Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income tax expense for continuing operations including noncontrolling interests

Details of income tax expense for continuing operations including noncontrolling interests were as follows:

	Dominion									Virginia Power									Dominion Gas
Year Ended December 31,	2015			2014			2013			2015			2014			2013			2015		2014		2013
(millions)
Current:
Federal	$	(24	)	$	(11	)	$	317		$	316		$	85		$	357		$	90	$	86	$	158
State	75			14			110			92			67			62			30		32		41
Total current expense	51			3			427			408			152			419			120		118		199
Deferred:
Federal
Taxes before operating loss carryforwards and investment tax credits	384			956			563			154			381			224			156		192		92
Tax utilization (benefit) of operating loss carryforwards	539			(352		)	(18		)	96			—			—			6		—		—
Investment tax credits	(134		)	(152		)	(48		)	(11		)	—			—			—		—		—
State	66			(2		)	(31		)	13			16			17			1		24		10
Total deferred expense	855			450			466			252			397			241			163		216		102
Amortization of deferred investment tax credits	(1		)	(1		)	(1		)	(1		)	(1		)	(1		)	—		—		—
Total income tax expense	$	905		$	452		$	892		$	659		$	548		$	659		$	283	$	334	$	301

Effective income tax

For continuing operations including noncontrolling interests, the statutory U.S. federal income tax rate reconciles to the Companies' effective income tax rate as follows:

	Dominion						Virginia Power						Dominion Gas
Year Ended December 31,	2015		2014		2013		2015		2014		2013		2015		2014		2013
U.S. statutory rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
Increases (reductions) resulting from:
State taxes, net of federal benefit	3.7		—		2.1		3.9		3.8		3.1		2.7		4.4		4.3
Investment tax credits	(4.7	)	(8.6	)	(1.8	)	(0.6	)	—		—		—		—		—
Production tax credits	(0.8	)	(1.2	)	(0.6	)	(0.6	)	(0.6	)	(0.2	)	—		—		—
Valuation allowances	(0.3	)	0.7		(0.1	)	—		—		—		—		—		—
AFUDC - equity	(0.3	)	—		(0.6	)	(0.6	)	—		(0.8	)	0.2		—		(0.1	)
Employee stock ownership plan deduction	(0.6	)	(0.9	)	(0.6	)	—		—		—		—		—		—
Other, net	—		0.4		(0.4	)	0.6		0.8		(0.4	)	0.3		0.1		0.3
Effective tax rate	32.0	%	25.4	%	33.0	%	37.7	%	39.0	%	36.7	%	38.2	%	39.5	%	39.5	%

The Companies deferred income taxes components

The Companies' deferred income taxes consist of the following:

	Dominion						Virginia Power						Dominion Gas
At December 31,	2015			2014			2015			2014			2015			2014
(millions)
Deferred income taxes:
Total deferred income tax assets	$	1,152		$	2,023		$	164		$	500		$	129		$	227
Total deferred income tax liabilities	8,552			8,663			4,805			4,915			2,343			2,289
Total net deferred income tax liabilities	$	7,400		$	6,640		$	4,641		$	4,415		$	2,214		$	2,062
Total deferred income taxes:
Plant and equipment, primarily depreciation method and basis differences	$	6,299		$	5,895		$	4,133		$	3,965		$	1,541		$	1,417
Nuclear decommissioning	1,158			1,241			378			474			—			—
Deferred state income taxes	646			659			302			299			205			207
Federal benefit of deferred state income taxes	(226		)	(231		)	(106		)	(105		)	(72		)	(72		)
Deferred fuel, purchased energy and gas costs	(1		)	27			(3		)	18			1			7
Pension benefits	291			272			(99		)	(77		)	613			567
Other postretirement benefits	(15		)	(17		)	30			13			(7		)	(12		)
Loss and credit carryforwards	(1,004		)	(1,434		)	(53		)	(116		)	(4		)	(10		)
Valuation allowances	73			87			—			—			—			—
Partnership basis differences	367			304			—			—			41			42
Other	(188		)	(163		)	59			(56		)	(104		)	(84		)
Total net deferred income tax liabilities	$	7,400		$	6,640		$	4,641		$	4,415		$	2,214		$	2,062

Reconciliation of changes in the Companies unrecognized tax benefits

A reconciliation of changes in the Companies' unrecognized tax benefits follows:

	Dominion									Virginia Power									Dominion Gas
	2015			2014			2013			2015			2014			2013			2015		2014		2013
(millions)
Balance at January 1	$	145		$	222		$	293		$	36		$	39		$	57		$	29	$	29	$	30
Increases-prior period positions	2			24			17			—			2			12			—		—		—
Decreases-prior period positions	(40		)	(26		)	(99		)	(25		)	(16		)	(42		)	—		—		(1		)
Increases-current period positions	8			16			30			1			11			14			—		—		—
Decreases-current period positions	—			—			(5		)	—			—			—			—		—		—
Settlements with tax authorities	(5		)	—			(2		)	—			—			(2		)	—		—		—
Expiration of statutes of limitations	(7		)	(91		)	(12		)	—			—			—			—		—		—
Balance at December 31	$	103		$	145		$	222		$	12		$	36		$	39		$	29	$	29	$	29

Earliest tax year remaining

For each of the major states in which Dominion operates, the earliest tax year remaining open for examination is as follows:

State	Earliest Open Tax Year
Pennsylvania(1)	2010
Connecticut	2012
Virginia(2)	2012
West Virginia(1)	2012
New York(1)	2007

(1) Considered a major state for Dominion Gas' operations.

(2) Considered a major state for Virginia Power's operations.

Schedule of Components of Income Tax Expense (Benefit) from Discontinued Operations

Details of income tax expense for Dominion's discontinued operations were as follows:

Year Ended December 31,	2013
(millions)
Current:
Federal	(274	)
State	(41	)
Total current benefit	(315	)
Deferred:
Federal	232
State	40
Total deferred expense	272
Total income tax benefit	(43	)