Significant Accounting Policies

Nov. 18, 2019

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Significant Accounting Policies

Note 2. Significant Accounting Policies

As permitted by the rules and regulations of the SEC, the Companies’ accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements contain certain condensed financial information and exclude certain footnote disclosures normally included in annual audited consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. These unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes in the Companies’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, as updated in Current Report on Form 8-K, filed November 18, 2019.

In the Companies’ opinion, the accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements contain all adjustments necessary to present fairly their financial position at September 30, 2019, their results of operations and changes in equity for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018 and their cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018. Such adjustments are normal and recurring in nature unless otherwise noted.

The Companies make certain estimates and assumptions in preparing their Consolidated Financial Statements in accordance with GAAP. These estimates and assumptions affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses for the periods presented. Actual results may differ from those estimates.

The Companies’ accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements include, after eliminating intercompany transactions and balances, their accounts, those of their respective majority-owned subsidiaries and non-wholly-owned entities in which they have a controlling financial interest. For certain partnership structures, income is allocated based on the liquidation value of the underlying contractual arrangements. At December 31, 2018, Dominion Energy owned the general partner, 60.9% of the common units and 37.5% of the convertible preferred interests in Dominion Energy Midstream, with the public’s ownership interest reflected as noncontrolling interest in Dominion Energy’s Consolidated Financial Statements. In January 2019, Dominion Energy acquired all outstanding partnership interests not owned by Dominion Energy and Dominion Energy Midstream became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dominion Energy. Subsequent to this activity, as a result of the Dominion Energy Gas Restructuring, Dominion Energy Gas is considered to have acquired all of the outstanding partnership interests of Dominion Energy Midstream and Dominion Energy Midstream has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dominion Energy Gas. Also, at September 30, 2019, Dominion Energy owns 50% of the units in and consolidates Four Brothers and Three Cedars. GIP’s ownership interest in Four Brothers and Three Cedars, as well as Terra Nova Renewable Partners’ 33% interest in certain Dominion Energy merchant solar projects, is reflected as noncontrolling interest in Dominion Energy’s Consolidated Financial Statements. Terra Nova Renewable Partners has a future option to buy all or a portion of Dominion Energy’s remaining 67% ownership in the projects upon the occurrence of certain events, none of which had occurred at September 30, 2019 nor are expected to occur in the remainder of 2019.

The results of operations for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results expected for the full year. Information for quarterly periods is affected by seasonal variations in sales, rate changes, electric fuel and other energy-related purchases, purchased gas expenses and other factors.

Certain amounts in the Companies’ 2018 Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes have been reclassified to conform to the 2019 presentation for comparative purposes; however, such reclassifications did not affect the Companies’ net income, total assets, liabilities, equity or cash flows.

Amounts disclosed for Dominion Energy are inclusive of Virginia Power and/or Dominion Energy Gas, where applicable. There have been no significant changes from Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in the Companies’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, as updated in Current Report on Form 8-K, filed November 18, 2019, with the exception of the items described below.

Cash, Restricted Cash and Equivalents

The following table provides a reconciliation of the total cash, restricted cash and equivalents reported within the Companies’ Consolidated Balance Sheets to the corresponding amounts reported within the Companies’ Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018:

	Cash, Restricted Cash and Equivalents at End of Period				Cash, Restricted Cash and Equivalents at Beginning of Period
	September 30, 2019		September 30, 2018		December 31, 2018		December 31, 2017
(millions)
Dominion Energy
Cash and cash equivalents	$	378	$	310	$	268	$	120
Restricted cash and equivalents(1)		62		77		123		65
Cash, restricted cash and equivalents shown in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows	$	440	$	387	$	391	$	185
Virginia Power
Cash and cash equivalents	$	29	$	22	$	29	$	14
Restricted cash and equivalents(1)		8		10		9		10
Cash, restricted cash and equivalents shown in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows	$	37	$	32	$	38	$	24
Dominion Energy Gas
Cash and cash equivalents(2)	$	74	$	85	$	108	$	18
Restricted cash and equivalents(1)		12		46		90		39
Cash, restricted cash and equivalents shown in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows	$	86	$	131	$	198	$	57

(1) Restricted cash and equivalent balances are presented within other current assets in the Companies’ Consolidated Balance Sheets.

(2) At September 30, 2019, September 30, 2018, December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, Dominion Energy Gas had $10 million, $3 million, $9 million and $3 million of cash and cash equivalents included in current assets of discontinued operations, respectively.

Property, Plant and Equipment

In January 2019, Virginia Power committed to a plan to retire certain automated meter reading infrastructure associated with its electric operations before the end of its useful life and replace such equipment with more current AMI technology. As a result, Virginia Power recorded a charge of $160 million ($119 million after-tax) in the first quarter of 2019, included in impairment of assets and other charges in its Consolidated Statements of Income. This charge is considered a component of Virginia Power’s base rates deemed recovered under the GTSA, subject to review as discussed in Note 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Virginia Power’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, as updated in Current Report on Form 8-K, filed November 18, 2019. 

In March 2019, Virginia Power committed to retire certain electric generating units before the end of their useful lives and completed the retirement of certain units at six facilities representing 1,292 MW of electric generating capacity, which had previously been placed in cold reserve. An additional unit at Possum Point power station will be retired after it meets its capacity obligation to PJM in 2021. As a result, Virginia Power recorded a charge of $369 million ($275 million after-tax) in the first quarter of 2019, primarily included in impairment of assets and other charges in its Consolidated Statements of Income. This charge is considered a component of Virginia Power’s base rates deemed recovered under the GTSA, subject to review as discussed in Note 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Virginia Power’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, as updated in Current Report on Form 8-K, filed November 18, 2019.

In May 2019, Virginia Power abandoned a coal rail project at its Mt. Storm generating facility. As a result, Virginia Power recorded a charge of $62 million ($46 million after-tax) in the second quarter of 2019, included in impairment of assets and other charges in its Consolidated Statements of Income.

In September 2019, Dominion Energy and Virginia Power abandoned certain property, plant and equipment before the end of its useful life. As a result, Dominion Energy recorded a charge of $26 million ($19 million after-tax) and Virginia Power recorded a charge of $17 million ($12 million after-tax), included in impairment of assets and other charges in their Consolidated Statements of Income for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019.

Leases

The Companies lease certain assets including vehicles, real estate, office equipment and other operational assets under both operating and finance leases. For the Companies’ operating leases, rent expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease agreement, subject to regulatory framework. Rent expense associated with operating leases, short-term leases and variable leases is primarily recorded in other operations and maintenance expense in the Companies’ Consolidated Statements of Income. Rent expense associated with finance leases results in the separate presentation of interest expense on the lease liability and amortization expense of the related right-of-use asset in the Companies’ Consolidated Statements of Income.

Certain of the Companies’ leases include one or more options to renew, with renewal terms that can extend the lease from one to 70 years. The exercise of renewal options is solely at the Companies’ discretion and is included in the lease term if the option is reasonably certain to be exercised. A right-of-use asset and corresponding lease liability for leases with original lease terms of one year or less are not included in the Consolidated Balance Sheets, unless such leases contain renewal options that the Companies are reasonably certain will be exercised. Additionally, certain of the Companies’ leases contain escalation clauses whereby payments are adjusted for consumer price or other indices or contain fixed dollar or percentage increases. The Companies also have leases with variable payments based upon usage of, or revenues associated with, the leased assets.

The determination of the discount rate utilized has a significant impact on the calculation of the present value of the lease liability included in the Companies’ Consolidated Balance Sheets. For the Companies’ fleet of leased vehicles, the discount rate is equal to the prevailing borrowing rate earned by the lessor. For the Companies’ remaining leased assets, the discount rate implicit in the lease is generally unable to be determined from a lessee perspective. As such, the Companies use internally-developed incremental borrowing rates as a discount rate in the calculation of the present value of the lease liability. The incremental borrowing rates are determined based on an analysis of the Companies’ publicly available unsecured borrowing rates, adjusted for a collateral discount, over various lengths of time that most closely correspond to the Companies’ lease maturities.

In addition, Dominion Energy acts as lessor under certain power purchase agreements in which the counterparty or counterparties purchase substantially all of the output of certain solar facilities. These leases are considered operating in nature. For such leasing arrangements, rental revenue and an associated accounts receivable are recorded when the monthly output of the solar facility is determined. Depreciation on these solar facilities is computed on a straight-line basis over an estimated useful life of 30 years.

New Accounting Standards

Leases

In February 2016, the FASB issued revised accounting guidance for the recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure of leasing arrangements. The update requires that a liability and corresponding right-of-use asset are recorded on the balance sheet for all leases, including those leases classified as operating leases, while also refining the definition of a lease. In addition, lessees are required to disclose key information about the amount, timing and uncertainty of cash flows arising from leasing arrangements. Lessor accounting remains largely unchanged.

The guidance became effective for the Companies’ interim and annual reporting periods beginning January 1, 2019. The Companies adopted this revised accounting guidance using a modified retrospective approach, which requires lessees and lessors to recognize and measure leases at the date of adoption. Under this approach, the Companies utilized the transition practical expedient to maintain historical presentation for periods before January 1, 2019. The Companies also applied the other practical expedients, which required no reassessment of whether existing contracts are or contain leases, no reassessment of lease classification for existing leases and no reassessment of existing or expired land easements that were not previously accounted for as leases. In connection with the adoption of this revised accounting guidance, Dominion Energy, Virginia Power and Dominion Energy Gas recorded $504 million, $209 million and $64 million, respectively, of offsetting right-of-use assets and liabilities for operating leases in effect at the adoption date. As a result of the Dominion Energy Gas Restructuring, $25 million of such right-or-use assets and liabilities for operating leases recorded at Dominion Energy Gas were associated with discontinued operations. See Note 15 for additional information.