Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2014

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

19. Commitments and Contingencies

Contingencies

        The Company and its subsidiaries are subject to various legal proceedings and actions arising in the normal course of business. While the outcome of such legal proceedings and actions cannot be predicted with certainty, it is the opinion of Management that the resolution of such proceedings and actions will not have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial position or results of operations.

Commitments

        Niska Partners has entered into non-cancelable operating leases for office space, leases for land use rights at its operating facilities, storage capacity at other facilities, equipment, and vehicles used in its operations. The remaining lease terms expire between April 2014 and August 2056 and provide for the payment of taxes, insurance and maintenance by the lessee. A renewal option exists on the office space lease to extend the term for another five years, exercisable prior to the termination of the original lease.

        The related future minimum lease payments at March 31, 2014 were as follows:

For the fiscal year ending:	Operating leases
2015	$	11,837
2016		8,937
2017		8,483
2018		6,142
2019		5,512
2020 and thereafter		183,151
Total minimum lease payments	$	224,062

        The minimum lease payments disclosed in the above table have not been reduced by the total of minimum rentals to be received in the future under non-cancelable subleases as of March 31, 2014 of $2.6 million. Consolidated lease and rental expense, net of sublease recoveries of $0.9 million, amounted to $11.9 million for the year ended March 31, 2014 (March 31, 2013—$11.2 million; March 31, 2012—$14.9 million). During the year ended March 31, 2014, lease and rental expense included contingent rent amounting to $0.4 million (March 31, 2013—$0.3 million; March 31, 2012—$0.7 million). Where applicable, contingent rent is due whenever a certain percentage of revenue exceeds minimum lease costs.

        Purchase obligations arising as a result of forward purchase contracts in place at March 31, 2014 were as follows:

For the fiscal year ending:	Unconditional purchase obligations
2015	$	2,783,323
2016		278,380
2017		65,873
2018		241,193
2019		1,477
2020 and thereafter		—
Total future purchase commitments	$	3,370,246

        Purchase obligations consisted of forward physical and financial commitments related to future purchases of natural gas. As the Company economically hedges substantially all of its natural gas purchases, there are forward sales that offset these commitments that are not included in the above table. As at March 31, 2014, forward physical and financial sales for all future periods totaled $3,361.1 million.

        As at March 31, 2014, the Company had $4.8 million of issued and outstanding letters of credit to various counterparties to support natural gas purchase commitments.