Regulatory Assets and Liabilities

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Regulatory Assets and Liabilities Disclosure [Abstract]

Regulatory Assets and Liabilities

Regulatory Assets and Liabilities

Regulatory Assets

SCE's regulatory assets included on the consolidated balance sheets are:

(in millions)	March 31, 2019		December 31, 2018
Current:
Regulatory balancing accounts	$	935	$	814
Power contracts	333		305
Other	18		14
Total current	1,286		1,133
Long-term:
Deferred income taxes, net of liabilities	3,683		3,589
Pensions and other postretirement benefits	274		271
Power contracts	597		700
Unamortized investments, net of accumulated amortization	117		118
Unamortized loss on reacquired debt	150		153
Regulatory balancing accounts	232		360
Environmental remediation	135		134
Other	80		55
Total long-term	5,268		5,380
Total regulatory assets	$	6,554	$	6,513

Regulatory Liabilities

SCE's regulatory liabilities included on the consolidated balance sheets are:

(in millions)	March 31, 2019		December 31, 2018
Current:
Regulatory balancing accounts	$	836	$	1,080
Energy derivatives	100		158
2018 GRC	341		274
Other	18		20
Total current	1,295		1,532
Long-term:
Cost of removal	2,808		2,769
Re-measurement of deferred taxes1	2,650		2,776
Recoveries in excess of ARO liabilities2	1,357		1,130
Regulatory balancing accounts	1,428		1,344
Other postretirement benefits	189		185
Other	156		125
Total long-term	8,588		8,329
Total regulatory liabilities	$	9,883	$	9,861

¹ SCE decreased its regulatory liability and recorded an income tax benefit of $69 million during the first quarter of 2019 related to changes in the allocation of deferred tax re-measurement between customers and shareholders. For further information, see Note 8.

²  Represents the cumulative differences between ARO expenses and amounts collected in rates primarily for the decommissioning of SCE's nuclear generation facilities. Decommissioning costs recovered through rates are primarily placed in nuclear decommissioning trusts. This regulatory liability also represents the deferral of realized and unrealized gains and losses on the nuclear decommissioning trust investments. See Note 10 for further discussion.

Net Regulatory Balancing Accounts

The following table summarizes the significant components of regulatory balancing accounts included in the above tables of regulatory assets and liabilities:

(in millions)	March 31, 2019			December 31, 2018
Asset (liability)
Energy resource recovery account	$	927		$	815
New system generation balancing account	(96		)	(74		)
Public purpose programs and energy efficiency programs	(1,304		)	(1,200		)
Tax accounting memorandum account and pole loading balancing account	(128		)	28
Base revenue requirement balancing account1	(282		)	(628		)
DOE litigation memorandum account	(69		)	(69		)
Greenhouse gas auction revenue and low carbon fuel standard revenue	(150		)	(81		)
FERC balancing accounts	(139		)	(180		)
Catastrophic event memorandum account	95			144
Wildfire expense memorandum account	41			128
Other	8			(133		)
Liability	$	(1,097	)	$	(1,250	)

¹  The base revenue requirement balancing account at March 31, 2019 includes recovery of $107 million of premiums related to a 12-month, $300 million wildfire insurance policy purchased in December 2017. See Note 12 for further discussion.