Early Plant Retirements (Exelon and Generation)

Exelon and Generation continue to evaluate the current and expected economic value of each of Generation’s plants. Factors that will continue to affect the economic value of Generation’s plants include, but are not limited to: market power prices, results of capacity auctions, potential legislative and regulatory solutions to ensure plants are fairly compensated for benefits they provide through their carbon-free emissions, reliability, or fuel security, and the impact of potential rules from the EPA requiring reduction of carbon and other emissions and the efforts of states to implement those final rules. The precise timing of an early retirement date for any plant, and the resulting financial statement impacts, may be affected by many factors, including the status of potential regulatory or legislative solutions, results of any transmission system reliability study assessments, the nature of any co-owner requirements and stipulations, and decommissioning trust fund requirements for nuclear plants, among other factors. However, the earliest retirement date for any plant would usually be the first year in which the unit does not have capacity or other obligations, and where applicable, just prior to its next scheduled nuclear refueling outage.

In 2015 and 2016, Generation identified the Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear plants in Illinois, Ginna and Nine Mile Point nuclear plants in New York and Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania as having the greatest risk of early retirement based on economic valuation and other factors.

Assuming the continued effectiveness of the Illinois ZES and the New York CES, Generation and CENG, through its ownership of Ginna and Nine Mile Point, no longer consider Clinton, Quad Cities, Ginna or Nine Mile Point to be at heightened risk for early retirement. However, to the extent either the Illinois ZES or the New York CES programs do not operate as expected over their full terms, each of these nuclear plants could again be at heightened risk for early retirement, which could have a material impact on Exelon’s and Generation’s future results of operations, cash flows and financial positions. See Note 6 — Regulatory Matters for additional information on the Illinois ZES and New York CES.

In Pennsylvania, the TMI nuclear plant did not clear in the May 2017 PJM capacity auction for the 2020-2021 planning year, the third consecutive year that TMI failed to clear the PJM base residual capacity auction. The plant is currently committed to operate through May 2019 and is licensed to operate through 2034. On May 30, 2017, based on these capacity auction results, prolonged periods of low wholesale power prices, and the absence of federal or state policies that place a value on nuclear energy for its ability to produce electricity without air pollution, Exelon announced that Generation will permanently cease generation operations at TMI on or about September 30, 2019. Generation has filed the required market and regulatory notifications to shut down the plant. PJM has subsequently notified Generation that it has not identified any reliability issues and has approved the deactivation of TMI as proposed.

On February 2, 2018, Exelon announced that Generation will permanently cease generation operations at Oyster Creek nuclear plant at the end of its current operating cycle in 2018. On September 17, 2018, Oyster Creek permanently ceased generation operations. In 2010, Generation announced that Oyster Creek would retire by the end of 2019 as part of an agreement with the State of New Jersey to avoid significant costs associated with the construction of cooling towers to meet the State’s then new environmental regulations. Since then, like other nuclear sites, Oyster Creek has continued to face rising operating costs amid a historically low wholesale power price environment. The decision to retire Oyster Creek in 2018 at the end of its current operating cycle involved consideration of several factors, including economic and operating efficiencies, and avoids a refueling outage scheduled for the fall of 2018 that would have required advanced purchasing of fuel fabrication and materials beginning in late February 2018. Generation has filed the required market and regulatory notifications to shut down the plant. PJM has subsequently notified Generation that it has not identified any reliability issues and has approved the deactivation of Oyster Creek as proposed.

As a result of these early nuclear plant retirement decisions, Exelon and Generation recognized one-time charges in Operating and maintenance expense related to materials and supplies inventory reserve adjustments, employee-related costs and CWIP impairments, among other items. In addition to these one-time charges, annual incremental non-cash charges to earnings stemming from shortening the expected economic useful lives primarily related to accelerated depreciation of plant assets (including any ARC), accelerated amortization of nuclear fuel, and additional ARO accretion expense associated with the changes in decommissioning timing and cost assumptions were also recorded. See Note 13 — Asset Retirement Obligations for additional information on changes to the nuclear decommissioning ARO balance.

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, both Exelon's and Generation's results include a net incremental $174 million and $525 million, respectively, of total pre-tax expense associated with the early retirement decisions for TMI and Oyster Creek, as summarized in the table below.



Income statement expense (pre-tax)	Q3 2018		YTD 2018
Depreciation and amortization^(a)
Accelerated depreciation^(b)	$	152	$	441
Accelerated nuclear fuel amortization	18		52
Operating and maintenance^(c)	4		32
Total	$	174	$	525

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(a)	Reflects incremental accelerated depreciation and amortization for TMI and Oyster Creek for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018. The Oyster Creek year-to-date amounts are from February 2, 2018 through September 17, 2018.


(b)	Reflects incremental accelerated depreciation of plant assets, including any ARC.


(c)	Primarily includes materials and supplies inventory reserve adjustments, employee related costs and CWIP impairments. It does not include remeasurement of the Oyster Creek ARO. Refer to Note 13 - Asset Retirement Obligations for additional detail.

Exelon's and Generation's 2017 results included a net incremental $339 million of total pre-tax expense associated with the early retirement decision for TMI, as summarized in the table below.



Income statement expense (pre-tax)	Q2 2017		Q3 2017		Q4 2017		YTD 2017
Depreciation and amortization^(a)
Accelerated depreciation^(b)	$	35	$	106	$	109	$	250
Accelerated nuclear fuel amortization	2		6		4		12
Operating and maintenance^(c)	71		5		1		77
Total	$	108	$	117	$	114	$	339

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(a)	Reflects incremental charges for TMI including incremental accelerated depreciation and amortization from May 30, 2017 through December 31, 2017.


(b)	Reflects incremental accelerated depreciation of plant assets, including any ARC.


(c)	Primarily includes materials and supplies inventory reserve adjustments, employee related costs and CWIP impairments.

In 2017, PSEG made public similar financial challenges facing its New Jersey nuclear plants including Salem, of which Generation owns a 42.59% ownership interest. Although Salem is committed to operate through May 2021, the plant faces continued economic challenges and PSEG, as the operator of the plant, is exploring all options.

On May 23, 2018, the Governor of New Jersey signed new legislation, which became effective immediately, that will establish a ZEC program providing compensation for nuclear plants that demonstrate to the NJBPU that they meet certain requirements, including that they make a significant contribution to air quality in the state and that their revenues are insufficient to cover their costs and risks. Under the new legislation, the NJBPU will issue ZECs to qualifying nuclear power plants and the electric distribution utilities in New Jersey, including ACE, will be required to purchase those ZECs. The NJBPU has 180 days from the effective date to establish procedures for implementation of the ZEC program and 330 days from the effective date to determine which nuclear power plants are selected to receive ZECs under the program. Selected nuclear plants will receive ZEC payments for each energy year (12-month period from June 1 through May 31) within 90 days after the completion of such energy year. Assuming the successful implementation of the New Jersey ZEC program and the selection of Salem as one of the qualifying facilities, the New Jersey ZEC program has the potential to mitigate the heightened risk of earlier retirement for Salem. See Note 6 — Regulatory Matters for additional information on the New Jersey ZEC program.

The following table provides the balance sheet amounts as of September 30, 2018 for Generation’s ownership share of the significant assets and liabilities associated with Salem that would potentially be impacted by a decision to permanently cease generation operations.



	September 30, 2018
Asset Balances
Materials and supplies inventory	$	45
Nuclear fuel inventory, net	114
Completed plant, net	605
Construction work in progress	34
Liability Balances
Asset retirement obligation	(455		)

NRC License Renewal Term	2036 (unit 1)
	2040 (unit 2)

On March 29, 2018, Generation announced it had formally notified grid operator ISO-NE of its plans to early retire its Mystic Generating Station assets absent regulatory reforms on June 1, 2022, at the end of the current capacity commitment for Mystic Units 7 and 8. Mystic Unit 9 is currently committed through May 2021. Absent any regulatory reforms to properly value reliability and regional fuel security, these units will not participate in the Forward Capacity Auction (FCA) scheduled for February 2019 for the 2022 - 2023 capacity commitment period.

The ISO-NE announced that it would take a three-step approach to fuel security. First, on May 1, 2018, ISO-NE made a filing with FERC requesting waiver of certain tariff provisions to allow it to retain Mystic Units 8 and 9 for fuel security for the 2022 - 2024 capacity commitment periods. Second, ISO-NE planned to file tariff revisions to allow it to retain other resources for fuel security in the capacity market if necessary in the future. Third, ISO-NE stated its intention to work with stakeholders to develop long-term market rule changes to address system resiliency considering significant reliability risks identified in ISO-NE’s January 2018 fuel security report. Changes to market rules are necessary because critical units to the region, such as Mystic Units 8 and 9, cannot recover future operating costs, including the cost of procuring fuel.

On May 16, 2018, Generation made a filing with FERC to establish cost-of-service compensation and terms and conditions of service for Mystic Units 8 and 9 for the period between June 1, 2022 - May 31, 2024. Among the costs included in the filing are costs associated with the Distrigas facility. Generation asked that FERC establish an expedited settlement process that would allow Generation to know the outcome of the cost-of-service proceeding prior to making a final decision as to whether to unconditionally retire the plants beginning June 1, 2022. A number of parties filed protests in response to the May 16, 2018 filing.

On July 2, 2018, FERC issued an order denying ISO-NE’s May 1, 2018 waiver request on procedural grounds but accepting ISO-NE’s conclusions that retirement of Mystic Units 8 and 9 could cause a violation of mandatory reliability standards as soon as 2022. Accordingly, FERC ordered ISO-NE to (i) make a filing within 60 days providing for the filing of a short-term cost-of-service agreement to address demonstrated fuel security concerns and (ii) make a filing by July 1, 2019 proposing permanent tariff revisions that would improve its market design to better address regional fuel security concerns. FERC also extended the deadline by which Generation must make a retirement decision for Mystic Units 8 and 9 to January 4, 2019. In addition, notwithstanding its denial of the waiver request, FERC stated that it will continue to evaluate Mystic’s May 16, 2018 cost-of-service agreement filing. On August 31, 2018, ISO-NE filed a compliance filing in response to FERC's July 2, 2018 order proposing short-term tariff changes to permit it to retain a resource for fuel security reliability reasons. A number of parties, including Generation, have submitted comments on the proposal, which is pending before FERC.

On July 13, 2018, FERC issued an order accepting Generation’s cost-of-service agreement for filing and making findings on certain issues, including that recovery of fuel supply costs for the Distrigas facility are not prohibited if they are just and reasonable. Additionally, the order established hearing procedures on an expedited schedule. Any settlement discussions are to be undertaken on a parallel track with the hearing. Generation has requested that FERC issue an order by December 21, 2018, but FERC is not obligated to meet this date.

Exelon and Generation cannot predict the final outcome of these proceedings or the potential financial impact, if any, on Exelon or Generation.

The following table provides the balance sheet amounts as of September 30, 2018 for Generation’s significant assets and liabilities associated with the Mystic Generating Station assets that would potentially be impacted by a decision to permanently cease generation operations.



	September 30, 2018
Asset Balances
Materials and supplies inventory	$	21
Fuel inventory	18
Completed plant, net	877
Construction work in progress	5
Prepaid expenses^(a)	15
Liability Balances
Asset retirement obligation	(5		)
Accrued expenses^(a)	(2		)

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(a)	Reflects ending balances only as they relate to Mystic's Long-term Service Agreement.

On October 1, 2018, Generation acquired the Distrigas liquefied natural gas import terminal to ensure the continued reliable supply of fuel to Mystic Units 8 and 9 while they remain operating.