Assets and Liabilities with Recurring Fair Value Measurements

Cash Equivalents — Highly liquid investments which meet the definition of cash equivalents, primarily investments in money market accounts and other interest-bearing accounts, are included in both our cash and cash equivalents and our restricted cash on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. Certain of our money market accounts invest in U.S. Treasury securities or other obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies or instrumentalities. We do not have any cash equivalents invested in institutional prime money market funds which require use of a floating net asset value and are subject to liquidity fees and redemption restrictions. Certain of our cash equivalents are classified within level 1 of the fair value hierarchy.

Derivatives — The primary factors affecting the fair value of our derivative instruments at any point in time are the volume of open derivative positions (MMBtu, MWh and $ notional amounts); changing commodity market prices, primarily for power and natural gas; our credit standing and that of our counterparties and customers for energy commodity derivatives; and prevailing interest rates for our interest rate hedging instruments. Prices for power and natural gas and interest rates are volatile, which can result in material changes in the fair value measurements reported in our financial statements in the future.

We utilize market data, such as pricing services and broker quotes, and assumptions that we believe market participants would use in pricing our assets or liabilities including assumptions about the risks inherent to the inputs in the valuation technique. These inputs can be either readily observable, market corroborated or generally unobservable. The market data obtained from broker pricing services is evaluated to determine the nature of the quotes obtained and, where accepted as a reliable quote, used to validate our assessment of fair value. We use other qualitative assessments to determine the level of activity in any given market. We primarily apply the market approach and income approach for recurring fair value measurements and utilize what we believe to be the best available information. We utilize valuation techniques that seek to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs. We classify fair value balances based on the observability of those inputs.

The fair value of our derivatives includes consideration of our credit standing, the credit standing of our counterparties and customers and the effect of credit enhancements, if any. We have also recorded credit reserves in the determination of fair value based on our expectation of how market participants would determine fair value. Such valuation adjustments are generally based on market evidence, if available, or our best estimate.

Our level 1 fair value derivative instruments primarily consist of power and natural gas swaps, futures and options traded on the NYMEX or Intercontinental Exchange.

Our level 2 fair value derivative instruments primarily consist of interest rate hedging instruments and OTC power and natural gas forwards for which market-based pricing inputs in the principal or most advantageous market are representative of executable prices for market participants. These inputs are observable at commonly quoted intervals for substantially the full term of the instruments. In certain instances, our level 2 derivative instruments may utilize models to measure fair value. These models are industry-standard models, including the Black-Scholes option-pricing model, that incorporate various assumptions, including quoted interest rates, correlation, volatility, as well as other relevant economic measures. Substantially all of these assumptions are observable in the marketplace throughout the full term of the instrument, can be derived from observable data or are supported by observable levels at which transactions are executed in the marketplace.

Our level 3 fair value derivative instruments may consist of OTC power and natural gas forwards and options where pricing inputs are unobservable, as well as other complex and structured transactions primarily for the sale and purchase of power and natural gas to both wholesale counterparties and retail customers. Complex or structured transactions are tailored to our customers’ needs and can introduce the need for internally-developed model inputs which might not be observable in or corroborated by the market. When such inputs have a significant effect on the measurement of fair value, the instrument is categorized in level 3. Our valuation models may incorporate historical correlation information and extrapolate available broker and other information to future periods.

Financial assets and liabilities are classified in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement at period end. Our assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement requires judgment and may affect our estimate of the fair value of our assets and liabilities and their placement within the fair value hierarchy levels. The following tables present our financial assets and liabilities that were accounted for at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2018 and 2017, by level within the fair value hierarchy:



	Assets and Liabilities with Recurring Fair Value Measures as of December 31, 2018
	Level 1			Level 2			Level 3			Total
	(in millions)
Assets:
Cash equivalents⁽¹⁾	$	168		$	—		$	—		$	168
Commodity instruments:
Commodity exchange traded derivatives contracts	933			—			—			933
Commodity forward contracts⁽²⁾	—			338			212			550
Interest rate hedging instruments	—			40			—			40
Effect of netting and allocation of collateral⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾	(933		)	(262		)	(26		)	(1,221		)
Total assets	$	168		$	116		$	186		$	470
Liabilities:
Commodity instruments:
Commodity exchange traded derivatives contracts	932			—			—			932
Commodity forward contracts⁽²⁾	—			549			220			769
Interest rate hedging instruments	—			10			—			10
Effect of netting and allocation of collateral⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾	(932		)	(310		)	(26		)	(1,268		)
Total liabilities	$	—		$	249		$	194		$	443



	Assets and Liabilities with Recurring Fair Value Measures as of December 31, 2017
	Level 1			Level 2			Level 3			Total
	(in millions)
Assets:
Cash equivalents⁽¹⁾	$	131		$	—		$	—		$	131
Commodity instruments:
Commodity exchange traded derivatives contracts	746			—			—			746
Commodity forward contracts⁽²⁾	—			327			265			592
Interest rate hedging instruments	—			29			—			29
Effect of netting and allocation of collateral⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾	(746		)	(206		)	(23		)	(975		)
Total assets	$	131		$	150		$	242		$	523
Liabilities:
Commodity instruments:
Commodity exchange traded derivatives contracts	790			—			—			790
Commodity forward contracts⁽²⁾	—			461			68			529
Interest rate hedging instruments	—			34			—			34
Effect of netting and allocation of collateral⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾	(790		)	(224		)	(23		)	(1,037		)
Total liabilities	$	—		$	271		$	45		$	316

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(1)	As of December 31, 2018 and 2017, we had cash equivalents of $23 million and $21 million included in cash and cash equivalents and $145 million and $110 million included in restricted cash, respectively.


(2)	Includes OTC swaps and options.

(3)

We offset fair value amounts recognized for derivative instruments executed with the same counterparty under a master netting arrangement for financial statement presentation; therefore, amounts recognized for the right to reclaim, or the obligation to return, cash collateral are presented net with the corresponding derivative instrument fair values. See Note 10 for further discussion of our derivative instruments subject to master netting arrangements.

(4)

Cash collateral posted with (received from) counterparties allocated to level 1, level 2 and level 3 derivative instruments totaled $(1) million, $48 million and nil, respectively, at December 31, 2018. Cash collateral posted with (received from) counterparties allocated to level 1, level 2 and level 3 derivative instruments totaled $44 million, $18 million and nil, respectively, at December 31, 2017.

At December 31, 2018 and 2017, the derivative instruments classified as level 3 primarily included commodity contracts, which are classified as level 3 because the contract terms relate to a delivery location or tenor for which observable market rate information is not available. The fair value of the net derivative position classified as level 3 is predominantly driven by market commodity prices. The following table presents quantitative information for the unobservable inputs used in our most significant level 3 fair value measurements at December 31, 2018 and 2017:



	Quantitative Information about Level 3 Fair Value Measurements
	December 31, 2018
	Fair Value, Net Asset				Significant Unobservable
	(Liability)			Valuation Technique	Input	Range
	(in millions)
Power Contracts⁽¹⁾	$	36		Discounted cash flow	Market price (per MWh)	$2.12 — $227.98/MWh
Power Congestion Products	$	26		Discounted cash flow	Market price (per MWh)	$(11.71) — $11.88/MWh
Natural Gas Contracts	$	(73	)	Discounted cash flow	Market price (per MMBtu)	$0.75 — $8.87/MMBtu



	Quantitative Information about Level 3 Fair Value Measurements
	December 31, 2017
	Fair Value, Net Asset			Significant Unobservable
	(Liability)		Valuation Technique	Input	Range
	(in millions)
Power Contracts⁽¹⁾	$	149	Discounted cash flow	Market price (per MWh)	$4.13 — $119.20/MWh
Power Congestion Products	$	11	Discounted cash flow	Market price (per MWh)	$(10.54) — $9.13/MWh
Natural Gas Contracts	$	34	Discounted cash flow	Market price (per MMBtu)	$1.62 — $13.67/MMBtu

___________


(1)	Power contracts include power and heat rate instruments classified as level 3 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following table sets forth a reconciliation of changes in the fair value of our net derivative assets (liabilities) classified as level 3 in the fair value hierarchy for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 (in millions):



	2018			2017			2016
Balance, beginning of period	$	197		$	416		$	(46	)
Realized and mark-to-market gains (losses):
Included in net income (loss):
Included in operating revenues⁽¹⁾	(88		)	32			(46		)
Included in fuel and purchased energy expense⁽²⁾	(45		)	50			7
Change in collateral	—			(17		)	17
Purchases, issuances and settlements:
Purchases⁽³⁾	18			4			426
Issuances	(2		)	(1		)	—
Settlements	(86		)	(179		)	(21		)
Transfers in and/or out of level 3⁽⁴⁾:
Transfers into level 3⁽⁵⁾	—			(2		)	4
Transfers out of level 3⁽⁶⁾	(2		)	(106		)	75
Balance, end of period	$	(8	)	$	197		$	416
Change in unrealized gains (losses) relating to instruments still held at end of period	$	(133	)	$	82		$	(39	)

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(1)	For power contracts and other power-related products, included on our Consolidated Statements of Operations.


(2)	For natural gas and power contracts, swaps and options, included on our Consolidated Statements of Operations.


(3)	During December 2016, we had $421 million in purchases related to the acquisition of Calpine Solutions, formerly Noble Solutions.


(4)	We transfer amounts among levels of the fair value hierarchy as of the end of each period. There were no transfers into or out of level 1 during the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016.


(5)	We had nil and $(2) million in losses and $4 million in gains transferred out of level 2 into level 3 for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

(6)

We had $2 million and $104 million in gains and $(75) million in losses transferred out of level 3 into level 2 during the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively, due to changes in market liquidity in various power markets and $2 million in gains transferred out of level 3 during the years ended December 31, 2017, to other assets following the election of the normal purchase normal sales exemption and the discontinuance of derivative accounting treatment as of the date of this election for certain commodity contracts.