Regulatory Assets and Liabilities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Regulatory Assets and Liabilities Disclosure [Abstract]

Regulatory assets and liabilities are created for amounts that regulators may allow to be collected or may require to be paid back to customers in future electric and natural gas rates. Xcel Energy would be required to recognize the write-off of regulatory assets and liabilities in net income or other comprehensive income if changes in the utility industry no longer allow for the application of regulatory accounting guidance under GAAP.

Components of regulatory assets:


(Millions of Dollars)	See Note(s)	Remaining Amortization Period	Dec. 31, 2023				Dec. 31, 2022 (a)
Regulatory Assets			Current		Noncurrent		Current		Noncurrent
Pension and retiree medical obligations	11	Various	$	27	$	1,106	$	22	$	1,069
Recoverable deferred taxes on AFUDC		Plant lives	—		332		—		292
Net AROs (b)	1, 12	Various	—		316		—		339
Excess deferred taxes — TCJA	7	Various	10		198		13		205
Depreciation differences		One to 12 years	17		189		17		193
Environmental remediation costs	1, 12	Various	15		94		20		92
Deferred natural gas, electric, steam energy/fuel costs		One to three years	239		80		581		299
Conservation programs (c)	1	One to two years	19		54		16		36
Purchased power contract costs		Term of related contract	4		40		10		36
PI extended power uprate		11 years	4		38		4		42
Benson biomass PPA termination and asset purchase		Five years	10		36		10		45
Sales true-up and revenue decoupling		One to two years	7		33		54		—
State commission adjustments		Plant lives	1		32		1		33
Losses on reacquired debt		Term of related debt	2		30		3		32
MISO capacity revenue tracker		One to two years	36		26		—		—
Gas pipeline inspection and remediation costs		One to two years	40		25		42		13
Contract valuation adjustments (d)	1, 10	Term of related contract	18		22		28		28
Nuclear refueling outage costs	1	One to two years	43		19		30		12
Grid modernization costs		One to two years	16		17		14		24
Renewable resources and environmental initiatives		One to two years	38		5		50		6



Other		Various	65		106		144		75
Total regulatory assets			$	611	$	2,798	$	1,059	$	2,871

(a)Prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform with current year presentation.

(b)The 2022 amount is net of the nuclear decommissioning accruals and gains from decommissioning investments. In 2023, the nuclear decommissioning accruals and gains from decommissioning investments exceeded the expected cost of AROs in NSP-Minnesota and was reclassified to a regulatory liability.

(c)Includes costs for conservation programs, as well as incentives allowed in certain jurisdictions.

(d)Includes the fair value of certain long-term PPAs used to meet energy capacity requirements and valuation adjustments on natural gas commodity purchases.

Components of regulatory liabilities:


(Millions of Dollars)	See Note(s)	Remaining Amortization Period	Dec. 31, 2023				Dec. 31, 2022
Regulatory Liabilities			Current		Noncurrent		Current		Noncurrent
Deferred income tax adjustments and TCJA refunds (a)	7	Various	$	7	$	3,015	$	9	$	3,110
Plant removal costs	1, 12	Various	—		1,984		—		1,819
Effects of regulation on employee benefit costs (b)		Various	—		253		—		247
Renewable resources and environmental initiatives		Various	9		188		6		173
Net AROs (c)		Various	—		90		—		—
Sales true-up and revenue decoupling		Two years	18		76		—		77

ITC deferrals	1	Various	1		60		1		61
LP&L departure payment		Up to 10 years	33		33		—		—
Formula rates		One to two years	29		18		32		17
DOE settlement		One to two years	18		6		12		3
Deferred natural gas, electric, steam energy/fuel costs		Less than one year	220		—		39		—
Contract valuation adjustments (d)	1, 10	Less than one year	56		—		175		1
Conservation programs (e)	1	Less than one year	47		—		72		—
Other		Various	90		104		72		61
Total regulatory liabilities (f)			$	528	$	5,827	$	418	$	5,569

(a)Includes the revaluation of recoverable/regulated plant accumulated deferred income taxes and revaluation impact of non-plant accumulated deferred income taxes due to the TCJA.

(b)Includes regulatory amortization and certain 2018 TCJA benefits approved by the CPUC to offset the PSCo prepaid pension asset.

(c)Includes amounts recorded for future recovery of AROs, less amounts recovered through nuclear decommissioning accruals and gains from decommissioning investments.

(d)Includes the fair value of FTR instruments utilized/intended to offset the impacts of transmission system congestion.

(e)Includes costs for conservation programs, as well as incentives allowed in certain jurisdictions.

(f)Revenue subject to refund of $187 million and $67 million for 2023 and 2022, respectively, is included in other current liabilities.

Xcel Energy’s regulatory assets not earning a return include past expenditures of $1,085 million and $1,020 million at Dec. 31, 2023 and 2022 respectively, which predominately relate to purchased natural gas and electric energy costs (including certain costs related to Winter Storm Uri), sales true-up and revenue decoupling, various renewable resources/environmental initiatives and certain prepaid pension amounts. Additionally, the unfunded portion of pension and retiree medical obligations and net AROs (i.e. deferrals for which cash has not been disbursed) do not earn a return.