Equity Investments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures [Abstract]

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. On January 31, 2022, we invested an additional $2.7 million in ATC. In total, we expect to invest approximately $6.0 million in 2022.


ALLETE’s Investment in ATC
Year Ended December 31	2021	2020
Millions
Equity Investment Beginning Balance	$149.0	$141.6
Cash Investments	—	2.7
Equity in ATC Earnings	21.3	22.3
Distributed ATC Earnings	(17.2)	(18.9)

Amortization of the Remeasurement of Deferred Income Taxes	1.4	1.3
Equity Investment Ending Balance	$154.5	$149.0


ATC Summarized Financial Data
Balance Sheet Data
As of December 31	2021	2020
Millions
Current Assets	$89.8	$92.8
Non-Current Assets	5,628.1	5,400.5
Total Assets	$5,717.9	$5,493.3
Current Liabilities	$436.9	$310.8
Long-Term Debt	2,513.0	2,512.2
Other Non-Current Liabilities	422.0	378.2
Members’ Equity	2,346.0	2,292.1
Total Liabilities and Members’ Equity	$5,717.9	$5,493.3


Income Statement Data
Year Ended December 31	2021	2020	2019
Millions
Revenue	$754.8	$758.1	$744.4
Operating Expense	376.2	372.4	373.5
Other Expense	113.9	110.9	110.5
Net Income	$264.7	$274.8	$260.4
ALLETE’s Equity in Net Income	$21.3	$22.3	$21.7

ATC’s authorized return on equity is 10.02 percent, or 10.52 percent including an incentive adder for participation in a regional transmission organization, based on a 2020 FERC order that granted rehearing of a 2019 FERC order. These FERC orders are subject to various outstanding legal challenges related to the refund period ordered by the FERC. If these legal challenges are successful, ATC may be required to provide refunds to its customers of up to approximately $65 million of which our share would be approximately $5 million pre-tax. In addition, the FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in April 2021 proposing to limit the 50 basis point incentive adder for participation in a regional transmission organization to only the first three years of membership in such an organization. If this proposal is adopted, our equity in earnings from ATC would be reduced by approximately $1 million pre-tax annually.

NOTE 5. EQUITY INVESTMENTS (Continued)

Investment in Nobles 2. Our subsidiary, ALLETE South Wind, owns a 49 percent equity interest in Nobles 2, the entity that owns and operates 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.


ALLETE’s Investment in Nobles 2
Millions
Equity Investment Balance as of December 31, 2020			$152.2
Cash Investments			17.6
Equity in Nobles 2 Earnings (a)			(1.3)
Distributed Nobles 2 Earnings			(5.0)
Equity Investment Balance as of December 31, 2021			$163.5

(a)The Company also recorded net loss attributable to non-controlling interest of $6.6 million related to its investment in Nobles 2.