Note 16 - Regulatory Assets and Liabilities

3 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Notes to Financial Statements

Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities [Text Block]

16. Regulatory Assets and Liabilities

The Company’s regulated operations follow the accounting and reporting requirements of ASC 980, Regulated Operations.  A regulated company may defer costs that have been or are expected to be recovered from customers in a period different from the period in which the costs would ordinarily be charged to expense by an unregulated enterprise. When this situation occurs, costs are deferred as assets in the condensed consolidated balance sheet (regulatory assets) and amortized into expense over periods when such amounts are reflected in customer rates. Additionally, regulators can impose liabilities upon a regulated company for amounts previously collected from customers and for current collection in customer rates of costs that are expected to be incurred in the future (regulatory liabilities). In the event the provisions of ASC 980 no longer apply to any or all regulatory assets or liabilities, the Company would write off such amounts and include the effects in the condensed consolidated statements of income and comprehensive income in the period which ASC 980 no longer applied.

Regulatory assets included in the Company’s accompanying balance sheets are as follows: 

	December 31, 2023		September 30, 2023
Assets:
Current Assets:
Regulatory assets:
Accrued WNA revenues	$	1,587,816	$	414,689
Under-recovery of gas costs		—		1,383,340
Under-recovery of RNG revenues		1,085,177		797,804
Accrued pension		182,263		243,017
Other deferred expenses		12,762		15,426
Total current		2,868,018		2,854,276
Other Non-Current Assets:
Regulatory assets:
Premium on early retirement of debt		1,227,512		1,256,059
Accrued pension		3,786,265		3,786,265
Other deferred expenses		336,414		347,121
Total non-current		5,350,191		5,389,445
Total regulatory assets	$	8,218,209	$	8,243,721

Regulatory liabilities included in the Company’s accompanying balance sheets are as follows: 

	December 31, 2023		September 30, 2023
Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity:
Current Liabilities:
Regulatory liabilities:
Over-recovery of gas costs	$	663,505	$	—
Over-recovery of SAVE Plan revenues		176,935		146,861
Rate refund		652,018		652,018
Deferred income taxes		591,765		527,034
Supplier refunds		203,437		275,649
Other deferred liabilities		23,365		31,154
Total current		2,311,025		1,632,716
Deferred Credits and Other Non-Current Liabilities:
Asset retirement obligations		10,855,794		10,792,831
Regulatory cost of retirement obligations		13,404,991		13,029,376
Regulatory liabilities:
Deferred income taxes		16,101,834		16,249,776
Deferred postretirement medical		1,781,917		1,781,917
Total non-current		42,144,536		41,853,900
Total regulatory liabilities	$	44,455,561	$	43,486,616

As of December 31, 2023 and September 30, 2023, the Company had regulatory assets in the amount of $8,218,209 and $8,243,721, respectively, on which the Company did not earn a return during the recovery period.