Note 11. Regulatory Assets and Liabilities

Regulatory assets and liabilities include the following:

	June 30, 2017		December 31, 2016
(millions)
Dominion Energy
Regulatory assets:
Deferred rate adjustment clause costs⁽¹⁾	$	75	$	63
Deferred nuclear refueling outage costs⁽²⁾		66		71
Deferred cost of fuel used in electric generation⁽³⁾		37		—
Other		109		110
Regulatory assets-current⁽⁴⁾		287		244
Unrecognized pension and other postretirement benefit costs⁽⁵⁾		1,312		1,401
Deferred rate adjustment clause costs⁽¹⁾		352		329
Derivatives⁽⁶⁾		210		174
PJM transmission rates⁽⁷⁾		207		192
Income taxes recoverable through future rates⁽⁸⁾		154		123
Utility reform legislation⁽⁹⁾		122		99
Other		130		155
Regulatory assets-noncurrent		2,487		2,473
Total regulatory assets	$	2,774	$	2,717
Regulatory liabilities:
PIPP⁽¹⁰⁾	$	19	$	28
Deferred cost of fuel used in electric generation⁽³⁾		12		61
Other		75		74
Regulatory liabilities-current		106		163
Provision for future cost of removal and AROs⁽¹¹⁾		1,464		1,427
Nuclear decommissioning trust⁽¹²⁾		987		902
Derivatives⁽⁶⁾		77		69
Other		275		224
Regulatory liabilities-noncurrent		2,803		2,622
Total regulatory liabilities	$	2,909	$	2,785
Virginia Power
Regulatory assets:
Deferred nuclear refueling outage costs⁽²⁾	$	66	$	71
Deferred rate adjustment clause costs⁽¹⁾		47		51
Deferred cost of fuel used in electric generation⁽³⁾		37		—
Other		63		57
Regulatory assets-current⁽⁴⁾		213		179
Deferred rate adjustment clause costs⁽¹⁾		275		246
PJM transmission rates⁽⁷⁾		207		192
Derivatives⁽⁶⁾		176		133
Income taxes recoverable through future rates⁽⁸⁾		83		76
Other		110		123
Regulatory assets-noncurrent		851		770
Total regulatory assets	$	1,064	$	949
Regulatory liabilities:
Deferred cost of fuel used in electric generation⁽³⁾	$	12	$	61
Other		36		54
Regulatory liabilities-current⁽¹³⁾		48		115
Nuclear decommissioning trust⁽¹²⁾		987		902
Provision for future cost of removal⁽¹¹⁾		974		946
Derivatives⁽⁶⁾		77		69
Other		77		45
Regulatory liabilities-noncurrent		2,115		1,962
Total regulatory liabilities	$	2,163	$	2,077
Dominion Energy Gas
Regulatory assets:
Deferred rate adjustment clause costs⁽¹⁾	$	28	$	12
Unrecovered gas costs⁽¹⁴⁾		—		12
Other		2		2
Regulatory assets-current⁽⁴⁾		30		26
Unrecognized pension and other postretirement benefit costs⁽⁵⁾		302		358
Utility reform legislation⁽⁹⁾		122		99
Deferred rate adjustment clause costs⁽¹⁾		69		79
Income taxes recoverable through future rates⁽⁸⁾		28		23
Other		7		18
Regulatory assets-noncurrent⁽¹⁵⁾		528		577
Total regulatory assets	$	558	$	603
Regulatory liabilities:
PIPP⁽¹⁰⁾	$	19	$	28
Other		28		7
Regulatory liabilities-current⁽¹³⁾		47		35
Provision for future cost of removal and AROs⁽¹¹⁾		178		174
Other		68		45
Regulatory liabilities-noncurrent⁽¹⁶⁾		246		219
Total regulatory liabilities	$	293	$	254

(1)

Reflects deferrals under the electric transmission FERC formula rate and the deferral of costs associated with certain current and prospective rider projects for Virginia Power. Reflects deferrals of costs associated with certain current and prospective rider projects for Dominion Energy Gas. See Note 12 for more information.

(2)	Legislation enacted in Virginia in April 2014 requires Virginia Power to defer operation and maintenance costs incurred in connection with the refueling of any nuclear-powered generating plant. These deferred costs will be amortized over the refueling cycle, not to exceed 18 months.

(3)	Reflects deferred fuel expenses for the Virginia and North Carolina jurisdictions of Dominion Energy's and Virginia Power's generation operations.

(4)	Current regulatory assets are presented in other current assets in the Companies’ Consolidated Balance Sheets.

(5)	Represents unrecognized pension and other postretirement employee benefit costs expected to be recovered through future rates generally over the expected remaining service period of plan participants by certain of Dominion Energy's and Dominion Energy Gas' rate-regulated subsidiaries.

(6)	For jurisdictions subject to cost-based rate regulation, changes in the fair value of derivative instruments result in the recognition of regulatory assets or regulatory liabilities as they are expected to be recovered from or refunded to customers.

(7)	Reflects amounts related to the PJM transmission cost allocation matter. See Note 12 for more information.

(8)

Amounts to be recovered through future rates to pay income taxes that become payable when rate revenue is provided to recover AFUDC-equity and depreciation of property, plant and equipment for which deferred income taxes were not recognized for ratemaking purposes, including amounts attributable to tax rate changes.

(9)

Ohio legislation under House Bill 95, which became effective in September 2011. This law updates natural gas legislation by enabling gas companies to include more up-to-date cost levels when filing rate cases. It also allows gas companies to seek approval of capital expenditure plans under which gas companies can recognize carrying costs on associated capital investments placed in service and can defer the carrying costs plus depreciation and property tax expenses for recovery from ratepayers in the future.

(10)	Under PIPP, eligible customers can make reduced payments based on their ability to pay. The difference between the customer's total bill and the PIPP plan amount is deferred and collected or returned annually under the PIPP rate adjustment clause according to East Ohio tariff provisions.

(11)	Rates charged to customers by the Companies' regulated businesses include a provision for the cost of future activities to remove assets that are expected to be incurred at the time of retirement.

(12)

Primarily reflects a regulatory liability representing amounts collected from Virginia jurisdictional customers and placed in external trusts (including income, losses and changes in fair value thereon) for the future decommissioning of Virginia Power's utility nuclear generation stations, in excess of the related AROs.

(13)	Current regulatory liabilities are presented in other current liabilities in Virginia Power’s and Dominion Energy Gas’ Consolidated Balance Sheets.

(14)	Reflects unrecovered gas costs at regulated gas operations, which are recovered through filings with the applicable regulatory authority.

(15)	Noncurrent regulatory assets are presented in other deferred charges and other assets in Dominion Energy Gas' Consolidated Balance Sheets.

(16)	Noncurrent regulatory liabilities are presented in other deferred credits and other liabilities in Dominion Energy Gas' Consolidated Balance Sheets.

At June 30, 2017, $296 million of Dominion Energy's and $246 million of Virginia Power's regulatory assets represented past expenditures on which they do not currently earn a return. With the exception of the $207 million PJM transmission cost allocation matter, the majority of these expenditures are expected to be recovered within the next two years.