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Impairment of Long-lived Assets (Exelon and Generation)
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2017
Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]  
Asset Impairment Charges [Text Block]
6. Impairment of Long-Lived Assets (Exelon and Generation)

Long-Lived Assets (Exelon and Generation)

Generation evaluates long-lived assets for recoverability whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. EGTP’s operating cash flows have been negatively impacted by certain market conditions and the seasonality of its cash flows. On May 2, 2017, EGTP entered into a consent agreement with its lenders to initiate an orderly sales process to sell the assets of its wholly owned subsidiaries, the proceeds from which will first be used to pay the administrative costs of the sale, the normal and ordinary costs of operating the plants and repayment of the secured debt of EGTP. As a result, certain EGTP’s assets and liabilities were classified as held for sale at their respective fair values less costs to sell and included in the other current assets and other current liabilities balances on Exelon’s and Generation’s Consolidated Balance Sheets at June 30, 2017. Additionally, a pre-tax impairment charge of $418 million was recorded in June 2017 within Operating and maintenance expense on Exelon’s and Generation’s Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income. See Note 4 - Mergers, Acquisitions and Dispositions for additional information.

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 14 - Debt and Credit Agreements of the Exelon 2016 Form 10-K) 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. 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. In December 2016, Generation sold substantially all of the Upstream Assets. See Note 4 - Mergers, Acquisitions and Dispositions of the Exelon 2016 Form 10-K for further information.

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 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 previous decision to early retire the Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear facilities 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.