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Variable Interest Entities | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2016
Variable Interest Entities [Abstract] |
VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES | VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES FirstEnergy performs qualitative analyses based on control and economics to determine whether a variable interest classifies FirstEnergy as the primary beneficiary (a controlling financial interest) of a VIE. An enterprise has a controlling financial interest if it has both power and economic control, such that an entity has; (i) the power to direct the activities of a VIE that most significantly impact the entity’s economic performance, and (ii) the obligation to absorb losses of the entity that could potentially be significant to the VIE or the right to receive benefits from the entity that could potentially be significant to the VIE. FirstEnergy consolidates a VIE when it is determined that it is the primary beneficiary. The caption "noncontrolling interest" within the consolidated financial statements is used to reflect the portion of a VIE that FirstEnergy consolidates, but does not own. In order to evaluate contracts for consolidation treatment and entities for which FirstEnergy has an interest, FirstEnergy aggregates variable interests into categories based on similar risk characteristics and significance. Consolidated VIEs VIEs in which FirstEnergy is the primary beneficiary consist of the following (included in FirstEnergy’s consolidated financial statements):
• | PNBV Trust - PNBV, a business trust established by OE in 1996, issued certain beneficial interests and notes to fund the acquisition of a portion of the bonds issued by certain owner trusts in connection with the sale and leaseback in 1987 of a portion of OE's interest in the Perry Plant and Beaver Valley Unit 2. OE used debt and available funds to purchase the notes issued by PNBV. The beneficial ownership of PNBV includes a 3% interest by unaffiliated third parties.
• | Ohio Securitization - In September 2012, the Ohio Companies created separate, wholly-owned limited liability companies (SPEs) which issued phase-in recovery bonds to securitize the recovery of certain all-electric customer heating discounts, fuel and purchased power regulatory assets. The phase-in recovery bonds are payable only from, and secured by, phase-in recovery property owned by the SPEs. The bondholder has no recourse to the general credit of FirstEnergy or any of the Ohio Companies. Each of the Ohio Companies, as servicer of its respective SPE, manages and administers the phase-in recovery property including the billing, collection and remittance of usage-based charges payable by retail electric customers. In the aggregate, the Ohio Companies are entitled to annual servicing fees of $445 thousand that are recoverable through the usage-based charges. The SPEs are considered VIEs and each one is consolidated into its applicable utility. As of September 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, $339 million and $362 million of the phase-in recovery bonds were outstanding, respectively.
• | JCP&L Securitization - In June 2002, JCP&L Transition Funding sold transition bonds to securitize the recovery of JCP&L’s bondable stranded costs associated with the previously divested Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station. In August 2006, JCP&L Transition Funding II sold transition bonds to securitize the recovery of deferred costs associated with JCP&L’s supply of BGS. JCP&L did not purchase and does not own any of the transition bonds, which are included as long-term debt on FirstEnergy’s and JCP&L’s Consolidated Balance Sheets. The transition bonds are the sole obligations of JCP&L Transition Funding and JCP&L Transition Funding II and are collateralized by each company’s equity and assets, which consist primarily of bondable transition property. As of September 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, $97 million and $128 million of the transition bonds were outstanding, respectively.
• | MP and PE Environmental Funding Companies - The entities issued bonds, the proceeds of which were used to construct environmental control facilities. The special purpose limited liability companies own the irrevocable right to collect non-bypassable environmental control charges from all customers who receive electric delivery service in MP's and PE's West Virginia service territories. Principal and interest owed on the environmental control bonds is secured by, and payable solely from, the proceeds of the environmental control charges. Creditors of FirstEnergy, other than the special purpose limited liability companies, have no recourse to any assets or revenues of the special purpose limited liability companies. As of September 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, $407 million and $429 million of the environmental control bonds were outstanding, respectively.
Unconsolidated VIEs FirstEnergy is not the primary beneficiary of the following VIEs:
• | Global Holding - FEV holds a 33-1/3% equity ownership in Global Holding, the holding company for a joint venture in the Signal Peak mining and coal transportation operations with coal sales in U.S. and international markets. FEV is not the primary beneficiary of the joint venture, as it does not have control over the significant activities affecting the joint venture's economic performance. FEV's ownership interest is subject to the equity method of accounting.
As discussed in Note 12, Commitments, Guarantees and Contingencies, FE is the guarantor under Global Holding's $300 million term loan facility. Failure by Global Holding to meet the terms and conditions under its term loan facility could require FE to be obligated under the provisions of its guarantee, resulting in consolidation of Global Holding by FE.
• | PATH WV - PATH is a series limited liability company that is comprised of multiple series, each of which has separate rights, powers and duties regarding specified property and the series profits and losses associated with such property. A subsidiary of FE owns 100% of the Allegheny Series (PATH-Allegheny) and 50% of the West Virginia Series (PATH-WV), which is a joint venture with a subsidiary of AEP. FirstEnergy is not the primary beneficiary of PATH-WV, as it does not have control over the significant activities affecting the economics of PATH-WV. FirstEnergy's ownership interest in PATH-WV is subject to the equity method of accounting.
• | Purchase Power Agreements - FirstEnergy evaluated its PPAs and determined that certain NUG entities at its Regulated Distribution segment may be VIEs to the extent that they own a plant that sells substantially all of its output to the applicable utilities and the contract price for power is correlated with the plant’s variable costs of production.
FirstEnergy maintains 14 long-term PPAs with NUG entities that were entered into pursuant to PURPA. FirstEnergy was not involved in the creation of, and has no equity or debt invested in, any of these entities. FirstEnergy has determined that for all but one of these NUG entities, it does not have a variable interest or the entities do not meet the criteria to be considered a VIE. FirstEnergy may hold a variable interest in the remaining one entity; however, it applied the scope exception that exempts enterprises unable to obtain the necessary information to evaluate entities. Because FirstEnergy has no equity or debt interests in the NUG entities, its maximum exposure to loss relates primarily to the above-market costs incurred for power. FirstEnergy expects any above-market costs incurred at its Regulated Distribution segment to be recovered from customers. Purchased power costs related to the contracts that may contain a variable interest during the three months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015 were $22 million and $29 million, respectively, and $78 million and $86 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively.
• | Sale and Leaseback Transactions - OE and FES have obligations that are not included on their Consolidated Balance Sheets related to the Beaver Valley Unit 2 and 2007 Bruce Mansfield Unit 1 sale and leaseback arrangements, respectively, which are satisfied through operating lease payments. FirstEnergy is not the primary beneficiary of these interests as it does not have control over the significant activities affecting the economics of the arrangements. As of September 30, 2016, FirstEnergy's leasehold interest was 2.60% of Beaver Valley Unit 2 and FES' leasehold interest was 93.83% of Bruce Mansfield Unit 1.
On June 24, 2014, OE exercised its irrevocable right to repurchase from the remaining owner participants the lessors' interests in Beaver Valley Unit 2 at the end of the lease term (June 1, 2017), which right to repurchase was assigned to NG. Upon the completion of this transaction, NG will have obtained all of the lessor equity interests at Beaver Valley Unit 2. Therefore, upon the expiration of the Beaver Valley Unit 2 leases, NG will be the sole owner of Beaver Valley Unit 2 and entitled to 100% of the unit's output. On May 23, 2016, NG completed the purchase of the 3.75% lessor equity interests of the remaining non-affiliated leasehold interest in Perry Unit 1 for $50 million. In addition, the Perry Unit 1 leases expired in accordance with their terms on May 30, 2016, resulting in NG being the sole owner of Perry Unit 1 and entitled to 100% of the unit's output. Thereafter, OE transferred its NDT assets and related ARO to NG associated with Perry Unit 1. See Note 10, Asset Retirement Obligations, for additional information. FES and other FE subsidiaries are exposed to losses under their applicable sale and leaseback agreements upon the occurrence of certain contingent events. The maximum exposure under these provisions represents the net amount of casualty value payments due upon the occurrence of specified casualty events. Net discounted lease payments would not be payable if the casualty loss payments were made. The following table discloses each company’s net exposure to loss based upon the casualty value provisions as of September 30, 2016:
| Maximum Exposure |  | Discounted Lease Payments, net |  | Net Exposure
| (In millions)
FirstEnergy | $ | 1,137 |  |  | $ | 895 |  |  | $ | 242 |
FES | 1,110 |  |  | 887 |  |  | 223 |

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