Income Taxes

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Income Taxes Note [Abstract]

Income Taxes

INCOME TAXES

Income tax expense/(benefit) consists of the following (in millions):

	Years Ended December 31,
	2022		2021		2020
Current:
Federal	$	9	$	4	$	6
State and local	24		14		17
	33		18		23
Deferred:
Federal	(1)		—		(22)
State and local	7		5		(1)
	6		5		(23)
Income tax expense	$	39	$	23	$	—

The significant differences between the U.S. Federal statutory rate and PGE’s Effective tax rate for financial reporting purposes are as follows:

	Years Ended December 31,
	2022		2021		2020
Federal statutory tax rate	21.0	%	21.0	%	21.0	%
Federal tax credits (1)	(11.6)		(11.9)		(20.5)
State and local taxes, net of federal tax benefit	8.8		8.9		10.1
Flow through depreciation and cost basis differences	0.8		(0.2)		(4.9)
Local tax flow-through adjustment	—		(3.2)		—
Reversal of excess deferred income tax (2)	(4.5)		(4.8)		(4.7)
Other	(0.2)		(1.2)		(1.0)
Effective tax rate	14.3	%	8.6	%	—	%

(1)    Federal tax credits consist primarily of production tax credits (PTCs) earned from Company-owned wind-powered generating facilities. The federal PTCs are earned based on a per-kilowatt hour rate, and as a result, the annual amount of PTCs earned will vary based on weather conditions and availability of the facilities. The PTCs are generated for 10 years from the corresponding facilities’ in-service dates. PGE’s PTC generation will end at various dates through 2030.

(2) The majority of excess deferred income taxes related to remeasurement under the TCJA is subject to IRS normalization rules and will be reversed over the remaining regulatory life of the assets using the average rate assumption method.

Deferred income tax assets and liabilities consist of the following (in millions):

	As of December 31,
	2022		2021
Deferred income tax assets:
Employee benefits	$	99	$	114
Regulatory liabilities	75		39
Tax credits	102		98
Total deferred income tax assets	276		251
Deferred income tax liabilities:
Depreciation and amortization	547		536
Price risk management	54		—
Regulatory assets	101		121
Other	13		7
Total deferred income tax liabilities	715		664
Deferred income tax liability, net	$	439	$	413

As of December 31, 2022, PGE has federal credit carryforwards of $102 million, consisting of PTCs, which will expire at various dates through 2042. PGE believes that it is more likely than not that its deferred income tax assets as of December 31, 2022 and 2021 will be realized; accordingly, no valuation allowance has been recorded. As of December 31, 2022, and 2021, PGE had no material unrecognized tax benefits.

PGE and its subsidiaries file a consolidated federal income tax return. The Company also files income tax returns in the states of Oregon, California, and Montana, and in certain local jurisdictions. The Company files in other states to maintain compliance with remote worker rules and regulations. These additional state filings are not significant to the consolidated financial statements. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has completed its examination of all tax years through 2010 and all issues were resolved related to those years. The Company does not believe that any open tax years for federal or state income taxes could result in any adjustments that would be significant to the consolidated financial statements.

Local tax flow-through adjustment

The Company is subject to a local tax that is recovered through a supplemental tariff based on current tax expense, but for which the Company has also recognized deferred income tax expenses over time. Because it is probable that the local deferred taxes will be flowed through future customer prices in accordance with the supplemental tariff, PGE determined a corresponding regulatory asset should have been recorded. In 2021, PGE recognized a regulatory asset to defer previously recorded deferred income tax expenses in the amount of $9 million with a corresponding credit to Income tax expense reflected in the consolidated statements of income for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Inflation Reduction Act

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”) was signed into law by President Biden on August 16, 2022. There is no immediate impact of the IRA to the year ended December 31, 2022. PGE will be closely monitoring guidance from the IRS regarding the enhanced energy credits available under the IRA. PGE expects to be able to generate and utilize increased energy credits in future periods, and as such, continues to hold that it is more likely than not that the deferred income tax assets will be realized.