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Postretirement Health Care and Life Insurance Benefits
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2025
Retirement Benefits [Abstract]  
Compensation and Employee Benefit Plans
The Company currently provides health care and life insurance benefits to qualifying salaried and hourly retirees of its current and certain former subsidiaries and their dependents from benefit plans established by the Company. Plan coverage for health benefits is provided to future hourly and salaried retirees in accordance with the applicable plan document. Life insurance benefits are provided to future represented hourly retirees in accordance with the Company’s benefit plans and any applicable labor agreement.
Net periodic postretirement benefit credit included the following components:
 Year Ended December 31,
 202520242023
 (Dollars in millions)
Service cost for benefits earned$0.3 $0.5 $0.5 
Interest cost on accumulated postretirement benefit obligation7.8 9.1 10.2 
Expected return on plan assets(0.3)(0.4)(0.5)
Amortization of prior service credit(40.8)(53.0)(53.8)
Net actuarial gain(8.5)(17.0)(2.6)
Net periodic postretirement benefit credit$(41.5)$(60.8)$(46.2)
The actuarial gain for all benefit plans in 2025 was primarily due to favorable impact of claims experience and favorable expected future claims costs, based upon recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services direct subsidy announcements, offset by the decrease in discount rate used to measure the benefit obligation and increase in medical trend rate. The actuarial gain for all benefit plans in 2024 was primarily due to the increase in the discount rate used to measure the benefit obligation and favorable impact of claims experience for the year. The actuarial gain for all benefit plans in 2023 was primarily due to favorable impact of claims experience for the year offset by the decrease in the discount rate used to measure the benefit obligation.
The following includes pretax amounts recorded in “Accumulated other comprehensive income”:
 Year Ended December 31,
 202520242023
 (Dollars in millions)
Prior service credit arising during year$— $(6.5)$— 
Amortization: 
Prior service credit40.8 53.0 53.8 
Total recorded in “Accumulated other comprehensive income”
$40.8 $46.5 $53.8 
The Company amortizes prior service credit over an amortization period of the average remaining service period to full eligibility for participating employees at the time of the plan change or the expected lifetime of participants in the plan. A prior service credit established during 2024 is described below. The estimated prior service credit that will be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive income into net periodic postretirement benefit cost during the year ending December 31, 2026 is $11.4 million.
The following table sets forth the plans’ funded status reconciled with the amounts shown in the consolidated balance sheets:
 
December 31,
 20252024
 (Dollars in millions)
Change in benefit obligation:
Accumulated postretirement benefit obligation at beginning of period$145.4 $178.0 
Service cost0.3 0.5 
Interest cost7.8 9.1 
Plan amendments— (6.5)
Benefits paid and administrative fees (net of Medicare Part D reimbursements)(15.2)(18.8)
Actuarial gain(8.1)(16.9)
Accumulated postretirement benefit obligation at end of period130.2 145.4 
Change in plan assets:
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of period11.3 14.3 
Actual return on plan assets0.8 0.5 
Employer contributions12.2 15.3 
Benefits paid and administrative fees (net of Medicare Part D reimbursements)(15.2)(18.8)
Fair value of plan assets at end of period9.1 11.3 
Funded status at end of period(121.1)(134.1)
Less: Current portion (included in “Accounts payable and accrued expenses”)11.9 13.7 
Noncurrent obligation (included in “Accrued postretirement benefit costs”)$109.2 $120.4 
In December 2024, the Company entered into a new labor agreement covering certain represented employees. Under terms of the new labor agreement, when a represented employee retires or dies the health benefits of the retiree and/or their surviving spouse and any eligible dependents will be provided by the labor union and will no longer be covered by the Company’s health plan. The Company will continue to offer a life insurance benefit to eligible represented retirees. The impact of the changes on future benefits reduced the Company’s accumulated postretirement benefit obligation by $6.5 million. The reduction was attributable to the elimination of health care benefits for certain represented retirees. The reduction in liability was recorded with an offsetting balance in “Accumulated other comprehensive income” and is being amortized to earnings over the average remaining life expectancy of participants benefiting under the plan (11.7 years and 12.7 years were the remaining amortization periods at December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively; $6.0 million remaining in “Accumulated other comprehensive income” at December 31, 2025).
A prior service credit established in October 2021 is being amortized to earnings over the average remaining life expectancy of the affected plan participants (10.0 years and 11.0 years were the remaining amortization periods at December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively; $97.8 million remaining in “Accumulated other comprehensive income” at December 31, 2025). A prior service credit established in December 2020 is being amortized to earnings over the average remaining life expectancy of the affected plan participants (5.5 years and 6.5 years were the remaining amortization periods at December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively; $5.7 million remaining in “Accumulated other comprehensive income” at December 31, 2025). A prior service credit established in September 2020 was being amortized to earnings over an average remaining service period to full eligibility for participating employees (0.9 years was the remaining amortization period at December 31, 2024). A prior service credit established in December 2018 was fully amortized to earnings as of December 31, 2024.
The weighted-average assumptions used to determine the benefit obligations for the plans as of the end of each year were as follows:
December 31,
 20252024
Discount rate5.39 %5.70 %
Measurement dateDecember 31, 2025December 31, 2024
The weighted-average assumptions used to determine net periodic postretirement benefit credit for the plans during each period were as follows:
Year Ended December 31,
 202520242023
Discount rate5.70 %5.44 %5.70 %
Expected long-term return on plan assets (pretax)5.95 %5.75 %5.75 %
Measurement dateDecember 31, 2024December 31, 2023December 31, 2022
The expected rate of return on plan assets is determined by taking into consideration expected long-term returns associated with each major asset class based on long-term historical ranges, inflation assumptions and the expected net value from active management of the assets based on actual results. Effective January 1, 2026, the Company decreased its expected rate of return on plan assets from 5.95% to 4.55% reflecting the impact of its asset allocations and capital market expectations.
The following presents information about the assumed health care cost trend rate:
Year Ended December 31,
 20252024
Pre-Medicare:
Health care cost trend rate assumed for next year7.00 %6.50 %
Rate to which the cost trend is assumed to decline (the ultimate trend rate)4.75 %4.75 %
Year that the rate reaches the ultimate trend rate20352032
Post-Medicare:
Health care cost trend rate assumed for next year (1)
6.75 %6.15 %
Rate to which the cost trend is assumed to decline (the ultimate trend rate)4.75 %4.75 %
Year that the rate reaches the ultimate trend rate20352032
(1)    An additional one-time increase of 3% was applied to claims in 2024 to reflect potential reductions in payments from Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services related to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022.
Plan Assets
The Company maintains a Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association (VEBA) trust to pre-fund a portion of benefits for non-represented retirees. Assets of the Peabody Investments Corp. Non-Represented Retiree VEBA Trust (the Non-Represented Trust) are invested in accordance with the investment policy established by the Peabody VEBA Retirement Committee after consultation with outside investment advisors and actuaries. As of December 31, 2025, the asset allocation strategy for the Non-Represented Trust is 100% in fixed income assets. As of December 31, 2024, the asset allocation strategy for the Non-Represented Trust was 30% in equity and 70% in fixed income assets. The plan assets are primarily invested in corporate bonds and U.S. government and equity securities. All plan assets are classified within Level 1 and Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy, and there are no Level 3 securities. The fair value of plan assets was $9.1 million and $11.3 million as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
Contributions
Annual contributions to the Non-Represented Trust are discretionary. During the year ended December 31, 2025, the Company made no contributions to the trust.
Estimated Future Benefit Payments
Estimated future benefit payments of the Company's benefit obligation, which reflect expected future service, as appropriate, are expected to be $16.2 million in 2026, $15.4 million in 2027, $14.7 million in 2028, $13.7 million in 2029, $12.9 million in 2030 and $51.7 million in years 2031-2035.