Early Plant Retirements Early Plant Retirements

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Restructuring Cost and Reserve [Line Items]

On October 3, 2016, Power determined that it will cease generation operations of the existing coal/gas units at the Hudson and Mercer generating stations on June 1, 2017. Power has filed deactivation notices with PJM for these existing units at both stations and final must-offer exception requests for the 2020-2021 PJM capacity auction to the PJM Independent Market Monitor. Power expects the units to continue to be available to generate electricity and receive previously cleared capacity payments through the date the units cease operations. The exact timing of the early retirement of these units will be reviewed for reliability impacts by PJM, the regional transmission organization that controls the area where these units are located, and may be impacted by operational and other conditions that could subsequently arise.

PSEG and Power undertake their annual five year strategic planning process primarily during the third and fourth quarters of each year. The primary factors considered during this process that contributed to the decision to retire these units early include significant declines in revenues and margin caused by a sustained period of depressed wholesale power prices and reduced capacity factors caused by lower natural gas prices making coal generation less economically competitive than natural gas-fired generation. Despite experiencing recent warmer than normal weather in PJM this summer, Power did not experience the usual increase in electricity prices in PJM as it had in past hot summers. This trend has a further adverse economic impact to these units because they generally dispatch and earn energy margin on peak hot and cold days. In addition, the upcoming PJM capacity auction in May 2017 for the capacity period from June 2020 to May 2021 will be the first to require all generating units to meet the increased operating performance standards of PJM’s new capacity performance regulations. During the current annual five-year strategic planning process, Power determined, on October 3, 2016, that the costs to upgrade the existing units at the Hudson and Mercer stations to comply with these higher reliability standards to be too significant and not economic given current market conditions, including anticipated future capacity prices, current forward energy prices and past operational performance results of the units. While these units have the capability to run on both coal and natural gas, they have higher operating costs and fuel consumption as well as longer start-up times compared to newer combined cycle gas units.

The decision to retire the Hudson and Mercer units early will have a material effect on PSEG’s and Power’s results of operations. In the third quarter of 2016, PSEG and Power recognized the following one-time pre-tax charges in Energy Costs, Operation and Maintenance and Depreciation expense:




	Three Months Ended September 30,
	2016
	Millions
Statement of Operations Expense (pre-tax)
Energy Costs
Coal Inventory Lower of Cost or Market Adjustments and Capacity Penalties	$	62
Operation and Maintenance
Materials and Supplies Obsolescence	31
Write-down of Construction Work in Progress	14
Other (A)	3
Depreciation and Amortization
Accelerated Depreciation including Asset Retirement Costs	4
Total Pre-Tax Expense	$	114


(A)	Includes severance and miscellaneous costs.

In addition to these one-time charges, Power will recognize incremental Depreciation and Amortization during the remainder of 2016 of $568 million and $946 million into 2017 due to the significant shortening of the expected economic useful lives of Hudson and Mercer. Additional employee-related salary continuance and severance costs and various miscellaneous costs may also be incurred during the period prior to retirement. Finally, Power currently anticipates using the sites for alternative industrial activity. However, if Power determines not to use the sites for alternative industrial activity, the early retirement of the units at these sites would trigger investigation and possible remediation of identified environmental contamination. The amounts for any such environmental investigation or remediation are neither currently probable nor estimable but may be material.

PSEG and Power evaluate long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances, such as significant adverse changes in regulation, business climate or market conditions, including a current expectation that a long-lived asset will be sold or disposed of significantly before the end of its previously estimated useful life, could potentially indicate an asset’s or asset group’s carrying amount may not be recoverable. In such an event, an undiscounted cash flow analysis is performed to determine if an impairment exists. When a long-lived asset’s or asset group’s carrying amount exceeds the associated undiscounted estimated future cash flows, the asset/asset group is considered impaired to the extent that its fair value is less than its carrying amount. As disclosed for Power, cash flows for long-lived assets and asset groups are determined at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. The cash flows from the generation units are generally evaluated at a regional portfolio level (PJM, NYISO, ISO-NE) along with cash flows generated from the customer supply and risk management activities, inclusive of cash flows from contracts, including those that are accounted for as derivatives or that meet the normal purchases and normal sales exemption. An impairment would result in a reduction of the value of the long-lived asset/asset group through a noncash charge to earnings.

Because the Hudson and Mercer generating units will cease operations significantly before the end of their previously estimated useful lives, Power performed a recoverability test for its portfolio of generating assets in the PJM region to determine if an impairment exists. As of September 30, 2016, the estimated undiscounted future cash flows of the PJM asset group exceeded the carrying amount and no impairment was identified.

In addition, PSEG and Power continue to monitor their other coal assets, including the Keystone, Conemaugh and Bridgeport Harbor generating stations, to ensure their economic viability through the end of their designated useful lives. The precise timing of a change in useful lives may be dependent upon events out of PSEG’s and Power’s control and may impact their ability to operate or maintain certain assets in the future. These generating stations may be impacted by factors such as environmental legislation, co-owner capital requirements and continued depressed wholesale power prices or capacity factors, among other things. Any early retirement of our other coal units before the end of their current estimated useful lives may have a material adverse impact on PSEG’s and Power’s future financial results.

Power [Member]

Restructuring Cost and Reserve [Line Items]

Early Plant Retirements




	Three Months Ended September 30,
	2016
	Millions
Statement of Operations Expense (pre-tax)
Energy Costs
Coal Inventory Lower of Cost or Market Adjustments and Capacity Penalties	$	62
Operation and Maintenance
Materials and Supplies Obsolescence	31
Write-down of Construction Work in Progress	14
Other (A)	3
Depreciation and Amortization
Accelerated Depreciation including Asset Retirement Costs	4
Total Pre-Tax Expense	$	114


(A)	Includes severance and miscellaneous costs.