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Significant Accounting Policies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
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, 2019.

In the Companies’ opinion, the accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements contain all adjustments necessary to present fairly their financial position at September 30, 2020, their results of operations and changes in equity for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 and their cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019. 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 September 30, 2020, Dominion Energy owns 50% of the voting interests in Four Brothers and Three Cedars and has a controlling financial interest over the entities through its right to control operations. GIP’s ownership interest in Four Brothers and Three Cedars, Terra Nova Renewable Partners’ 33% interest in certain Dominion Energy merchant solar projects, Brookfield’s 25% interest in Cove Point (effective December 2019) and the non-Dominion Energy held interest in Dominion Energy Midstream (through January 2019) are 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 certain merchant projects upon the occurrence of certain events, including any proposed sale by Dominion Energy of its interest.

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’ 2019 Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes have been reclassified to conform to the 2020 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, 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, 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, 2020 and 2019:

 

 

 

Cash, Restricted Cash and Equivalents

at End of Period

 

 

Cash, Restricted Cash and Equivalents

at Beginning of Period

 

 

 

September 30, 2020

 

 

September 30, 2019

 

 

December 31, 2019

 

 

December 31, 2018

 

(millions)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dominion Energy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents(1)

 

$

462

 

 

$

378

 

 

$

166

 

 

$

268

 

Restricted cash and equivalents(2)(3)

 

 

96

 

 

 

62

 

 

 

103

 

 

 

123

 

Cash, restricted cash and equivalents shown in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

 

$

558

 

 

$

440

 

 

$

269

 

 

$

391

 

Virginia Power

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents

 

$

62

 

 

$

29

 

 

$

17

 

 

$

29

 

Restricted cash and equivalents(3)

 

 

1

 

 

 

8

 

 

 

7

 

 

 

9

 

Cash, restricted cash and equivalents shown in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

 

$

63

 

 

$

37

 

 

$

24

 

 

$

38

 

 

(1)

At September 30, 2020, September 30, 2019, December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, Dominion Energy had $49 million, $80 million, $31 million and $110  million of cash and cash equivalents included in current assets held for sale, respectively.

(2)

At September 30, 2020, September 30, 2019, December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, Dominion Energy had $16 million, $5 million, $12 million and $89  million of restricted cash and equivalents included in current assets held for sale, respectively

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

 

Property, Plant and Equipment

In January 2019, Virginia Power committed to a plan to retire certain automated metering reading infrastructure associated with its electric operations before the end of its estimated 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, 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 in December 2020. 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, 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, the Companies 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.

 

In March 2020, Virginia Power committed to retire certain coal- and oil-fired generating units before the end of their useful lives based on economic and other factors, including but not limited to market power prices and the VCEA. These units will be retired after they meet their capacity obligations to PJM in 2023. As a result, Virginia Power recorded a charge of $754 million ($561 million after-tax) in the first quarter of 2020, 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, 2019.

 

In the second quarter of 2020, Virginia Power recorded charges of $30 million ($22 million after-tax) associated with dismantling certain of these electric generation facilities, recorded in impairment of assets and other charges in its Consolidated Statements of Income.

 

In the first quarter of 2020, Virginia Power updated depreciation rates for its nuclear plants to reflect lower depreciation rates as a result of the expected approval of license extensions from the NRC. This adjustment resulted in a decrease in depreciation expense of $8 million ($6 million after-tax) and $24 million ($18 million after-tax) for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively, in Virginia Power’s Consolidated Statements of Income and a $0.01 and $0.02 increase in Dominion Energy’s EPS, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively. This revision is expected to decrease annual depreciation expense by approximately $31 million ($23 million after-tax) and increase Dominion Energy’s EPS by $0.03 for the year ended December 31, 2020.

 

In the second quarter of 2020, DESC completed a nuclear decommissioning cost study related to Summer. As a result of the study, Dominion Energy recorded an $89 million increase to its nuclear decommissioning ARO, with a corresponding increase to property, plant and equipment.

 

Credit Risk

Credit risk is the risk of financial loss if counterparties fail to perform their contractual obligations. In order to minimize overall credit risk, credit policies are maintained, including the evaluation of counterparty financial condition, collateral requirements and the use of standardized agreements that facilitate the netting of cash flows associated with a single counterparty. In addition, counterparties may make available collateral, including letters of credit or cash held as margin deposits, as a result of exceeding agreed-upon credit limits, or may be required to prepay the transaction.

 

Effective January 2020, expected credit losses are estimated and recorded based on historical experience, current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts that affect the collectability of financial assets held at amortized cost as well as expected credit losses on commitments with respect to financial guarantees.

 

Investments

Debt and Equity Securities with Readily Determinable Fair Value

Dominion Energy accounts for and classifies investments in debt securities as trading or available-for-sale securities. Virginia Power classifies investments in debt securities as available-for-sale securities.

 

Debt securities classified as trading securities include securities held by Dominion Energy in rabbi trusts associated with certain deferred compensation plans. These securities are reported in other investments in its Consolidated Balance Sheets at fair value with net realized and unrealized gains and losses included in other income in its Consolidated Statements of Income.

 

Debt securities classified as available-for-sale securities include all other debt securities, primarily comprised of securities held in the nuclear decommissioning trusts. These investments are reported at fair value in nuclear decommissioning trust funds in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Net realized and unrealized gains and losses (including any credit-related impairments) on investments held in Virginia Power’s nuclear decommissioning trusts are deferred to a regulatory asset or liability as applicable for certain jurisdictions subject to cost-based regulation. For all other available-for-sale debt securities, including those held in Dominion Energy’s merchant generation nuclear decommissioning trusts, net realized gains and losses (including any credit-related impairments) are included in other income and unrealized gains and losses are reported as a component of AOCI, after-tax.

 

In determining realized gains and losses for debt securities, the cost basis of the security is based on the specific identification method.

 

Equity securities with readily determinable fair values include securities held by Dominion Energy in rabbi trusts associated with certain deferred compensation plans and securities held by the Companies in the nuclear decommissioning trusts. The Companies record all equity securities with a readily determinable fair value, or for which they are permitted to estimate fair value using NAV (or its equivalent), at fair value in nuclear decommissioning trust funds and other investments in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. However, the Companies may elect a measurement alternative for equity securities without a readily determinable fair value. Under the measurement alternative, equity securities are reported at cost minus impairment, if any, plus or minus changes resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for the identical or a similar investment of the same issuer. The Companies qualitatively assess equity securities reported using the measurement alternative to determine whether an investment is impaired on an ongoing basis. Net realized and unrealized gains and losses on equity securities held in Virginia Power’s nuclear decommissioning trusts are deferred to a regulatory asset or liability, as applicable, for certain jurisdictions subject to cost-based regulation. For all other equity securities, including those held in Dominion Energy’s merchant generation nuclear decommissioning trusts and rabbi trusts, net realized and unrealized gains and losses are included in other income in its Consolidated Statements of Income.

 

Equity Securities without Readily Determinable Fair Values

The Companies account for illiquid and privately held securities without readily determinable fair values under either the equity method or cost method. Equity securities without readily determinable fair values include:

 

Equity method investments when the Companies have the ability to exercise significant influence, but not control, over the investee. Dominion Energy’s investments are included in investment in equity method affiliates in its Consolidated Balance Sheets, except for such investments which are classified as held for sale. Dominion Energy records equity method adjustments in other income in its Consolidated Statements of Income, except for such adjustments which are classified as discontinued operations, including its proportionate share of investee income or loss, gains or losses resulting from investee capital transactions, amortization of certain differences between the carrying value and the equity in the net assets of the investee at the date of investment and other adjustments required by the equity method.

 

Cost method investments when the Companies do not have the ability to exercise significant influence over the investee. The Companies’ investments are included in other investments and nuclear decommissioning trust funds. Cost method investments are reported at cost less impairment, if any, plus or minus changes resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for identical or similar investments of the same issuer.

 

Other-Than-Temporary Impairment

The Companies periodically review their equity method investments to determine whether a decline in fair value should be considered other-than-temporary. If a decline in the fair value of any equity method investment is determined to be other-than-temporary, the investment is written down to its fair value at the end of the reporting period.

 

Credit Impairment

Effective January 2020, the Companies periodically review their available-for-sale debt securities to determine whether a decline in fair value should be considered credit related. If a decline in the fair value of any available-for-sale debt security is determined to be credit related, the credit-related impairment is recorded to an allowance included in nuclear decommissioning trust funds in the Companies’ Consolidated Balance Sheets at the end of the reporting period, with such allowance for credit losses subject to reversal in subsequent evaluations.

 

Using information obtained from their nuclear decommissioning trust fixed-income investment managers, the Companies record in earnings, or defer as applicable for certain jurisdictions subject to cost-based regulation, any unrealized loss for a debt security when the manager intends to sell the debt security or it is more-likely-than-not that the manager will have to sell the debt security before recovery of its fair value up to its cost basis. If that is not the case, but the debt security is deemed to have experienced a credit loss, the Companies record the credit loss in earnings with the remaining non-credit portion of the unrealized loss recorded in AOCI. Credit losses are evaluated primarily by considering the credit ratings of the issuer, prior instances of non-performance by the issuer and other factors.

 

New Accounting Standards

In August 2020, the FASB issued revised accounting guidance for debt with conversion options and contracts in an entity’s own equity. The revised guidance eliminates the ability to assert cash settlement and exclude potential shares from the diluted EPS calculation for a contract that may be settled in stock or cash.  The effective date is for interim and annual reporting periods beginning January 1, 2022 and may be adopted through a modified retrospective or fully retrospective method of transition. Upon adoption, Dominion Energy will no longer exclude the Series A Preferred Stock from the effect of dilutive securities and will also exclude the fair value adjustment reflected within net income attributable to Dominion Energy for the calculation of diluted EPS.