SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Schedule of activities in the allowance for doubtful accounts

The activities in the allowance for doubtful accounts are as follows:



	2017			2016			2015
Beginning Balance	$	830		$	730		$	697
Provision for uncollectible accounts	1,570			2,111			1,674
Net write off of uncollectible accounts	(1,627		)	(2,011		)	(1,641		)
Ending Balance	$	773		$	830		$	730

Schedule of depreciable plant and equipment

The following table represents depreciable plant and equipment as of December 31:



	2017		2016
Equipment	$	592,612	$	561,909
Office buildings and other structures	245,877		218,711
Transmission and distribution plant	1,891,268		1,741,554
Total	$	2,729,757	$	2,522,174

Schedule of estimated useful lives of depreciable plant and equipment

Depreciation of utility plant is computed on a straight-line basis over the assets' estimated useful lives including cost of removal of certain assets as follows:



	Useful Lives
Equipment	5 to 50 years
Transmission and distribution plant	40 to 65 years
Office Buildings and other structures	50 years

Schedule of allowance for funds used during construction

Allowance for Funds Used During Construction

The allowance for funds used during construction (AFUDC) represents the capitalized cost of funds used to finance the construction of the utility plant. In general, AFUDC is applied to Cal Water construction projects requiring more than one month to complete. No AFUDC is applied to projects funded by customer advances for construction, contributions in aid of construction, or applicable state-revolving fund loans. AFUDC includes the net cost of borrowed funds and a rate of return on other funds when used, and is recovered through water rates as the utility plant is depreciated. Cal Water was authorized by the CPUC to record AFUDC on construction work in progress effective January 1, 2017. Prior to January 1, 2017, the CPUC authorized Cal Water to only record capitalized interest on borrowed funds. Cal Water previously reported the amounts authorized as capitalized interest and a reduction to interest expense. The amount of AFUDC related to equity funds and to borrowed funds for 2017, 2016, and 2015 are shown in the tables below:



	2017		2016		2015
Allowance for equity funds used during construction	$	3,750	$	—	$	—
Allowance for borrowed funds used during construction	2,360		2,965		1,915
Total	$	6,110	$	2,965	$	1,915

Schedule of regulatory assets and liabilities

Regulatory assets and liabilities were comprised of the following as of December 31:



	2017		2016
Regulatory Assets
Pension and retiree group health	$	214,249	$	188,880
Property-related temporary differences (tax benefits flowed through to customers)	87,323		92,099
Other accrued benefits	28,251		27,503
Net WRAM and MCBA long-term accounts receivable	34,879		16,148
Asset retirement obligations, net	17,126		15,812
Interim rates long-term accounts receivable	4,568		4,605
Tank coating	10,998		8,452
Health care balancing account	496		1,000
Pension balancing account	2,322		—
Other regulatory assets	935		1,431
Total Regulatory Assets	$	401,147	$	355,930
Regulatory Liabilities
Future tax benefits due to customers	$	168,343	$	33,231
Health care balancing account	7,749		—
Conservation program	2,273		584
Pension balancing account	364		695
Net WRAM and MCBA long-term payable	513		611
Other regulatory liabilities	464		3,614
Total Regulatory Liabilities	$	179,706	$	38,735

Schedule of SARs which were dilutive

All SARs were dilutive in 2017, 2016, and 2015. The dilutive effect is shown in the table below:



	2017		2016		2015
	(In thousands, except per share data)
Net income available to common stockholders	$	67,181	$	48,675	$	45,017
Weighted average common shares, basic	48,009		47,953		47,865
Dilutive SARs (treasury method)	—		3		15
Weighted average common shares, dilutive	48,009		47,956		47,880
Earnings per share—basic	$	1.40	$	1.02	$	0.94
Earnings per share—diluted	$	1.40	$	1.01	$	0.94

Schedule of accounting change

The following tables show the effects of the accounting change to the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for 2016 and 2015:



	2016
Cash Flow Classification	As Reported on Form 10-K		Adjusted Balance on Form 10-K			Increase (Decrease) from Retrospective Adoption
Other changes in noncurrent assets and liabilities	$	6,162	$	6,906		$	744
Net cash provided by operating activities	159,700		160,444			744
Repurchase of common stock	—		(744		)	(744		)
Net cash provided by financing activities	87,794		87,050			(744		)



	2015
Cash Flow Classification	As Reported on Form 10-K		Adjusted Balance on Form 10-K			Increase (Decrease) from Retrospective Adoption
Other changes in noncurrent assets and liabilities	$	10,610	$	10,948		$	338
Net cash provided by operating activities	144,631		144,969			338
Repurchase of common stock	—		(338		)	(338		)
Net cash provided by financing activities	22,877		22,539			(338		)