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Regulatory Matters (Tables)
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2015
Public Utilities, General Disclosures [Line Items]  
Regulatory Assets and Liabilities
Regulatory assets and liabilities at June 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014 were comprised of the following items:
 
  
         Con Edison
 
        CECONY
(Millions of Dollars)
2015

2014

 
2015

2014

Regulatory assets
 
 
 
 
 
Unrecognized pension and other postretirement costs
$4,400
$4,846
 
$4,191
$4,609
Future income tax
2,326
2,273
 
2,216
2,166
Environmental remediation costs
897
925
 
796
820
Deferred storm costs
254
319
 
167
224
Revenue taxes
227
219
 
215
208
Pension and other postretirement benefits deferrals
54
66
 
27
42
Net electric deferrals
54
63
 
53
63
Unamortized loss on reacquired debt
54
57
 
51
55
Deferred derivative losses
46
25
 
41
23
Surcharge for New York State assessment
40
99
 
38
92
O&R property tax reconciliation
40
36
 


Preferred stock redemption
27
27
 
27
27
O&R transition bond charges
24
27
 


Workers’ compensation
10
8
 
10
8
Recoverable energy costs

19
 

17
Other
193
147
 
179
127
Regulatory assets – noncurrent
8,646
9,156
 
8,011
8,481
Deferred derivative losses
65
97
 
60
92
Future income tax
8
10
 


Recoverable energy costs
2
41
 

40
Regulatory assets – current
75
148
 
60
132
Total Regulatory Assets
$8,721
$9,304
 
$8,071
$8,613
Regulatory liabilities
 
 
 
 
 
Allowance for cost of removal less salvage
$620
$598
 
$518
$499
Property tax reconciliation
300
295
 
300
295
Base rate change deferrals
146
155
 
146
155
Net unbilled revenue deferrals
116
138
 
116
138
Prudence proceeding
103
105
 
103
105
Pension and other postretirement benefit deferrals
83
46
 
59
37
Variable-rate tax-exempt debt – cost rate reconciliation
80
78
 
69
78
Property tax refunds
65
87
 
65
87
New York State income tax rate change
64
62
 
61
59
Carrying charges on repair allowance and bonus depreciation
52
58
 
50
57
World Trade Center settlement proceeds
31
41
 
31
41
Net utility plant reconciliations
22
21
 
23
20
Earnings sharing – electric
21
19
 
21
18
Unrecognized other postretirement costs
17

 
17

Other
227
290
 
193
248
Regulatory liabilities – noncurrent
1,947
1,993
 
1,772
1,837
Refundable energy costs
72
128
 
39
84
Revenue decoupling mechanism
42
30
 
41
30
Future income tax
22
24
 
21
24
Deferred derivative gains
6
5
 
6
4
Regulatory liabilities – current
142
187
 
107
142
Total Regulatory Liabilities
$2,089
$2,180
 
$1,879
$1,979
CECONY | Electric  
Public Utilities, General Disclosures [Line Items]  
Summary of Rate Plan
The following table contains a summary of the rate plan for 2016:
 
Effective period
January 2016 – December 2016
Base rate changes
None (a)
Amortizations to income of net regulatory (assets) and liabilities
Additional $123 million of net regulatory liabilities (b).
Other revenue sources
Continued retention of $90 million of annual transmission congestion revenues.
Revenue decoupling mechanism
Continued reconciliation of actual electric delivery revenues to those authorized in the rate plan.
Recoverable energy costs
Continued current rate recovery of purchased power and fuel costs (c).
Negative revenue adjustments
Continued potential penalties (up to $400 million annually) if certain performance targets are not met.
Cost reconciliations
Continued reconciliation of expenses for pension and other postretirement benefits, variable-rate tax-exempt debt, major storms, property taxes (d), municipal infrastructure support, the impact of new laws and environmental remediation to amounts reflected in rates.
Net utility plant reconciliations
Target levels reflected in rates are as follows:
Transmission and distribution: $17,929 million
Storm hardening: $268 million
Other: $2,069 million
Average rate base
$18,282 million
Weighted average cost of capital (after-tax)
6.91 percent
Authorized return on common equity
9.0 percent
Earnings sharing
Most earnings above an annual earnings threshold of 9.6 percent are to be applied to reduce regulatory assets for environmental remediation and other costs.
Cost of long-term debt
5.09 percent
Common equity ratio
48 percent
(a)
The impact of 2014 and 2015 base rate changes under the current electric rate plan will continue to be deferred. $249 million of annual revenues collected from electric customers will continue to be subject to potential refund following NYSPSC staff review of certain costs. Revenues will continue to include $21 million as funding for major storm reserve.
(b)
Annual amortization of $107 million of the regulatory asset for deferred Superstorm Sandy and other major storm costs will continue. The costs recoverable from customers will be reduced by $4 million. The costs will no longer be subject to NYSPSC staff review and the recovery of the costs will no longer be subject to refund.
(c)
For transmission service provided pursuant to the open access transmission tariff of PJM Interconnection LLC (PJM), unless and until changed by the NYSPSC, the company will recover all charges incurred associated with the transmission service. In January 2014, PJM submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) a request that would substantially increase the charges for the transmission service. FERC has granted the request and rejected CECONY’s protests. CECONY is challenging the FERC’s decision.
(d)
Deferrals for property taxes will continue to be limited to 90 percent of the difference from amounts reflected in rates, subject to an annual maximum for the remaining difference of not more than a 10 basis point impact on return on common equity.
O&R | Electric  
Public Utilities, General Disclosures [Line Items]  
Summary of Rate Plan
The following tables contain a summary of the new rate plans:

O&R New York - Electric
Effective period
November 2015 - October 2017
Base rate changes
Yr. 1 - $9.3 million
Yr. 2 - $8.8 million
Amortizations to income of net regulatory (assets) and liabilities (a)
Yr. 1 - $(8.5) million
Yr. 2 - $(9.4) million
Revenue decoupling mechanism
Continued reconciliation of actual electric delivery revenues to those authorized in the rate plan.
Recoverable energy costs
Continued current rate recovery of purchased power costs.
Negative revenue adjustments
Potential penalties (up to $4 million annually) if certain performance targets are not met.
Cost reconciliations
Continued reconciliation of expenses for pension and other postretirement benefits, property taxes, the impact of new laws and environmental remediation to amounts reflected in rates.
Net utility plant reconciliations (b)
Target levels reflected in rates are:
Yr. 1 - $928 million
Yr. 2 - $970 million
Average rate base
Yr. 1 - $763 million
Yr. 2 - $805 million
Weighted average cost of capital (after-tax)
Yr. 1 - 7.10 percent
Yr. 2 - 7.06 percent
Authorized return on common equity
9.0 percent
Earnings sharing
Most earnings above an annual earnings threshold of 9.6 percent are to be applied to reduce regulatory assets.
Cost of long-term debt
Yr. 1 - 5.42 percent
Yr. 2 - 5.35 percent
Common equity ratio
48 percent
(a)
The Joint Proposal provides that the company should be allowed to recover from customers $59.3 million of its regulatory asset for deferred storm costs over a five-year period, including $11.85 million in each of years 1 and 2,  $1 million of the regulatory asset for such costs will not be recovered from customers, and all outstanding issues related to Superstorm Sandy and other past major storms prior to November 2014 are resolved. The Joint Proposal also provides that a total of approximately $4 million of regulatory assets for property tax and interest rate reconciliations will not be recovered from customers. Amounts that will not be recovered from customers were charged-off in June 2015.
(b)
Excludes electric advanced metering infrastructure as to which the company will be required to defer as a regulatory liability the revenue requirement impact of the amount, if any, by which actual average net utility plant balances are less than amounts reflected in rates: $1 million in year 1 and $9 million in year
O&R | Gas  
Public Utilities, General Disclosures [Line Items]  
Summary of Rate Plan
Gas
Effective period
November 2015 - October 2018
Base rate changes (a)
Yr. 1 - $27.5 million
Yr. 2 - $4.4 million
Yr. 3 - $6.7 million
Amortizations to income of net regulatory (assets) and liabilities (b)
Yr. 1 - $(1.7) million
Yr. 2 - $(2.1) million
Yr. 3 - $(2.5) million
Revenue decoupling mechanism
Continued reconciliation of actual gas delivery revenues to those authorized in the rate plan, including through weather normalization clause.
Recoverable energy costs
Continued current rate recovery of purchased gas costs.
Negative revenue adjustments
Potential penalties (up to $3.7 million in Yr. 1, $4.7 million in Yr. 2 and $5.8 million in Yr. 3) if certain performance targets are not met.
Cost reconciliations
Continued reconciliation of expenses for pension and other postretirement benefits, property taxes, the impact of new laws and environmental remediation to amounts reflected in rates.
Net utility plant reconciliations (c)
Target levels reflected in rates are:
Yr. 1 - $492 million
Yr. 2 - $518 million
Yr. 3 - $546 million
Average rate base
Yr. 1 - $366 million
Yr. 2 - $391 million
Yr. 3 - $417 million
Weighted average cost of capital (after-tax)
Yr. 1 - 7.10 percent
Yr. 2 - 7.06 percent
Yr. 3 - 7.06 percent
Authorized return on common equity
9.0 percent
Earnings sharing
Most earnings above an annual earnings threshold of 9.6 percent are to be applied to reduce regulatory assets.
Cost of long-term debt
Yr. 1 - 5.42 percent
Yr. 2 - 5.35 percent
Yr. 3 - 5.35 percent
Common equity ratio
48 percent
(a)
The base rate changes may be implemented, at the NYSPSC’s option, with increases of $16.4 million in each of years 1 and 2 and an increase of $5.8 million, together with a surcharge of $10.6 million, in year 3.
(b)
Reflects that the company will not recover from customers a total of approximately $14 million of regulatory assets for property tax and interest rate reconciliations. Amounts that will not be recovered from customers were charged-off in June 2015.
(c)
Excludes gas advanced metering infrastructure as to which the company will be required to defer as a regulatory liability the revenue requirement impact of the amount, if any, by which actual average net utility plant balances are less than amounts reflected in rates: $0.5 million in year 1, $4.2 million in year 2 and $7.2 million in year 3.