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Leases

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

In January 2019, the Companies adopted Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842),” including the amendments thereto, using a modified retrospective transition method of adoption that required no prior period adjustments or charges to retained earnings for cumulative impact. The standard supersedes the lease requirements within ASC Topic 840, “Leases.”

The Companies lease land, office buildings, equipment and access rights to support electric transmission facilities. Upon adoption of Topic 842, the Companies recognized lease right-of-use assets and lease liabilities on their consolidated balance sheets for virtually all of their leases (other than leases that meet the definition of a short-term lease, the expense for which was immaterial). A lease right-of-use asset represents a right to use an identifiable underlying asset and obtain substantially all of the economic benefits from the use of that asset for the lease term. A lease liability represents an obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. Leases are classified as either operating leases or finance leases. Operating leases are included in operating lease right-of-use asset and operating lease liabilities on the Companies’ consolidated balance sheets. Finance leases are included in other noncurrent assets, other current liabilities and other noncurrent liabilities. The Utilities, as regulated entities, are permitted to continue to recognize expense for operating leases using the timing that conforms to the regulatory rate treatment as rental payments are recovered from our customers and to account the same way for finance leases. Lessor accounting is similar to the previous model, but updated to align with ASC Topic 606 “Revenue from Contracts with Customers."

The Companies elected the following practical expedients: (1) a package of practical expedients that allows the Companies to not reassess: (a) whether expired or existing contracts contained leases; (b) the lease classification for expired or existing leases and (c) the initial direct costs for existing leases; (2) for all underlying asset classes, an expedient that allows the Companies to not apply the recognition requirements to short-term leases and an expedient that allows 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.

The Companies, upon adoption of Topic 842 recognized, and for new operating leases at commencement date recognize, operating lease right-of-use assets and operating lease liabilities based on the present value of the future minimum lease payments over the lease term. As most of the Companies’ leases do not provide an implicit rate, the Companies used their collateralized incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at the commencement date to determine the present value of future payments. Most of the Companies’ leases have remaining lease terms of one year to 40 years, and may include options to renew or extend the leases for up to five years at the fair rental value. The Companies' lease terms include options to renew, extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that the Companies will exercise that option. There were no leases with material variable lease payments or residual value guarantees.

Operating lease cost and cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities for the twelve months ended December 31, 2019, were as follows:

As of December 31, 2019, assets recorded as finance leases were $1 million for Con Edison and an immaterial amount for CECONY, and the accumulated amortization associated with finance leases for Con Edison and CECONY were $5 million and $3 million, respectively. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2019, finance lease costs and cash flows for Con Edison and CECONY were immaterial.

Right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for lease obligations for Con Edison and CECONY were $39 million and $4 million, respectively, for the twelve months ended December 31, 2019.

Other information related to leases for Con Edison and CECONY at December 31, 2019 was as follows:



	Con Edison	CECONY
Weighted Average Remaining Lease Term:
Operating leases	19.8 years	14.0 years
Finance leases	12.2 years	2.4 years
Weighted Average Discount Rate:
Operating leases	4.3%	3.6%
Finance leases	3.5%	4.1%

Future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable leases at December 31, 2019 were as follows:



(Millions of Dollars)	Con Edison				CECONY
Year Ending December 31,	Operating Leases		Finance Leases		Operating Leases		Finance Leases
2020		$78		$—		$60		$—
2021	75		—		57		—
2022	73		—		55		—
2023	72		—		54		—
2024	72		—		55		—
All years thereafter	992		1		501		—
Total future minimum lease payments		$1,362		$1		$782		$—
Less: imputed interest	(488)		—		(177)		—
Total		$874		$1		$605		$—
Reported as of December 31, 2019
Operating lease liabilities (current)		$65		$—		$54		$—
Operating lease liabilities (noncurrent)	809		—		551		—
Other noncurrent liabilities	—		1		—		—
Total		$874		$1		$605		$—

At December 31, 2019, the Companies did not have material obligations under operating or finance leases that had not yet commenced.

Disclosures related to the twelve months ended December 31, 2019 are presented as required under Topic 842. Prior period disclosures for the year ended December 31, 2018 are presented under Topic 840. The Companies have elected to use a practical expedient provided by Topic 842 whereby comparative disclosures for prior periods are allowed to be presented under Topic 840. The disclosures presented under Topic 842 and Topic 840 will not be fully comparable in specific disclosure requirements.

The future minimum lease commitments at December 31, 2018, accounted for under Topic 840, for the Companies’ operating lease agreements that are not cancellable by the Companies were as follows:



(Millions of Dollars)	Con Edison	CECONY
2019	$72	$56
2020	72	56
2021	71	54
2022	68	53
2023	68	53
All years thereafter	890	592
Total	$1,241	$864

The Companies are lessors under certain leases whereby the Companies own real estate and distribution poles and lease portions of them to others. Revenue under such leases was immaterial for Con Edison and CECONY for the twelve months ended December 31, 2019.

Leases

(Millions of Dollars)

Con Edison

Operating lease cost

Operating lease cash flows