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Asset Retirement Obligations
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Asset Retirement Obligation Disclosure [Abstract]  
Asset Retirement Obligations
Note 14. Asset Retirement Obligations
AROs represent obligations that result from laws, statutes, contracts and regulations related to the eventual retirement of certain of the Companies’ long-lived assets. Dominion Energy and Virginia Power’s AROs are primarily associated with the decommissioning of their nuclear generation facilities and ash pond and landfill closures. Dominion Energy Gas’ AROs primarily include plugging and abandonment of gas and oil wells and the interim retirement of natural gas gathering, transmission, distribution and storage pipeline components.
The Companies have also identified, but not recognized, AROs related to the retirement of the Cove Point LNG Facility, Dominion Energy and Dominion Energy Gas’ storage wells in their underground natural gas storage network, certain Virginia Power electric transmission and distribution assets located on property with easements, rights of way, franchises and lease agreements, Virginia Power’s hydroelectric generation facilities and the abatement of certain asbestos not expected to be disturbed in Dominion Energy and Virginia Power’s generation facilities. The Companies currently do not have sufficient information to estimate a reasonable range of expected retirement dates for any of these assets since the economic lives of these assets can be extended indefinitely through regular repair and maintenance and they currently have no plans to retire or dispose of any of these assets. As a result, a settlement date is not determinable for these assets and AROs for these assets will not be reflected in the Consolidated Financial Statements until sufficient information becomes available to determine a reasonable estimate of the fair value of the activities to be performed. The Companies continue to monitor operational and strategic developments to identify if sufficient information exists to reasonably estimate a retirement date for these assets. 
The changes to AROs during 2018 and 2019 were as follows:
 
Amount
 
(millions)
 
 
Dominion Energy
 
 
 
AROs at December 31, 2017
   $
2,432
 
Obligations incurred during the period
   
20
 
Obligations settled during the period
   
(159
 )
Revisions in estimated cash flows
(2)
    
120
 
Accretion
   
119
 
AROs at December 31, 2018
(1)
   $
2,532
 
Obligations incurred during the period
(2)
  
 
2,413
 
Obligations settled during the period
 
 
(137
)
AROs acquired in the SCANA Combination
 
 
577
 
Revisions in estimated cash flows
(3)
  
 
(324
)
Accretion
 
 
213
 
AROs at December 31, 2019
(1)
  
$
5,274
 
Virginia Power
 
 
 
AROs at December 31, 2017
  $
1,365
 
Obligations incurred during the period
   
14
 
Obligations settled during the period
   
(119
 )
Revisions in estimated cash flows
(2)
    
120
 
Accretion
   
65
 
AROs at December 31, 2018
  $
1,445
 
Obligations incurred during the period
(
2
)
  
 
2,408
 
Obligations settled during the period
 
 
(81
)
Revisions in estimated cash flows
(3)
  
 
(323
)
Accretion
 
 
132
 
AROs at December 31, 2019
 
$
3,581
 
Dominion Energy Gas
 
 
 
AROs at December 31, 2017
  $
85
 
Obligations incurred during the period
   
3
 
Obligations settled during the period
   
(6
 )
Accretion
   
6
 
AROs at December 31, 2018
(
4
)
   $
88
 
Obligations settled during the period
 
 
(3
)
Accretion
 
 
4
 
AROs at December 31, 2019
(
4
)
  
$
 89
 
 
(1)
Includes $282 million and $408 million reported in other current liabilities at December 31, 2018, and 2019, respectively.
(2)
Reflects future ash pond and landfill closure costs at certain utility generation facilities. See Note 23 for further information.
(3)
Reflects revisions to future ash pond and landfill closure costs at certain utility generation facilities as well as revisions for 20 year license extensions for regulated nuclear power stations in Virginia.
(4)
Includes $74 million and $75 million reported in other deferred credits and other liabilities, with the remainder recorded in other current liabilities, at December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Dominion Energy’s AROs at December 31, 2019 and 2018, include $1.7 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively, with $0.8 billion and $0.9 billion recorded by Virginia Power, related to the future decommissioning of their nuclear facilities. Dominion Energy and Virginia Power have established trusts dedicated to funding the future decommissioning activities.
At December 31, 2019 and 2018, the aggregate fair value of Dominion Energy’s trusts, consisting primarily of equity and debt securities, totaled $6.2 billion and $4.9 billion, respectively. At December 31, 2019 and 2018, the aggregate fair value of Virginia Power’s trusts, consisting primarily of debt and equity securities, totaled $2.9 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively.
In addition, AROs at December 31, 2019 include $2.6 billion related to Virginia Power’s future ash pond and landfill closure costs. Regulatory mechanisms, primar
ily
 associated with legislation enacted in Virginia in March 2019, provide for recovery of costs to be incurred. See Notes 12 and 23 for additional information.