Other Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Other Commitments and Contingencies

Other Commitments and Contingencies

Natural Gas and Electric

In March 2020, our Delmarva Peninsula natural gas distribution operations entered into asset management agreements with a third party to manage their natural gas transportation and storage capacity. The agreements are effective as of April 1, 2020 and expire on March 31, 2023. Previously, our Delmarva Peninsula natural gas distribution operations had asset management agreements with PESCO to manage their natural gas transportation and storage capacity. See Note 3, Acquisitions and Divestitures for additional details regarding the sale of PESCO's assets and contracts.

In May 2019, our natural gas distribution operations and Eight Flags entered into separate asset management agreements with Emera Energy Services, Inc. to manage their natural gas transportation capacity. The parties entered into short-term agreements for a one-year term beginning July 2019 through July 2020. The parties also entered into long-term agreements for a 10-year term that will commence in July 2020.

Chesapeake Utilities' Florida Division has firm transportation service contracts with Florida Gas Transmission Company ("FGT") and Gulfstream Natural Gas System, LLC ("Gulfstream"). Pursuant to a capacity release program approved by the Florida PSC, all of the capacity under these agreements has been released to various third parties. Under the terms of these capacity release agreements, Chesapeake Utilities is contingently liable to FGT and Gulfstream should any party, that acquired the capacity through release, fail to pay the capacity charge. To date, Chesapeake Utilities has not been required to make a payment resulting from this contingency.

FPU’s electric supply contracts require FPU to maintain an acceptable standard of creditworthiness based on specific financial ratios. FPU’s agreement with Florida Power & Light Company requires FPU to meet or exceed a debt service coverage ratio of 1.25 times based on the results of the prior 12 months. If FPU fails to meet this ratio, it must provide an irrevocable letter of credit or pay all amounts outstanding under the agreement within five business days. FPU’s electric supply agreement with Gulf Power requires FPU to meet the following ratios based on the average of the prior six quarters: (a) funds from operations interest coverage ratio (minimum of two times), and (b) total debt to total capital (maximum of 65 percent). If FPU fails to meet the requirements, it has to provide the supplier a written explanation of actions taken, or proposed to be taken, to become compliant. Failure to comply with the ratios specified in the Gulf Power agreement could also result in FPU having to provide an irrevocable letter of credit. As of March 31, 2020, FPU was in compliance with all of the requirements of its fuel supply contracts.

Eight Flags provides electricity and steam generation services through its CHP plant located on Amelia Island, Florida. In June 2016, Eight Flags began selling power generated from the CHP plant to FPU pursuant to a 20-year power purchase agreement for distribution to our electric customers. In July 2016, Eight Flags also started selling steam, pursuant to a separate 20-year contract, to the landowner on which the CHP plant is located. The CHP plant is powered by natural gas transported by FPU through its distribution system and Peninsula Pipeline through its intrastate pipeline.

Corporate Guarantees

The Board of Directors has authorized us to issue corporate guarantees securing obligations of our subsidiaries and to obtain letters of credit securing our subsidiaries' obligations. The maximum authorized liability under such guarantees and letters of credit as of March 31, 2020 was $37.0 million. The aggregate amount guaranteed at March 31, 2020 was approximately $17.9 million with the guarantees expiring on various dates through March 2, 2021. The amounts related to PESCO were $6.8 million and are expected to be terminated or transferred in the second quarter of 2020. See Note 3, Acquisitions and Divestitures, for additional details on the sale of assets and contracts for PESCO.

Chesapeake Utilities also guarantees the payment of FPU’s first mortgage bonds. The maximum exposure under this guarantee is the outstanding principal plus accrued interest balances. The outstanding principal balances of FPU’s first mortgage bonds approximate their carrying values (see Note 15, Long-Term Debt, for further details).

As of March 31, 2020, we have issued letters of credit totaling approximately $5.4 million related to the electric transmission services for FPU's electric division, the firm transportation service agreement between TETLP and our Delaware and Maryland divisions and our current and previous primary insurance carriers. These letters of credit have various expiration dates through October 22, 2020. There have been no draws on these letters of credit as of March 31, 2020. We do not anticipate that the counterparties will draw upon these letters of credit, and we expect that they will be renewed to the extent necessary in the future. The outstanding letters of credit as of March 31, 2020 also included those issued to support the operations of our divested subsidiary, PESCO. As a result of the sale of assets and contracts for PESCO, letters of credit associated with PESCO are expected to be terminated or transferred in the second quarter of 2020.