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Regulatory Matters
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2017
Public Utilities, General Disclosures [Line Items]  
Regulatory Matters
REGULATORY MATTERS
Regulatory Assets and Regulatory Liabilities -
Regulatory assets were comprised of the following items (in millions):
 
Alliant Energy
 
IPL
 
WPL
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
Tax-related

$1,080.2

 

$1,055.6

 

$1,044.9

 

$1,022.4

 

$35.3

 

$33.2

Pension and OPEB costs
568.5

 
578.7

 
289.1

 
294.0

 
279.4

 
284.7

Asset retirement obligations
108.6

 
105.9

 
67.1

 
64.3

 
41.5

 
41.6

Derivatives
46.4

 
30.7

 
17.2

 
10.0

 
29.2

 
20.7

WPL’s EGUs retired early
39.7

 
41.4

 

 

 
39.7

 
41.4

Emission allowances
26.0

 
26.2

 
26.0

 
26.2

 

 

Other
93.6

 
76.6

 
56.5

 
41.9

 
37.1

 
34.7

 

$1,963.0

 

$1,915.1

 

$1,500.8

 

$1,458.8

 

$462.2

 

$456.3



Regulatory liabilities were comprised of the following items (in millions):
 
Alliant Energy
 
IPL
 
WPL
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
Cost of removal obligations

$413.0

 

$411.6

 

$271.1

 

$269.4

 

$141.9

 

$142.2

Electric transmission cost recovery
128.3

 
72.0

 
75.9

 
35.7

 
52.4

 
36.3

IPL’s tax benefit riders
64.7

 
83.5

 
64.7

 
83.5

 

 

Commodity cost recovery
32.9

 
30.8

 
20.1

 
17.8

 
12.8

 
13.0

Energy efficiency cost recovery
20.6

 
20.5

 

 

 
20.6

 
20.5

Derivatives
9.0

 
31.5

 
5.1

 
12.1

 
3.9

 
19.4

Other
28.1

 
31.1

 
11.4

 
12.3

 
16.7

 
18.8

 

$696.6

 

$681.0

 

$448.3

 

$430.8

 

$248.3

 

$250.2



Tax-related - Alliant Energy’s and IPL’s tax-related regulatory assets are generally impacted by certain property-related differences at IPL for which deferred tax is not recorded in the income statement pursuant to Iowa rate-making principles. Deferred tax amounts for such property-related differences at IPL are recorded to regulatory assets, along with the necessary revenue requirement tax gross-ups. During the three months ended March 31, 2017, Alliant Energy’s and IPL’s tax-related regulatory assets increased primarily due to property-related differences for qualifying repair expenditures.

Derivatives - Refer to Note 11 for discussion of derivative assets and derivative liabilities.

Electric transmission cost recovery - A group of MISO cooperative and municipal utilities previously filed two complaints with FERC requesting a reduction to the base return on equity used by MISO transmission owners, including ITC and ATC, LLC to determine electric transmission costs billed to utilities, including IPL and WPL. In September 2016, FERC issued an order on the first complaint and established a base return on equity of 10.32%, excluding any incentive adders granted by FERC, effective September 28, 2016, and for the refund period from November 12, 2013 through February 11, 2015 (first complaint period). In the first quarter of 2017, Alliant Energy, IPL and WPL received the refunds for the first complaint period of $51 million, $40 million and $11 million, respectively, subject to final true-up by the end of July 2017. IPL and WPL each recorded the retail portion of the refunds to a regulatory liability. Pursuant to IUB approval, IPL’s retail portion of the refund from ITC will be refunded to its retail customers in 2017 beginning in May 2017. WPL’s retail portion of the refund from ATC, LLC will remain in a regulatory liability until such refunds are approved to be returned to retail customers in a future rate proceeding. IPL’s and WPL’s wholesale customers received their share of the refunds through normal monthly billing practices in the first quarter of 2017.

IPL’s tax benefit riders - IPL’s tax benefit riders utilize regulatory liabilities to credit bills of IPL’s Iowa retail electric and gas customers to help offset the impact of rate increases on such customers. These regulatory liabilities are related to tax benefits from tax accounting method changes for repairs expenditures, allocation of mixed service costs, allocation of insurance proceeds from floods in 2008, and cost of removal expenditures. For the three months ended March 31, 2017, Alliant Energy’s and IPL’s “IPL’s tax benefit riders” regulatory liabilities decreased by $19 million as follows (in millions):
Electric tax benefit rider credits

$17

Gas tax benefit rider credits
2

 

$19


Utility Rate Reviews -
IPL’s Retail Electric Rate Review (2016 Test Year) - In April 2017, IPL filed a request with the IUB to increase annual electric rates for its Iowa retail electric customers by $176 million, or approximately 12%. The request was based on a 2016 historical Test Year as adjusted for certain known and measurable changes occurring up to 12 months after the commencement of the proceeding. The key drivers for the filing included recovery of capital projects, primarily power grid modernization and investments that advance cleaner energy, including Marshalltown. An interim retail electric rate increase of $102 million, or approximately 7%, on an annual basis, was implemented effective April 13, 2017, without regulatory review, and will be subject to refund pending determination of final rates. Tax benefit rider credits and MISO transmission owner return on equity refunds are expected to reduce the effect of the rate increase on customer bills in 2017 and 2018. IPL requested a decision from the IUB in 2017 with final rates effective in the first quarter of 2018. The IUB must issue a decision on requests for retail rate changes within 10 months of the date of the application for which changes are filed.

WPL’s Retail Electric and Gas Rate Review (2017/2018 Test Period) - In December 2016, WPL received an order from the PSCW authorizing WPL to implement an increase in annual retail electric rates of $9 million, or approximately 1%, and an increase in annual retail gas base rates of $9 million, or approximately 13%. The $9 million net annual retail electric rate increase reflects a $60 million increase in base rates, partially offset by a $51 million reduction in fuel-related costs, using an estimate for 2017 fuel-related costs. These increases were effective January 1, 2017 and extend through the end of 2018. In the first quarter of 2017, Alliant Energy and WPL recorded a $22 million increase in electric revenues and a $2 million increase in gas revenues in conjunction with the base rate increases authorized in the PSCW’s December 2016 order.

WPL’s Retail Fuel-related Rate Filing (2017 Test Year) - In March 2017, WPL filed an application with the PSCW for a mid-year fuel-related cost adjustment for 2017. Fuel-related costs for 2017 are currently expected to exceed the approved 2017 fuel-related cost plan by more than the 2% annual bandwidth and result in a deferral of under-collected fuel-related costs of $8 million for 2017. The primary driver for the anticipated under-collection of fuel-related costs is an unplanned extended outage of Riverside during the first half of 2017. WPL’s application proposes to offset any deferral of projected under-collection of fuel-related costs from 2017 against the balance owed to customers for over-collected fuel-related costs for 2016 discussed below, and any remaining net balance at the end of 2017 would then be returned to, or collected from, customers in a future rate proceeding. Under WPL’s proposal, customer rates would not change during 2017 for the mid-year fuel-related cost adjustment. As of March 31, 2017, fuel-related costs for 2017 outside of the approved bandwidth were $1 million and are included in “Other” in Alliant Energy’s and WPL’s regulatory assets table above.

WPL’s Retail Fuel-related Rate Filing (2016 Test Year) - Pursuant to a 2015 PSCW order, WPL’s 2016 fuel-related costs were subject to deferral since they were outside an annual bandwidth of plus or minus 2% of the approved annual forecasted fuel-related costs. Retail fuel-related costs incurred by WPL in 2016 were lower than fuel-related costs used to determine rates for such period resulting in an over-collection of fuel-related costs. As of March 31, 2017, fuel-related costs for 2016 outside of the approved bandwidth were $9 million and are included in “Commodity cost recovery” in Alliant Energy’s and WPL’s regulatory liabilities table above.
IPL [Member]  
Public Utilities, General Disclosures [Line Items]  
Regulatory Matters
REGULATORY MATTERS
Regulatory Assets and Regulatory Liabilities -
Regulatory assets were comprised of the following items (in millions):
 
Alliant Energy
 
IPL
 
WPL
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
Tax-related

$1,080.2

 

$1,055.6

 

$1,044.9

 

$1,022.4

 

$35.3

 

$33.2

Pension and OPEB costs
568.5

 
578.7

 
289.1

 
294.0

 
279.4

 
284.7

Asset retirement obligations
108.6

 
105.9

 
67.1

 
64.3

 
41.5

 
41.6

Derivatives
46.4

 
30.7

 
17.2

 
10.0

 
29.2

 
20.7

WPL’s EGUs retired early
39.7

 
41.4

 

 

 
39.7

 
41.4

Emission allowances
26.0

 
26.2

 
26.0

 
26.2

 

 

Other
93.6

 
76.6

 
56.5

 
41.9

 
37.1

 
34.7

 

$1,963.0

 

$1,915.1

 

$1,500.8

 

$1,458.8

 

$462.2

 

$456.3



Regulatory liabilities were comprised of the following items (in millions):
 
Alliant Energy
 
IPL
 
WPL
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
Cost of removal obligations

$413.0

 

$411.6

 

$271.1

 

$269.4

 

$141.9

 

$142.2

Electric transmission cost recovery
128.3

 
72.0

 
75.9

 
35.7

 
52.4

 
36.3

IPL’s tax benefit riders
64.7

 
83.5

 
64.7

 
83.5

 

 

Commodity cost recovery
32.9

 
30.8

 
20.1

 
17.8

 
12.8

 
13.0

Energy efficiency cost recovery
20.6

 
20.5

 

 

 
20.6

 
20.5

Derivatives
9.0

 
31.5

 
5.1

 
12.1

 
3.9

 
19.4

Other
28.1

 
31.1

 
11.4

 
12.3

 
16.7

 
18.8

 

$696.6

 

$681.0

 

$448.3

 

$430.8

 

$248.3

 

$250.2



Tax-related - Alliant Energy’s and IPL’s tax-related regulatory assets are generally impacted by certain property-related differences at IPL for which deferred tax is not recorded in the income statement pursuant to Iowa rate-making principles. Deferred tax amounts for such property-related differences at IPL are recorded to regulatory assets, along with the necessary revenue requirement tax gross-ups. During the three months ended March 31, 2017, Alliant Energy’s and IPL’s tax-related regulatory assets increased primarily due to property-related differences for qualifying repair expenditures.

Derivatives - Refer to Note 11 for discussion of derivative assets and derivative liabilities.

Electric transmission cost recovery - A group of MISO cooperative and municipal utilities previously filed two complaints with FERC requesting a reduction to the base return on equity used by MISO transmission owners, including ITC and ATC, LLC to determine electric transmission costs billed to utilities, including IPL and WPL. In September 2016, FERC issued an order on the first complaint and established a base return on equity of 10.32%, excluding any incentive adders granted by FERC, effective September 28, 2016, and for the refund period from November 12, 2013 through February 11, 2015 (first complaint period). In the first quarter of 2017, Alliant Energy, IPL and WPL received the refunds for the first complaint period of $51 million, $40 million and $11 million, respectively, subject to final true-up by the end of July 2017. IPL and WPL each recorded the retail portion of the refunds to a regulatory liability. Pursuant to IUB approval, IPL’s retail portion of the refund from ITC will be refunded to its retail customers in 2017 beginning in May 2017. WPL’s retail portion of the refund from ATC, LLC will remain in a regulatory liability until such refunds are approved to be returned to retail customers in a future rate proceeding. IPL’s and WPL’s wholesale customers received their share of the refunds through normal monthly billing practices in the first quarter of 2017.

IPL’s tax benefit riders - IPL’s tax benefit riders utilize regulatory liabilities to credit bills of IPL’s Iowa retail electric and gas customers to help offset the impact of rate increases on such customers. These regulatory liabilities are related to tax benefits from tax accounting method changes for repairs expenditures, allocation of mixed service costs, allocation of insurance proceeds from floods in 2008, and cost of removal expenditures. For the three months ended March 31, 2017, Alliant Energy’s and IPL’s “IPL’s tax benefit riders” regulatory liabilities decreased by $19 million as follows (in millions):
Electric tax benefit rider credits

$17

Gas tax benefit rider credits
2

 

$19


Utility Rate Reviews -
IPL’s Retail Electric Rate Review (2016 Test Year) - In April 2017, IPL filed a request with the IUB to increase annual electric rates for its Iowa retail electric customers by $176 million, or approximately 12%. The request was based on a 2016 historical Test Year as adjusted for certain known and measurable changes occurring up to 12 months after the commencement of the proceeding. The key drivers for the filing included recovery of capital projects, primarily power grid modernization and investments that advance cleaner energy, including Marshalltown. An interim retail electric rate increase of $102 million, or approximately 7%, on an annual basis, was implemented effective April 13, 2017, without regulatory review, and will be subject to refund pending determination of final rates. Tax benefit rider credits and MISO transmission owner return on equity refunds are expected to reduce the effect of the rate increase on customer bills in 2017 and 2018. IPL requested a decision from the IUB in 2017 with final rates effective in the first quarter of 2018. The IUB must issue a decision on requests for retail rate changes within 10 months of the date of the application for which changes are filed.

WPL’s Retail Electric and Gas Rate Review (2017/2018 Test Period) - In December 2016, WPL received an order from the PSCW authorizing WPL to implement an increase in annual retail electric rates of $9 million, or approximately 1%, and an increase in annual retail gas base rates of $9 million, or approximately 13%. The $9 million net annual retail electric rate increase reflects a $60 million increase in base rates, partially offset by a $51 million reduction in fuel-related costs, using an estimate for 2017 fuel-related costs. These increases were effective January 1, 2017 and extend through the end of 2018. In the first quarter of 2017, Alliant Energy and WPL recorded a $22 million increase in electric revenues and a $2 million increase in gas revenues in conjunction with the base rate increases authorized in the PSCW’s December 2016 order.

WPL’s Retail Fuel-related Rate Filing (2017 Test Year) - In March 2017, WPL filed an application with the PSCW for a mid-year fuel-related cost adjustment for 2017. Fuel-related costs for 2017 are currently expected to exceed the approved 2017 fuel-related cost plan by more than the 2% annual bandwidth and result in a deferral of under-collected fuel-related costs of $8 million for 2017. The primary driver for the anticipated under-collection of fuel-related costs is an unplanned extended outage of Riverside during the first half of 2017. WPL’s application proposes to offset any deferral of projected under-collection of fuel-related costs from 2017 against the balance owed to customers for over-collected fuel-related costs for 2016 discussed below, and any remaining net balance at the end of 2017 would then be returned to, or collected from, customers in a future rate proceeding. Under WPL’s proposal, customer rates would not change during 2017 for the mid-year fuel-related cost adjustment. As of March 31, 2017, fuel-related costs for 2017 outside of the approved bandwidth were $1 million and are included in “Other” in Alliant Energy’s and WPL’s regulatory assets table above.

WPL’s Retail Fuel-related Rate Filing (2016 Test Year) - Pursuant to a 2015 PSCW order, WPL’s 2016 fuel-related costs were subject to deferral since they were outside an annual bandwidth of plus or minus 2% of the approved annual forecasted fuel-related costs. Retail fuel-related costs incurred by WPL in 2016 were lower than fuel-related costs used to determine rates for such period resulting in an over-collection of fuel-related costs. As of March 31, 2017, fuel-related costs for 2016 outside of the approved bandwidth were $9 million and are included in “Commodity cost recovery” in Alliant Energy’s and WPL’s regulatory liabilities table above.
WPL [Member]  
Public Utilities, General Disclosures [Line Items]  
Regulatory Matters
REGULATORY MATTERS
Regulatory Assets and Regulatory Liabilities -
Regulatory assets were comprised of the following items (in millions):
 
Alliant Energy
 
IPL
 
WPL
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
Tax-related

$1,080.2

 

$1,055.6

 

$1,044.9

 

$1,022.4

 

$35.3

 

$33.2

Pension and OPEB costs
568.5

 
578.7

 
289.1

 
294.0

 
279.4

 
284.7

Asset retirement obligations
108.6

 
105.9

 
67.1

 
64.3

 
41.5

 
41.6

Derivatives
46.4

 
30.7

 
17.2

 
10.0

 
29.2

 
20.7

WPL’s EGUs retired early
39.7

 
41.4

 

 

 
39.7

 
41.4

Emission allowances
26.0

 
26.2

 
26.0

 
26.2

 

 

Other
93.6

 
76.6

 
56.5

 
41.9

 
37.1

 
34.7

 

$1,963.0

 

$1,915.1

 

$1,500.8

 

$1,458.8

 

$462.2

 

$456.3



Regulatory liabilities were comprised of the following items (in millions):
 
Alliant Energy
 
IPL
 
WPL
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
 
March 31,
2017
 
December 31,
2016
Cost of removal obligations

$413.0

 

$411.6

 

$271.1

 

$269.4

 

$141.9

 

$142.2

Electric transmission cost recovery
128.3

 
72.0

 
75.9

 
35.7

 
52.4

 
36.3

IPL’s tax benefit riders
64.7

 
83.5

 
64.7

 
83.5

 

 

Commodity cost recovery
32.9

 
30.8

 
20.1

 
17.8

 
12.8

 
13.0

Energy efficiency cost recovery
20.6

 
20.5

 

 

 
20.6

 
20.5

Derivatives
9.0

 
31.5

 
5.1

 
12.1

 
3.9

 
19.4

Other
28.1

 
31.1

 
11.4

 
12.3

 
16.7

 
18.8

 

$696.6

 

$681.0

 

$448.3

 

$430.8

 

$248.3

 

$250.2



Tax-related - Alliant Energy’s and IPL’s tax-related regulatory assets are generally impacted by certain property-related differences at IPL for which deferred tax is not recorded in the income statement pursuant to Iowa rate-making principles. Deferred tax amounts for such property-related differences at IPL are recorded to regulatory assets, along with the necessary revenue requirement tax gross-ups. During the three months ended March 31, 2017, Alliant Energy’s and IPL’s tax-related regulatory assets increased primarily due to property-related differences for qualifying repair expenditures.

Derivatives - Refer to Note 11 for discussion of derivative assets and derivative liabilities.

Electric transmission cost recovery - A group of MISO cooperative and municipal utilities previously filed two complaints with FERC requesting a reduction to the base return on equity used by MISO transmission owners, including ITC and ATC, LLC to determine electric transmission costs billed to utilities, including IPL and WPL. In September 2016, FERC issued an order on the first complaint and established a base return on equity of 10.32%, excluding any incentive adders granted by FERC, effective September 28, 2016, and for the refund period from November 12, 2013 through February 11, 2015 (first complaint period). In the first quarter of 2017, Alliant Energy, IPL and WPL received the refunds for the first complaint period of $51 million, $40 million and $11 million, respectively, subject to final true-up by the end of July 2017. IPL and WPL each recorded the retail portion of the refunds to a regulatory liability. Pursuant to IUB approval, IPL’s retail portion of the refund from ITC will be refunded to its retail customers in 2017 beginning in May 2017. WPL’s retail portion of the refund from ATC, LLC will remain in a regulatory liability until such refunds are approved to be returned to retail customers in a future rate proceeding. IPL’s and WPL’s wholesale customers received their share of the refunds through normal monthly billing practices in the first quarter of 2017.

IPL’s tax benefit riders - IPL’s tax benefit riders utilize regulatory liabilities to credit bills of IPL’s Iowa retail electric and gas customers to help offset the impact of rate increases on such customers. These regulatory liabilities are related to tax benefits from tax accounting method changes for repairs expenditures, allocation of mixed service costs, allocation of insurance proceeds from floods in 2008, and cost of removal expenditures. For the three months ended March 31, 2017, Alliant Energy’s and IPL’s “IPL’s tax benefit riders” regulatory liabilities decreased by $19 million as follows (in millions):
Electric tax benefit rider credits

$17

Gas tax benefit rider credits
2

 

$19


Utility Rate Reviews -
IPL’s Retail Electric Rate Review (2016 Test Year) - In April 2017, IPL filed a request with the IUB to increase annual electric rates for its Iowa retail electric customers by $176 million, or approximately 12%. The request was based on a 2016 historical Test Year as adjusted for certain known and measurable changes occurring up to 12 months after the commencement of the proceeding. The key drivers for the filing included recovery of capital projects, primarily power grid modernization and investments that advance cleaner energy, including Marshalltown. An interim retail electric rate increase of $102 million, or approximately 7%, on an annual basis, was implemented effective April 13, 2017, without regulatory review, and will be subject to refund pending determination of final rates. Tax benefit rider credits and MISO transmission owner return on equity refunds are expected to reduce the effect of the rate increase on customer bills in 2017 and 2018. IPL requested a decision from the IUB in 2017 with final rates effective in the first quarter of 2018. The IUB must issue a decision on requests for retail rate changes within 10 months of the date of the application for which changes are filed.

WPL’s Retail Electric and Gas Rate Review (2017/2018 Test Period) - In December 2016, WPL received an order from the PSCW authorizing WPL to implement an increase in annual retail electric rates of $9 million, or approximately 1%, and an increase in annual retail gas base rates of $9 million, or approximately 13%. The $9 million net annual retail electric rate increase reflects a $60 million increase in base rates, partially offset by a $51 million reduction in fuel-related costs, using an estimate for 2017 fuel-related costs. These increases were effective January 1, 2017 and extend through the end of 2018. In the first quarter of 2017, Alliant Energy and WPL recorded a $22 million increase in electric revenues and a $2 million increase in gas revenues in conjunction with the base rate increases authorized in the PSCW’s December 2016 order.

WPL’s Retail Fuel-related Rate Filing (2017 Test Year) - In March 2017, WPL filed an application with the PSCW for a mid-year fuel-related cost adjustment for 2017. Fuel-related costs for 2017 are currently expected to exceed the approved 2017 fuel-related cost plan by more than the 2% annual bandwidth and result in a deferral of under-collected fuel-related costs of $8 million for 2017. The primary driver for the anticipated under-collection of fuel-related costs is an unplanned extended outage of Riverside during the first half of 2017. WPL’s application proposes to offset any deferral of projected under-collection of fuel-related costs from 2017 against the balance owed to customers for over-collected fuel-related costs for 2016 discussed below, and any remaining net balance at the end of 2017 would then be returned to, or collected from, customers in a future rate proceeding. Under WPL’s proposal, customer rates would not change during 2017 for the mid-year fuel-related cost adjustment. As of March 31, 2017, fuel-related costs for 2017 outside of the approved bandwidth were $1 million and are included in “Other” in Alliant Energy’s and WPL’s regulatory assets table above.

WPL’s Retail Fuel-related Rate Filing (2016 Test Year) - Pursuant to a 2015 PSCW order, WPL’s 2016 fuel-related costs were subject to deferral since they were outside an annual bandwidth of plus or minus 2% of the approved annual forecasted fuel-related costs. Retail fuel-related costs incurred by WPL in 2016 were lower than fuel-related costs used to determine rates for such period resulting in an over-collection of fuel-related costs. As of March 31, 2017, fuel-related costs for 2016 outside of the approved bandwidth were $9 million and are included in “Commodity cost recovery” in Alliant Energy’s and WPL’s regulatory liabilities table above.