REVENUE RECOGNITION Notes

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2018

Revenue from Contract with Customer [Text Block]

REVENUE RECOGNITION

Identifying Revenue Streams and Related Performance Obligations

Operating Revenues

Operating revenues arise primarily from the sale and transmission of electricity and the sale and transportation of natural gas. Electric and Gas regulated revenues consist primarily of retail sales to residential, commercial and industrial customers under various tariff rates approved by state regulatory commissions. These tariff rates generally include charges for the energy consumed and a standard basic facilities or demand charge designed to recover certain fixed costs incurred to provide service to the customer. Tariff rates also include commission-approved regulatory mechanisms in the form of adjustments or riders, such as for weather normalization, fuel and environmental cost recovery, energy conservation programs, interruptible service and real time pricing provisions, among others. Electric revenues also include wholesale sales and transmission service, primarily to municipal customers and other service providers, under contracts or tariffs approved by the FERC.

Gas nonregulated revenues arise from natural gas sales at market-based rates. Such sales to residential and certain commercial customers include charges for natural gas delivered, at either variable or fixed prices, together with any applicable customer service charges, charges originating from an interstate pipeline company, and other incidental charges. The Company has determined that its gas marketing subsidiary serves as an agent for distribution services provided by a nonaffiliated company in its retail market. Accordingly, the pass-through charges to customers related to such services are not considered revenues. Sales to other commercial and to industrial customers include commodity and transportation charges for natural gas delivered at contracted rates, together with applicable fees for storage, injection, demand, and charges originating from one or more interstate pipeline companies.

Performance obligations which have not been satisfied by the Company or Consolidated SCE&G relate primarily to demand or standby service for natural gas. Demand or standby charges for natural gas arise when an industrial customer reserves capacity on assets controlled by the service provider and may use that capacity to move natural gas it has acquired from other suppliers. For all periods presented, the amount of revenue recognized by the Company and Consolidated SCE&G for these charges is equal to the amount of consideration they have a right to invoice, and corresponds directly to the value transferred to the customer. As a result, amounts related to performance obligations that have not been fully satisfied are not disclosed.

Contracts governing the transactions above do not have a significant financing component. Also, due to the nature of the commodities underlying these transactions, no performance obligations arise for returns, refunds or warranties. In addition, taxes billed to customers are excluded from the transaction price. Such amounts are recorded as liabilities until they are remitted to the respective taxing authority and are not included in revenues or expenses in the statements of operations.

Non-Operating Revenues

Non-operating revenues are derived from the sale of appliances and water heaters, as well as from contracts covering the repair of certain appliances, wiring, plumbing and similar systems and fees received for such repairs from customers not under a repair contract. In addition, the portion of fees received under asset management agreements that regulators have recognized to be incentives for the Company and Consolidated SCE&G to engage in such transactions is recorded as non-operating revenues.

Revenues from sales are recorded when the appliance or water heater is delivered to the customer. Repair contract coverage fees are recorded when invoiced, generally on a monthly basis in advance of the period of coverage. Additional charges for service calls and non-covered repairs are billed and collected at the time service is rendered. Revenues from asset management agreements are recorded when the related fixed monthly amounts are due, which corresponds to timing of the value received by the customer.

The point at which the customer controls the use of a purchased product, or has obtained substantially all of the benefits from repair services, corresponds to when revenues are recorded and performance obligations are fulfilled. Contract assets arising from invoicing repair contract fees in advance of the coverage period are not material. Income earned from financing sales of appliances and other products is recorded within interest income. Any performance obligations arising from returns, refunds or warranties are not material.

Non-operating revenues also arise from sources unrelated to contracts with customers, such as carrying costs recorded on certain regulatory assets, gains from property sales and income from rentals and from equity method investments, among others. In 2018, such amounts include gains realized upon the settlement of certain interest rate swaps (see Note 12). Such revenues are outside the scope of revenues from contracts with customers.

Non-operating revenues are further described in Note 12. Such revenues arising from contracts with customers were not material for any period presented, and accordingly, detailed disclosures regarding these revenues are not provided.

Significant Judgments and Estimates

Electricity and natural gas are sold and delivered to the customer for immediate consumption and the customer controls the use of, and obtains substantially all of the benefits from, the energy and related services as they are delivered. As such, the related performance obligations are satisfied over time and revenue is recognized over the same period. The Company and Consolidated SCE&G have determined that their right to consideration from a customer directly corresponds to the value of the performance completed at the date each customer invoice is rendered. As a result, the Company and Consolidated SCE&G recognize revenue in the amounts for which they have a right to invoice. This includes estimated amounts unbilled at a balance sheet date but which are to be invoiced in the normal cycle.

Regulatory mechanisms exist within electric and gas tariffs or orders from regulators that result in adjustments to customer bills. These regulatory mechanisms are designed:


•	To recover costs related to fuel, pension, pipeline integrity and energy conservation, among others;


•	To recover carrying costs associated with debt-based financing;


•	To replace revenues lost as a result of the utility implementing DER programs and DSM Programs; and


•	For gas revenues, to achieve weather normalization or to decouple gas revenues from weather and other factors, such as through the WNA at SCE&G or the CUT at PSNC Energy.

Recovery of deferred costs and carrying costs and the replacement of lost revenues are components of approved tariffs, and therefore, adjustments to customer bills occur as electricity or natural gas is sold and delivered to the customer. As such, the Company and Consolidated SCE&G have concluded that performance obligations related to these adjustments are not capable of being distinct from the underlying tariff based sales. Accordingly, revenues arising from these adjustments are recorded within Operating Revenues - Electric or Gas - regulated on the statements of operations, consistent with revenues from underlying tariff based sales.

Adjustments for SCE&G’s WNA increase gas customer bills when weather is milder than normal and decrease gas customer bills when weather is colder than normal. These adjustments are made during the same period that the underlying natural gas is sold and delivered to the customer, and the performance obligations associated with these adjustments are not capable of being distinct from tariff based sales. Such adjustments are recorded within Operating Revenues - Gas - regulated on the statements of operations. When weather is significantly milder than normal, SCE&G limits such adjustments on a gas customer’s bill to an amount that would be added if weather were 50% milder than normal. Adjustments exceeding this limit, though still recorded as operating revenue, are deferred within regulatory assets until customers are subsequently billed for the excess with the approval of the SCPSC.

PSNC Energy’s CUT is a decoupling mechanism that adjusts bills for residential and commercial customers based on per customer average consumption. When average consumption exceeds actual usage, PSNC Energy records increased revenue associated with this undercollection and defers it within regulatory assets. Likewise, when actual usage exceeds average consumption, a decrement to revenue associated with this overcollection is recorded and deferred within regulatory liabilities. PSNC Energy’s tariff based rates are adjusted semiannually, with the approval of the NCUC, to collect or refund these deferred amounts over the subsequent 12 month period.

Amounts deferred for the WNA and the CUT arise under specific arrangements with regulators rather than customers. As a result, the Company and Consolidated SCE&G have concluded that these arrangements represent alternative revenue programs. Revenue from alternative revenue programs is included within Operating Revenues - Gas - regulated on the statements of operations in the month such adjustments are deferred within regulatory accounts, and is shown as Other operating revenues when disaggregated in the table below. As permitted, the Company and Consolidated SCE&G have elected to reduce the regulatory accounts in the period when such amounts are reflected on customer bills without affecting operating revenues.

Disaggregation of Revenues

The impact of several factors on the amount, timing and uncertainty of operating revenues and cash flows can vary significantly by customer class. For electric revenues and nonregulated gas revenues, which do not have weather normalization mechanisms in place, the impact of weather and conservation measures on energy usage typically affect residential and commercial customers to a greater degree than other customer classes. For utilities, revenue requirements result in increases or decreases in tariff rates approved by regulatory bodies and often vary by customer class. Also, certain cost recovery and other mechanisms may have an uneven impact on a particular customer class depending on the underlying tariffs affected. For nonregulated gas, revenues are impacted by competitive market rates tailored to appeal to specific customer classes. The Company and Consolidated SCE&G have disaggregated operating revenues by customer class as follows:



The Company	Consolidated SCE&G				PSNC Energy				Gas-nonregulated
Millions of dollars	Electric		Gas-regulated		Gas-regulated		Total Gas-regulated		Gas-nonregulated
Three months ended June 30, 2018
Customer class:
Residential	$	243	$	34	$	38	$	72	$	30
Commercial	171		22		18		40		16
Industrial	106		21		4		25		91
Other	30		2		7		9		6
Revenues from contracts with customers	550		79		67		146		143
Other operating revenues	3		—		2		2		—
Total Operating Revenues	$	553	$	79	$	69	$	148	$	143

Six months ended June 30, 2018
Customer class:
Residential	$	495	$	120	$	183	$	303	$	136
Commercial	340		61		66		127		50
Industrial	191		45		10		55		211
Other	68		7		15		22		19
Revenues from contracts with customers	1,094		233		274		507		416
Other operating revenues	6		1		1		2		—
Total Operating Revenues	$	1,100	$	234	$	275	$	509	$	416

Contract Costs

Costs to obtain contracts are generally expensed when incurred. In limited instances, SCE&G provides economic development grants intended to support economic growth within SCE&G’s electric service territory and defers such grants as regulatory assets on the condensed consolidated balance sheet. Whenever these grants are contingent on a customer entering into a long-term electric supply contract with SCE&G, they are considered costs to obtain that underlying contract. Such costs that exceed certain thresholds are deferred and amortized on a straight-line basis over the term of the related service contract, which generally ranges from ten to 15 years.

Balances and activity related to contract costs deferred as regulatory assets were as follows:



The Company and Consolidated SCE&G
Millions of dollars	Regulatory Assets
January 1, 2018	$	16.3
Additional costs	—
Amortization	(0.8		)
Impairment	—
June 30, 2018	$	15.5

SCEG

Entity Information [Line Items]