REGULATORY ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

The majority of PGE’s regulatory assets and liabilities are reflected in customer prices and are amortized over the period in which they are reflected in customer prices. Items not currently reflected in prices are pending before the regulatory body as discussed below.

Regulatory assets and liabilities consist of the following (dollars in millions):



	Weighted Average Remaining Life ⁽¹⁾	As of December 31,
		2015					2014
		Current			Noncurrent		Current			Noncurrent
Regulatory assets:
Price risk management ⁽²⁾	4 years	$	120		$	161	$	100		$	121
Pension and other postretirement plans ⁽²⁾	⁽³⁾	—			239		—			247
Deferred income taxes ⁽²⁾	⁽⁴⁾	—			86		—			86
Debt issuance costs ⁽²⁾	8 years	—			16		—			15
Deferred capital projects	1 year	—			—		19			—
Other ⁽⁵⁾	Various	9			22		14			25
Total regulatory assets		$	129		$	524	$	133		$	494
Regulatory liabilities:
Asset retirement removal costs ⁽⁶⁾	⁽⁴⁾	$	—		$	837	$	—		$	804
Trojan decommissioning activities	3 years	17			15		23			34
Asset retirement obligations ⁽⁶⁾	⁽⁴⁾	—			45		—			39
Other	Various	38			31		37			29
Total regulatory liabilities		$	55	⁽⁷⁾	$	928	$	60	⁽⁷⁾	$	906


(1)	As of December 31, 2015.


(2)	Does not include a return on investment.


(3)	Recovery expected over the average service life of employees.


(4)	Recovery expected over the estimated lives of the assets.


(5)	Of the total other unamortized regulatory asset balances, a return is recorded on $29 million and $33 million as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively.


(6)	Included in rate base for ratemaking purposes.


(7)	Included in Accrued expenses and other current liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets.

As of December 31, 2015, PGE had regulatory assets of $30 million earning a return on investment at the following rates: i) $25 million earning a return by inclusion in rate base; ii) $4 million at the approved rate for deferred accounts under amortization, ranging from 1.47% to 1.93%, depending on the year of approval; and iii) $1 million at PGE’s 2015 cost of capital of 7.56%.

Price risk management represents the difference between the net unrealized losses recognized on derivative instruments related to price risk management activities and their realization and subsequent recovery in customer prices. For further information regarding assets and liabilities from price risk management activities, see Note 5, Price Risk Management.

Pension and other postretirement plans represents unrecognized components of the benefit plans’ funded status, which are recoverable in customer prices when recognized in net periodic benefit cost. For further information, see Note 10, Employee Benefits.

Deferred income taxes represents income tax benefits resulting from property-related timing differences that previously flowed to customers and will be included in customer prices when the temporary differences reverse. For further information, see Note 11, Income Taxes.

Debt issuance costs represents unrecognized debt issuance costs related to debt instruments retired prior to the stipulated maturity date.

Deferred capital projects represents costs related to four capital projects that were deferred for future accounting treatment pursuant to the Company’s 2011 GRC. The recovery of these project costs in customer prices began January 1, 2014 and was fully amortized as of December 31, 2015.

Asset retirement removal costs represent the costs that do not qualify as AROs and are a component of depreciation expense allowed in customer prices. Such costs are recorded as a regulatory liability as they are collected in prices, and are reduced by actual removal costs incurred.

Trojan decommissioning activities represents proceeds received for the settlement of a legal matter concerning the reimbursement from the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) of certain monitoring costs incurred related to spent nuclear fuel at Trojan, as well as ongoing costs and collections associated with decommissioning activities. The USDOE settlement proceeds will be returned to customers over a three-year period that began January 1, 2015 and offset amounts previously collected from customers in relation to Trojan decommissioning activities.

Asset retirement obligations represent the difference in the timing of recognition of: i) the amounts recognized for depreciation expense of the asset retirement costs and accretion of the ARO; and ii) the amount recovered in customer prices.