2.2.0.7 false Credit Risk 124 - Disclosure - Credit Risk true false false false 1 USD false false iso4217_USD Standard http://www.xbrl.org/2003/iso4217 USD iso4217 0 iso4217_USD_per_shares Divide http://www.xbrl.org/2003/iso4217 USD iso4217 http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance shares 0 pure Standard http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance pure 0 shares Standard http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance shares 0 $ 5 Credit Risk 3 us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskDisclosureTextBlock us-gaap true na duration No definition available. false false false false false false false false false false false false 1 false false false false 0 0 <div> Note 16. Credit Risk Credit risk is the risk of financial loss if counterparties fail to perform their contractual obligations. In order to minimize overall credit risk, credit policies are maintained, including the evaluation of counterparty financial condition, collateral requirements and the use of standardized agreements that facilitate the netting of cash flows associated with a single counterparty. In addition, counterparties may make available collateral, including letters of credit or cash held as margin deposits, as a result of exceeding agreed-upon credit limits, or may be required to prepay the transaction. Dominion and Virginia Power maintain a provision for credit losses based on factors surrounding the credit risk of their customers, historical trends and other information. Management believes, based on credit policies and the provision for credit losses, that it is unlikely that a material adverse effect on financial position, results of operations or cash flows would occur as a result of counterparty nonperformance. Dominion As a diversified energy company, Dominion transacts primarily with major companies in the energy industry and with commercial and residential energy consumers. These transactions principally occur in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions of the U.S. and Texas. Dominion does not believe that this geographic concentration contributes significantly to its overall exposure to credit risk. In addition, as a result of its large and diverse customer base, Dominion is not exposed to a significant concentration of credit risk for receivables arising from electric and gas utility operations.   Dominion’s exposure to credit risk is concentrated primarily within its energy marketing and price risk management activities, as Dominion transacts with a smaller, less diverse group of counterparties and transactions may involve large notional volumes and potentially volatile commodity prices. Energy marketing and price risk management activities include trading of energy-related commodities, marketing of merchant generation output, structured transactions and the use of financial contracts for enterprise-wide hedging purposes. Gross credit exposure for each counterparty is calculated as outstanding receivables plus any unrealized on- or off-balance sheet exposure, taking into account contractual netting rights. Gross credit exposure is calculated prior to the application of collateral. At September 30, 2010, Dominion’s gross credit exposure totaled $756 million. After the application of collateral, credit exposure is reduced to $676 million. Of this amount, investment grade counterparties, including those internally rated, represented 86%. One counterparty exposure is greater than 10% of Dominion’s total exposure, representing 13%, and is a large financial institution rated investment grade. The majority of Dominion’s derivative instruments contain credit-related contingent provisions. These provisions require Dominion to provide collateral upon the occurrence of specific events, primarily a credit downgrade. If the credit-related contingent features underlying these instruments that are in a liability position and not fully collateralized with cash were fully triggered as of September 30, 2010 and December 31, 2009, Dominion would have been required to post an additional $90 million and $36 million, respectively, of collateral to its counterparties. The collateral that would be required to be posted includes the impacts of any offsetting asset positions and any amounts already posted for derivatives, non-derivative contracts and derivatives elected under the normal purchases and normal sales exception, per contractual terms. Dominion had posted $52 million in collateral, including $19 million of letters of credit at September 30, 2010 and $62 million in collateral, including $48 million of letters of credit at December 31, 2009, related to derivatives with credit-related contingent provisions that are in a liability position and not fully collateralized with cash. The collateral posted includes any amounts paid related to non-derivative contracts and derivatives elected under the normal purchases and normal sales exception, per contractual terms. The aggregate fair value of all derivative instruments with credit-related contingent provisions that are in a liability position and not fully collateralized with cash as of September 30, 2010 and December 31, 2009 is $196 million and $181 million, respectively, and does not include the impact of any offsetting asset positions. See Note 10 for further information about derivative instruments. Virginia Power Virginia Power sells electricity and provides distribution and transmission services to customers in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. Management believes that this geographic concentration risk is mitigated by the diversity of Virginia Power’s customer base, which includes residential, commercial and industrial customers, as well as rural electric cooperatives and municipalities. Credit risk associated with trade accounts receivable from energy consumers is limited due to the large number of customers. Virginia Power’s exposure to potential concentrations of credit risk results primarily from sales to wholesale customers. Virginia Power’s gross credit exposure for each counterparty is calculated as outstanding receivables plus any unrealized on- or off-balance sheet exposure, taking into account contractual netting rights. Gross credit exposure is calculated prior to the application of collateral. At September 30, 2010, Virginia Power’s gross credit exposure totaled $18 million. After the application of collateral, credit exposure is reduced to $6 million. Of this amount, investment grade counterparties, including those internally rated, represented $2 million, and no single counterparty, whether investment grade or non-investment grade, exceeded $3 million of exposure.   </div> Note 16. Credit Risk Credit risk is the risk of financial loss if counterparties fail to perform their contractual obligations. In order to minimize false false false us-types:textBlockItemType textblock Description of any concentrations existing at the date of the financial statements that make an entity vulnerable to a reasonably possible, near-term, severe impact. The entity should inform financial statement users about the general nature of the risk associated with the concentration, and may indicate the percentage of concentration risk as of the balance sheet date. Disclosure of any financial instrument credit risk concentration also should indicate the maximum amount of loss that would be incurred upon complete failure of the counterparty to perform and the entity's collateral policies or other policies that limit the loss exposure. This element may be used as a single block of text to encapsulate the entire disclosure including data and tables. Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 107 -Paragraph 15A Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher AICPA -Name Statement of Position (SOP) -Number 94-6 -Paragraph 21, 22, 24 false 1 1 false UnKnown UnKnown UnKnown false true