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REGULATORY ACCOUNTING | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2021
Regulated Operations [Abstract] |
REGULATORY ACCOUNTING | REGULATORY ACCOUNTING Eversource's utility companies are subject to rate regulation that is based on cost recovery and meets the criteria for application of accounting guidance for rate-regulated operations, which considers the effect of regulation on the timing of the recognition of certain revenues and expenses. The regulated companies' financial statements reflect the effects of the rate-making process. The rates charged to the customers of Eversource's regulated companies are designed to collect each company's costs to provide service, plus a return on investment. The application of accounting guidance for rate-regulated enterprises results in recording regulatory assets and liabilities. Regulatory assets represent the deferral of incurred costs that are probable of future recovery in customer rates. Regulatory assets are amortized as the incurred costs are recovered through customer rates. Regulatory liabilities represent either revenues received from customers to fund expected costs that have not yet been incurred or probable future refunds to customers. Management believes it is probable that each of the regulated companies will recover its respective investments in long-lived assets and the regulatory assets that have been recorded. If management were to determine that it could no longer apply the accounting guidance applicable to rate-regulated enterprises, or if management could not conclude it is probable that costs would be recovered from customers in future rates, the applicable costs would be charged to net income in the period in which the determination is made. Regulatory Assets: The components of regulatory assets were as follows:
| As of December 31,
| 2021 |  | 2020
(Millions of Dollars) | Eversource |  | CL&P |  | NSTAR Electric |  | PSNH |  | Eversource |  | CL&P |  | NSTAR Electric |  | PSNH
Benefit Costs | $ | 1,481.0 |  |  | $ | 272.4 |  |  | $ | 395.5 |  |  | $ | 118.9 |  |  | $ | 2,794.2 |  |  | $ | 632.3 |  |  | $ | 690.0 |  |  | $ | 267.6 |
Income Taxes, Net | 790.7 |  |  | 470.5 |  |  | 112.6 |  |  | 17.5 |  |  | 747.1 |  |  | 458.9 |  |  | 110.4 |  |  | 15.2 |
Securitized Stranded Costs | 478.9 |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | 478.9 |  |  | 522.1 |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | 522.1 |
Storm Costs, Net | 1,102.7 |  |  | 695.6 |  |  | 341.3 |  |  | 65.8 |  |  | 765.6 |  |  | 515.1 |  |  | 186.4 |  |  | 64.1 |
Regulatory Tracker Mechanisms | 1,050.5 |  |  | 333.6 |  |  | 376.6 |  |  | 85.4 |  |  | 850.5 |  |  | 246.6 |  |  | 332.2 |  |  | 95.3 |
Derivative Liabilities | 249.2 |  |  | 249.2 |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | 296.3 |  |  | 293.1 |  |  | — |  |  | — |
Goodwill-related | 297.8 |  |  | — |  |  | 255.7 |  |  | — |  |  | 314.7 |  |  | — |  |  | 270.2 |  |  | — |
Asset Retirement Obligations | 115.0 |  |  | 33.6 |  |  | 59.8 |  |  | 4.1 |  |  | 118.4 |  |  | 32.1 |  |  | 58.6 |  |  | 3.9 |
Other Regulatory Assets | 150.0 |  |  | 29.9 |  |  | 37.7 |  |  | 15.8 |  |  | 161.0 |  |  | 33.7 |  |  | 56.1 |  |  | 20.9 |
Total Regulatory Assets | 5,715.8 |  |  | 2,084.8 |  |  | 1,579.2 |  |  | 786.4 |  |  | 6,569.9 |  |  | 2,211.8 |  |  | 1,703.9 |  |  | 989.1 |
Less: Current Portion | 1,129.1 |  |  | 371.6 |  |  | 444.0 |  |  | 107.2 |  |  | 1,076.6 |  |  | 345.6 |  |  | 399.9 |  |  | 115.9 |
Total Long-Term Regulatory Assets | $ | 4,586.7 |  |  | $ | 1,713.2 |  |  | $ | 1,135.2 |  |  | $ | 679.2 |  |  | $ | 5,493.3 |  |  | $ | 1,866.2 |  |  | $ | 1,304.0 |  |  | $ | 873.2 |
Benefit Costs: Eversource's Pension, SERP and PBOP Plans are accounted for in accordance with accounting guidance on defined benefit pension and other PBOP plans. The liability (or asset) recorded by the regulated companies to recognize the funded status of their retiree benefit plans is offset by a regulatory asset (or offset by a regulatory liability in the case of a benefit plan asset) in lieu of a charge to Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income/(Loss), reflecting ultimate recovery from customers through rates. The regulatory asset (or regulatory liability) is amortized as the actuarial gains and losses and prior service cost are amortized to net periodic benefit cost for the pension and PBOP plans. All amounts are remeasured annually. Regulatory accounting is also applied to the portions of Eversource's service company costs that support the regulated companies, as these amounts are also recoverable. As these regulatory assets or regulatory liabilities do not represent a cash outlay for the regulated companies, no carrying charge is recovered from customers. See Note 11A, "Employee Benefits - Pension Benefits and Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pension," for further information on regulatory benefit plan amounts recognized and amortized during the year. CL&P, NSTAR Electric, and PSNH recover benefit costs related to their distribution and transmission operations from customers in rates as allowed by their applicable regulatory commissions. NSTAR Electric recovers qualified pension and PBOP expenses related to its distribution operations through a rate reconciling mechanism that fully tracks the change in net pension and PBOP expenses each year. Income Taxes, Net: The tax effect of temporary book-tax differences (differences between the periods in which transactions affect income in the financial statements and the periods in which they affect the determination of taxable income, including those differences relating to uncertain tax positions) is accounted for in accordance with the rate-making treatment of the applicable regulatory commissions and accounting guidance for income taxes. Differences in income taxes between the accounting guidance and the rate-making treatment of the applicable regulatory commissions are recorded as regulatory assets. As these assets are offset by deferred income tax liabilities, no carrying charge is collected. The amortization period of these assets varies depending on the nature and/or remaining life of the underlying assets and liabilities. For further information regarding income taxes, see Note 12, "Income Taxes," to the financial statements. Securitized Stranded Costs: In 2018, a subsidiary of PSNH issued $635.7 million of securitized RRBs to finance PSNH's unrecovered remaining costs associated with the divestiture of its generation assets. Securitized regulatory assets, which are not earning an equity return, are being recovered over the amortization period of the associated RRBs. The PSNH RRBs are expected to be repaid by February 1, 2033. For further information, see Note 10, "Rate Reduction Bonds and Variable Interest Entities." Storm Costs, Net: The storm cost deferrals relate to costs incurred for storm events at CL&P, NSTAR Electric and PSNH that each company expects to recover from customers. A storm must meet certain criteria to qualify for deferral and recovery with the criteria specific to each state jurisdiction and utility company. Once a storm qualifies for recovery, all qualifying expenses incurred during storm restoration efforts are deferred and recovered from customers. Costs for storms that do not meet the specific criteria are expensed as incurred. In addition to storm restoration costs, CL&P and PSNH are each allowed to recover pre-staging storm costs. Management believes all storm costs deferred were prudently incurred and meet the criteria for specific cost recovery in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and that recovery from customers is probable through the applicable regulatory recovery processes. Each electric utility company either recovers a carrying charge on its deferred storm cost regulatory asset balance or the regulatory asset balance is included in rate base. In 2021 and 2020, multiple tropical and severe storms caused extensive damage to CL&P’s electric distribution systems and customer outages, along with significant pre-staging costs. These storms resulted in deferred pre-staging and storm restoration costs at CL&P of $232 million for 2021 storms and $344 million for 2020 storms, including the catastrophic impact of Tropical Storm Isaias in August 2020, among others. Management believes that all of these storm costs were prudently incurred and meet the criteria for specific cost recovery. As part of CL&P’s October 1, 2021 settlement agreement described below, it agreed to freeze its current base distribution rates (including storm costs) until no earlier than January 1, 2024. Of Eversource’s total deferred storm costs, $1.01 billion either has yet to be filed with the applicable regulatory commission or is pending regulatory approval (including $643 million at CL&P, $308 million at NSTAR Electric and $61 million at PSNH) as of December 31, 2021. CL&P Tropical Storm Isaias Costs: On August 4, 2020, Tropical Storm Isaias caused catastrophic damage to our electric distribution system, which resulted in significant numbers and durations of customer outages, primarily in Connecticut. In terms of customer outages, this storm was one of the worst in CL&P’s history. PURA will investigate the prudency of costs incurred by CL&P to restore service in response to Tropical Storm Isaias. That investigation is expected to occur either in a separate proceeding not yet initiated or as part of CL&P’s next rate review proceeding. Tropical Storm Isaias resulted in deferred storm restoration costs of approximately $234 million at CL&P and $251 million at Eversource as of December 31, 2021. Although PURA found that CL&P’s performance in its preparation for and response to Tropical Storm Isaias fell below applicable performance standards in certain instances, CL&P believes it will be able to present credible evidence in a future proceeding demonstrating there is no reasonably close causal connection between the alleged sub-standard performance and the storm costs incurred. While it is possible that some amount of storm costs may be disallowed by the PURA in a future proceeding, any such amount cannot be estimated at this time. Eversource and CL&P continue to believe that these storm restoration costs associated with Tropical Storm Isaias were prudently incurred and meet the criteria for cost recovery; and as a result, management does not expect the storm cost review by the PURA to have a material impact on the financial position or results of operations of Eversource or CL&P. NSTAR Electric Storm Threshold Filing: On December 22, 2021, the DPU approved NSTAR Electric to defer for future recovery the storm cost threshold amounts associated with six qualifying major storm events that occurred during 2020, totaling $7.2 million. The DPU approved the deferral of threshold costs that exceeded four storms (those recovered in base rates plus one additional storm) until the next rate case proceeding, at which time the DPU will determine the appropriate level of recovery of storm threshold amounts. In its January 14, 2022 distribution rate case filing, NSTAR Electric is also seeking recovery of the deferral of threshold costs for an additional seven storms in 2021. The pre-tax benefit to earnings for the deferral as a regulatory asset of threshold costs for both the 2020 and 2021 major storms was $15.6 million and was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021. Regulatory Tracker Mechanisms: The regulated companies' approved rates are designed to recover costs incurred to provide service to customers. The regulated companies recover certain of their costs on a fully-reconciling basis through regulatory commission-approved tracking mechanisms. The differences between the costs incurred (or the rate recovery allowed) and the actual revenues are recorded as regulatory assets (for undercollections) or as regulatory liabilities (for overcollections) to be included in future customer rates each year. Carrying charges are recovered in rates on all material regulatory tracker mechanisms. The electric and natural gas distribution companies recover, on a fully reconciling basis, the costs associated with the procurement of energy supply, electric transmission related costs from FERC-approved transmission tariffs, energy efficiency programs, low income assistance programs, certain uncollectible accounts receivable for hardship customers, restructuring and stranded costs as a result of deregulation (including securitized RRB charges), certain capital tracking mechanisms for infrastructure improvements, and additionally for the Massachusetts utilities, pension and PBOP benefits, net metering for distributed generation, and solar-related programs. CL&P, NSTAR Electric, Yankee Gas, NSTAR Gas, EGMA and the Aquarion Water Company of Connecticut each have a regulatory commission approved revenue decoupling mechanism. Distribution revenues are decoupled from customer sales volumes, where applicable, which breaks the relationship between sales volumes and revenues. Each company reconciles its annual base distribution rate recovery amount to the pre-established levels of baseline distribution delivery service revenues. Any difference between the allowed level of distribution revenue and the actual amount realized during a 12-month period is adjusted through rates in the following period. CL&P Rate Adjustment Mechanisms (RAM) Filing: On July 31, 2020, PURA temporarily suspended its June 26, 2020 approval of certain delivery rate components effective July 1, 2020, and ordered CL&P to restore rates to those in effect as of June 30, 2020 in order to allow PURA time to reexamine the rates. Rates were adjusted effective August 1, 2020. On September 15, 2021, PURA issued its final decision in the 2020 RAM reconciliation filing, which required no adjustment to the GSC, BFMCC, NBFMCC, SBC, CTA, ESI and base distribution rates, but resulted in changes to the TAC and RDM rates effective October 1, 2021. As part of this decision, PURA also approved the recovery of cumulative under-recoveries associated with the NBMFCC, TAC, and RDM of $193 million effective October 1, 2021. The NBFMCC and TAC under-recoveries will be recovered over a 31-month period and the RDM under-recovery will be recovered over a 15-month period. Derivative Liabilities: Regulatory assets are recorded as an offset to derivative liabilities and relate to the fair value of contracts used to purchase energy and energy-related products that will be recovered from customers in future rates. These assets are excluded from rate base and are being recovered as the actual settlements occur over the duration of the contracts. See Note 4, "Derivative Instruments," to the financial statements for further information on these contracts. Goodwill-related: The goodwill regulatory asset originated from a 1999 transaction, and the DPU allowed its recovery in NSTAR Electric and NSTAR Gas rates. This regulatory asset is currently being amortized and recovered from customers in rates without a carrying charge over a 40-year period, and as of December 31, 2021, there were 18 years of amortization remaining. Asset Retirement Obligations: The costs associated with the depreciation of the regulated companies' ARO assets and accretion of the ARO liabilities are recorded as regulatory assets in accordance with regulatory accounting guidance. The regulated companies' ARO assets, regulatory assets, and ARO liabilities offset and are excluded from rate base. These costs are being recovered over the life of the underlying property, plant and equipment. Other Regulatory Assets: Other Regulatory Assets primarily include environmental remediation costs, losses associated with the reacquisition or redemption of long-term debt, certain uncollectible accounts receivable for hardship customers, certain merger-related costs allowed for recovery, contractual obligations associated with the spent nuclear fuel storage costs of the CYAPC, YAEC and MYAPC decommissioned nuclear power facilities, water tank painting costs, and various other items. Regulatory Costs in Long-Term Assets: Eversource's regulated companies had $252.5 million (including $114.9 million for CL&P, $85.0 million for NSTAR Electric and $3.4 million for PSNH) and $196.9 million (including $84.1 million for CL&P, $69.8 million for NSTAR Electric and $4.3 million for PSNH) of additional regulatory costs as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, that were included in long-term assets on the balance sheets. These amounts represent incurred costs for which recovery has not yet been specifically approved by the applicable regulatory agency. However, based on regulatory policies or past precedent on similar costs, management believes it is probable that these costs will ultimately be approved and recovered from customers in rates. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, these regulatory costs included net incremental COVID-19 related costs deferred of $39.8 million and $24.0 million at Eversource, respectively, of which, $33.0 million and $15.8 million related to non-tracked uncollectible expense and the remainder related to facilities and fleet cleaning, sanitizing costs and supplies for personal protective equipment. Net incremental COVID-19 related costs deferred at CL&P and NSTAR Electric totaled $19.0 million and $11.2 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2021 and $4.7 million and $11.9 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2020, and primarily related to deferred non-tracked uncollectible expense. Equity Return on Regulatory Assets: For rate-making purposes, the regulated companies recover the carrying costs related to their regulatory assets. For certain regulatory assets, the carrying cost recovered includes an equity return component. This equity return is not recorded on the balance sheets. There was no equity return for CL&P as of December 31, 2021 and $0.2 million as of December 31, 2020. The equity return for PSNH was $5.0 million and $5.1 million as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. These carrying costs will be recovered from customers in future rates. Regulatory Liabilities: The components of regulatory liabilities were as follows:
| As of December 31,
| 2021 |  | 2020
(Millions of Dollars) | Eversource |  | CL&P |  | NSTAR Electric |  | PSNH |  | Eversource |  | CL&P |  | NSTAR Electric |  | PSNH
EDIT due to Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 | $ | 2,685.2 |  |  | $ | 996.1 |  |  | $ | 984.5 |  |  | $ | 359.2 |  |  | $ | 2,778.6 |  |  | $ | 1,010.7 |  |  | $ | 1,044.0 |  |  | $ | 371.5 |
Cost of Removal | 649.6 |  |  | 100.1 |  |  | 381.0 |  |  | 17.2 |  |  | 624.8 |  |  | 98.4 |  |  | 363.6 |  |  | 12.9 |
Benefit Costs | 133.5 |  |  | — |  |  | 107.4 |  |  | — |  |  | 83.6 |  |  | — |  |  | 72.5 |  |  | — |
Regulatory Tracker Mechanisms | 448.4 |  |  | 182.0 |  |  | 185.1 |  |  | 107.0 |  |  | 366.5 |  |  | 148.9 |  |  | 139.7 |  |  | 47.8 |
AFUDC - Transmission | 81.0 |  |  | 43.2 |  |  | 37.8 |  |  | — |  |  | 76.8 |  |  | 44.6 |  |  | 32.2 |  |  | — |
CL&P Settlement Agreement and Storm Performance Penalty | 81.3 |  |  | 81.3 |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |
Other Regulatory Liabilities | 389.7 |  |  | 57.1 |  |  | 91.5 |  |  | 18.2 |  |  | 309.9 |  |  | 39.5 |  |  | 63.2 |  |  | 9.8 |
Total Regulatory Liabilities | 4,468.7 |  |  | 1,459.8 |  |  | 1,787.3 |  |  | 501.6 |  |  | 4,240.2 |  |  | 1,342.1 |  |  | 1,715.2 |  |  | 442.0 |
Less: Current Portion | 602.4 |  |  | 266.5 |  |  | 228.2 |  |  | 120.2 |  |  | 389.4 |  |  | 137.2 |  |  | 164.8 |  |  | 58.8 |
Total Long-Term Regulatory Liabilities | $ | 3,866.3 |  |  | $ | 1,193.3 |  |  | $ | 1,559.1 |  |  | $ | 381.4 |  |  | $ | 3,850.8 |  |  | $ | 1,204.9 |  |  | $ | 1,550.4 |  |  | $ | 383.2 |
EDIT due to Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017: Pursuant to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Eversource had remeasured its existing deferred federal income tax balances to reflect the decrease in the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. The remeasurement resulted in provisional regulated excess accumulated deferred income tax (excess ADIT or EDIT) liabilities that will benefit our customers in future periods and were recognized as regulatory liabilities on the balance sheet. EDIT liabilities related to property, plant, and equipment are subject to IRS normalization rules and will be returned to customers using the same timing as the remaining useful lives of the underlying assets that gave rise to the ADIT liabilities. Eversource's regulated companies (except for the Connecticut water business) are in the process of refunding the EDIT liabilities to customers based on orders issued by applicable state and federal regulatory commissions. Cost of Removal: Eversource's regulated companies currently recover amounts in rates for future costs of removal of plant assets over the lives of the assets. The estimated cost to remove utility assets from service is recognized as a component of depreciation expense, and the cumulative amount collected from customers but not yet expended is recognized as a regulatory liability. AFUDC - Transmission: Regulatory liabilities were recorded by CL&P and NSTAR Electric for AFUDC accrued on certain reliability-related transmission projects to reflect local rate base recovery. These regulatory liabilities will be amortized over the depreciable life of the related transmission assets. CL&P Settlement Agreement and Storm Performance Penalty: On April 28, 2021, PURA issued a final decision on CL&P’s compliance with its emergency response plan that concluded CL&P failed to comply with certain storm performance standards and was imprudent in certain instances. The $28.4 million performance penalty assessed by the PURA was recorded within current regulatory liabilities on CL&P’s balance sheet and is currently being credited to customers on electric bills beginning on September 1, 2021 over a one-year period. On October 1, 2021, CL&P entered into a settlement agreement with the DEEP, Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC), Office of the Attorney General (AG) and the Connecticut Industrial Energy Consumers, resolving certain issues that arose in then-pending regulatory proceedings initiated by the PURA. PURA approved the settlement agreement on October 27, 2021. CL&P recorded a current regulatory liability of $75 million on the balance sheet associated with the provisions of the settlement agreement. Customer credits of $65 million were distributed based on customer sales over a two-month billing period from December 1, 2021 to January 31, 2022. CL&P also agreed to irrevocably set aside $10 million to provide bill payment assistance to certain existing non-hardship and hardship customers carrying arrearages, with the objective of disbursing the funds prior to April 30, 2022. The balance reflected in the table above represents the remaining reserve that has not yet been issued as customer credits or paid out of the fund as of December 31, 2021. See Note 13G, “Commitments and Contingencies - CL&P Regulatory Matters,” for further information. Other Regulatory Liabilities: Other Regulatory Liabilities primarily include the deferred portion of the non-service components of net periodic benefit expense/(income) for the Pension, SERP and PBOP Plans, EGMA’s acquired regulatory liability as a result of the 2020 DPU-approved rate settlement agreement and the CMA asset acquisition on October 9, 2020, and various other items. FERC ROE Complaints: As of December 31, 2021, Eversource has a reserve established for the second ROE complaint period in the pending FERC ROE complaint proceedings, which was recorded as a regulatory liability and is reflected within Regulatory Tracker Mechanisms in the table above. The cumulative pre-tax reserve (excluding interest) as of December 31, 2021 totaled $39.1 million for Eversource (including $21.4 million for CL&P, $14.6 million for NSTAR Electric and $3.1 million for PSNH). See Note 13E, "Commitments and Contingencies – FERC ROE Complaints," for further information on developments in the pending ROE complaint proceedings.

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