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Equity Investments | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2018
Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures [Abstract] |
Equity Investments [Text Block] | INVESTMENTS Investment in ATC. Our wholly-owned subsidiary, ALLETE Transmission Holdings, owns approximately 8 percent of ATC, a Wisconsin-based utility that owns and maintains electric transmission assets in portions of Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois. We account for our investment in ATC under the equity method of accounting. As of December 31, 2018, our equity investment in ATC was $128.1 million ($118.7 million as of December 31, 2017). On January 31, 2019, we invested an additional $0.4 million in ATC. In total, we expect to invest approximately $8.5 million in 2019.
ALLETE’s Investment in ATC |  |
Year Ended December 31 | 2018 |  | 2017 |
Millions |  |
Equity Investment Beginning Balance |  | $118.7 |  |  | $135.6 |
Cash Investments | 6.2 |  | 7.8 |
Equity in ATC Earnings | 17.5 |  | 22.5 |
Distributed ATC Earnings | (15.2 | ) | (19.3 | )
Remeasurement of Deferred Income Taxes (a) | — |  | (27.9 | )
Amortization of the Remeasurement of Deferred Income Taxes | 0.9 |  | — |
Equity Investment Ending Balance |  | $128.1 |  |  | $118.7 |
(a) | Impact of the remeasurement of deferred income tax assets and liabilities resulting from the TCJA.
ATC Summarized Financial Data |  |
Balance Sheet Data |  |
As of December 31 | 2018 |  | 2017 |
Millions |  |
Current Assets |  | $87.2 |  |  | $87.7 |
Non-Current Assets | 4,928.8 |  | 4,598.9 |
Total Assets |  | $5,016.0 |  |  | $4,686.6 |
Current Liabilities |  | $640.0 |  |  | $767.2 |
Long-Term Debt | 2,014.0 |  | 1,790.6 |
Other Non-Current Liabilities | 295.3 |  | 240.3 |
Members’ Equity | 2,066.7 |  | 1,888.5 |
Total Liabilities and Members’ Equity |  | $5,016.0 |  |  | $4,686.6 |
Income Statement Data |  |  |
Year Ended December 31 | 2018 |  | 2017 |  | 2016 |
Millions |  |  |
Revenue |  | $690.5 |  |  | $721.6 |  |  | $650.8 |
Operating Expense | 358.7 |  | 344.9 |  | 322.5 |
Other Expense | 108.3 |  | 104.1 |  | 95.5 |
Net Income |  | $223.5 |  |  | $272.6 |  |  | $232.8 |
ALLETE’s Equity in Net Income |  | $17.5 |  |  | $22.5 |  |  | $18.5 |
ATC’s authorized return on equity is 10.32 percent, or 10.82 percent including an incentive adder for participation in a regional transmission organization. In 2016, a federal administrative law judge ruled on a complaint proposing a reduction in the base return on equity to 9.70 percent, or 10.20 percent including an incentive adder for participation in a regional transmission organization, subject to approval or adjustment by the FERC. A final decision from the FERC on the administrative law judge’s recommendation is pending. NOTE 5. EQUITY INVESTMENTS (Continued) Investment in Nobles 2. On December 27, 2018, our wholly-owned subsidiary, ALLETE South Wind, entered into a partnership agreement with Tenaska to purchase a 49 percent equity interest in Nobles 2, the entity that will own and operate a 250 MW wind energy facility in southwestern Minnesota pursuant to a 20-year PPA with Minnesota Power. The wind energy facility will be built in Nobles County, Minnesota and is expected to be completed in late 2020, with an estimated total project cost of approximately $350 million to $400 million of which our portion is expected to be approximately $170 million to $200 million. We expect to utilize tax equity to finance a portion of our project costs, with an ALLETE expected equity investment of approximately $60 million to $70 million. We account for our investment in Nobles 2 under the equity method of accounting. As of December 31, 2018, our equity investment in Nobles 2 was $33.0 million.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for equity method investments and joint ventures. Equity method investments are investments that give the investor the ability to exercise significant influence over the operating and financial policies of an investee. Joint ventures are entities owned and operated by a small group of businesses as a separate and specific business or project for the mutual benefit of the members of the group. + References Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 323 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2196965 + Details
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