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Equity Investments | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2019
Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures [Abstract] |
Investment in ATC [Text Block] | EQUITY 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. In the three months ended March 31, 2019, we invested $0.4 million in ATC, and on April 30, 2019, we invested an additional $2.3 million. We expect to make $5.8 million in additional investments in 2019.
ALLETE’s Investment in ATC |
Millions |
Equity Investment Balance as of December 31, 2018 |  | $128.1 |
Cash Investments | 0.4 |
Equity in ATC Earnings | 5.6 |
Distributed ATC Earnings | (4.4 | )
Amortization of the Remeasurement of Deferred Income Taxes | 0.3 |
Equity Investment Balance as of March 31, 2019 |  | $130.0 |
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. NOTE 3. EQUITY INVESTMENTS (Continued) Investment in ATC (Continued) 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. Investment in Nobles 2. Our wholly-owned subsidiary, ALLETE South Wind, owns 49 percent of 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. We account for our investment in Nobles 2 under the equity method of accounting. As of March 31, 2019, our equity investment in Nobles 2 was $24.8 million ($33.0 million at December 31, 2018). In the first quarter of 2019, Nobles 2 returned capital of $8.3 million based on its cash needs.

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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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