Regulatory Assets and Liabilities

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Regulatory assets and liabilities were comprised of the following as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023:


	Recovery Period	March 31, 2024		December 31, 2023
Regulatory Assets
Property-related temporary differences (tax benefits flowed through to customers)	Indefinite	158,486		158,486
Other accrued benefits	Indefinite	26,975		25,363
Net WRAM and Modified Cost Balancing Account (MCBA) long-term accounts receivable	Various	10,490		10,738
Asset retirement obligations, net	Indefinite	27,495		26,686
IRMA long-term accounts receivable	1 - 2 years	84,593		3,430
MWRAM	1 year	31,066		—
Tank coating	Various	20,112		19,602
Recoverable property losses	Various	2,956		3,121
Pension Cost Balancing Account (PCBA)	Various	4,314		4,182
Customer assistance program (CAP) and Rate support fund (RSF) accounts receivable	1 year	10,787		2,459
Other regulatory assets	Various	7,227		3,554
Total Regulatory Assets		$	384,501	$	257,621
Regulatory Liabilities
Cost of removal		$	456,471	$	447,356
Future tax benefits due to customers		118,051		118,051
Pension and retiree group health		102,255		88,728
Incremental cost balancing account (ICBA)		10,795		—
IRMA long-term regulatory liability		6,993		—
Health Cost Balancing Account (HCBA)		4,291		3,242
PCBA		11,220		8,972
Conservation Expense Balancing Account		1,324		1,200
Net WRAM and MCBA long-term payable		3,082		2,071
Other components of net periodic benefit cost		13,300		10,348
RSF regulatory liability		—		2,116
Other regulatory liabilities		2,122		1,633
Total Regulatory Liabilities		$	729,904	$	683,717

The IRMA regulatory asset increase was for the additional amount the Company would have billed customers in 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 had the 2021 GRC been approved on time. The IRMA regulatory liability represents additional CAP and RSF credits the Company would have provided to customers in 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 had the 2021 GRC been approved on time.

The MWRAM regulatory asset represents the difference between the revenue received for actual metered sales through the tiered volumetric rate and the revenue that would have been received with the same actual metered sales if a uniform rate had been in effect.

The ICBA tracks differences between the authorized prices of water production costs and actual prices of water production costs. In the first quarter of 2024, the Company recorded a regulatory liability for certain service territories of $10.8 million as the authorized water production costs were higher than actual water production costs. The Company also recorded a regulatory asset for certain service territories of $1.6 million as the authorized water production costs were lower than actual water production costs. The ICBA regulatory asset is part of “Other regulatory assets” in the table above.

Short-term regulatory assets and liabilities are excluded from the above table. The short-term regulatory assets were $56.1 million as of March 31, 2024 and $64.2 million as of December 31, 2023. The short-term regulatory assets as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, primarily consisted of net WRAM and MCBA, and PCBA receivables and are included in current assets as part of regulatory balancing accounts on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.

The short-term portion of regulatory liabilities were $16.6 million as of March 31, 2024 and $21.5 million as of December 31, 2023. The short-term regulatory liabilities as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, primarily consisted of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act regulatory liabilities and HCBA liabilities and are included in current liabilities as part of regulatory balancing accounts on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.