XML 26 R13.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Fair Value Accounting under ASC 820

ASC 820 establishes a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value into three levels as follows:

•Level 1—quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the Company has the ability to access as of the measurement date.

•Level 2—inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are directly observable for the asset or liability or indirectly observable through corroboration with observable market data.

•Level 3—unobservable inputs for the asset or liability only used when there is little, if any, market activity for the asset or liability at the measurement date.

In accordance with ASC 820, the Company determines the level in the fair value hierarchy within which each fair value measurement in its entirety falls, based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement.

For cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, accounts receivable, accounts receivable - affiliate, accounts payable, accounts payable - affiliate, accrued expenses and other liabilities, the carrying amounts approximate fair value because of the short-term maturity of those instruments and are classified as Level 1 within the fair value hierarchy.

The estimated carrying amounts and fair values of the Company’s recorded financial instruments not carried at fair market value are as follows:


	As of September 30, 2020				As of December 31, 2019
	Carrying Amount		Fair Value		Carrying Amount		Fair Value
(In millions)




Long-term debt, including current portion (a)	$	6,797	$	6,873	$	6,858	$	6,957

(a) Excludes net debt issuance costs, which are recorded as a reduction to long-term debt on the Company's consolidated balance sheets.

The fair value of the Company's publicly-traded long-term debt is based on quoted market prices and is classified as Level 2 within the fair value hierarchy. The fair value of non-publicly traded long-term debt of the Company are based on expected future cash flows discounted at market interest rates, or current interest rates for similar instruments with equivalent credit quality and are classified as Level 3 within the fair value hierarchy. The following table presents the level within the fair value hierarchy for long-term debt, including current portion as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019:


	As of September 30, 2020				As of December 31, 2019
	Level 2		Level 3		Level 2		Level 3
	(In millions)
Long-term debt, including current portion	$	1,874	$	4,999	$	1,736	$	5,221

Recurring Fair Value Measurements

The Company records its derivative assets and liabilities at fair value on its consolidated balance sheet. The following table presents assets and liabilities measured and recorded at fair value on the Company's consolidated balance sheets on a recurring basis and their level within the fair value hierarchy:


	As of September 30, 2020				As of December 31, 2019
	Fair Value (a)				Fair Value (a)
(In millions)	Level 2		Level 3			Level 2		Level 3




Derivative liabilities:
Commodity contracts	$	—	$	17		$	—	$	9
Interest rate contracts	169		—			83		—
Total liabilities	$	169	$	17		$	83	$	9

(a) There were no derivative assets classified as Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3 and no liabilities classified as Level 1 as of September 30, 2020 and as of December 31, 2019.

The following table reconciles the beginning and ending balances for instruments that are recognized at fair value in the condensed consolidated financial statements using significant unobservable inputs:


	Three months ended September 30,				Nine months ended September 30,
	2020		2019		2020		2019
(In millions)	Fair Value Measurement Using Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)				Fair Value Measurement Using Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Beginning balance	$	(17)	$	(7)	$	(9)	$	—
Total losses for the period included in earnings	—		(2)		(8)		(2)
Purchases	—		—		—		(7)
Ending balance	$	(17)	$	(9)	$	(17)	$	(9)
Change in unrealized losses included in earnings for derivatives held as of September 30, 2020	$	—			$	8

Derivative Fair Value Measurements

The Company's contracts are non-exchange-traded and valued using prices provided by external sources. For some of the Company’s energy contracts, management receives quotes from multiple sources. To the extent that multiple quotes are received, the prices reflect the average of the bid-ask mid-point prices obtained from all sources believed to provide the most liquid market for the commodity. The remainder of the assets and liabilities represent contracts for which external sources or observable market quotes are not available. These contracts are valued based on various valuation techniques including, but not limited to, internal models based on a fundamental analysis of the market and extrapolation of the observable market data with similar characteristics. As of September 30, 2020, contracts valued with prices provided by models and other valuation techniques make up 9% of derivative liabilities.

The Company’s significant position classified as Level 3 includes physical power executed in illiquid markets. The significant unobservable inputs used in developing fair value include illiquid power tenors and location pricing, which is derived by extrapolating pricing and as a basis to liquid locations. The tenor pricing and basis spread are based on observable market data when available or derived from historic prices and forward market prices from similar observable markets when not available.

The following tables quantify the significant unobservable inputs used in developing the fair value of the Company's Level 3 positions as of September 30, 2020:

September 30, 2020

Fair Value

Input/Range

Assets

Liabilities

Valuation Technique

Significant Unobservable Input

Low

High

Weighted Average

(In millions)

Power Contracts

—

(17)

Discounted Cash Flow

Forward Market Price (per MWh)

9.21

37.46

16.32

The following table provides sensitivity of fair value measurements to increases/(decreases) in significant unobservable inputs as of September 30, 2020:


Significant Observable Input	Position	Change In Input	Impact on Fair Value Measurement
Forward Market Price Power	Buy	Increase/(Decrease)	Higher/(Lower)
Forward Market Price Power	Sell	Increase/(Decrease)	Lower/(Higher)

The fair value of each contract is discounted using a risk-free interest rate. In addition, a credit reserve is applied to reflect credit risk, which is, for interest rate swaps, calculated based on credit default swaps using the bilateral method. For commodities, to the extent that the net exposure under a specific master agreement is an asset, the Company uses the counterparty’s default swap rate. If the net exposure under a specific master agreement is a liability, the Company uses a proxy of its own default swap rate. For interest rate swaps and commodities, the credit reserve is added to the discounted fair value to reflect the exit price that a market participant would be willing to receive to assume the liabilities or that a market participant would be willing to pay for the assets. As of September 30, 2020, the non-performance reserve was a $10 million gain recorded primarily in interest expense in the consolidated statements of operations. It is possible that future market prices could vary from those used in recording assets and liabilities and such variations could be material.

Concentration of Credit Risk

In addition to the credit risk discussion in Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, to the consolidated financial statements included in the Company's 2019 Form 10-K, the following is a discussion of the concentration of credit risk for the Company's financial instruments. Credit risk relates to the risk of loss resulting from non-performance or non-payment by counterparties pursuant to the terms of their contractual obligations. The Company monitors and manages credit risk through credit policies that include: (i) an established credit approval process; (ii) monitoring of counterparties' credit limits; (iii) the use of credit mitigation measures such as margin, collateral, prepayment arrangements, or volumetric limits; (iv) the use of payment netting agreements; and (v) the use of master netting agreements that allow for the netting of positive and negative exposures of various contracts associated with a single counterparty. Risks surrounding counterparty performance and credit could ultimately impact the amount and timing of expected cash flows. The Company seeks to mitigate counterparty risk by having a diversified portfolio of counterparties.

Counterparty credit exposure includes credit risk exposure under certain long-term agreements, including solar and other PPAs. As external sources or observable market quotes are not available to estimate such exposure, the Company estimates the exposure related to these contracts based on various techniques including, but not limited to, internal models based on a fundamental analysis of the market and extrapolation of observable market data with similar characteristics. The majority of these power contracts are with utilities with strong credit quality and public utility commission or other regulatory support. However, such regulated utility counterparties can be impacted by changes in government regulations or adverse financial conditions, which the Company is unable to predict.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the fair value of financial instruments (as defined), including financial assets and financial liabilities (collectively, as defined), and the measurements of those instruments as well as disclosures related to the fair value of non-financial assets and liabilities. Such disclosures about the financial instruments, assets, and liabilities would include: (1) the fair value of the required items together with their carrying amounts (as appropriate); (2) for items for which it is not practicable to estimate fair value, disclosure would include: (a) information pertinent to estimating fair value (including, carrying amount, effective interest rate, and maturity, and (b) the reasons why it is not practicable to estimate fair value; (3) significant concentrations of credit risk including: (a) information about the activity, region, or economic characteristics identifying a concentration, (b) the maximum amount of loss the entity is exposed to based on the gross fair value of the related item, (c) policy for requiring collateral or other security and information as to accessing such collateral or security, and (d) the nature and brief description of such collateral or security; (4) quantitative information about market risks and how such risks are managed; (5) for items measured on both a recurring and nonrecurring basis information regarding the inputs used to develop the fair value measurement; and (6) for items presented in the financial statement for which fair value measurement is elected: (a) information necessary to understand the reasons for the election, (b) discussion of the effect of fair value changes on earnings, (c) a description of [similar groups] items for which the election is made and the relation thereof to the balance sheet, the aggregate carrying value of items included in the balance sheet that are not eligible for the election; (7) all other required (as defined) and desired information.

+ References + Details