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Commitments and Contingencies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES INSURANCE General Insurance The Duke Energy Registrants have insurance and reinsurance coverage either directly or through indemnification from Duke Energy’s captive insurance company, Bison, and its affiliates, consistent with companies engaged in similar commercial operations with similar type properties. The Duke Energy Registrants’ coverage includes (i) commercial general liability coverage for liabilities arising to third parties for bodily injury and property damage; (ii) workers’ compensation; (iii) automobile liability coverage; and (iv) property coverage for all real and personal property damage. Real and personal property damage coverage excludes electric transmission and distribution lines, but includes damages arising from boiler and machinery breakdowns, earthquakes, flood damage and extra expense, but not outage or replacement power coverage. All coverage is subject to certain deductibles or retentions, sublimits, exclusions, terms and conditions common for companies with similar types of operations. The Duke Energy Registrants self-insure their electric transmission and distribution lines against loss due to storm damage and other natural disasters. As discussed further in Note 3, Duke Energy Florida maintains a storm damage reserve and has a regulatory mechanism to recover the cost of named storms on an expedited basis. The cost of the Duke Energy Registrants’ coverage can fluctuate from year to year reflecting claims history and conditions of the insurance and reinsurance markets. In the event of a loss, terms and amounts of insurance and reinsurance available might not be adequate to cover claims and other expenses incurred. Uninsured losses and other expenses, to the extent not recovered by other sources, could have a material effect on the Duke Energy Registrants’ results of operations, cash flows or financial position. Each company is responsible to the extent losses may be excluded or exceed limits of the coverage available. Nuclear Insurance Duke Energy Carolinas owns and operates McGuire and Oconee and operates and has a partial ownership interest in Catawba. McGuire and Catawba each have two reactors. Oconee has three reactors. The other joint owners of Catawba reimburse Duke Energy Carolinas for certain expenses associated with nuclear insurance per the Catawba joint owner agreements. Duke Energy Progress owns and operates Robinson, Brunswick and Harris. Robinson and Harris each have one reactor. Brunswick has two reactors. Duke Energy Florida owns Crystal River Unit 3, which permanently ceased operation in 2013 and reached a SAFSTOR condition in January 2018 after the successful transfer of all used nuclear fuel assemblies to an on-site dry cask storage facility. In the event of a loss, terms and amounts of insurance available might not be adequate to cover property damage and other expenses incurred. Uninsured losses and other expenses, to the extent not recovered by other sources, could have a material effect on Duke Energy Carolinas’, Duke Energy Progress’ and Duke Energy Florida’s results of operations, cash flows or financial position. Each company is responsible to the extent losses may be excluded or exceed limits of the coverage available. Nuclear Liability Coverage The Price-Anderson Act requires owners of nuclear reactors to provide for public nuclear liability protection per nuclear incident up to a maximum total financial protection liability. The maximum total financial protection liability, which is approximately $13.8 billion, is subject to change every five years for inflation and for the number of licensed reactors. Total nuclear liability coverage consists of a combination of private primary nuclear liability insurance coverage and a mandatory industry risk-sharing program to provide for excess nuclear liability coverage above the maximum reasonably available private primary coverage. The U.S. Congress could impose revenue-raising measures on the nuclear industry to pay claims. Primary Liability Insurance Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress have purchased the maximum reasonably available private primary nuclear liability insurance as required by law, which is $450 million per station. Duke Energy Florida has purchased $100 million primary nuclear liability insurance in compliance with the law. Excess Liability Program This program provides $13.3 billion of coverage per incident through the Price-Anderson Act’s mandatory industry-wide excess secondary financial protection program of risk pooling. This amount is the product of potential cumulative retrospective premium assessments of $138 million times the current 97 licensed commercial nuclear reactors in the U.S. Under this program, licensees could be assessed retrospective premiums to compensate for public nuclear liability damages in the event of a nuclear incident at any licensed facility in the U.S. Retrospective premiums may be assessed at a rate not to exceed $20.5 million per year per licensed reactor for each incident. The assessment may be subject to state premium taxes. Nuclear Property and Accidental Outage Coverage Duke Energy Carolinas, Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Florida are members of Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited (NEIL), an industry mutual insurance company, which provides property damage, nuclear accident decontamination and premature decommissioning insurance for each station for losses resulting from damage to its nuclear plants, either due to accidents or acts of terrorism. Additionally, NEIL provides accidental outage coverage for losses in the event of a major accidental outage at an insured nuclear station. Pursuant to regulations of the NRC, each company’s property damage insurance policies provide that all proceeds from such insurance be applied, first, to place the plant in a safe and stable condition after a qualifying accident and second, to decontaminate the plant before any proceeds can be used for decommissioning, plant repair or restoration. Losses resulting from acts of terrorism are covered as common occurrences, such that if terrorist acts occur against one or more commercial nuclear power plants insured by NEIL within a 12-month period, they would be treated as one event and the owners of the plants where the act occurred would share one full limit of liability. The full limit of liability is currently $3.2 billion. NEIL sublimits the total aggregate for all of their policies for non-nuclear terrorist events to approximately $1.8 billion. Each nuclear facility has accident property damage, nuclear accident decontamination and premature decommissioning liability insurance from NEIL with limits of $1.5 billion, except for Crystal River Unit 3. Crystal River Unit 3’s limit is $50 million and is on an actual cash value basis. All nuclear facilities except for Catawba and Crystal River Unit 3 also share an additional $1.25 billion nuclear accident insurance limit above their dedicated underlying limit. This shared additional excess limit is not subject to reinstatement in the event of a loss. Catawba has a dedicated $1.25 billion of additional nuclear accident insurance limit above its dedicated underlying limit. Catawba and Oconee also have an additional $750 million of non-nuclear accident property damage limit. All coverages are subject to sublimits and significant deductibles. NEIL’s Accidental Outage policy provides some coverage, similar to business interruption, for losses in the event of a major accident property damage outage of a nuclear unit. Coverage is provided on a weekly limit basis after a significant waiting period deductible and at 100% of the applicable weekly limits for 52 weeks and 80% of the applicable weekly limits for up to the next 110 weeks. Coverage is provided until these applicable weekly periods are met, where the accidental outage policy limit will not exceed $490 million for McGuire and Catawba, $434 million for Harris, $420 million for Brunswick, $392 million for Oconee and $336 million for Robinson. NEIL sublimits the accidental outage recovery up to the first 104 weeks of coverage not to exceed $328 million from non-nuclear accidental property damage. Coverage amounts decrease in the event more than one unit at a station is out of service due to a common accident. All coverages are subject to sublimits and significant deductibles. Potential Retroactive Premium Assessments In the event of NEIL losses, NEIL’s board of directors may assess member companies' retroactive premiums of amounts up to 10 times their annual premiums for up to six years after a loss. NEIL has never exercised this assessment. The maximum aggregate annual retrospective premium obligations for Duke Energy Carolinas, Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Florida are $156 million, $93 million and $1 million, respectively. Duke Energy Carolinas' maximum assessment amount includes 100% of potential obligations to NEIL for jointly owned reactors. Duke Energy Carolinas would seek reimbursement from the joint owners for their portion of these assessment amounts. ENVIRONMENTAL The Duke Energy Registrants are subject to federal, state and local laws regarding air and water quality, hazardous and solid waste disposal, coal ash and other environmental matters. These laws can be changed from time to time, imposing new obligations on the Duke Energy Registrants. The following environmental matters impact all of the Duke Energy Registrants. Remediation Activities In addition to the ARO recorded as a result of various environmental regulations, discussed in Note 9, the Duke Energy Registrants are responsible for environmental remediation at various sites. These include certain properties that are part of ongoing operations and sites formerly owned or used by Duke Energy entities. These sites are in various stages of investigation, remediation and monitoring. Managed in conjunction with relevant federal, state and local agencies, remediation activities vary based upon site conditions and location, remediation requirements, complexity and sharing of responsibility. If remediation activities involve joint and several liability provisions, strict liability, or cost recovery or contribution actions, the Duke Energy Registrants could potentially be held responsible for environmental impacts caused by other potentially responsible parties and may also benefit from insurance policies or contractual indemnities that cover some or all cleanup costs. Liabilities are recorded when losses become probable and are reasonably estimable. The total costs that may be incurred cannot be estimated because the extent of environmental impact, allocation among potentially responsible parties, remediation alternatives and/or regulatory decisions have not yet been determined at all sites. Additional costs associated with remediation activities are likely to be incurred in the future and could be significant. Costs are typically expensed as Operation, maintenance and other in the Consolidated Statements of Operations unless regulatory recovery of the costs is deemed probable. The following tables contain information regarding reserves for probable and estimable costs related to the various environmental sites. These reserves are recorded in Other within Other Noncurrent Liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.
(in millions) | December 31, 2020 |  | December 31, 2019 |
Reserves for Environmental Remediation |  |  |  |
Duke Energy | $ | 75 |  |  | $ | 58 |  |
Duke Energy Carolinas | 19 |  |  | 11 |  |
Progress Energy | 19 |  |  | 16 |  |
Duke Energy Progress | 6 |  |  | 4 |  |
Duke Energy Florida | 12 |  |  | 9 |  |
Duke Energy Ohio | 22 |  |  | 19 |  |
Duke Energy Indiana | 6 |  |  | 4 |  |
Piedmont | 10 |  |  | 8 |  |
Additional losses in excess of recorded reserves that could be incurred for the stages of investigation, remediation and monitoring for environmental sites that have been evaluated at this time are not material except as presented in the table below.
(in millions) |
Duke Energy | $ | 25 |
Duke Energy Carolinas | 12 |
Duke Energy Ohio | 4 |
Piedmont | 2 |
LITIGATION Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress Coal Ash Insurance Coverage Litigation In March 2017, Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress filed a civil action in the North Carolina Business Court against various insurance providers. The lawsuit seeks payment for coal ash related liabilities covered by third-party liability insurance policies. The insurance policies were issued between 1971 and 1986 and provide third-party liability insurance for property damage. The civil action seeks damages for breach of contract and indemnification for costs arising from the Coal Ash Act and the EPA CCR rule at 15 coal-fired plants in North Carolina and Sout h Carolina. Fact discovery has been completed. The parties filed dispositive pretrial motions relating to key legal issues on December 4, 2020. Hearings on these motions are scheduled to begin on February 24, 2021, and trial is scheduled for January 24, 2022. Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress cannot predict the outcome of this matter. Duke Energy Carolinas NTE Carolinas II, LLC Litigation In November 2017, Duke Energy Carolinas entered into a standard FERC large generator interconnection agreement (LGIA) with NTE Carolinas II, LLC (NTE), a company that proposed to build a combined-cycle natural gas plant in Rockingham County, North Carolina. On September 6, 2019, Duke Energy Carolinas filed a lawsuit in Mecklenburg County Superior Court against NTE for breach of contract and alleging that NTE's failure to pay benchmark payments for Duke Energy Carolinas' transmission system upgrades required under the interconnection agreement constituted a termination of the interconnection agreement. Duke Energy Carolinas is seeking a monetary judgment against NTE because NTE failed to make multiple milestone payments. The lawsuit was moved to federal court in North Carolina. NTE filed a motion to dismiss Duke Energy Carolinas’ complaint and brought counterclaims alleging anti-competitive conduct and violations of state and federal statutes. Duke Energy Carolinas filed a motion to dismiss NTE's counterclaims. On May 21, 2020, in response to a NTE petition challenging Duke Energy Carolina's termination of the LGIA, FERC issued a ruling (i) that it has exclusive jurisdiction to determine whether a transmission provider may terminate a LGIA, (ii) FERC approval is required to terminate a conforming LGIA if objected to by the interconnection customer, and (iii) Duke Energy may not announce the termination of a conforming LGIA unless FERC has approved the termination. On August 17, 2020, the court denied both NTE’s and Duke Energy Carolinas’ Motion to Dismiss. The parties are in active discovery and trial is scheduled for June 20, 2022. Duke Energy Carolinas cannot predict the outcome of this matter. Asbestos-related Injuries and Damages Claims Duke Energy Carolinas has experienced numerous claims for indemnification and medical cost reimbursement related to asbestos exposure. These claims relate to damages for bodily injuries alleged to have arisen from exposure to or use of asbestos in connection with construction and maintenance activities conducted on its electric generation plants prior to 1985. As of December 31, 2020, there were 145 asserted claims for non-malignant cases with the cumulative relief sought of up to $39 million and 56 asserted claims for malignant cases with the cumulative relief sought of up to $20 million. Based on Duke Energy Carolinas’ experience, it is expected that the ultimate resolution of most of these claims likely will be less than the amount claimed. Duke Energy Carolinas has recognized asbestos-related reserves of $572 million and $604 million at December 31, 2020, and 2019, respectively. These reserves are classified in Other within Other Noncurrent Liabilities and Other within Current Liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. These reserves are based upon Duke Energy Carolinas' best estimate for current and future asbestos claims through 2040 and are recorded on an undiscounted basis. In light of the uncertainties inherent in a longer-term forecast, management does not believe they can reasonably estimate the indemnity and medical costs that might be incurred after 2040 related to such potential claims. It is possible Duke Energy Carolinas may incur asbestos liabilities in excess of the recorded reserves. Duke Energy Carolinas has third-party insurance to cover certain losses related to asbestos-related injuries and damages above an aggregate self-insured retention. Duke Energy Carolinas’ cumulative payments began to exceed the self-insurance retention in 2008. Future payments up to the policy limit will be reimbursed by the third-party insurance carrier. The insurance policy limit for potential future insurance recoveries indemnification and medical cost claim payments is $714 million in excess of the self-insured retention. Receivables for insurance recoveries were $704 million and $742 million at December 31, 2020, and 2019, respectively. These amounts are classified in Other within Other Noncurrent Assets and Receivables within Current Assets on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Duke Energy Carolinas is not aware of any uncertainties regarding the legal sufficiency of insurance claims. Duke Energy Carolinas believes the insurance recovery asset is probable of recovery as the insurance carrier continues to have a strong financial strength rating. As described in Note 1, Duke Energy adopted the new guidance for credit losses effective January 1, 2020, using the modified retrospective method of adoption, which does not require restatement of prior year reported results. The reserve for credit losses for insurance receivables for the asbestos-related injuries and damages based on adoption of the new standard is $15 million for Duke Energy and Duke Energy Carolinas as of December 31, 2020. The insurance receivable is evaluated based on the risk of default and the historical losses, current conditions and expected conditions around collectability. Management evaluates the risk of default annually based on payment history, credit rating and changes in the risk of default from credit agencies. Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Florida Spent Nuclear Fuel Matters On June 18, 2018, Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Florida sued the U.S. in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims for damages incurred for the period 2014 through 2018. The lawsuit claimed the Department of Energy breached a contract in failing to accept spent nuclear fuel under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and asserted damages for the cost of on-site storage in the amount of $100 million and $200 million for Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Florida, respectively. Discovery is ongoing and a trial is expected to occur in 2021. Duke Energy Florida Power Purchase Dispute Arbitration Duke Energy Florida, on behalf of its customers, entered into a PPA for the purchase of firm capacity and energy from a qualifying facility under the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act of 1978. Duke Energy Florida determined the qualifying facility did not perform in accordance with the PPA, and Duke Energy Florida terminated the PPA. The qualifying facility counterparty filed a confidential American Arbitration Association (AAA) arbitration demand, challenging the termination of the PPA and seeking damages. Duke Energy Florida denies liability and is vigorously defending the arbitration claim. The final arbitration hearing occurred during the week of December 7, 2020. An arbitral award has not yet been issued. Duke Energy Florida cannot predict the outcome of this matter. Duke Energy Indiana Coal Ash Basin Closure Plan Appeal On January 27, 2020, Hoosier Environmental Council filed a Petition for Administrative Review with the Indiana Office of Environmental Adjudication (the court) challenging the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s December 10, 2019, partial approval of Duke Energy Indiana’s ash pond closure plan. On March 11, 2020, Duke Energy Indiana filed a Motion to Dismiss. On May 5, 2020, the court denied the motion. The parties have completed discovery and will now prepare to file dispositive motions. Summary judgment briefing will be completed by March 30, 2021. If these claims survive dispositive motions, a hearing is scheduled for April 26, 2021. Duke Energy Indiana cannot predict the outcome of this matter. See Note 9 for additional information. Other Litigation and Legal Proceedings The Duke Energy Registrants are involved in other legal, tax and regulatory proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business, some of which involve significant amounts. The Duke Energy Registrants believe the final disposition of these proceedings will not have a material effect on their results of operations, cash flows or financial position. The table below presents recorded reserves based on management’s best estimate of probable loss for legal matters, excluding asbestos-related reserves. Reserves are classified on the Consolidated Balance Sheets in Other within Other Noncurrent Liabilities and Other within Current Liabilities. The reasonably possible range of loss in excess of recorded reserves is not material, other than as described above.
| December 31,
(in millions) | 2020 |  | 2019
Reserves for Legal Matters |  |  |
Duke Energy | $ | 68 |  |  | $ | 62 |
Duke Energy Carolinas | 2 |  |  | 2 |
Progress Energy | 61 |  |  | 55 |
Duke Energy Progress | 13 |  |  | 12 |
Duke Energy Florida | 28 |  |  | 22 |
Piedmont | 1 |  |  | 1 |
OTHER COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES General As part of their normal business, the Duke Energy Registrants are party to various financial guarantees, performance guarantees and other contractual commitments to extend guarantees of credit and other assistance to various subsidiaries, investees and other third parties. These guarantees involve elements of performance and credit risk, which are not fully recognized on the Consolidated Balance Sheets and have uncapped maximum potential payments. See Note 7 for more information. Purchase Obligations Purchased Power Duke Energy Progress, Duke Energy Florida and Duke Energy Ohio have ongoing purchased power contracts, including renewable energy contracts, with other utilities, wholesale marketers, co-generators and qualified facilities. These purchased power contracts generally provide for capacity and energy payments. In addition, Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Florida have various contracts to secure transmission rights. The following table presents executory purchased power contracts with terms exceeding one year, excluding contracts classified as leases.
|  |  | Minimum Purchase Amount at December 31, 2020
| Contract |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
(in millions) | Expiration |  | 2021 |  | 2022 |  | 2023 |  | 2024 |  | 2025 |  | Thereafter |  | Total
Duke Energy Progress(a) | 2025-2032 |  | $ | 66 |  |  | $ | 73 |  |  | $ | 66 |  |  | $ | 67 |  |  | $ | 69 |  |  | $ | 69 |  |  | $ | 410 |
Duke Energy Florida(b) | 2023-2025 |  | 335 |  |  | 354 |  |  | 374 |  |  | 262 |  |  | 91 |  |  | — |  |  | 1,416 |
Duke Energy Ohio(c)(d) | 2022 |  | 130 |  |  | 55 |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | 185 |
(a) Contracts represent either 100% of net plant output or vary. (b) Contracts represent 100% of net plant output. (c) Contracts represent between 1% and 11% of net plant output. (d) Excludes PPA with OVEC. See Note 17 for additional information. Gas Supply and Capacity Contracts Duke Energy Ohio and Piedmont routinely enter into long-term natural gas supply commodity and capacity commitments and other agreements that commit future cash flows to acquire services needed in their businesses. These commitments include pipeline and storage capacity contracts and natural gas supply contracts to provide service to customers. Costs arising from the natural gas supply commodity and capacity commitments, while significant, are pass-through costs to customers and are generally fully recoverable through the fuel adjustment or PGA procedures and prudence reviews in North Carolina and South Carolina and under the Tennessee Incentive Plan in Tennessee. In the Midwest, these costs are recovered via the Gas Cost Recovery Rate in Ohio or the Gas Cost Adjustment Clause in Kentucky. The time periods for fixed payments under pipeline and storage capacity contracts are u p to 15 years. The time periods for fixed payments under natural gas supply contracts are up to six years. The time period for the natural gas supply purchase commitments is up to 11 years. Certain storage and pipeline capacity contracts require the payment of demand charges that are based on rates approved by the FERC in order to maintain rights to access the natural gas storage or pipeline capacity on a firm basis during the contract term. The demand charges that are incurred in each period are recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income as part of natural gas purchases and are included in Cost of natural gas. The following table presents future unconditional purchase obligations under natural gas supply and capacity contracts as of December 31, 2020.
(in millions) | Duke Energy | Duke Energy Ohio | Piedmont
2021 | $ | 311 |  | $ | 41 |  | $ | 270 |
2022 | 270 |  | 28 |  | 242 |
2023 | 197 |  | 20 |  | 177 |
2024 | 139 |  | 17 |  | 122 |
2025 | 125 |  | 14 |  | 111 |
Thereafter | 662 |  | 60 |  | 602 |
Total | $ | 1,704 |  | $ | 180 |  | $ | 1,524 |

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