of potential investors could decrease, or we could be required to provide additional credit assurance, including cash collateral, to contract counterparties.

General Risk Factors

Our insurance coverage may not be sufficient to cover losses caused by an operating failure or catastrophic events, such as severe weather events or a cyber-attack, or it may not be available at a reasonable cost, or available at all.

We may experience increased costs and difficulties in obtaining insurance coverage for risks that could arise from our ordinary operations. We or our contractors and customers could continue to experience coverage reductions and/or increased insurance costs in future years. No assurance can be given that future losses will not exceed the limits of our insurance coverage. Uninsured losses and increases in the cost of insurance may not be recoverable in customer rates. A loss that is not fully insured or cannot be recovered in customer rates could materially affect our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, and cash flows. In addition, we are unable to predict whether we would be allowed to recover in rates the increased costs of insurance or the costs of any uninsured losses. If the amount of insurance is insufficient or otherwise unavailable, or if we are unable to obtain insurance at a reasonable cost or recover in rates the costs of any uninsured losses, our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, and cash flows could be materially affected.

The stock market can be volatile, and various factors could cause our stock price to decline.

The stock market has experienced, and may continue to experience, fluctuations that significantly impact the market prices of securities issued by many companies. Many factors affect the volatility and price of our common stock in addition to our operating results and prospects, including changes in conditions locally and in the broader economy. These conditions include technological change, the level of interest rates and yields on other investments, and the effects of the other risk factors discussed in this Report. Our stock price could fluctuate significantly in response to our quarterly or annual results, as well as factors affecting the broader economy that are beyond our control.