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REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2020
Regulated Operations [Abstract] |
REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT | REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT Coronavirus Disease – 2019 The global outbreak of COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the WHO and the CDC. COVID-19 has spread globally, including throughout the United States and, in turn, our service territories. Each of the states in which our regulated utilities operate has declared a public health emergency and has issued shelter-in-place orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we have received written orders from the PSCW, the ICC, and the MPSC regarding certain actions to be taken for purposes of ensuring that essential utility services are available to customers in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan, respectively. A summary of these orders is included below. Wisconsin On March 24, 2020, the PSCW issued two orders in response to COVID-19. The first order requires all public utilities in the state of Wisconsin, including WE, WPS, and WG, to temporarily suspend disconnections, the assessment of late fees, and deposit requirements for all customer classes. In addition, it requires utilities to reconnect customers that were previously disconnected, offer deferred payment arrangements to all customers, and streamline the application process for customers applying for utility service. The order will remain in effect during the public health emergency and until further notice from the PSCW. In the second order, the PSCW authorized Wisconsin utilities to defer expenditures and certain foregone revenues resulting from compliance with the first order, and expenditures as otherwise incurred to ensure safe, reliable, and affordable access to utility services during the declared public health emergency. The PSCW has affirmed that this authorization for deferral includes the incremental increase in uncollectible expense above what is currently being recovered in rates. As WE, WPS, and WG already have a cost recovery mechanism in place to recover uncollectible expense for residential customers, this new deferral will only impact the recovery of uncollectible expense for their commercial and industrial customers. The PSCW will review the recoverability and examine the prudency of any deferred amounts in future rate proceedings. As of March 31, 2020, our Wisconsin utilities had not recorded any deferrals related to the COVID-19 pandemic. A limited number of expenditures have been identified, and we anticipate amounts will be deferred in the second quarter of 2020. WE, WPS, and WG have begun to experience foregone revenues related to their inability to charge late fees as a result of the PSCW order, and will continue to evaluate future incremental costs and foregone revenues for potential recovery as they arise. Illinois On March 18, 2020, the ICC issued an order to all Illinois utilities, including PGL and NSG, requiring, among other things, a moratorium on disconnections of utility service and a suspension of late fees and penalties during the declared public health emergency. The moratorium on disconnections and the suspension of late fees and penalties applies to all utility customer classes and will remain in effect until May 1, 2020, or until the Illinois governor announces the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, whichever is later. To ensure that customers will continue to receive utility services for a period of time after the public health emergency ends, utilities in Illinois will also be required to temporarily enact more flexible credit and collections procedures for a period of no less than six months after the moratorium is lifted. PGL and NSG filed their proposed flexible credit and collection procedures with the ICC on March 27, 2020. As required in the ICC order, PGL and NSG are tracking foregone late fees and expenses resulting from the measures they are taking in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, including, but not limited to, the measures required by the ICC's order. PGL and NSG have requested that the ICC allow them to defer these expenses. Michigan On April 15, 2020, the MPSC issued an order requiring Michigan utilities, including MGU and UMERC, to put certain minimum protections in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. The minimum protections required by the order include the suspension of disconnections, late payment fees, deposits, and reconnection fees for certain vulnerable customers. In addition, utilities are required to extend access to and flexibility of payment plans to customers financially impacted by COVID-19. The MPSC authorized all Michigan utilities to defer, for potential future recovery, uncollectible expense incurred on or after March 24, 2020 that exceeds the amounts being recovered in rates. The MPSC is evaluating whether additional COVID-19-related expenses or certain foregone revenues should also be deferred by Michigan utilities. As required in the MPSC order, MGU and UMERC filed responses with the MPSC on April 20, 2020 affirming the actions they are taking to protect customers during the declared public health emergency. The actions being taken by MGU and UMERC provide protections to more customers than required by the MPSC order. These actions include suspending disconnections for all residential customers, suspending the assessment of late fees, as well as restoring electric and natural gas service for all customers on a payment plan, waiving deposit requirements for new service, and enhancing payment plan options for all customers. Wisconsin Electric Power Company, Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, and Wisconsin Gas LLC 2020 and 2021 Rates In March 2019, WE, WPS, and WG filed applications with the PSCW to increase their retail electric, natural gas, and steam rates, as applicable, effective January 1, 2020. In August 2019, all three utilities filed applications with the PSCW for approval of settlement agreements entered into with certain intervenors to resolve several outstanding issues in each utility's respective rate case. In December 2019, the PSCW issued written orders that approved the settlement agreements without material modification and addressed the remaining outstanding issues that were not included in the settlement agreements. The new rates became effective January 1, 2020. The final orders reflect the following:
|  | WE |  | WPS |  | WG
2020 Effective rate increase (decrease) |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Electric (1) (2) |  | $ | 15.3 | million | / | 0.5% |  | $ | 15.8 | million | / | 1.6% |  | N/A
Gas (3) |  | $ | 10.4 | million | / | 2.8% |  | $ | 4.3 | million | / | 1.4% |  | $ | (1.5 | ) million | / | (0.2)%
Steam |  | $ | 1.9 | million | / | 8.6% |  | N/A |  | N/A
ROE |  | 10.0% |  | 10.0% |  | 10.2%
Common equity component average on a financial basis |  | 52.5% |  | 52.5% |  | 52.5%
(1) | Amounts are net of certain deferred tax benefits from the Tax Legislation that were utilized to reduce near-term rate impact. The WE and WPS rate orders reflect the majority of the unprotected deferred tax benefits from the Tax Legislation being amortized over two years. For WE, approximately $65 million of tax benefits will be amortized in each of 2020 and 2021. For WPS, approximately $11 million of tax benefits are being amortized in 2020 and approximately $39 million will be amortized in 2021. The unprotected deferred tax benefits related to the unrecovered balances of WE's recently retired plants and its SSR regulatory asset are being used to reduce the related regulatory asset. Unprotected deferred tax benefits by their nature are eligible to be returned to customers in a manner and timeline determined to be appropriate by our regulators.
(2) | The WPS rate order is net of $21 million of refunds related to its 2018 earnings sharing mechanism. These refunds will be made to customers evenly over two years, with half being returned in 2020 and the remainder in 2021.
(3) | The WE amount includes certain deferred tax expense from the Tax Legislation, and the WPS and WG amounts are net of certain deferred tax benefits from the Tax Legislation that were utilized to reduce near-term rate impact. The rate orders for all three gas utilities reflect all of the unprotected deferred tax expense and benefits from the Tax Legislation being amortized evenly over four years. For WE, approximately $5 million of previously deferred tax expense will be amortized each year. For WPS and WG, approximately $5 million and $3 million, respectively, of previously deferred tax benefits will be amortized each year. Unprotected deferred tax expense and benefits by their nature are eligible to be recovered from or returned to customers in a manner and timeline determined to be appropriate by our regulators.
In accordance with its rate order, WE will seek a financing order from the PSCW to securitize $100 million of Pleasant Prairie power plant's book value, plus the carrying costs accrued on the $100 million during the securitization process and related fees. The securitization will reduce the carrying costs for the $100 million, benefiting customers. The WPS rate order allows WPS to collect the previously deferred revenue requirement for ReACT™ costs above the authorized $275.0 million level. The total cost of the ReACT™ project was $342 million. This regulatory asset will be collected from customers over eight years. All three Wisconsin utilities will continue having an earnings sharing mechanism through 2021. The earnings sharing mechanism was modified from its previous structure to one that is consistent with other Wisconsin investor-owned utilities. Under the new earnings sharing mechanism, if the utility earns above its authorized ROE: (i) the utility retains 100.0% of earnings for the first 25 basis points above the authorized ROE; (ii) 50.0% of the next 50 basis points is refunded to customers; and (iii) 100.0% of any remaining excess earnings is refunded to customers. In addition, the rate orders also require WE, WPS, and WG to maintain residential and small commercial electric and natural gas customer fixed charges at previously authorized rates and to maintain the status quo for WE's and WPS's electric market-based rate programs for large industrial customers through 2021. 2018 and 2019 Rates During April 2017, WE, WPS, and WG filed an application with the PSCW for approval of a settlement agreement they made with several of their commercial and industrial customers regarding 2018 and 2019 base rates. In September 2017, the PSCW issued an order that approved the settlement agreement, which froze base rates through 2019 for electric, natural gas, and steam customers of WE, WPS, and WG. Based on the PSCW order, the authorized ROE for WE, WPS, and WG remained at 10.2%, 10.0%, and 10.3%, respectively, and the capital cost structure for all of our Wisconsin utilities remained unchanged through 2019. In addition to freezing base rates, the settlement agreement extended and expanded the electric real-time market pricing program options for large commercial and industrial customers and mitigated the continued growth of certain escrowed costs at WE during the base rate freeze period by accelerating the recognition of certain tax benefits. WE was flowing through the tax benefit of its repair-related deferred tax liabilities in 2018 and 2019, to maintain certain regulatory asset balances at their December 31, 2017 levels. While WE would typically follow the normalization accounting method and utilize the tax benefits of the deferred tax liabilities in rate-making as an offset to rate base, benefiting customers over time, the federal tax code does allow for passing these tax repair-related benefits to ratepayers much sooner using the flow through accounting method. The flow through treatment of the repair-related deferred tax liabilities offset the negative income statement impact of holding the regulatory assets level, resulting in no change to net income. The agreement also allowed WPS to extend through 2019, the deferral for the revenue requirement of ReACT™ costs above the authorized $275.0 million level, and other deferrals related to WPS's electric real-time market pricing program and network transmission expenses. Pursuant to the settlement agreement, WPS also agreed to adopt, beginning in 2018, the earnings sharing mechanism that had been in place for WE and WG since January 2016, and all three utilities agreed to keep the mechanism in place through 2019. Under this earnings sharing mechanism, if WE, WPS, or WG earned above its authorized ROE, 50% of the first 50 basis points of additional utility earnings were required to be refunded to customers. All utility earnings above the first 50 basis points were also required to be refunded to customers. Liquefied Natural Gas Facilities In November 2019, WE and WG filed a joint application with the PSCW requesting approval for each company to construct its own LNG facility. If approved, each facility would provide one billion cubic feet of natural gas supply to meet peak demand without requiring the construction of additional interstate pipeline capacity. These facilities are expected to reduce the likelihood of constraints on WE's and WG's natural gas systems during the highest demand days of winter. The total cost of both projects is estimated to be approximately $370 million, with approximately half being invested by each utility. Commercial operation of the LNG facilities is targeted for the end of 2023. Solar Generation Projects In August 2019, WE, along with an unaffiliated utility, filed an application with the PSCW for approval to acquire an ownership interest in a proposed solar project, Badger Hollow II, that will be located in Iowa County, Wisconsin. Once constructed, WE will own 100 MW of the output of this project. WE's share of the cost of this project is estimated to be $130 million. The PSCW issued a written order approving the acquisition of this project on March 6, 2020. The Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company and North Shore Gas Company Qualifying Infrastructure Plant Rider In July 2013, Illinois Public Act 98-0057, The Natural Gas Consumer, Safety & Reliability Act, became law. This law provides PGL with a cost recovery mechanism that allows collection, through a surcharge on customer bills, of prudently incurred costs to upgrade Illinois natural gas infrastructure. In September 2013, PGL filed with the ICC requesting the proposed rider, which was approved in January 2014. PGL's QIP rider is subject to an annual reconciliation whereby costs are reviewed for accuracy and prudency. In March 2020, PGL filed its 2019 reconciliation with the ICC, which, along with the 2018, 2017, and 2016 reconciliations, are still pending. As of March 31, 2020, there can be no assurance that all costs incurred under PGL's QIP rider during the open reconciliation years will be deemed recoverable by the ICC. Michigan Gas Utilities Corporation 2021 Rate Application On February 3, 2020, MGU provided notification to the MPSC of its intent to file an application requesting an increase to MGU's natural gas rates to be effective January 1, 2021. However, MGU has decided that it will not be filing a rate case during the COVID-19 pandemic and will re-evaluate the timing of the rate filing at a later date.

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