Current Expected Credit Losses

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

In January 2020, the Companies adopted Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-13, “Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments”.

Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts

The Utilities’ “Account receivable – customers” balance consists of utility bills due (bills are generally due the month following billing) from customers who have energy delivered, generated, or services provided by the Utilities. The balance also reflects the Utilities’ purchase of receivables from energy service companies to support the retail choice programs.

“Other receivables” balance generally reflects costs billed by the Utilities for goods and services provided to external parties, such as accommodation work for private parties and certain governmental entities, real estate rental and pole attachments. The Clean Energy Businesses’ other receivables balance includes bills related to the sale of energy from renewable electric projects.

The Clean Energy Businesses’ customer accounts receivable balance generally reflects the management of energy supply assets, energy-efficiency services to government and commercial customers, and the engineering, procurement, and construction services of renewable energy projects. The Clean Energy Businesses calculate an allowance for uncollectible accounts related to their energy services customers based on an aging and customer-specific analysis. The amount of such reserves was not material at December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020.

The Companies develop expected loss estimates using past events data and consider current conditions and future reasonable and supportable forecasts. Changes to the Utilities’ reserve balances that result in write-offs of customer accounts receivable balances above existing rate allowances are not reflected in rates during the term of the current rate plans. For the Utilities’ customer accounts receivable allowance for uncollectible accounts, past events considered include write-offs relative to customer accounts receivable; current conditions include macro-and micro-economic conditions related to trends in the local economy, bankruptcy rates and aged customer accounts receivable balances, among other factors; and forecasts about the future include assumptions related to the level of write-offs and recoveries. Generally, the Utilities write off customer accounts receivable as uncollectible 90 days after the account is turned off for non-payment, or the account is closed during the collection process. See "COVID-19 Regulatory Matters" in Note B.

Other receivables allowance for uncollectible accounts is calculated based on a historical average of collections relative to total other receivables, including current receivables. Current macro- and micro-economic conditions are also considered when calculating the current reserve. Probable outcomes of pending litigation, whether favorable or unfavorable to the Companies, are also included in the consideration.

During the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, the potential economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was also considered in forward-looking projections related to write-off and recovery rates and resulted in increases to the allowance for uncollectible accounts. The increases to the allowance for customer uncollectible accounts for Con Edison and CECONY were $169 million and $166 million, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increases to the allowance for uncollectible accounts for Con Edison and CECONY were $78 million and $73 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Customer accounts receivable and the associated allowance for uncollectible accounts are included in the line “Accounts receivable – customers” on the Companies’ consolidated balance sheets. Other receivables and the associated allowance for uncollectible accounts are included in “Other receivables” on the consolidated balance sheets.

The table below presents a rollforward by major portfolio segment type for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:


	For the Year Ended December 31,
	Con Edison				CECONY
	Accounts receivable - customers		Other receivables		Accounts receivable - customers		Other receivables
(Millions of Dollars)	2021	2020	2021	2020	2021	2020	2021	2020
Allowance for credit losses
Beginning Balance at January 1,	$148	$70	$7	$4	$138	$65	$4	$3
Recoveries	14	8	1	—	12	6	1	—
Write-offs	(91)	(54)	(2)	(2)	(86)	(50)	(1)	(1)
Reserve adjustments	246	124	16	5	240	117	15	2
Ending Balance December 31,	$317	$148	$22	$7	$304	$138	$19	$4