Regulatory Assets and Liabilities

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2024

Regulatory assets and liabilities were comprised of the following as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023:


	Recovery Period	September 30, 2024		December 31, 2023
Regulatory Assets
Property-related temporary differences (tax benefits flowed through to customers)	Indefinite	$	158,486	$	158,486
IRMA long-term accounts receivable	Various	49,505		3,430
Asset retirement obligations, net	Indefinite	29,134		26,686
Other accrued benefits	Indefinite	26,663		25,363
Tank coating	Various	21,345		19,602
MWRAM	1 - 2 years	14,253		—
General district balancing account	1 year	10,945		390
Customer assistance program (CAP) and Rate support fund (RSF) accounts receivable	1 year	9,056		2,459
Incremental cost balancing account (ICBA)	1 year	9,479		—
Net WRAM and modified cost balancing account (MCBA) long-term accounts receivable	Various	4,216		10,738
Pension cost balancing account (PCBA)	Various	—		4,182
Recoverable property losses	Various	2,625		3,121
Other regulatory assets	Various	4,712		3,164
Total Regulatory Assets		$	340,419	$	257,621
Regulatory Liabilities
Cost of removal		$	474,264	$	447,356
Future tax benefits due to customers		109,491		118,051
Pension and retiree group health		101,984		88,728
Other components of net periodic benefit cost		16,952		10,348
PCBA		14,085		8,972
ICBA		6,517		—
Health cost balancing account (HCBA)		3,979		3,242
Net WRAM and MCBA long-term payable		2,967		2,071
Conservation Expense Balancing Account		2,828		1,200
RSF regulatory liability		—		2,116
Other regulatory liabilities		1,858		1,633
Total Regulatory Liabilities		$	734,925	$	683,717

The IRMA regulatory asset increase was for the additional amount the Company would have billed customers in 2023 and the first five months 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 general district balancing account represents the residual balances from memorandum and balancing accounts that have been aggregated into one balancing account for future recovery.

The ICBA tracks differences between the authorized prices of water production costs and actual prices of water production costs by ratemaking area.

Short-term regulatory assets and liabilities are excluded from the above table. The short-term regulatory assets were $59.1 million as of September 30, 2024 and $64.2 million as of December 31, 2023. The short-term regulatory assets as of September 30, 2024 primarily consisted of IRMA and MWRAM receivables. As of December 31, 2023, the short-term regulatory assets primarily consisted of net WRAM and MCBA, and PCBA receivables. The short-term regulatory assets are included in current assets as part of regulatory balancing accounts on the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.

The short-term portion of regulatory liabilities was $24.1 million as of September 30, 2024 and $21.5 million as of December 31, 2023. The short-term regulatory liabilities as of September 30, 2024 primarily consisted of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act regulatory liabilities, ICBA regulatory liabilities, and IRMA regulatory liabilities. As of December 31, 2023, the short-term regulatory liabilities primarily consisted of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act regulatory liabilities and HCBA liabilities. The short-term regulatory liabilities are included in current liabilities as part of regulatory balancing accounts on the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.