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Regulatory Matters
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2022
Regulated Operations [Abstract]  
Regulatory Matters Regulatory Matters
Rate Plans
CECONY – Electric
In April 2022, CECONY updated its January 2022 request to the New York State Public Service Commission (NYSPSC) for an electric rate increase effective January 2023. The company decreased its requested January 2023 rate increase by $161 million to $1,038 million, decreased its illustrated January 2024 rate increase by $109 million to $744 million and increased its illustrated January 2025 rate increase by $7 million to $615 million. In May 2022, the New York State Department of Public Service (NYSDPS) submitted testimony in the NYSPSC proceeding in which CECONY requested an electric rate increase, effective January 2023. The NYSDPS testimony supports an electric rate increase of $278 million reflecting, among other things, an 8.80 percent return on common equity and a common equity ratio of 48 percent.

CECONY – Gas
In April 2022, CECONY updated its January 2022 request to the NYSPSC for a gas rate increase effective January 2023. The company decreased its requested January 2023 rate increase by $101 million to $402 million, decreased its illustrated January 2024 rate increase by $29 million to $205 million and decreased its illustrated January 2025 rate increase by $42 million to $176 million. In May 2022, the NYSDPS submitted testimony in the NYSPSC proceeding in which CECONY requested a gas rate increase, effective January 2023. The NYSDPS testimony supports a gas rate increase of $164 million reflecting, among other things, an 8.80 percent return on common equity and a common equity ratio of 48 percent.

CECONY – Electric and Gas
Pursuant to its electric and gas rate plans, CECONY recorded $92 million of earnings for the year ended December 31, 2021 of earnings adjustment mechanisms and positive incentives, primarily reflecting the achievement of certain energy efficiency measures. For the nine months ended September 30, 2022, CECONY recorded a reduction in the amount of previously recorded earnings adjustment mechanisms of $4.9 million.

O&R NY – Electric and Gas
In April 2022, the NYSPSC approved the October 2021 joint proposal for new electric and gas rates. The joint proposal provides for electric rate increases of $4.9 million, $16.2 million and $23.1 million, effective January 1, 2022, 2023 and 2024, or $11.7 million on a levelized annual billed basis, respectively. The joint proposal provides for gas rate increases of $0.7 million, $7.4 million and $9.9 million, effective January 1, 2022, 2023 and 2024, or $4.4 million on a levelized annual billed basis, respectively. The joint proposal also includes certain COVID-19 provisions, such as: recovery of 2020 late payment charges over three years ($2.8 million); reconciliation of late payment charges to amounts reflected in rates for years 2021 through 2024, with full recovery/refund via surcharge/sur-credit once the annual variance equals or exceeds 5 basis points of return on equity; and reconciliation of write-offs of customer accounts receivable balances to amounts reflected in rates from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2024, with full recovery/refund via surcharge/sur-credit once the annual variance equals or exceeds 5 basis points of return on equity.

Rockland Electric Company (RECO)
Effective July 2021, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) authorized a conservation incentive program for RECO, that covers all residential and most commercial customers, under which RECO’s actual electric
distribution revenues are compared with the authorized distribution revenues and the difference accrued, with interest, for refund to, or recovery from, customers, as applicable. The conservation incentive program is not permitted if RECO’s actual return on equity exceeds the approved base rate filing return on equity by 50 basis points or more.

In January 2022, RECO filed a request with FERC for an increase to its annual transmission revenue requirement from $16.9 million to $20.4 million. The revenue requirement reflects a return on common equity of 11.04 percent and a common equity ratio of 47 percent.

In March 2022, RECO filed a request with the NJBPU to implement a $209 million Infrastructure Investment Program (IIP) over a five-year period (2023 – 2027). RECO’s IIP proposes accelerated infrastructure investments to enhance safety, reliability, and/or resiliency.

COVID-19 Regulatory Matters
Governors, public utility commissions and other regulatory agencies in the states in which the Utilities operate have issued orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic that impact the Utilities as described below.

NY Regulation
In March 2020, a former New York State governor declared a State Disaster Emergency for the State of NY due to the COVID-19 pandemic and signed the "New York State on PAUSE" executive order that temporarily closed all non-essential businesses statewide. The former governor then lifted these closures over time and ended the emergency declaration in June 2021. As a result of the emergency declaration, and due to economic conditions, the NYSPSC and the Utilities have worked to mitigate the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Utilities, their customers and other stakeholders.

In March 2020, the Utilities began suspending service disconnections, certain collection notices, final bill collection agency activity, new late payment charges and certain other fees for all customers. The Utilities also began providing payment extensions for all customers that were scheduled to be disconnected prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, the state of NY enacted a law prohibiting NY utilities, including CECONY and O&R, from disconnecting residential customers, and starting in May 2021 small business customers, during the COVID-19 state of emergency, which ended in June 2021. In addition, such prohibitions were in effect until December 21, 2021 for residential and small business customers who experienced a change in financial circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In November 2021, the NYSPSC issued an order establishing a surcharge recovery mechanism for CECONY to collect, commencing December 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022, $43 million and $7 million for electric and gas, respectively, of late payment charges and fees that were not billed for the year ended December 31, 2020. The company recorded such amounts as revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021, as permitted under the accounting rules for regulated utilities, and also accrued such amounts as a current asset at December 31, 2021. Pursuant to the November 2021 order, the company also established a recovery mechanism for CECONY to collect, commencing January 2023 through December 2023, $19 million and $4 million for electric and gas, respectively, of late payment charges and fees that were not billed for the year ended December 31, 2021 and the company recorded such amounts as revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021, as permitted under the accounting rules for regulated utilities, and also accrued such amounts as a current asset at December 31, 2021. In addition, pursuant to the November 2021 order, CECONY established a reserve of $7 million toward addressing customer arrearages for the year ended December 31, 2021 that, pursuant to a June 2022 NYSPSC order discussed below, was used to fund a portion of the COVID-19 arrears assistance program for low-income customers. The order also established a surcharge recovery or surcredit mechanism for any late payment charges and fee deferrals, subject to offsetting related savings resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, for 2022 starting in January 2024 over a twelve-month period. CECONY resumed late payment charges for commercial and residential customers who have not experienced a change in financial circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic on September 3, 2021 and October 1, 2021, respectively. Pursuant to the October 2021 joint proposal for new electric and gas rates for O&R that was approved by the NYSPSC in April 2022. O&R recorded late payment charges and fees that were not billed for the years ended December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2021 of $1.7 million and $2.4 million, respectively, as revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021, as permitted under the accounting rules for regulated utilities, and also accrued such amounts as a current asset at December 31, 2021. See “Rate Plans,” above. O&R resumed late payment charges for commercial and residential customers who have not experienced a change in financial circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic on October 1, 2021.
The Utilities’ NY rate plans allow them to defer costs resulting from a change in legislation, regulation and related actions that have taken effect during the term of the rate plans once the costs exceed a specified threshold. The total reserve increases to the allowance for uncollectible accounts from January 1, 2020 through September 30, 2022 reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for CECONY electric and gas operations and O&R electric and gas operations were $232 million and $3 million, respectively, and were deferred pursuant to the legislative, regulatory and related actions provisions of the rate plans as a result of the New York State on PAUSE and related executive orders, that have since been lifted, as described above. The Utilities’ NY rate plans also provide for an allowance for write-offs of customer accounts receivable balances. The above amounts deferred pursuant to the legislative, regulatory and related actions provisions were reduced by the amount that the actual write-offs of customer accounts receivable balances were below the allowance reflected in rates which differences were $19 million and $1 million for CECONY and O&R, respectively, from March 1, 2020 through September 30, 2022.

In June 2020, the NYSPSC directed CECONY to implement a summer cooling credit program to help mitigate the cost of staying home and operating air conditioning for health-vulnerable low-income customers due to the limited availability of public cooling facilities as a result of the COVID-19 social distancing measures. The $63.4 million cost of the program is being recovered over a five-year period that began January 2021.

In April 2021, NY passed a law that created a program that allows eligible residential renters in NY who require assistance with rent and utility bills to have up to twelve months of electric and gas utility bill arrears forgiven, provided that such arrears were accrued on or after March 13, 2020. The program is administered by the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) in coordination with the NYSDPS (the OTDA Program). Under the OTDA Program, CECONY and O&R qualify for a refundable tax credit for NY gross-receipts tax equal to the amount of arrears waived by the Utilities in the year that the arrears are waived and certified by the NYSPSC. OTDA may also use the program funds to provide additional Home Energy Assistance Program payments to the Utilities on behalf of low-income customers.

In April 2022, NY approved the 2022-2023 state budget, which included $250 million for addressing statewide residential utility customers' arrears balances accrued from March 7, 2020 through March 1, 2022. In June 2022, the NYSPSC issued an order implementing a COVID-19 arrears assistance program that provides credits towards reducing the arrears balances of low-income electric and gas customers of CECONY and O&R. At the time the order was issued, the Utilities’ eligible arrears balances were estimated to be $340 million, comprised of: (1) $164.5 million and $1.6 million of the funding allocated pursuant to the NY budget to CECONY and O&R, respectively, and (2) a surcharge mechanism for recovery of the remaining eligible credit amounts over a four- year period commencing after credits are issued for CECONY and over a one year period commencing after credits are issued for O&R. Pursuant to the order, CECONY and O&R agreed not to seek recovery of incremental financing costs incurred associated with low-income customers' arrears from March 2020 through March 2022 of $11 million, most of which is attributable to CECONY, in addition to the $7 million reserve established by CECONY for the year ended December 31, 2021, as described above. The amounts available to credit the arrears balances of low-income CECONY and O&R customers pursuant to the June 2022 order may be reduced by amounts credited pursuant to the OTDA Program.

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, CECONY issued total credits of $265.8 million and $315.1 million, respectively and O&R issued total credits of $4.7 million and $5.5 million, respectively, towards reducing customers’ accounts receivable balances. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, the total credits for CECONY were comprised of: $148.4 million pursuant to the NY funding; $89.6 million that will be recovered via a surcharge mechanism that began September 1, 2022, as described above; the $7 million reserve for CECONY described above; and $20.9 million and $70.1 million, respectively, in qualified tax credits and payments pursuant to the OTDA Program described above. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, the total credits for O&R were comprised of: $1.6 million pursuant to the NY funding; $2.7 million that will be recovered via a surcharge mechanism that began September 1, 2022, as described above; and $0.4 million and $1.2 million, respectively, in qualified tax credits and payments pursuant to the OTDA Program described above. At September 30, 2022, the customer accounts receivable balances at CECONY and O&R were $2,279 million and $109 million, respectively.

In May 2021, CECONY and O&R, along with other large NY utilities, submitted joint comments to the NYSDPS' February 2021 report on New York State’s Energy Affordability Policy. The report recommends, among other things, that residential and commercial customers’ late payment fees and interest on deferred payment agreements be waived until two years after the expiration of the New York State moratorium on utility terminations (the moratorium expired on December 21, 2021) and each utility develop an arrears management program to mitigate the financial burdens of the COVID-19 pandemic on NY households and that program costs be shared, perhaps equally, between shareholders and customers. The May 2021 joint comments stated that it is not necessary for the NYSPSC to adopt the report’s COVID-19 related recommendations because New York State already passed laws
that address the issues in the report. In June 2022, the NYSPSC issued an order in this proceeding establishing a COVID-19 arrears assistance program for low-income customers, as described above.

The Utilities’ rate plans have revenue decoupling mechanisms in their NY electric and gas businesses that largely reconcile actual energy delivery revenues to the authorized delivery revenues approved by the NYSPSC per month and reconcile the deferred balances semi-annually under CECONY's electric rate plan (January through June and July through December, respectively) and annually under CECONY's gas rate plan and O&R's NY electric and gas rate plans (January through December). Differences are accrued with interest each month for CECONY's and O&R's NY electric customers and after the annual deferral period ends for CECONY's and O&R's NY gas customers for refund to, or recovery from customers, as applicable. Generally, the refund to or recovery from customers begins August and February of each year over an ensuing six-month period for CECONY's electric customers and February of each year over an ensuing twelve-month period for CECONY's gas and O&R's NY electric and gas customers.

NJ Regulation
In March 2020, NJ Governor Murphy declared a Public Health Emergency and State of Emergency for the State of NJ. In June 2021, the Governor ended the emergency declaration. As a result of the emergency declaration, and due to economic conditions, the NJBPU and RECO have worked to mitigate the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on RECO, its customers and other stakeholders. In March 2020, RECO began suspending late payment charges, terminations for non-payment, and no access fees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The suspension of these fees continued through July 31, 2021 and were not material.

In July 2020, the NJBPU authorized RECO and other NJ utilities to create a COVID-19-related regulatory asset by deferring prudently incurred incremental costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic beginning on March 9, 2020, and has extended such deferrals through December 31, 2022. RECO is required to file its verified COVID-19 cost recovery petition by no later than March 2, 2023. RECO deferred net incremental COVID-19 related costs of $0.4 million through September 30, 2022.

Gas Safety
In April 2020, the NYSPSC issued an order that extended the deadlines to complete certain gas inspections by all New York gas utilities, including CECONY and O&R, from April 1, 2020 to August 1, 2020. The deadlines were subsequently extended to September 2, 2020 and June 1, 2022. CECONY and O&R have taken all reasonable measures to complete such inspections. As of June 1, 2022, O&R completed all of its required inspections and CECONY substantially completed its required inspections. CECONY is unable to estimate the amount or range of its possible loss, if any, related to this matter. At September 30, 2022, CECONY had not accrued a liability related to this matter.

Other Regulatory Matters
In August 2018, the NYSPSC ordered CECONY to begin on January 1, 2019 to credit the company's electric and gas customers, and to begin on October 1, 2018 to credit its steam customers, with the net benefits of the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) as measured based on amounts reflected in its rate plans prior to the enactment of the TCJA in December 2017. The net benefits include the revenue requirement impact of the reduction in the corporate federal income tax rate to 21 percent, the elimination for utilities of bonus depreciation and the amortization of excess deferred federal income taxes.
CECONY, under its electric rate plan that was approved in January 2020, is amortizing its TCJA net benefits prior to January 1, 2019 allocable to its electric customers ($377 million) over a three-year period, the IRS “protected” portion of its net regulatory liability for future income taxes related to certain accelerated tax depreciation benefits allocable to its electric customers ($1,663 million) over the remaining lives of the related assets and the remainder, or “unprotected” portion of the net regulatory liability allocable to its electric customers ($784 million) over a five-year period. CECONY, under its gas rate plan that was approved in January 2020, amortized TCJA net benefits prior to January 1, 2019 allocable to its gas customers ($63 million) over a two-year period, The protected portion of its net regulatory liability for future income taxes allocable to its gas customers ($725 million) is being amortized over the remaining lives of the related assets and the unprotected portion of the net regulatory liability allocable to its gas customers ($107 million) over a five-year period.
CECONY’s net regulatory liability for future income taxes, including both the protected and unprotected portions, allocable to the company’s steam customers ($185 million) is being amortized over the remaining lives of the related assets (with the amortization period for the unprotected portion subject to review in its next steam rate proceeding).

O&R, under its current electric and gas rate plans, has reflected its TCJA net benefits in its electric and gas rates
beginning as of January 1, 2019. Under the rate plans, O&R amortized its net benefits prior to January 1, 2019 ($22 million) over a three-year period. The protected portion of its net regulatory liability for future income taxes ($123 million) is being amortized over the remaining lives of the related assets). Pursuant to the October 2021 Joint Proposal, O&R will amortize the remaining unprotected portion of its net regulatory liability for future income taxes ($34 million) over a six-year period that began January 1, 2022.

In January 2018, the NYSPSC issued an order initiating a focused operations audit of the Utilities’ financial accounting for income taxes. The audit is investigating the Utilities’ inadvertent understatement of a portion, the amount of which may be material, of their calculation of total federal income tax expense for ratemaking purposes. The understatement was related to the calculation of plant retirement-related cost of removal. As a result of such understatement, the Utilities accumulated significant income tax regulatory assets that were not reflected in O&R’s rate plans prior to 2014, CECONY’s electric and gas rate plans prior to 2015 and 2016, respectively, and is currently not reflected in CECONY’s steam rate plan. This understatement of historical income tax expense materially reduced the amount of revenue collected from the Utilities' customers in the past. As part of the audit, the Utilities plan to pursue a private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that is expected to confirm, among other things, that in order to comply with IRS normalization rules, such understatement may not be corrected through a write-down of a portion of the regulatory asset and must be corrected through an increase in future years’ revenue requirements. The regulatory asset ($1,147 million and $23 million for CECONY and O&R, respectively, as of September 30, 2022) and ($1,176 million and $26 million for CECONY and O&R, respectively, as of December 31, 2021) is netted against the future income tax regulatory liability on the Companies’ consolidated balance sheet. The Utilities are unable to estimate the amount or range of their possible loss, if any, related to this matter. At September 30, 2022, the Utilities had not accrued a liability related to this matter.

In October 2020, the NYSPSC issued an order instituting a proceeding to consider requiring NY’s large, investor-owned utilities, including CECONY and O&R, to annually disclose what risks climate change poses to their companies, investors and customers going forward. The order notes that some holding companies, including Con Edison, already disclose climate change risks at the holding company level, but states that the NYSPSC believes that climate-related risk disclosures should be issued specific to the operating companies in NY, such as CECONY and O&R, and that such climate-related risk disclosures should be included annually with the utilities’ financial reports. In December 2020, CECONY and O&R, along with other large NY utilities, filed comments supporting climate change risk disclosures in annual reports filed with the NYSPSC and recommended the use of an industry-specific template.

In April 2021, the Department of Energy (DOE) issued a request for information to assist the DOE in developing orders and/or regulations to secure the United States’ critical electric infrastructure. Separately, in September 2021, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology issued preliminary cybersecurity goals for critical infrastructure control systems, with final voluntary goals issued in October 2022. The Companies are unable to predict the impact on them of any orders or regulations that may be adopted regarding critical infrastructure.

In July 2021, the NYSPSC approved a settlement agreement among CECONY, O&R and the NYSDPS that fully resolves all issues and allegations that have been raised or could have been raised by the NYSPSC against CECONY and O&R with respect to: (1) the July 2018 rupture of a CECONY steam main located on Fifth Avenue and 21st Street in Manhattan (the “2018 Steam Incident”); (2) the July 2019 electric service interruptions to approximately 72,000 CECONY customers on the west side of Manhattan and to approximately 30,000 CECONY customers primarily in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn (the “2019 Manhattan and Brooklyn Outages”); (3) the August 2020 electric service interruptions to approximately 330,000 CECONY customers and approximately 200,000 O&R customers following Tropical Storm Isaias (the “Tropical Storm Isaias Outages”) and (4) the August 2020 electric service interruptions to approximately 190,000 customers resulting from faults at CECONY’s Rainey substation following Tropical Storm Isaias (the “Rainey Outages”). Pursuant to the settlement agreement, CECONY and O&R agreed to a total settlement amount of $75.1 million and $7.0 million, respectively. CECONY and O&R agreed to forgo recovery from customers of $25 million and $2.5 million, respectively, associated with the return on existing storm hardening assets beginning with the next rate plan for each utility (over a period of 35 years). CECONY and O&R also agreed to incur ongoing operations and maintenance costs of up to $15.8 million and $2.9 million, respectively, for, among other things, costs to maintain a certain level of contractor and vehicle storm emergency support and storm preparation audits. For CECONY, the settlement agreement included previously incurred or accrued costs of $34.3 million, including negative revenue adjustments of $5 million for the Rainey Outages and $15 million for the 2019 Manhattan and Brooklyn Outages and $14.3 million in costs to reimburse customers for food and medicine spoilage and other previously incurred expenses related to Tropical Storm Isaias and the 2018 Steam Incident. For O&R, the settlement agreement included previously incurred costs of $1.6 million to reimburse customers for food and medicine spoilage and other expenses related to the Tropical Storm Isaias Outages.
Regulatory Assets and Liabilities
Regulatory assets and liabilities at September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021 were comprised of the following items:
 
  
         Con Edison        CECONY
(Millions of Dollars)2022202120222021
Regulatory assets
Environmental remediation costs$919$938$840$860
System peak reduction and energy efficiency programs546285546284
Pension and other postretirement benefits deferrals369496325435
Revenue taxes428395409378
COVID-19 pandemic deferrals275282272277
Deferred storm costs270276168158 
Property tax reconciliation142202140202
MTA power reliability deferral104140104140
Gas Service Line Deferred Costs107100107100
COVID-19 arrears relief program deferral91— 88— 
Municipal infrastructure support costs33443344
Brooklyn Queens demand management program33363336
Deferred derivative losses - long term32512745
Meadowlands heater odorization project27292729
Unrecognized pension and other postretirement costs2412810110
Non-wire alternative projects23232323
Legacy meters202
Preferred stock redemption19201920
Recoverable REV demonstration project costs17161715
Gate station upgrade project 14141414
Unamortized loss on reacquired debt12161114
Other200146183132
Regulatory assets – noncurrent3,7053,6393,3963,316
Deferred derivative losses - short term9114188133
Recoverable energy costs1916518355
Regulatory assets – current282206271188
Total Regulatory Assets$3,987$3,845$3,667$3,504
Regulatory liabilities
Future income tax$1,819$1,984$1,681$1,840
Allowance for cost of removal less salvage1,2381,1991,0631,033
Unrecognized pension and other postretirement costs42932368— 
Net unbilled revenue deferrals126209126209
Deferred derivative gains - long term1526113455
Pension and other postretirement benefit deferrals1301028555
2022 Late Payment Charge Deferral 92— 92— 
Net proceeds from sale of property 7810377103
System benefit charge carrying charge72706763
Property tax refunds37353535
TCJA net benefits* 3012529123
Sales and use tax refunds28172716
BQDM and REV Demo reconciliations24252122
COVID-19 pandemic uncollectible reconciliation deferral20— 19— 
Earnings sharing - electric, gas and steam13131010
Workers' compensation118118
Settlement of prudence proceeding6666
Energy efficiency portfolio standard unencumbered funds515719 
Settlement of gas proceedings412412
Other403365353312
Regulatory liabilities – noncurrent4,7174,3814,2153,921
Deferred derivative gains - short term521142482132
Refundable energy costs343242
Revenue decoupling mechanism1311— — 
Regulatory liabilities – current568185486134
Total Regulatory Liabilities$5,285$4,566$4,701$4,055
* See "Other Regulatory Matters," above.
In general, the Utilities receive or are being credited with a return at the Other Customer-Provided Capital rate for regulatory assets that have not been included in rate base, and receive or are being credited with a return at the pre-tax weighted average cost of capital once the asset is included in rate base. Similarly, the Utilities pay to or credit customers with a return at the Other Customer-Provided Capital rate for regulatory liabilities that have not been included in rate base, and pay to or credit customers with a return at the pre-tax weighted average cost of capital once the liability is included in rate base. The Other Customer-Provided Capital rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021 was 1.75 percent and 1.80 percent, respectively.

In general, the Utilities are receiving or being credited with a return on their regulatory assets for which a cash outflow has been made ($2,221 million and $1,962 million for Con Edison, and $2,024 million and $1,751 million for CECONY at September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively). Regulatory assets of RECO for which a cash outflow has been made ($21 million and $25 million at September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively) are not receiving or being credited with a return. RECO recovers regulatory assets over a period of up to four years or until they are addressed in its next base rate case in accordance with the rate provisions approved by the NJBPU. Regulatory liabilities are treated in a consistent manner.

Regulatory assets that represent future financial obligations and were deferred in accordance with the Utilities’ rate plans or orders issued by state regulators do not earn a return until such time as a cash outlay has been made. Regulatory liabilities are treated in a consistent manner. At September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, regulatory assets for Con Edison and CECONY that did not earn a return consisted of the following items:
Regulatory Assets Not Earning a Return*
                  Con Edison                CECONY
(Millions of Dollars)2022202120222021
Unrecognized pension and other postretirement costs$24$128$10$110
Environmental remediation costs913928833850
Revenue taxes408375392359
COVID-19 Deferral for Uncollectible Accounts Receivable236236232231
Deferred derivative losses - current9114188134
Deferred derivative losses - long term32512745
Other62246124
Total$1,766$1,883$1,643$1,753
*This table presents regulatory assets not earning a return for which no cash outlay has been made.
The recovery periods for regulatory assets for which a cash outflow has not been made and that do not earn a return have not yet been determined, except as noted below, and are expected to be determined pursuant to the Utilities’ future rate plans to be filed or orders issued by the state regulators in connection therewith.
The Utilities recover unrecognized pension and other postretirement costs over 10 years, and the portion of investment gains or losses recognized in expense over 15 years, pursuant to NYSPSC policy.
The deferral for revenue taxes represents the New York State metropolitan transportation business tax surcharge on the cumulative temporary differences between the book and tax basis of assets and liabilities of the Utilities, as well as the difference between taxes collected and paid by the Utilities to fund mass transportation. The Utilities recover the majority of the revenue taxes over the remaining book lives of the electric and gas plant assets, as well as the steam plant assets for CECONY.
The Utilities recover deferred derivative losses – current within one year, and noncurrent generally within three years.