Commitments and Contingencies (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Guarantees

The table below details guarantees provided as of March 31, 2021.

	Exposure at March 31, 2021			Expiration Date
PPL
WPD indemnifications for entities in liquidation and sales of assets	$	11	(a)	2023
WPD guarantee of pension and other obligations of unconsolidated entities	96		(b)
LKE
Indemnification of lease termination and other divestitures	$	200	(c)	2021
LG&E and KU
LG&E and KU obligation of shortfall related to OVEC			(d)

(a)Indemnification to the liquidators and certain others for existing liabilities or expenses or liabilities arising during the liquidation process. The indemnifications are limited to distributions made from the subsidiary to its parent either prior or subsequent to liquidation or are not explicitly stated in the agreements. The indemnifications generally expire two to seven years subsequent to the date of dissolution of the entities. The exposure noted only includes those cases where the agreements provide for specific limits.

In connection with their sales of various businesses, WPD and its affiliates have provided the purchasers with indemnifications that are standard for such transactions, including indemnifications for certain pre-existing liabilities and environmental and tax matters or have agreed to continue their obligations under existing third-party guarantees, either for a set period of time following the transactions or upon the condition that the purchasers make reasonable efforts to terminate the guarantees. Additionally, WPD and its affiliates remain secondarily responsible for lease payments under certain leases that they have assigned to third parties.

(b)Relates to certain obligations of discontinued or modified electric associations that were guaranteed at the time of privatization by the participating members. Costs are allocated to the members and can be reallocated if an existing member becomes insolvent. At March 31, 2021, WPD has recorded an estimated discounted liability for which the expected payment/performance is probable. Neither the expiration date nor the maximum amount of potential payments for certain obligations is explicitly stated in the related agreements, and as a result, the exposure has been estimated.

(c)LKE provides certain indemnifications covering the due and punctual payment, performance and discharge by each party of its respective obligations. The most comprehensive of these guarantees is the LKE guarantee covering operational, regulatory and environmental commitments and indemnifications made by WKE under a 2009 Transaction Termination Agreement. This guarantee has a term of 12 years ending July 2021, and a maximum exposure of $200 million exclusive of certain items such as government fines and penalties that may exceed the maximum. Additionally, LKE has indemnified various third parties related to historical obligations for other divested subsidiaries and affiliates. The indemnifications vary by entity and the maximum exposures range from being capped at the sale price to no specified maximum. LKE could be required to perform on these indemnifications in the event of covered losses or liabilities being claimed by an indemnified party. LKE cannot predict the ultimate outcomes of the various indemnification scenarios, but does not expect such outcomes to result in significant losses above the amounts recorded.

(d)Pursuant to the OVEC power purchase contract, LG&E and KU are obligated to pay for their share of OVEC's excess debt service, post-retirement and decommissioning costs, as well as any shortfall from amounts included within a demand charge designed and expected to cover these costs over the term of the contract. LKE's proportionate share of OVEC's outstanding debt was $103 million at March 31, 2021, consisting of LG&E's share of $71 million and KU's share of $32 million. The maximum exposure and the expiration date of these potential obligations are not presently determinable. See "Energy Purchase Commitments" in Note 11 in PPL's, LKE's, LG&E's and KU's 2020 Form 10-K for additional information on the OVEC power purchase contract.

In March 2018, a sponsor with a 4.85% pro-rata share of OVEC obligations filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and, in August 2018, received a rejection order for the OVEC power purchase contract in the bankruptcy proceeding. OVEC and other entities challenged the contract rejection, the bankruptcy plan confirmation and regulatory aspects of the plan in various forums. In May 2020, OVEC and the relevant sponsor announced a settlement resolving all disputed matters in the bankruptcy and other proceedings, including providing that the sponsor will withdraw its request to reject the power purchase agreement. The settlement was implemented in July 2020.