9. PENSION AND OTHER POSTRETIREMENT EMPLOYEE BENEFITS PLANS

We participate in and have liabilities under the Oncor Retirement Plan and the EFH Retirement Plan, both of which are qualified pension plans under Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (Code), and are subject to the provisions of ERISA. Employees do not contribute to either plan. These pension plans provide benefits to participants under one of two formulas: (i) a Cash Balance Formula under which participants earn monthly contribution credits based on their compensation and a combination of their age and years of service, plus monthly interest credits or (ii) a Traditional Retirement Plan Formula based on years of service and the average earnings of the three years of highest earnings. The interest component of the Cash Balance Formula is variable and is determined using the yield on 30-year Treasury bonds. Under the Cash Balance Formula, future increases in earnings will not apply to prior service costs. See Note 10 to Financial Statements in our 2014 Form 10-K for additional information regarding our pension plans and the EFH OPEB Plan.

In April 2014, we entered into an agreement with EFH Corp. in which we agreed to transfer to the Oncor OPEB Plan effective July 1, 2014, the assets and liabilities related to our eligible current and future retirees as well as certain eligible retirees of EFH Corp. whose employment included service with both Oncor (or a predecessor regulated electric business) and a non-regulated business of EFH Corp. Pursuant to the agreement, EFH Corp. will retain its portion of the liability for retiree benefits related to those retirees. Since the Oncor OPEB Plan offers identical coverages as the EFH OPEB Plan and we and EFH Corp. retain the same responsibility for participants as before, there was no financial impact as a result of the transfer other than from a remeasurement of the Oncor OPEB Plan’s asset values and obligations. As we are not responsible for EFH Corp.’s portion of the Oncor OPEB Plan’s unfunded liability, that amount is not reported on our balance sheet.

Our net costs related to pension and OPEB plans for the three and six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014 were comprised of the following:


	Three Months Ended June 30,				Six Months Ended June 30,
	2015		2014		2015		2014

Components of net allocated pension costs:
Service cost	$	6	$	6	$	12	$	12
Interest cost		33		33		66		66
Expected return on assets		(29)		(34)		(58)		(68)
Amortization of net loss		16		10		32		20
Net pension costs		26		15		52		30
Components of net OPEB costs:
Service cost		2		1		4		3
Interest cost		11		11		22		22
Expected return on assets		(3)		(3)		(6)		(6)
Amortization of prior service cost		(5)		(5)		(10)		(10)
Amortization of net loss		8		6		16		12
Net OPEB costs		13		10		26		21
Total net pension and OPEB costs		39		25		78		51
Less amounts deferred principally as property or a regulatory asset		(28)		(16)		(56)		(33)
Net amounts recognized as expense	$	11	$	9	$	22	$	18

The discount rates reflected in net pension and OPEB costs in 2015 are 3.95%, 4.19% and 4.23% for the Oncor Retirement Plan, the EFH Retirement Plan and the OPEB plans, respectively. The expected return on pension and OPEB plan assets reflected in the 2015 cost amounts are 5.25%, 5.38% and 6.65% for the Oncor Retirement Plan, the EFH Retirement Plan and the OPEB plans, respectively.

We made cash contributions to the pension plans and OPEB plans of $2 million and $13 million, respectively, during the six months ended June 30, 2015. We expect to make additional cash contributions to the pension plans and OPEB plans of $49 million and $12 million, respectively, during the remainder of 2015 and approximately $373 million and $147 million, respectively, in the 2015 to 2019 period.