SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

General

Ameren, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, is a public utility holding company whose primary assets are its equity interests in its subsidiaries. Ameren’s subsidiaries are separate, independent legal entities with separate businesses, assets, and liabilities. Dividends on Ameren’s common stock and the payment of expenses by Ameren depend on distributions made to it by its subsidiaries. Ameren’s principal subsidiaries are listed below. Ameren has other subsidiaries that conduct other activities, such as providing shared services.


•	Union Electric Company, doing business as Ameren Missouri, operates a rate-regulated electric generation, transmission, and distribution business and a rate-regulated natural gas distribution business in Missouri.


•	Ameren Illinois Company, doing business as Ameren Illinois, operates rate-regulated electric transmission, electric distribution, and natural gas distribution businesses in Illinois.


•	ATXI operates a FERC rate-regulated electric transmission business. ATXI placed the Spoon River project in service in February 2018, and is developing two additional MISO-approved electric transmission projects, the Illinois Rivers and Mark Twain projects.

Ameren’s financial statements are prepared on a consolidated basis and therefore include the accounts of its majority-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany transactions have been eliminated. Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois have no subsidiaries. All tabular dollar amounts are in millions, unless otherwise indicated.

Our accounting policies conform to GAAP. Our financial statements reflect all adjustments (which include normal, recurring adjustments) that are necessary, in our opinion, for a fair statement of our results. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions. Such estimates and assumptions affect reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the dates of financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reported periods. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The results of operations of an interim period may not give a true indication of results that may be expected for a full year. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and accompanying notes included in the Form 10-K.

Variable Interest Entities

As of March 31, 2019, Ameren and Ameren Missouri had interests in unconsolidated variable interest entities that were established to construct wind generation facilities and, ultimately, sell those constructed facilities to Ameren Missouri. Neither Ameren nor Ameren Missouri are the primary beneficiary of these variable interest entities because neither has the power to direct matters that most significantly affect the entities' activities, which include designing, financing, and constructing the wind generation facilities. As a result, these variable interest entities have not been consolidated. As of March 31, 2019, the maximum exposure to loss related to these variable interest entities was approximately $16 million, which represents the portion of interconnection study costs that may be incurred by Ameren and Ameren Missouri. The risk of a loss was assessed to be remote and, accordingly, Ameren and Ameren Missouri have not recognized a liability associated with any portion of the maximum exposure to loss. See Note 2 – Rate and Regulatory Matters for additional information on the agreements to acquire these wind generation facilities.

As of March 31, 2019, and December 31, 2018, Ameren had unconsolidated variable interests as a limited partner in various equity method investments, totaling $23 million and $22 million, respectively, included in “Other assets” on Ameren’s consolidated balance sheet. Ameren is not the primary beneficiary of these investments because it does not have the power to direct matters that most significantly affect the activities of these variable interest entities. As of March 31, 2019, the maximum exposure to loss related to these variable interests is limited to the investment in these partnerships of $23 million plus associated outstanding funding commitments of $15 million.

Company-owned Life Insurance

Ameren and Ameren Illinois have company-owned life insurance, which is recorded at the net cash surrender value. The net cash surrender value is the amount that can be realized under the insurance policies at the balance sheet date. As of March 31, 2019, the cash surrender value of company-owned life insurance at Ameren and Ameren Illinois was $258 million (December 31, 2018 – $244 million) and $123 million (December 31, 2018 – $122 million), respectively, while total borrowings against the policies were $113 million (December 31, 2018 – $113 million) at both Ameren and Ameren Illinois. Ameren and Ameren Illinois have the right to offset the borrowings against the cash surrender value of the policies and, consequently, present the net asset in “Other assets” on their respective balance sheets.

Accounting and Reporting Developments

See Note 13 – Supplemental Information for additional information on our adoption of authoritative accounting guidance related to leases. See Note 1 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies under Part II, Item 8, of the Form 10-K for additional information about recently issued authoritative accounting standards relating to the measurement of credit losses on financial instruments, fair value measurement disclosures, and defined benefit plan disclosures.