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Impairment of Long-lived Assets (Exelon and Generation)
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016
Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]  
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets (Exelon and Generation)
6. Impairment of Long-Lived Assets (Exelon and Generation)

Long-Lived Assets (Exelon and Generation)

During the first quarter of 2016, significant changes in Generation’s intended use of the Upstream oil and gas assets, developments with nonrecourse debt held by its upstream subsidiary CEU Holdings, LLC (as described in Note 10 - Debt and Credit Agreements) and continued declines in both production volumes and commodity prices suggested that the carrying value may be impaired. Generation concluded that the estimated undiscounted future cash flows and fair value of its Upstream properties were less than their carrying values. As a result, a pre-tax impairment charge of $119 million was recorded in March 2016 within Operating and maintenance expense in Exelon’s and Generation’s Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income. On June 16, 2016, Generation initiated the sales process of its Upstream business by executing a forbearance agreement with the lenders of the nonrecourse debt, see Note 10Debt and Credit Agreements for additional information. As a result, the Upstream assets and liabilities are classified as held for sale on Exelon's and Generation's Consolidated Balance Sheets at September 30, 2016. See Note 4Mergers, Acquisitions and Dispositions for additional information. An additional pre-tax impairment charge of $15 million was recorded in September 2016 within Operating and maintenance expense in Exelon’s and Generation’s Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income due to further declines in fair value.
Further declines in commodity prices or further developments with Generation’s intended use or disposition of the assets could potentially result in future impairments of the Upstream assets.

Generation evaluates long-lived assets for recoverability whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. In the second quarter of 2016, updates to the Company's long-term view of energy and capacity prices suggested that the carrying value of a group of merchant wind assets, located in West Texas, may be impaired.  Upon review, the estimated undiscounted future cash flows and fair value of the group were less than their carrying value.  The fair value analysis was based on the income approach using significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) including revenue and generation forecasts, projected capital and maintenance expenditures and discount rates. As a result of the fair value analysis, long-lived merchant wind assets held and used with a carrying amount of approximately $60 million were written down to their fair value of $24 million and a pre-tax impairment charge of $36 million was recorded during the second quarter in Operating and maintenance expense in Exelon’s and Generation’s Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income. 

Also in the second quarter of 2016, updates to the Company's long-term view, as described above, in conjunction with the retirement announcements of the Quad Cities and Clinton nuclear plants in Illinois suggested that the carrying value of our Midwest asset group may be impaired.  Generation completed a comprehensive review of the estimated undiscounted future cash flows of the Midwest asset group and no impairment charge was required.

Like-Kind Exchange Transaction (Exelon)

In June 2000, UII, LLC (formerly Unicom Investments, Inc.) (UII), a wholly owned subsidiary of Exelon Corporation, entered into transactions pursuant to which UII invested in coal-fired generating station leases (Headleases) with the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG). The generating stations were leased back to MEAG as part of the transactions (Leases).

On March 31, 2016, UII and MEAG finalized an agreement to terminate the MEAG Headleases, the MEAG Leases, and other related agreements prior to their expiration dates. As a result of the lease termination, UII received an early termination payment of $360 million from MEAG and wrote-off the $356 million net investment in the MEAG Headleases and the Leases. The transaction resulted in a pre-tax gain of $4 million which is reflected in Operating and maintenance expense in Exelon's Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income. See Note 11Income Taxes for additional information.