Xcel Energy 2014 Annual Report Download - page 161

143
(Thousands of Dollars)
Beginning
Balance
Jan. 1, 2013 Liabilities Recognized Liabilities Settled Accretion Cash Flow Revisions
Ending
Balance
Dec. 31, 2013
Electric plant
Nuclear production decommissioning . . . . . . . . . $1,546,358 $ — $ — $ 81,940 $ — $1,628,298
Steam and other production ash containment . . . . 61,735 — — 2,105 15,513 79,353
Steam and other production asbestos . . . . . . . . . . 45,461 — (1,059) 2,551 3,874 50,827
Wind production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,864 — — 1,600 — 37,464
Electric distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24,150 — — 708 (12,672) 12,186
Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,152 — — 240 159 3,551
Natural gas plant
Gas transmission and distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,258 — — 81 (141) 1,198
Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . — 575 — — — 575
Common and other property
Common general plant asbestos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,197 — — 66 (783) 480
Common miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621 — — 59 778 1,458
Total liability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,719,796 $ 575 $ (1,059) $ 89,350 $ 6,728 $1,815,390
The aggregate fair value of NSP-Minnesota’s legally restricted assets, for purposes of funding future nuclear decommissioning, was
$1.6 billion as of Dec. 31, 2013, consisting of external investment funds.
Indeterminate AROs — PSCo has certain underground natural gas storage facilities that have special closure requirements for which
the final removal date cannot be determined; therefore, an ARO has not been recorded for these facilities.
Removal Costs — Xcel Energy records a regulatory liability for the plant removal costs of generation, transmission and distribution
facilities of its utility subsidiaries that are recovered currently in rates. Generally, the accrual of future non-ARO removal obligations
is not required. However, long-standing ratemaking practices approved by applicable state and federal regulatory commissions have
allowed provisions for such costs in historical depreciation rates. These removal costs have accumulated over a number of years based
on varying rates as authorized by the appropriate regulatory entities. Given the long time periods over which the amounts were
accrued and the changing of rates over time, the utility subsidiaries have estimated the amount of removal costs accumulated through
historic depreciation expense based on current factors used in the existing depreciation rates.
The accumulated balances by entity were as follows at Dec. 31:
(Millions of Dollars) 2014 2013
NSP-Minnesota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 396 $ 378
NSP-Wisconsin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 116
PSCo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 359
SPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 53
Total Xcel Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 953 $ 906
Nuclear Insurance
NSP-Minnesota’s public liability for claims resulting from any nuclear incident is limited to $13.6 billion under the Price-Anderson
amendment to the Atomic Energy Act. NSP-Minnesota has secured $375 million of coverage for its public liability exposure with a
pool of insurance companies. The remaining $13.2 billion of exposure is funded by the Secondary Financial Protection Program,
available from assessments by the federal government in case of a nuclear accident. NSP-Minnesota is subject to assessments of up to
$127.3 million per reactor per accident for each of its three licensed reactors, to be applied for public liability arising from a nuclear
incident at any licensed nuclear facility in the United States. The maximum funding requirement is $19.0 million per reactor during
any one year. These maximum assessment amounts are both subject to inflation adjustment by the NRC and state premium taxes. The
NRC’s last adjustment was effective September 2013.