Federal tax reform passed by the U.S. Congress in December impaired Entergy’s earnings for its latest quarter and full-year 2017.
For the fourth quarter, the power provider reported a $479 million loss ($2.66 per share) on an as-reported basis, compared to a gain of $138 million ($0.76 per share) on an operational, non-generally accepted accounting principles basis. Still, the numbers were up from the same period of 2016, when Entergy lost $1.8 billion ($9.88 per share) on an as-reported basis and brought in just $56 million ($.31 per share) on an operational basis.
For the year, earnings came in at $412 million ($2.28 per share) on an as-reported basis and $1.3 billion ($7.20 per share) on an operational basis. That is significantly better than the corresponding 2016 loss of $584 million ($3.26 per share) on an as-reported basis and slightly above the $1.27 billion ($7.11 per share) on an operational basis.
“The as-reported results for the quarter and full year reflected the revaluation of net deferred tax assets as a result of tax reform, in addition to asset impairments and other expenses related to strategic decisions in the EWC [Entergy Wholesale Commodities] business,” according to an Entergy press release.
Entergy Wholesale Commodities owns three nuclear power reactors in Massachusetts, Michigan, and New York state, all of which it plans to close in the next few years. That would leave the business with three non-nuclear power production facilities and the nuclear decommissioning company TLG Services.
The Wholesale Commodities business reported a $425 million ($2.36 per share) loss for the quarter on an as-reported basis, but was up by $63 million ($0.35 per share) on an operational basis. The full-year numbers were a $175 million ($0.97 per share) as-reported loss and $586 million ($3.24 per share) in operational earnings.
Entergy’s March 2017 sale of the James A. Fitzpatrick nuclear power plant in New York state to Exelon “affected period-over-period variances for multiple line items,” according to the earnings release.
“Excluding FitzPatrick, quarterly earnings increased,” Entergy said. “The most significant driver was higher realized earnings on decommissioning trust funds.”
