XML 32 R22.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.22.2.2
Pension And Other Postretirement Benefits
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2022
Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Cost (Reversal of Cost) [Abstract]  
Pension And Other Postretirement Benefits
We provide defined contribution plans and noncontributory defined benefit retirement plans that cover certain of our employees. Benefits under the defined benefit retirement plans reflect the employees' compensation, years of service and age at retirement. Additionally, we provide health care and life insurance benefits for certain retired employees. The majority of employees may become eligible for these benefits if they reach retirement age while working for us. The expected cost of such benefits is accrued during the employees' years of service. We determined that, for certain rate-regulated subsidiaries, the future recovery of postretirement benefit costs is probable, and we record regulatory assets and liabilities for amounts that would otherwise have been recorded to expense or accumulated other comprehensive loss. Current rates of rate-regulated companies include postretirement benefit costs, including amortization of the regulatory assets and liabilities that arose prior to inclusion of these costs in rates. For most plans, cash contributions are remitted to grantor trusts.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2022, we contributed $2.1 million to our pension plans and $15.9 million to our OPEB plans.
The following table provides the components of the plans' actuarially determined net periodic benefit cost for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021:
Pension BenefitsOPEB
Three Months Ended September 30, (in millions)
2022202120222021
Components of Net Periodic Benefit (Income) Cost(1)
Service cost$6.8 $7.5 $1.6 $1.5 
Interest cost10.7 7.9 3.0 2.5 
Expected return on assets(22.6)(25.2)(4.0)(3.8)
Amortization of prior service credit— — (0.6)(0.6)
Recognized actuarial loss5.6 5.5 0.7 1.2 
Settlement loss3.0 2.9 — — 
Total Net Periodic Benefit (Income) Cost $3.5 $(1.4)$0.7 $0.8 
(1)The service cost component and all non-service cost components of net periodic benefit (income) cost are presented in "Operation and maintenance" and "Other, net," respectively, on the Condensed Statements of Consolidated Income (unaudited).
Pension BenefitsOPEB
Nine Months Ended September 30, (in millions)
2022202120222021
Components of Net Periodic Benefit (Income) Cost(1)
Service cost$20.9 $22.6 $4.8 $4.5 
Interest cost29.9 23.5 9.0 7.5 
Expected return on assets(68.3)(76.3)(12.0)(11.4)
Amortization of prior service credit— — (1.8)(1.8)
Recognized actuarial loss14.9 16.3 2.1 3.6 
Settlement loss9.3 9.5 — — 
Total Net Periodic Benefit (Income) Cost $6.7 $(4.4)$2.1 $2.4 
(1)The service cost component and all non-service cost components of net periodic benefit (income) cost are presented in "Operation and maintenance" and "Other, net," respectively, on the Condensed Statements of Consolidated Income (unaudited).
As of May 31, 2022, one of our qualified pension plans met the requirement for settlement accounting. A settlement charge of $6.3 million was recorded during the second quarter of 2022. As a result of the settlement, the pension plan was remeasured, resulting in a decrease to the net pension asset of $39.8 million, a net increase to regulatory assets of $30.0 million, and a net debit to accumulated other comprehensive loss of $3.5 million. Net periodic pension benefit cost for 2022 increased by $5.7 million as a result of the interim remeasurement.
For the interim remeasurement, the discount rate used to calculate the remeasured plan's pension benefit obligation was updated to 4.13% from 2.60% at December 31, 2021. At the time of the interim remeasurement, we also updated the discount rates and expected return on assets used to calculate net periodic pension benefit costs in 2022. Our discount rates for service and interest costs, respectively, were updated to 4.30% and 3.64% from 2.85% and 1.90% at January 1, 2022. The expected return on assets assumption was updated to 5.70% from 4.80% at January 1, 2022.
During the third quarter of 2022, the requirements for settlement accounting were also met, resulting in a settlement charge of $3.0 million for the three months ended September 30, 2022.