Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Other Matters (Policies)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

The Companies’ consolidated financial statements include the accounts of their respective majority-owned subsidiaries, and variable interest entities (see Note Q), as required. All intercompany balances and intercompany transactions have been eliminated.

Accounting Policies

The accounting policies of Con Edison and its subsidiaries conform to generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (GAAP). For the Utilities, these accounting principles include the accounting rules for regulated operations and the accounting requirements of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the state regulators having jurisdiction.

The accounting rules for regulated operations specify the economic effects that result from the causal relationship of costs and revenues in the rate-regulated environment and how these effects are to be accounted for by a regulated enterprise. Revenues intended to cover some costs may be recorded either before or after the costs are incurred. If regulation provides assurance that incurred costs will be recovered in the future, these costs would be recorded as deferred charges or “regulatory assets” under the accounting rules for regulated operations. If revenues are recorded for costs that are expected to be incurred in the future, these revenues would be recorded as deferred credits or “regulatory liabilities” under the accounting rules for regulated operations.

The Utilities’ principal regulatory assets and liabilities are detailed in Note B. The Utilities are receiving or being credited with a return on all of their regulatory assets for which a cash outflow has been made, and are paying or being charged with a return on all of their regulatory liabilities for which a cash inflow has been received. The Utilities’ regulatory assets and liabilities will be recovered from customers, or applied for customer benefit, in accordance with rate provisions approved by the applicable state regulators.

Revenues

Adoption of New Standard

On January 1, 2018, the Companies adopted Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 606, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers,” using the modified retrospective method applied to those contracts that were not completed. No charge to retained earnings for cumulative impact was required as a result of the Companies’ adoption of Topic 606.

Revenue Recognition

The following table presents, for the year ended December 31, 2018, revenue from contracts with customers as defined in Topic 606, as well as additional revenue from sources other than contracts with customers, disaggregated by major source.



(Millions of Dollars)	Revenues from contracts with customers		Other revenues (a)		Total operating revenues
CECONY
Electric	$7,920		$51		$7,971
Gas	2,052		26		2,078
Steam	625		6		631
Total CECONY	$10,597		$83		$10,680
O&R
Electric	647		(5)		642
Gas	256		(7)		249
Total O&R	$903		$(12)		$891
Clean Energy Businesses
Renewables	329	(b)	—		329
Energy services	95		—		95
Other	—		339		339
Total Clean Energy Businesses	$424		$339		$763
Con Edison Transmission	4		—		4
Other (c)	—		(1	)	(1	)
Total Con Edison	$11,928		$409		$12,337

(a) For the Utilities, this includes revenue from alternative revenue programs, such as the revenue decoupling mechanisms under their New York electric and gas rate plans.For the Clean Energy Businesses, this includes revenue from wholesale services.

(b) Included within the total for Renewables revenue at the Clean Energy Businesses is $103 million of revenue related to engineering, procurement and construction services.

Revenues are recorded as energy is delivered, generated or services are provided and billed to customers, except for services under percentage-of-completion contracts. Amounts billed are recorded in accounts receivable - customers, with payment generally due the following month. Con Edison’s and the Utilities’ accounts receivable - customers balance also reflects the Utilities’ purchase of receivables from energy service companies to support retail choice programs. Accrued revenues not yet billed to customers are recorded as accrued unbilled revenues.

The Utilities have the obligation to deliver electricity, gas and steam energy to their customers. As the energy is immediately available for use upon delivery to the customer, the energy and its delivery are identifiable as a single performance obligation. The Utilities recognize revenues as this performance obligation is satisfied over time as the Utilities deliver, and the customers simultaneously receive and consume, the energy. The amount of revenues recognized reflects the consideration the Utilities expect to receive in exchange for delivering the energy. Under their tariffs, the transaction price for full-service customers includes the Utilities’ energy cost and for all customers includes delivery charges determined based on customer class and in accordance with established tariffs and guidelines of the New York State Public Service Commission (NYSPSC) or the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU), as applicable. Accordingly, there is no unsatisfied performance obligation associated with these customers. The transaction price is applied to the Utilities’ revenue generating activities through the customer billing process. Because energy is delivered over time, the Utilities use output methods that recognize revenue based on direct measurement of the value transferred, such as units delivered, which provides an accurate measure of value for the energy delivered. The Utilities accrue revenues at the end of each month for estimated energy delivered but not yet billed to customers. The Utilities defer over a 12-month period net interruptible gas revenues, other than those authorized by the NYSPSC to be retained by the Utilities, for refund to firm gas sales and transportation customers.

Con Edison Development recognizes revenue for the sale of energy from renewable electric production projects as energy is generated and billed to counterparties. Con Edison Development accrues revenues at the end of each month for energy generated but not yet billed to counterparties. Con Edison Energy recognizes revenue as energy is delivered and services are provided for managing energy supply assets leased from others and managing the dispatch, fuel requirements and risk management activities for generating plants and merchant transmission in the northeastern United States. Con Edison Solutions recognizes revenue for providing energy-efficiency services to government and commercial customers, and Con Edison Development recognizes revenue for engineering, procurement and construction services, under the percentage-of-completion method of revenue recognition.

Sales and profits on each percentage-of-completion contract are recorded each month based on the ratio of actual cumulative costs incurred to the total estimated costs at completion of the contract, multiplied by the total estimated contract revenue, less cumulative revenues recognized in prior periods (the ‘‘cost-to-cost’’ method). The impact of revisions of contract estimates, which may result from contract modifications, performance or other reasons, are recognized on a cumulative catch-up basis in the period in which the revisions are made.



(Millions of Dollars)	Unbilled contract revenue (a)	Unearned revenue (b)
Beginning balance as of January 1, 2018	$58	$87
Additions (c)	144	38
Subtractions (c)	173	105	(d)
Ending balance as of December 31, 2018	$29	$20

(a)

Unbilled contract revenue represents accumulated incurred costs and earned profits on contracts (revenue arrangements), which have been recorded as revenue, but have not yet been billed to customers, and which represent contract assets as defined in Topic 606. Substantially all accrued unbilled contract revenue is expected to be collected within one year. Unbilled contract revenue arises from the cost-to-cost method of revenue recognition. Unbilled contract revenue from fixed-price type contracts is converted to billed receivables when amounts are invoiced to customers according to contractual billing terms, which generally occur when deliveries or other performance milestones are completed.


(b)	Unearned revenue represents a liability for billings to customers in excess of earned revenue, which are contract liabilities as defined in Topic 606.


(c)	Additions for unbilled contract revenue and subtractions for unearned revenue represent additional revenue earned. Additions for unearned revenue and subtractions for unbilled contract revenue represent billings. Activity also includes appropriate balance sheet classification for the period.


(d)	Of the $105 million in subtractions from unearned revenue, $50 million was included in the balance as of December 31, 2017.

As of December 31, 2018, the aggregate amount of the remaining fixed performance obligations is $95 million, of which $59 million will be recognized within the next two years, and the remaining $36 million will be recognized pursuant to long-term service and maintenance agreements.

CECONY’s electric and gas rate plans and O&R’s New York electric and gas rate plans each contain a revenue decoupling mechanism under which the company’s actual energy delivery revenues are compared with the authorized delivery revenues and the difference accrued, with interest, for refund to, or recovery from, customers, as applicable. See “Rate Plans” in Note B.

The NYSPSC requires utilities to record gross receipts tax revenues and expenses on a gross income statement presentation basis (i.e., included in both revenue and expense). The recovery of these taxes is generally provided for in the revenue requirement within each of the respective NYSPSC approved rate plans.

Plant and Depreciation

Non–Utility Plant

Non-utility plant is stated at original cost. For Con Edison, non-utility plant consists primarily of the Clean Energy Businesses’ renewable electric production and gas storage. For the Utilities, non-utility plant consists of land and conduit for telecommunication use. Depreciation on these assets is computed using the straight-line method for financial statement purposes over their estimated useful lives, which range from 3 to 30 years.

Plant and Depreciation

Utility Plant

Utility plant is stated at original cost. The cost of repairs and maintenance is charged to expense and the cost of betterments is capitalized. The capitalized cost of additions to utility plant includes indirect costs such as engineering, supervision, payroll taxes, pensions, other benefits and an allowance for funds used during construction (AFUDC). The original cost of property is charged to expense over the estimated useful lives of the assets. Upon retirement, the original cost of property is charged to accumulated depreciation. See Note R.

Rates used for AFUDC include the cost of borrowed funds and a reasonable rate of return on the Utilities’ own funds when so used, determined in accordance with regulations of the FERC or the state public utility regulatory authority having jurisdiction. The rate is compounded semiannually, and the amounts applicable to borrowed funds are treated as a reduction of interest charges, while the amounts applicable to the Utilities’ own funds are credited to other income (deductions). The AFUDC rates for CECONY were 5.4 percent, 5.5 percent and 4.7 percent for 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The AFUDC rates for O&R were 2.2 percent, 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent for 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

The Utilities generally compute annual charges for depreciation using the straight-line method for financial statement purposes, with rates based on average service lives and net salvage factors. The average depreciation rates for CECONY were 3.1 percent for 2018, 2017 and 2016. The average depreciation rates for O&R were 2.9 percent for 2018, 2017 and 2016.

The estimated lives for utility plant for CECONY range from 5 to 95 years for electric, 5 to 100 years for gas, 5 to 80 years for steam and 5 to 55 years for general plant. For O&R, the estimated lives for utility plant range from 5 to 75 years for electric and gas and 5 to 50 years for general plant.

Goodwill

Con Edison tests goodwill for impairment at least annually or whenever there is a triggering event. There is an option to first make a qualitative assessment of whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount before applying a two-step, quantitative goodwill impairment test. Con Edison has elected to perform the qualitative assessment for substantially all of its goodwill and, if needed, applies the two-step quantitative approach. The first step of the quantitative goodwill impairment test compares the estimated fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying value, including goodwill. If the estimated fair value of a reporting unit exceeds its carrying value, goodwill of the reporting unit is considered not impaired. If the carrying value exceeds the estimated fair value of the reporting unit, the second step is performed to measure the amount of impairment loss, if any. The second step requires a calculation of the implied fair value of goodwill.

Long-Lived and Intangible Assets

Long–Lived and Intangible Assets

Con Edison evaluates the impairment of long-lived assets and intangible assets with definite lives, based on projections of undiscounted future cash flows, which projections may vary significantly from future projections or actual cash flows, whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amounts of such assets may not be recoverable. In the event an evaluation indicates that such cash flows cannot be expected to be sufficient to fully recover the assets, the assets are written down to their estimated fair value.

Recoverable Energy Costs/New York Independent System Operator (NYISO)

Recoverable Energy Costs

The Utilities generally recover all of their prudently incurred fuel, purchased power and gas costs, including hedging gains and losses, in accordance with rate provisions approved by the applicable state public utility regulators. If the actual energy supply costs for a given month are more or less than the amounts billed to customers for that month, the difference in most cases is recoverable from or refundable to customers. Differences between actual and billed electric and steam supply costs and costs of its electric demand management programs are generally deferred for charge or refund to customers during the next billing cycle (normally within one or two months). For the Utilities’ gas costs, differences between actual and billed gas costs during the 12-month period ending each August are charged or refunded to customers during a subsequent 12-month period.

New York Independent System Operator (NYISO)

The Utilities purchase electricity through the wholesale electricity market administered by the NYISO. The difference between purchased power and related costs initially billed to the Utilities by the NYISO and the actual cost of power subsequently calculated by the NYISO is refunded by the NYISO to the Utilities, or paid to the NYISO by the Utilities. The reconciliation payments or receipts are recoverable from or refundable to the Utilities’ customers.

Certain other payments to or receipts from the NYISO are also subject to reconciliation, with shortfalls or amounts in excess of specified rate allowances recoverable from or refundable to customers. These include proceeds from the sale through the NYISO of transmission rights on CECONY’s transmission system (transmission congestion contracts or TCCs).

Temporary Cash Investments

Temporary cash investments are short-term, highly-liquid investments that generally have maturities of three months or less at the date of purchase. They are stated at cost, which approximates market. The Companies consider temporary cash investments to be cash equivalents.

Investments

Investments consist primarily of the investments of Con Edison Transmission and the Clean Energy Businesses that are accounted for under the equity method, and the fair value of the Utilities’ supplemental retirement income plan and deferred income plan assets.

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits

The accounting rules for retirement benefits require an employer to recognize an asset or liability for the overfunded or underfunded status of its pension and other postretirement benefit plans. For a pension plan, the asset or liability is the difference between the fair value of the plan’s assets and the projected benefit obligation. For any other postretirement benefit plan, the asset or liability is the difference between the fair value of the plan’s assets and the accumulated postretirement benefit obligation. The accounting rules generally require employers to recognize all unrecognized prior service costs and credits and unrecognized actuarial gains and losses in accumulated other comprehensive income/(loss) (OCI), net of tax. Such amounts will be adjusted as they are subsequently recognized as components of total periodic benefit cost or income pursuant to the current recognition and amortization provisions.

For the Utilities’ pension and other postretirement benefit plans, regulatory accounting treatment is generally applied in accordance with the accounting rules for regulated operations. Unrecognized prior service costs or credits and unrecognized actuarial gains and losses are recorded to regulatory assets or liabilities, rather than OCI. See Notes E and F.

The total periodic benefit costs are recognized in accordance with the accounting rules for retirement benefits. Investment gains and losses are recognized in expense over a 15-year period and other actuarial gains and losses are recognized in expense over a 10-year period, subject to the deferral provisions in the rate plans.

In accordance with the Statement of Policy issued by the NYSPSC and its current electric, gas and steam rate plans, CECONY defers for payment to or recovery from customers the difference between such expenses and the amounts for such expenses reflected in rates. Generally, O&R also defers such difference pursuant to its rate plans. See Note B.

The Companies calculate the expected return on pension and other postretirement benefit plan assets by multiplying the expected rate of return on plan assets by the market-related value (MRV) of plan assets at the beginning of the year, taking into consideration anticipated contributions and benefit payments that are to be made during the year. The accounting rules allow the MRV of plan assets to be either fair value or a calculated value that recognizes changes in fair value in a systematic and rational manner over not more than five years. The Companies use a calculated value when determining the MRV of the plan assets that adjusts for 20 percent of the difference between fair value and expected MRV of plan assets. This calculated value has the effect of stabilizing variability in assets to which the Companies apply the expected return.

Federal Income Tax/State Income Tax

Federal Income Tax

In accordance with accounting rules for income taxes, the Companies have recorded an accumulated deferred federal income tax liability at current tax rates for temporary differences between the book and tax basis of assets and liabilities. In accordance with rate plans, the Utilities have recovered amounts from customers for a portion of the tax liability they will pay in the future as a result of the reversal or “turn-around” of these temporary differences. As to the remaining deferred tax liability, the Utilities had established regulatory assets for the net revenue requirements to be recovered from customers for the related future tax expense pursuant to the NYSPSC's 1993 Policy Statement approving accounting procedures consistent with accounting rules for income taxes and providing assurances that these future increases in taxes will be recoverable in rates. Upon enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 on December 22, 2017 (the TCJA), the Companies re-measured their deferred tax assets and liabilities based upon the 21 percent corporate income tax rate under the TCJA. See “Other Regulatory Matters” and “Regulatory Assets and Liabilities” in Note B and Note L.

Accumulated deferred investment tax credits are amortized ratably over the lives of the related properties and applied as a reduction to future federal income tax expense.

Con Edison and its subsidiaries file a consolidated federal income tax return. The consolidated income tax liability is allocated to each member of the consolidated group using the separate return method. Each member pays or receives an amount based on its own taxable income or loss in accordance with a consolidated tax allocation agreement. Tax loss and tax credit carryforwards are allocated among members in accordance with consolidated tax return regulations.

State Income Tax

Con Edison and its subsidiaries file a combined New York State Corporation Business Franchise Tax Return. Similar to a federal consolidated income tax return, the income of all entities in the combined group is subject to New York State taxation, after adjustments for differences between federal and New York law and apportionment of income among the states in which the company does business. Each member’s share of the New York State tax is based on its own New York State taxable income or loss.

Research and Development Costs

Research and development costs are charged to operating expenses as incurred.

Reclassification

Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform with the current year presentation.

Earnings Per Common Share

Con Edison presents basic and diluted earnings per share on the face of its consolidated income statement. Basic earnings per share (EPS) are calculated by dividing earnings available to common shareholders (“Net income” on Con Edison’s consolidated income statement) by the weighted average number of Con Edison common shares outstanding during the period. In the calculation of diluted EPS, weighted average shares outstanding are increased for additional shares that would be outstanding if potentially dilutive securities were converted to common stock.

Potentially dilutive securities for Con Edison consist of restricted stock units and deferred stock units for which the average market price of the common shares for the period was greater than the exercise price (see Note M) and its common shares that are subject to certain forward sale agreements (see Note C). Before the issuance of common shares upon settlement of the forward sale agreements, the shares will be reflected in the company’s diluted earnings per share calculations using the treasury stock method. Under this method, the number of common shares used in calculating diluted earnings per share is deemed to be increased by the excess, if any, of the number of shares that would be issued upon physical settlement of the forward sale agreements over the number of shares that could be purchased by the company in the market (based on the average market price during the period) using the proceeds due upon physical settlement (based on the adjusted forward sale price at the end of the reporting period).

Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

New Financial Accounting Standards

In January 2019, the Companies adopted Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842),” including the amendments thereto (the New Standard), using a modified retrospective transition method of adoption. The New Standard supersedes the lease requirements within Accounting Standard Codification (ASC) Topic 840, “Leases.” The New Standard requires lessees to recognize assets and liabilities on the balance sheet and disclose key information about leasing arrangements. Under the New Standard, lessees will need to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability for virtually all of their leases (other than leases that meet the definition of a short-term lease). The Utilities, as regulated entities, are permitted to continue to recognize expense using the timing that conforms to the regulatory rate treatment. Lessor accounting is similar to the previous model, but updated to align with “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)."

Upon adoption of the New Standard, the Companies elected the following practical expedients: (1) for leases commenced prior to adoption date, the following three transition expedients that will allow the Companies to not reassess: (a) whether expired contracts contain leases; (b) the lease classification for expired leases and (c) the initial direct costs for existing leases; (2) for an underlying asset class, an expedient that allows the Companies to not apply the recognition requirements to short-term leases and an expedient that will allow the Companies to account for lease and associated non-lease components as a single lease component; (3) an expedient that allows the use of hindsight to determine lease term; and (4) an expedient that allows the Companies to not evaluate under Topic 842 land easements that exist or expired before the entity’s adoption of Topic 842 and that were not previously accounted for as leases under Topic 840. For leases previously classified as operating leases, upon adoption of the New Standard, the Companies recognized on their balance sheets right-of-use assets and corresponding lease liabilities of approximately $875 million and $635 million for Con Edison and CECONY, respectively, as of January 1, 2019.

The adoption of the New Standard will not have a material effect on the Companies’ liquidity or results of operations. The Companies will prepare additional disclosures as required by the New Standard beginning in 2019. The Companies implemented additional internal controls related to the New Standard, however the adoption of the New Standard is not expected to require a change that will materially affect the Companies’ internal control over financial reporting.

In January 2017, the FASB issued amendments to the guidance for the subsequent measurement of goodwill through ASU 2017-04, “Intangibles-Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment.” The amendments in this update simplify goodwill impairment testing by eliminating Step 2 of the goodwill impairment test wherein an entity has to compute the implied fair value of goodwill by performing procedures to determine the fair value of its assets and liabilities. Under the new guidance, an entity should recognize an impairment charge for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value up to the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. For public entities, the amendments are effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. The application of this guidance is not expected to have a material impact on the Companies’ financial position, results of operations and liquidity.

In March 2017, the FASB issued amendments to the guidance for debt securities through ASU 2017-08, “Receivables-Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs (Subtopic 310-20): Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities.” The amendments in this update shorten the amortization period for certain callable debt securities held at a premium. The amendments do not require an accounting change for securities held at a discount; the discount continues to be amortized to maturity. For public entities, the amendments are effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption is permitted. The application of this guidance will not have a material impact on the Companies’ financial position, results of operations and liquidity.

In August 2017, the FASB issued amendments to the guidance for derivatives and hedging through ASU 2017-12, “Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities.” The amendments in this update provide greater clarification on hedge accounting for risk components, presentation and disclosure of hedging instruments, and overall targeted improvements to simplify hedge accounting. For public entities, the amendments are effective, and the Companies plan to adopt the amendments, for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018. The application of the guidance will not have a material impact on the Companies’ financial position, results of operations and liquidity.

In February 2018, the FASB issued amendments to the guidance for reporting comprehensive income through ASU 2018-02, “Income Statement-Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income.” The amendments allow a reclassification from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings for stranded tax effects resulting from the TCJA. For public entities, the amendments are effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted. The Companies adopted the amendments in the fourth quarter of 2018. The impact of adoption on the Companies’ financial position, results of operations and liquidity was immaterial.

In August 2018, the FASB issued amendments to the guidance for internal use software through ASU 2018-15, “Intangibles - Goodwill and Other - Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That is a Service Contract.” The amendments align the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred in a hosting arrangement that is a service contract with the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred to develop or obtain internal-use software. For public entities, the amendments are effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. The Companies elected to adopt the amendments in the third quarter of 2018, prospectively for all in-scope implementation costs incurred after the date of adoption. The impact of adoption on the Companies’ financial position, results of operations and liquidity was immaterial.