Regulatory Matters

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Regulatory Matters [Abstract]

REGULATORY MATTERS

2. REGULATORY MATTERS

Regulatory Assets and Liabilities

Recognition of regulatory assets and liabilities and the periods over which they are to be recovered or refunded through rate regulation reflect the decisions of the PUCT. Components of our regulatory assets and liabilities and their remaining recovery periods as of March 31, 2022 are provided in the table below. Amounts not currently earning a return through rate regulation are noted.

	Remaining Rate Recovery/Amortization Period
	At March 31, 2022	At March 31, 2022		At December 31, 2021
Regulatory assets:
Employee retirement liability (a)(b)(c)	To be determined	$	323	$	328
Employee retirement costs being amortized	6 years		183		193
Employee retirement costs incurred since the last rate review period (b)	To be determined		97		99
Self-insurance reserve (primarily storm recovery costs) being amortized	6 years		213		223
Self-insurance reserve incurred since the last rate review period (primarily storm related) (b)	To be determined		429		373
Debt reacquisition costs	Lives of related debt		18		19
Under-recovered AMS costs	6 years		123		128
Energy efficiency performance bonus (a)	1 year or less		23		31
Wholesale distribution substation service	To be determined		81		75
Unrecovered expenses related to COVID-19	To be determined		35		35
Recoverable deferred income taxes - net	Various		17		16
Uncollectible payments from REPs (b)	To be determined		9		9
Other regulatory assets	Various		20		18
Total regulatory assets			1,571		1,547
Regulatory liabilities:
Estimated net removal costs	Lives of related assets		1,370		1,348
Excess deferred taxes	Primarily over lives of related assets		1,425		1,442
Over-recovered wholesale transmission service expense (a)	1 year or less		6		7
Unamortized gain on reacquisition of debt	Lives of related debt		26		26
Employee retirement costs over-recovered since last rate review period (b)	To be determined		45		39
Other regulatory liabilities	Various		20		14
Total regulatory liabilities			2,892		2,876
Net regulatory assets (liabilities)		$	(1,321)	$	(1,329)

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(a)Not earning a return in the regulatory rate-setting process.

(b)Recovery/refund is specifically authorized by statute or by the PUCT, subject to reasonableness review.

(c)Represents unfunded liabilities recorded in accordance with pension and OPEB accounting standards.

Base Rate Review Filing Deadline (PUCT Docket No. 52100)

On May 10, 2021, we filed an application with the PUCT requesting to extend our base rate review filing deadline from October 1, 2021 to June 1, 2022. On July 29, 2021, the PUCT approved an order granting the extension. As a result, our next base rate review must be filed on or before June 1, 2022.

PUCT Project No. 50664, Issues Related to the State of Disaster for the Coronavirus Disease 2019

In March 2020, the PUCT issued an order in PUCT Project No. 50664, Issues Related to the State of Disaster for the Coronavirus Disease 2019, authorizing transmission and distribution utilities to use a regulatory asset accounting mechanism and a subsequent process to seek future recovery of expenses resulting from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, we have been recording incremental costs incurred by Oncor resulting from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including costs relating to the implementation of our pandemic readiness plan, as a regulatory asset. At March 31, 2022, the balance of this regulatory asset was $35 million.