Thursday, November 23, 2017

The 23 US Regulated Utilities Electric & Gas Services Corps With Stock Market Caps Above $10 Bil Plus the 1 Private One With Stk Equity of $24.5 Bil Reported Total US Federal Income Taxes Net Refunds Received of $2.4 Bil on Related US Pretax Income of $106.4 Bil, For a US Federal Income Tax Rate Paid of a Negative (2.2)% in the Most Recent Three Years, 37.2% Below the Statutory US Federal Income Tax Rate on Large Corporations of 35.0% ...................................................................................... The Free-Spending Trump Administration Reacts By Irrationally Trying To Force the US Senate To Lower US Federal Income Taxes on These Large Corporations By Another 43% By Reducing the Statutory US Federal Income Tax Rate From 35.0% to 20.0% and Also Doubling Down on First Year Bonus Tax Depreciation, Which Enormously Benefits Utility Companies ...................................................................................... At December 31, 2016, These 24 Utility Corps Had a $192 Bil Total Deferred Tax Liability Just Related to Property (Predominately Accelerated Tax Depreciation) Which Will Be Reduced By the Reduction in Tax Rates, or By 15%/35% For an Increase in After-Tax Earnings of $82 Bil ...................................................................................... No US Industry Comes Out Better Under the Trump Tax Proposal Than the US Utility Industry, Just Like No US Industry Came out Better Under the PATH Act of 2015 Than the US Utility Industry: They Must Have Some Exceptionally Effective Tax Lobbyists ...................................................................................... Do You Think Utility Consumers Will Get Any Breaks on Their Monthly Utility Bills From These Massively Lower US Federal Income Taxes Bestowed on Utility Companies By Both the PATH ACT of 2015 and Also Even Much More Sustantially By the Trump Tax Proposal? There is No Way!

To illustrate the monumental importance of US Federal Income Tax Benefits to Regulated Utility Companies, let me quote from Dominion Energy Corp's SEC income tax footnote on the effect of the 2015 PATH Act on them:

"In December 2015, U.S. federal legislation was enacted, providing an extension of the 50% bonus depreciation allowance for qualifying expenditures incurred in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and a phasing down of the allowance to 40% in 2018 and 30% in 2019 and expiration thereafter. In addition, the legislation extends the 30% investment tax credit for qualifying expenditures incurred through 2019 and provides a phase down of the credit to 26% in 2020, 22% in 2021 and 10% in 2022 and thereafter."

The Trump Tax Proposal takes the PATH ACT of 2015 to a completely different level of income tax benefits granted including a massive reduction in the US Statutory Federal Income Tax Rate for US Corporations from 35.0% to 20.0%, coupled with a massive expansion of First-Year Bonus Tax Depreciation.

This Warren Buffett is a very wise man for Berkshire Hathaway's heavy investment in the US Utility sector. 

Based on a review of their audited annual financial statements and income tax footnotes filed with the SEC, below are the US Federal Income Tax Paid (Received) along with the US Pretax Income for the most recent three years of the 24 Largest US Regulated Utility Companies:













12-31-16












Total Total
12-31-16 Net












3 Years 3 Years 3 Years
Total  Deferred



2016 2016
2015 2015
2014 2014
2014-16 2014-16 2014-16
Net Tax



US US
US US
US US
US US Effective
Deferred Liability:
Utilities: Electric & Gas Services
Tax Pretax
Tax Pretax
Tax Pretax
Tax Pretax US Tax
Tax Property
SEC SIC 4900, 4911, 4931, 4932

Paid Income
Paid Income
Paid Income
Paid Income Rate Paid
Liability Related



mils $s mils $s
mils $s mils $s
mils $s mils $s
mils $s mils $s

bil $s bil $s
Publicly-Held Companies
















NextEra Energy Inc Juno Beach FL          72     4,388
         10     3,990
         -       3,645
         82     12,023 0.7%
      10.6       13.1
Duke Energy Corp Charlotte NC          -       3,734
         -       3,910
         -       3,763
         -       11,407 0.0%
      14.2       14.9
Dominion Energy Inc Richmond VA      (155)     2,867
       (24)     2,828
       (11)     1,778
     (190)       7,473 -2.5%
        8.6         7.8
Southern Co Atlanta GA     1,184     3,480
     (177)     3,629
       175     3,008
    1,182     10,117 11.7%
      14.1       15.4
Exelon Corp Chicago IL          60     1,989
       407     3,330
       121     2,486
       588       7,805 7.5%
      18.2       18.0
American Electric Power Co Columbus OH        (31)        547
       107     2,688
         23     2,493
         99       5,728 1.7%
      11.9         8.8
Sempra Energy San Diego CA          -          773
           3     1,189
       (10)     1,014
         (7)       2,976 -0.2%
        3.5         6.1
PG&E Corp San Francisco CA      (105)     1,462
       (89)        861
       (84)     1,795
     (278)       4,118 -6.8%
      10.2       10.4
Consolidated Edison Inc New York NY        (43)     1,943
       (86)     1,798
         (9)     1,660
     (138)       5,401 -2.6%
      10.0         9.4
Edison International Rosemead CA        (46)     1,590
         18     1,568
       (99)     1,979
     (127)       5,137 -2.5%
        8.2       10.3
Public Service Enterprise Group Newark NJ        (74)     1,298
       243     2,680
       335     2,456
       504       6,434 7.8%
        8.7         6.6
Xcel Energy Inc Minneapolis MN          (3)     1,705
       (36)     1,527
       (73)     1,545
     (112)       4,777 -2.3%
        6.8         7.7
PPL Corp Allentown PA        (14)     1,463
       (26)        968
         18        922
       (22)       3,353 -0.7%
        3.9         4.3
WEC Energy Group Inc Milwaukee WI          73     1,507
         15     1,074
         34        951
       122       3,532 3.5%
        5.1         5.0
DTE Energy Co Detroit MI          (1)     1,105              (3)        950
       (16)     1,275
       (20)       3,330 -0.6%
        4.2         4.6
Eversource Energy Springfield MO          39     1,505
           6     1,426
           4     1,295
         49       4,226 1.2%
        7.1         5.0
Entergy Corp New Orleans LA          45   (1,382)
         77      (800)
         90     1,550
       212        (632) -33.5%
        7.4         6.4
FirstEnergy Akron OH          (1)   (9,232)
           1        893
     (132)        171
     (132)     (8,168) 1.6%
        3.8         7.1
Ameren Corp St Louis MO          (1)     1,041
         (2)        948
       (37)        970
       (40)       2,959 -1.4%
        4.3         5.0
CMS Energy Corp Jackson MI          -          826
         -          796
         -          729
         -         2,351 0.0%
        2.3         2.9
CenterPoint Energy Inc Houston TX          23        686
       (37)   (1,130)
       (20)        885
       (34)          441 -7.7%
        5.3         2.6
Alliant Energy Corp Madison WI            2        443
           2        461
         37        440
         41       1,344 3.1%
        2.6         2.9
Pinnacle West Capital Corp Phoenix AZ            9        698
       (12)        694
         25        644
         22       2,036 1.1%
        2.9         3.3


















Total all 23 Publicly-Held

    1,033   24,436
       397   36,278
       371   37,454
    1,801     98,168 1.8%
    173.9     177.6


















Privately Held Company
















Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co Des Moines IA   (1,872)     2,850
     (985)     2,735
  (1,314)     2,602
  (4,171)       8,187 -50.9%
      13.9       14.2


















Total all 24

     (839)   27,286
     (588)   39,013
     (943)   40,056
  (2,370)   106,355 -2.2%
  187.8   191.8




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