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Regulatory Assets and Liabilities | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2017
Regulated Operations [Abstract] |
Regulatory Assets and Liabilities | NOTE 12. REGULATORY ASSETS AND LIABILITIES Regulatory assets and liabilities include the following:
At December 31, |  | 2017 |  |  | 2016 |
(millions) |  |  |  |  |  |
Dominion Energy |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Regulatory assets: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Deferred rate adjustment clause costs(1) |  | $ | 70 |  |  | $ | 63 |
Deferred nuclear refueling outage costs(2) |  |  | 54 |  |  |  | 71 |
Unrecovered gas costs(3) |  |  | 38 |  |  |  | 19 |
Deferred cost of fuel used in electric generation(4) |  |  | 23 |  |  |  | — |
Other |  |  | 109 |  |  |  | 91 |
Regulatory assets-current |  |  | 294 |  |  |  | 244 |
Unrecognized pension and other postretirement benefit costs(5) |  |  | 1,336 |  |  |  | 1,401 |
Deferred rate adjustment clause costs(1) |  |  | 401 |  |  |  | 329 |
Derivatives(6) |  |  | 223 |  |  |  | 174 |
PJM transmission rates(7) |  |  | 222 |  |  |  | 192 |
Utility reform legislation(8) |  |  | 147 |  |  |  | 99 |
Income taxes recoverable through future rates(9) |  |  | 32 |  |  |  | 123 |
Other |  |  | 119 |  |  |  | 155 |
Regulatory assets-noncurrent |  |  | 2,480 |  |  |  | 2,473 |
Total regulatory assets |  | $ | 2,774 |  |  | $ | 2,717 |
Regulatory liabilities: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Provision for future cost of removal and AROs(10) |  | $ | 101 |  |  | $ | — |
PIPP(11) |  |  | 20 |  |  |  | 28 |
Deferred cost of fuel used in electric generation(4) |  |  | 8 |  |  |  | 61 |
Other |  |  | 64 |  |  |  | 74 |
Regulatory liabilities-current(12) |  |  | 193 |  |  |  | 163 |
Income taxes refundable through future rates(13) |  |  | 4,058 |  |  |  | — |
Provision for future cost of removal and AROs(10) |  |  | 1,384 |  |  |  | 1,427 |
Nuclear decommissioning trust(14) |  |  | 1,121 |  |  |  | 902 |
Derivatives(6) |  |  | 69 |  |  |  | 69 |
Other |  |  | 284 |  |  |  | 224 |
Regulatory liabilities-noncurrent |  |  | 6,916 |  |  |  | 2,622 |
Total regulatory liabilities |  | $ | 7,109 |  |  | $ | 2,785 |
Virginia Power |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Regulatory assets: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Deferred rate adjustment clause costs(1) |  | $ | 56 |  |  | $ | 51 |
Deferred nuclear refueling outage costs(2) |  |  | 54 |  |  |  | 71 |
Deferred cost of fuel used in electric generation(4) |  |  | 23 |  |  |  | — |
Other |  |  | 72 |  |  |  | 57 |
Regulatory assets-current |  |  | 205 |  |  |  | 179 |
Deferred rate adjustment clause costs(1) |  |  | 312 |  |  |  | 246 |
PJM transmission rates(7) |  |  | 222 |  |  |  | 192 |
Derivatives(6) |  |  | 190 |  |  |  | 133 |
Income taxes recoverable through future rates(9) |  |  | — |  |  |  | 76 |
Other |  |  | 86 |  |  |  | 123 |
Regulatory assets-noncurrent |  |  | 810 |  |  |  | 770 |
Total regulatory assets |  | $ | 1,015 |  |  | $ | 949 |
Regulatory liabilities: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Provision for future cost of removal(10) |  | $ | 80 |  |  | $ | — |
Deferred cost of fuel used in electric generation(4) |  |  | 8 |  |  |  | 61 |
Other |  |  | 39 |  |  |  | 54 |
Regulatory liabilities-current(12) |  |  | 127 |  |  |  | 115 |
Income taxes refundable through future rates(13) |  |  | 2,581 |  |  |  | — |
Nuclear decommissioning trust(14) |  |  | 1,121 |  |  |  | 902 |
Provision for future cost of removal(10) |  |  | 915 |  |  |  | 946 |
Derivatives(6) |  |  | 69 |  |  |  | 69 |
Other |  |  | 74 |  |  |  | 45 |
Regulatory liabilities-noncurrent |  |  | 4,760 |  |  |  | 1,962 |
Total regulatory liabilities |  | $ | 4,887 |  |  | $ | 2,077 |
Dominion Energy Gas |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Regulatory assets: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Deferred rate adjustment clause costs(1) |  | $ | 14 |  |  | $ | 12 |
Unrecovered gas costs(3) |  |  | 8 |  |  |  | 12 |
Other |  |  | 4 |  |  |  | 2 |
Regulatory assets-current(15) |  |  | 26 |  |  |  | 26 |
Unrecognized pension and other postretirement benefit costs(5) |  |  | 258 |  |  |  | 358 |
Utility reform legislation(8) |  |  | 147 |  |  |  | 99 |
Deferred rate adjustment clause costs(1) |  |  | 89 |  |  |  | 79 |
Income taxes recoverable through future rates(9) |  |  | — |  |  |  | 23 |
Other |  |  | 17 |  |  |  | 18 |
Regulatory assets-noncurrent |  |  | 511 |  |  |  | 577 |
Total regulatory assets |  | $ | 537 |  |  | $ | 603 |
Regulatory liabilities: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
PIPP(11) |  | $ | 20 |  |  | $ | 28 |
Provision for future cost of removal and AROs(10) |  |  | 13 |  |  |  | — |
Other |  |  | 5 |  |  |  | 7 |
Regulatory liabilities-current(12) |  |  | 38 |  |  |  | 35 |
Income taxes refundable through future rates(13) |  |  | 998 |  |  |  | — |
Provision for future cost of removal and AROs(10) |  |  | 160 |  |  |  | 174 |
Other |  |  | 69 |  |  |  | 45 |
Regulatory liabilities-noncurrent |  |  | 1,227 |  |  |  | 219 |
Total regulatory liabilities |  | $ | 1,265 |  |  | $ | 254 |
(1) | Primarily reflects deferrals under the electric transmission FERC formula rate and the deferral of costs associated with certain current and prospective rider projects for Virginia Power and deferrals of costs associated with certain current and prospective rider projects for Dominion Energy Gas. See Note 13 for more information.
(2) | Legislation enacted in Virginia in April 2014 requires Virginia Power to defer operation and maintenance costs incurred in connection with the refueling of any nuclear-powered generating plant. These deferred costs will be amortized over the refueling cycle, not to exceed 18 months.
(3) | Reflects unrecovered gas costs at regulated gas operations, which are recovered through filings with the applicable regulatory authority.
(4) | Reflects deferred fuel expenses for the Virginia and North Carolina jurisdictions of Dominion Energy’s and Virginia Power’s generation operations. See Note 13 for more information.
(5) | Represents unrecognized pension and other postretirement employee benefit costs expected to be recovered through future rates generally over the expected remaining service period of plan participants by certain of Dominion Energy’s and Dominion Energy Gas’ rate-regulated subsidiaries.
(6) | As discussed under Derivative Instruments in Note 2, for jurisdictions subject to cost-based rate regulation, changes in the fair value of derivative instruments result in the recognition of regulatory assets or regulatory liabilities as they are expected to be recovered from or refunded to customers.
(7) | Reflects amount related to the PJM transmission cost allocation matter. See Note 13 for more information.
(8) | Ohio legislation under House Bill 95, which became effective in September 2011. This law updates natural gas legislation by enabling gas companies to include more up-to-date cost levels when filing rate cases. It also allows gas companies to seek approval of capital expenditure plans under which gas companies can recognize carrying costs on associated capital investments placed in service and can defer the carrying costs plus depreciation and property tax expenses for recovery from ratepayers in the future.
(9) | Amounts to be recovered through future rates to pay income taxes that become payable when rate revenue is provided to recover AFUDC-equity and depreciation of property, plant and equipment for which deferred income taxes were not recognized for ratemaking purposes, including amounts attributable to tax rate changes. See below for discussion of the 2017 Tax Reform Act.
(10) | Rates charged to customers by the Companies’ regulated businesses include a provision for the cost of future activities to remove assets that are expected to be incurred at the time of retirement.
(11) | Under PIPP, eligible customers can make reduced payments based on their ability to pay. The difference between the customer’s total bill and the PIPP plan amount is deferred and collected or returned annually under the PIPP rate adjustment clause according to East Ohio tariff provisions. See Note 13 for more information.
(12) | Current regulatory liabilities are presented in other current liabilities in the Consolidated Balance Sheets of the Companies.
(13) | Amounts recorded to pass the effect of reduced income tax rates from the 2017 Tax Reform Act to customers in future periods, which will reverse at the weighted average tax rate that was used to build the reserves over the remaining book life of the property, net of amounts to be recovered through future rates to pay income taxes that become payable when rate revenue is provided to recover AFUDC-equity.
(14) | Primarily reflects a regulatory liability representing amounts collected from Virginia jurisdictional customers and placed in external trusts (including income, losses and changes in fair value thereon) for the future decommissioning of Virginia Power’s utility nuclear generation stations, in excess of the related AROs.
(15) | Current regulatory assets are presented in other current assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheets of Dominion Energy Gas.
At December 31, 2017, $390 million of Dominion Energy’s, $273 million of Virginia Power’s and $11 million of Dominion Energy Gas’ regulatory assets represented past expenditures on which they do not currently earn a return. With the exception of the $222 million PJM transmission cost allocation matter, the majority of these expenditures are expected to be recovered within the next two years.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for detailed information about regulatory assets and liabilities, including current and noncurrent assets created when regulatory agencies permit the deferral of costs to the balance sheet that would otherwise be required to appear on the company's income statement and would be charged against current expenses or revenues, as well as current and noncurrent liabilities created when regulatory agencies permit. + References No definition available. + Details
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