Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

Colstrip

PSE has a 50% ownership interest in Colstrip Units 1 and 2 and a 25% interest in each of Colstrip Units 3 and 4. In March 2013, the Sierra Club and the Montana Environmental Information Center filed a Clean Air Act citizen suit against all Colstrip owners in the U.S. District Court, District of Montana. In July 2016, PSE reached a settlement with the Sierra Club to dismiss all of the Clean Air Act allegations against the Colstrip Generating Station, which was approved by the court in September 2016. As part of the settlement that was signed by all Colstrip owners, Colstrip 1 and 2 owners, PSE and Talen Energy Corporation (Talen), agreed to retire the two oldest units (Units 1 and 2) at Colstrip in eastern Montana no later than July 1, 2022. Depreciation rates were updated in the GRC effective December 19, 2017, where PSE's depreciation increased for Colstrip Units 1 and 2 to recover plant costs to the expected shutdown date. Additionally, PSE has accelerated the depreciation of Colstrip Units 3 and 4, per the terms of the GRC settlement, to December 31, 2027. The GRC also repurposed PTCs and hydro-related treasury grants to recover unrecovered plant costs and to fund and recover decommissioning and remediation costs for Colstrip Units 1 through 4.

Consistent with a June 2019 announcement, Talen permanently shut down Units 1 and 2 at the end of the year due to operational losses associated with the Units. Colstrip Units 1 and 2 were retired effective December 31, 2019. The Washington Clean Energy Transition Act requires the Washington Commission to provide recovery of the investment, decommissioning, and remediation costs associated with the facilities that are not recovered through the repurposed PTC's and hydro-related treasury grants. The full scope of decommissioning activities and costs may vary from the estimates that are available at this time.

On December 10, 2019, PSE announced its intention to sell its interest in Colstrip Unit 4 to NorthWestern Energy for $1. Under the agreement with NorthWestern Energy, PSE would retain its obligation to fund 25% of the environmental remediation and decommissioning costs associated with Unit 4 during PSE's operation. The agreement is subject to approval by the Washington Commission and the Montana Public Service Commission. Additionally, PSE has agreed to enter into a power purchase agreement with NorthWestern Energy for 90 MW through 2025 to facilitate the transition, and sell a portion of its dedicated Colstrip transmission system, conditioned upon regulatory approval. Other Colstrip owners and other external parties have intervened in the pending regulatory review of this transaction, and one Colstrip owner has exercised its contractual right to purchase its pro rata share of the interest to be sold by PSE. For accounting purposes, management has evaluated the applicable held for sale criteria as of December 31, 2019, and determined that these criteria were not met. As such, Colstrip Unit 4 is classified as Electric Utility Plant on the balance sheet, see Note 6, "Utility Plant," to the consolidated financial statements in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Other Commitments and Contingencies

In addition to the contractual obligations and consolidated commercial commitments disclosed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, during the three months ended March 31, 2020, the Company entered into new Electric Portfolio and Electric Wholesale Market Transaction contracts with estimated payment obligations totaling $473.7 million through 2037.

For further information, see Note 16, "Commitments and Contingencies" to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of the Company's Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2019.