Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
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Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
The matters discussed in this Item may contain “forward-looking statements” as described in the introductory paragraphs of Item 7. MD&A. The reader’s attention is directed to those paragraphs and Item 1A. Risk Factors for discussion of various risks and uncertainties that may impact the Companies.
MARKET RISK SENSITIVE INSTRUMENTS AND RISK MANAGEMENT
The Companies’ financial instruments, commodity contracts and related financial derivative instruments are exposed to potential losses due to adverse changes in commodity prices, interest rates and equity security prices as described below. Commodity price risk is present in the Companies’ electric operations and Dominion Energy’s natural gas procurement and marketing operations due to the exposure to market shifts in prices received and paid for electricity, natural gas and other commodities. The Companies use commodity derivative contracts to manage price risk exposures for these operations. Interest rate risk is generally related to their outstanding debt and future issuances of debt. In addition, the Companies are exposed to investment price risk through various portfolios of equity and debt securities. The Companies’ exposure to foreign currency exchange rate risk is related to certain fixed price contracts associated with the CVOW Commercial Project which it manages through foreign currency exchange rate derivatives. The contracts include services denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar for approximately €2.6 billion and 5.1 billion kr. In addition, certain of the fixed price contracts, approximately €0.7 billion, contain commodity indexing provisions linked to steel.
The following sensitivity analysis estimates the potential loss of future earnings or fair value from market risk sensitive instruments over a selected time period due to a 10% change in commodity prices, interest rates or foreign currency exchange rates.
Commodity Price Risk
To manage price risk, the Companies hold commodity-based derivative instruments held for non-trading purposes associated with purchases and sales of electricity, natural gas and other energy-related products.
The derivatives used to manage commodity price risk are executed within established policies and procedures and may include instruments such as futures, forwards, swaps, options and FTRs that are sensitive to changes in the related commodity prices. For sensitivity analysis purposes, the hypothetical change in market prices of commodity-based derivative instruments is determined based on models that consider the market prices of commodities in future periods, the volatility of the market prices in each period, as well as the time value factors of the derivative instruments. Prices and volatility are principally determined based on observable market prices.
A hypothetical 10% increase in commodity prices would have resulted in a decrease of $62 million and $52 million in the fair value of Dominion Energy’s commodity-based derivative instruments as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
A hypothetical 10% increase in commodity prices would have resulted in a decrease of $24 million and $25 million in the fair value of Virginia Power’s commodity-based derivative instruments as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
The impact of a change in energy commodity prices on the Companies’ commodity-based derivative instruments at a point in time is not necessarily representative of the results that will be realized when the contracts are ultimately settled. Net losses from commodity-based financial derivative instruments used for hedging purposes, to the extent realized, will generally be offset by recognition of the hedged transaction, such as revenue from physical sales of the commodity.
Interest Rate Risk
The Companies manage their interest rate risk exposure predominantly by maintaining a balance of fixed and variable rate debt. For variable rate debt outstanding for Dominion Energy, a hypothetical 10% increase in market interest rates would result in a $56 million and $37 million decrease in earnings at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. For variable rate debt outstanding for Virginia Power, a hypothetical 10% increase in market interest rates would result in a $5 million and $14 million decrease in earnings at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
The Companies also use interest rate derivatives, including forward-starting swaps, interest rate swaps and interest rate lock agreements to manage interest rate risk. As of December 31, 2023, Dominion Energy and Virginia Power had $16.3 billion and $3.3 billion, respectively, in aggregate notional amounts of these interest rate derivatives outstanding. A hypothetical 10% decrease in market interest rates would have resulted in a decrease of $120 million and $151 million, respectively, in the fair value of Dominion Energy and Virginia Power’s interest rate derivatives at December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2022, Dominion Energy and
Virginia Power had $12.7 billion and $3.6 billion, respectively, in aggregate notional amounts of these interest rate derivatives outstanding. A hypothetical 10% decrease in market interest rates would have resulted in a decrease of $274 million and $156 million, respectively, in the fair value of Dominion Energy and Virginia Power’s interest rate derivatives at December 31, 2022.
The impact of a change in interest rates on the Companies’ interest rate-based financial derivative instruments at a point in time is not necessarily representative of the results that will be realized when the contracts are ultimately settled. Net gains and/or losses from interest rate derivative instruments used for hedging purposes, to the extent realized, will generally be offset by recognition of the hedged transaction.
Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Risk
The Companies utilize foreign currency exchange rate swaps to economically hedge the foreign currency exchange risk associated with fixed price contracts related to the CVOW Commercial Project denominated in foreign currencies. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, Dominion Energy had €2.1 billion and €2.9 billion, respectively, in aggregate notional amounts of these foreign currency forward purchase agreements outstanding. A hypothetical 10% increase in exchange rates would have resulted in a decrease of $202 million and $284 million in the fair value of Dominion Energy’s foreign currency swaps at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
The impact of a change in exchange rates on the Companies’ foreign currency-based financial derivative instruments at a point in time is not necessarily representative of the results that will be realized when the contracts are ultimately settled. Net gains and/or losses from foreign exchange derivative instruments used for hedging purposes, to the extent realized, will generally be offset by recognition of the hedged transaction.
Investment Price Risk
The Companies are subject to investment price risk due to securities held as investments in nuclear decommissioning and rabbi trust funds that are managed by third-party investment managers. These trust funds primarily hold marketable securities that are reported in the Consolidated Balance Sheets at fair value.
Dominion Energy recognized net investment gains (including investment income) on nuclear decommissioning and rabbi trust investments of $879 million and net investment losses (including investment income) on nuclear decommissioning and rabbi trust investments of $888 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Net realized gains and losses include gains and losses from the sale of investments as well as any other-than-temporary declines in fair value. Dominion Energy recorded, in AOCI and regulatory liabilities, a net increase in unrealized gains on debt investments of $117 million and a net decrease in unrealized gains on debt investments of $196 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Virginia Power recognized net investment gains (including investment income) on nuclear decommissioning and rabbi trust investments of $448 million and net investment losses (including investment income) on nuclear decommissioning and rabbi trust investments of $426 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Net realized gains and losses include gains and losses from the sale of investments as well as any other-than-temporary declines in fair value. Virginia Power recorded, in AOCI and regulatory liabilities, a net increase in unrealized gains on debt investments of $66 million and a net decrease in unrealized gains on debt investments of $106 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Dominion Energy sponsors pension and other postretirement employee benefit plans that hold investments in trusts to fund employee benefit payments. Virginia Power employees participate in these plans. Dominion Energy’s pension and other postretirement plan assets experienced aggregate actual returns (losses) of $1.2 billion and $(3.0) billion in 2023 and 2022, respectively, versus expected returns of $1.0 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively. Differences between actual and expected returns on plan assets are accumulated and amortized during future periods. As such, any investment-related declines in these trusts will result in future increases in the net periodic cost recognized for such employee benefit plans and will be included in the determination of the amount of cash to be contributed to the employee benefit plans. A hypothetical 0.25% decrease in the assumed long-term rates of return on Dominion Energy’s plan assets would result in an increase in the following year’s net periodic cost of $26 million as of both December 31, 2023 and 2022, for pension benefits and $5 million as of both December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, for other postretirement benefits.
Risk Management Policies
The Companies have established operating procedures with corporate management to ensure that proper internal controls are maintained. In addition, Dominion Energy has established an independent function at the corporate level to monitor compliance with the credit and commodity risk management policies of all subsidiaries, including Virginia Power. Dominion Energy maintains credit policies that include the evaluation of a prospective counterparty’s financial condition, collateral requirements where deemed necessary and the use of standardized agreements that facilitate the netting of cash flows associated with a single counterparty. In addition, Dominion Energy also monitors the financial condition of existing counterparties on an ongoing basis. Based on these credit policies and the Companies’ December 31, 2023 provision for credit losses, management believes that it is unlikely that a material adverse effect on the Companies’ financial position, results of operations or cash flows would occur as a result of counterparty nonperformance.
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