Regulatory Assets and Liabilities (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Schedule of Regulatory Liabilities [Table Text Block]

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



	Remaining Amortization Period	As of December 31,
		2019						2018
		Earning a Return ⁽¹⁾		Not Earning a Return		Total		Total
Regulatory assets:
Price risk management	2035	$	—	$	95	$	95	$	131
Pension and other postretirement plans	⁽²⁾	—		213		213		222
Debt issuance costs	2049	—		26		26		16
Trojan decommissioning activities	2059	—		94		94		26
Other	Various	62		10		72		67
Total regulatory assets		$	62	$	438	$	500	$	462
Regulatory liabilities:
Asset retirement removal costs	⁽³⁾	$	1,021	$	—	$	1,021	$	979
Deferred income taxes	⁽⁴⁾	260		—		260		267
Asset retirement obligations	⁽³⁾	54		—		54		53
Tax reform deferral ⁽⁵⁾	2020	23		—		23		45
Other	Various	47		16		63		47
Total regulatory liabilities		$	1,405	$	16	$	1,421	$	1,391


(1)	Earning a return includes either interest on the regulatory asset or liability, or inclusion of the regulatory asset or liability as an increase or decrease to rate base at the allowed rate of return.


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


(3)	Recovery or refund expected over the estimated lives of the underlying assets and treated as a reduction to rate base.


(4)	Refund expected primarily through amortization using the average rate assumption method over the average life of the underlying assets and treated as a reduction to rate base.


(5)	Refund related to the deferral of the 2018 net tax benefits due to the change in corporate tax rate under TCJA, including interest, over a two-year period that began in 2019.

Schedule of Regulatory Assets [Table Text Block]

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



	Remaining Amortization Period	As of December 31,
		2019						2018
		Earning a Return ⁽¹⁾		Not Earning a Return		Total		Total
Regulatory assets:
Price risk management	2035	$	—	$	95	$	95	$	131
Pension and other postretirement plans	⁽²⁾	—		213		213		222
Debt issuance costs	2049	—		26		26		16
Trojan decommissioning activities	2059	—		94		94		26
Other	Various	62		10		72		67
Total regulatory assets		$	62	$	438	$	500	$	462
Regulatory liabilities:
Asset retirement removal costs	⁽³⁾	$	1,021	$	—	$	1,021	$	979
Deferred income taxes	⁽⁴⁾	260		—		260		267
Asset retirement obligations	⁽³⁾	54		—		54		53
Tax reform deferral ⁽⁵⁾	2020	23		—		23		45
Other	Various	47		16		63		47
Total regulatory liabilities		$	1,405	$	16	$	1,421	$	1,391


(1)	Earning a return includes either interest on the regulatory asset or liability, or inclusion of the regulatory asset or liability as an increase or decrease to rate base at the allowed rate of return.


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


(3)	Recovery or refund expected over the estimated lives of the underlying assets and treated as a reduction to rate base.


(4)	Refund expected primarily through amortization using the average rate assumption method over the average life of the underlying assets and treated as a reduction to rate base.

(5)

Refund related to the deferral of the 2018 net tax benefits due to the change in corporate tax rate under TCJA, including interest, over a two-year period that began in 2019.