Our natural gas and electric distribution operations in Delaware, Maryland and Florida are subject to regulation by their respective PSC; Eastern Shore, our natural gas transmission subsidiary, is subject to regulation by the FERC; and Peninsula Pipeline and Aspire Energy Express, our intrastate pipeline subsidiaries, are subject to regulation (excluding cost of service) by the Florida PSC and Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, respectively.

In September 2023, the Delaware Division submitted the Energy Efficiency Rider application for natural gas with the Delaware PSC after obtaining an affirmative recommendation from the Delaware Energy Efficiency Advisory Council (“EEAC”). The application is the first in the state and applies to a portfolio of four programs including, Home Energy Counseling, Home Performance with Energy Star, Assisted Home Performance with Energy Star, and standard Offer Program in which customers can participate and allow for recovery. The evidentiary hearing on this matter is set for April 2024. If approved as filed, rates will be effective May 1, 2024.

Maryland Natural Gas Rate Case: In January 2024, our natural gas distribution businesses in Maryland, CUC-Maryland Division, Sandpiper Energy, Inc., and Elkton Gas Company (collectively, “Maryland natural gas distribution businesses”) filed a joint application for a natural gas rate case with the Maryland PSC. In connection with the application, we are seeking approval of the following: (i) permanent rate relief of approximately $6.9 million; (ii) authorization to make certain changes to tariffs to include a unified rate structure and to consolidate the Maryland natural gas distribution businesses under the new corporate entity which we anticipate will be called Chesapeake Utilities of Maryland, Inc.; and (iii) authorization to establish a rider for recovery of the costs associated with our new technology systems. The outcome of the application is subject to review and approval by the Maryland PSC.

Maryland Natural Gas Depreciation Study: In January 2024, our Maryland natural gas distribution businesses filed a joint petition for approval of their proposed unified depreciation rates with the Maryland PSC. If approved, new rates will become effective retroactively on January 1, 2023.

Ocean City Maryland Reinforcement: During the second quarter of 2022, we began construction of an extension of service into North Ocean City, Maryland. Our Delaware natural gas division and Sandpiper installed approximately 5.4 miles of pipeline across southern Sussex County, Delaware to Fenwick Island, Delaware and Worcester County, Maryland. The project reinforces our existing system in Ocean City, Maryland and enables incremental growth along the pipeline. Construction of this project was completed in the second quarter of 2023. The Company filed a natural gas rate case application with the PSC for the state of Maryland in January 2024 as discussed above.

Wildlight Expansion: In August 2022, Peninsula Pipeline and FPU filed a joint petition with the Florida PSC for approval of its Transportation Service Agreement associated with the Wildlight planned community located in Nassau County, Florida. The project enables us to meet the significant growing demand for service in Yulee, Florida. The agreement will enable us to construct the project during the build-out of the community, and charge the reservation rate as each phase of the project goes into service. Construction of the pipeline facilities will occur in two separate phases. Phase one consists of three extensions with associated facilities, and a gas injection interconnect with associated facilities. Phase two will consist of two additional pipeline extensions. The various phases of the project commenced in the first quarter of 2023, with construction on the overall project continuing through 2025. The petition was approved by the Florida PSC in November 2022.

Florida Natural Gas Rate Case: In May 2022, our legacy natural gas distribution businesses in Florida filed a consolidated natural gas rate case with the Florida PSC. The application included a request for the following: (i) permanent rate relief of approximately $24.1 million, effective January 1, 2023, (ii) a depreciation study also submitted with the filing; (iii) authorization to make certain changes to tariffs to include the consolidation of rates and rate structure across the businesses and to unify the Florida Natural Gas distribution businesses under FPU; (iv) authorization to retain the acquisition adjustment

recorded at the time of the FPU merger in our revenue requirement; and (v) authorization to establish an environmental remediation surcharge for the purposes of addressing future expected remediation costs for FPU MGP sites. In August 2022, interim rates were approved by the Florida PSC in the amount of approximately $7.7 million on an annualized basis, effective for all meter readings in September 2022. The discovery process and subsequent hearings were concluded during the fourth quarter of 2022 and briefs were submitted during the same quarter of 2022. In January 2023, the Florida PSC approved the application for consolidation and permanent rate relief of approximately $17.2 million on an annual basis. Actual rates in connection with the rate relief were approved by the Florida PSC in February 2023 with an effective date of March 1, 2023.

FCG Natural Gas Rate Case: In May 2022, FCG filed a general base rate increase with the Florida PSC based on a projected 2023 test year. In June 2023, the Florida PSC issued an order approving a single total base revenue increase of $23.3 million (which included an incremental increase of $14.1 million, a previously approved increase of $3.8 million for a liquefied natural gas facility, and $5.3 million to transfer the SAFE investments from a rider clause to base rates), with new rates becoming effective as of May 1, 2023. The Commission also approved FCG's proposed RSAM with a $25.0 million reserve amount, continuation and expansion of the capital SAFE program, implementation of an automated metering infrastructure pilot, and continuation of the storm damage reserve with a target reserve of $0.8 million. On June 23, 2023, the Florida OPC filed a motion for reconsideration of the PSC’s approval of RSAM, which was denied on September 12, 2023. On July 7, 2023, the Florida OPC filed a notice of appeal with the Florida Supreme Court, which is pending. The Florida OPC filed their initial brief on January 31, 2024.

The RSAM is recorded as either an increase or decrease to accrued removal costs which is reflected on the Company’s balance sheets and a corresponding increase or decrease to depreciation and amortization expense. In order to earn the targeted regulatory ROE in each reporting period subject to the conditions of the effective rate agreement, RSAM is calculated using a trailing thirteen-month average of rate base and capital structure in conjunction with the trailing twelve months regulatory base net operating income, which primarily includes the base portion of rates and other revenues, net of operations and maintenance expenses, depreciation and amortization, interest and tax expenses. In general, the net impact of these income statement line items is adjusted, in part, by RSAM or its reversal to earn the targeted regulatory ROE. For the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company recorded decreases to asset removal costs and depreciation expense of $5.1 million as a result of the RSAM adjustment.

Beachside Pipeline Extension: In June 2021, Peninsula Pipeline and FCG entered into a Transportation Service Agreement for an incremental 10,176 Dts/d of firm service in Indian River County, Florida, to support FCG’s growth along the Indian River's barrier island. As part of this agreement, Peninsula Pipeline constructed 11.3 miles of pipeline from its existing pipeline in the Sebastian, Florida area, traveling east under the Intercoastal Waterway and southward on the barrier island. The project was placed in-service during April 2023.

St. Cloud / Twin Lakes Expansion: In July 2022, Peninsula Pipeline filed a petition with the Florida PSC for approval of its Transportation Service Agreement with FPU for an additional 2,400 Dt/d of firm service in the St. Cloud, Florida area. As part of this agreement, Peninsula Pipeline constructed a pipeline extension and regulator station for FPU. The extension supports new incremental load due to growth in the area, including providing service, most immediately, to the residential development, Twin Lakes. The expansion also improves reliability and provides operational benefits to FPU's existing distribution system in the area, supporting future growth. The petition was approved by the Florida PSC in October 2022, and the expansion was placed into service during the third quarter of 2023.

Storm Protection Plan: In 2020, the Florida PSC implemented the Storm Protection Plan ("SPP") and Storm Protection Plan Cost Recovery Clause ("SPPCRC") rules, which require electric utilities to petition the Florida PSC for approval of a Transmission and Distribution Storm Protection Plan that covers the utility’s immediate 10-year planning period with updates to the plan at least every 3 years. The SPPCRC rules allow the utility to file for recovery of associated costs for the SPP. Our Florida electric distribution operations' SPP was filed during the first quarter of 2022 and approved in the fourth quarter of 2022, with modifications, by the Florida PSC. Rates associated with this initiative were effective in January 2023. The Company filed 2024 SPPCRC projections on May 1, 2023. A hearing was held on September 12, 2023. The Commission voted to approve the projections on November 9, 2023. FPU projects to spend $13.6 million on the program in 2024.

Lake Wales Pipeline Acquisition: In February 2023, Peninsula Pipeline filed a petition with the Florida PSC for approval of its Transportation Service Agreement with FPU for an additional 9,000 Dt/d of firm service in the Lake Wales, Florida area. The Commission approved the petition in April 2023. Approval of the agreement allowed Peninsula Pipeline to complete the acquisition of the existing pipeline in May 2023 which is being utilized to serve both current and new natural gas customers.

GUARD: In February 2023, FPU filed a petition with the Florida PSC for approval of the GUARD program. GUARD is a ten-year program to enhance the safety, reliability, and accessibility of portions of our natural gas distribution system. We identified various categories of projects to be included in GUARD, which include the relocation of mains and service lines located in rear easements and other difficult to access areas to the front of the street, the replacement of problematic distribution mains, service

Newberry Expansion: In April 2023, Peninsula Pipeline filed a petition with the Florida PSC for approval of its Transportation Service Agreement with FPU for an additional 8,000 Dt/d of firm service in the Newberry, Florida area. The petition was approved by the Florida PSC in the third quarter of 2023. Peninsula Pipeline will construct a pipeline extension, which will be used by FPU to support the development of a natural gas distribution system to provide gas service to the City of Newberry. A filing to address the acquisition and conversion of propane community gas systems in Newberry was made in November 2023, and the Florida PSC is scheduled to vote on this in March 2024. The Company anticipates beginning the conversions of the community gas systems in the second quarter of 2024.

Amendment to Escambia County Agreement: In April of 2023, Peninsula Pipeline filed a petition with the Florida PSC for approval of an amendment to an existing contract with FPU. This amendment will allow Peninsula Pipeline to construct an additional delivery point on a pipeline located in Escambia County. The additional delivery point comes at the request of an FPU customer and will be used to enhance natural gas service in the area. The amendment was approved by the Florida PSC in the third quarter of 2023.

Florida Electric Depreciation Study: The Florida PSC requires electric utilities to file a depreciation study every four years to reevaluate and set depreciation rates for the utility's plant assets. In June 2023, FPU filed a petition with the Florida PSC for approval of its proposed depreciation rates, which was approved in December 2023.

East Coast Reinforcement Projects: In December 2023, Peninsula Pipeline filed a petition with the Florida PSC for approval of its Transportation Service Agreements with FPU for projects that will support additional supply to communities on the East Coast of Florida. The projects are driven by the need for increased supply to coastal portions of the state that have experienced an increase in population growth. Peninsula Pipeline will construct several pipeline extensions which will support FPU’s distribution system in the areas of Boynton Beach and New Smyrna Beach with an additional 15,000 Dts/day and 3,400 Dts/day, respectively.

Southern Expansion Project: In January 2022, Eastern Shore submitted a prior notice filing with the FERC pursuant to blanket certificate procedures, regarding its proposal to install an additional compressor unit and related facilities at Eastern Shore's compressor station in Bridgeville, Sussex County, Delaware. The project enables Eastern Shore to provide additional firm natural gas transportation service to an existing shipper on its pipeline system. The project obtained FERC approval in December 2022 and went into service in October 2023.

Capital Cost Surcharge: In December 2022, Eastern Shore submitted a filing with the FERC regarding a capital cost surcharge to recover capital costs associated with the replacement of existing Eastern Shore facilities as a result of mandated highway relocation projects as well as compliance with the PHMSA regulation. The capital cost surcharge mechanism was approved in Eastern Shore’s last rate case. In conjunction with the filing of this surcharge, a cumulative adjustment to the existing surcharge to reflect additional depreciation was included. The FERC issued an order approving the surcharge as filed on December 19, 2022. The combined revised surcharge became effective January 1, 2023.

Worcester Resiliency Upgrade: In August 2023, Eastern Shore filed an application with the FERC requesting authorization to construct the Worcester Resiliency Upgrade, which consists of a mixture of storage and transmission facilities in Sussex County, DE and Wicomico, Worcester, and Somerset Counties in Maryland. The project will provide long-term incremental supply necessary to support the growing demand of the participating shippers. Eastern Shore has requested certificate authorization by December 2024, with a target in-service date by the third quarter of 2025.

In July 2022, we filed a joint petition for our natural gas divisions in Maryland (Maryland Division, Sandpiper, and Elkton Gas) for the approval to establish a regulatory asset for non-capitalizable expenses related to the initial development and implementation of our new Customer Information System ("CIS") system. The petition was approved by the Maryland PSC in August 2022. A similar petition for our Florida Regulated Energy businesses was filed during the same time frame, however, the Florida PSC approved capitalization of these expenses in lieu of establishment of regulatory assets. Additionally, our Delaware Division has the ability to defer these costs as a regulatory asset. We have completed the system selection process and the CIS implementation began during the first quarter of 2023.

In March 2020, the CDC declared a national emergency due to the rapidly growing outbreak of COVID-19. In response to this declaration and the rapid spread of COVID-19 within the United States, federal, state and local governments throughout the country imposed varying degrees of restrictions on social and commercial activity to promote social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of the illness. These restrictions significantly impacted economic conditions in the United States in 2020 and continued to impact economic conditions, to a lesser extent, through 2021 and 2022. Chesapeake Utilities is considered an “essential business,” which allowed us to continue operational activities and construction projects with appropriate safety precautions and personal protective equipment, while being mindful of the social distancing restrictions that were in place.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions, we experienced reduced consumption of energy largely in the commercial and industrial sectors, higher bad debt expenses and incremental expenses associated with COVID-19, including expenditures associated with personal protective equipment and premium pay for field personnel. The additional operating expenses we incurred support the ongoing delivery of our essential services during the height of the pandemic. In April and May 2020, we were authorized by the Maryland and Delaware PSCs, respectively, to record regulatory assets for COVID-19 related costs which offered us the ability to seek recovery of those costs. In July 2021, the Florida PSC issued an order that approved incremental expenses we incurred due to COVID-19. The order allowed us to establish a regulatory asset in a total amount of $2.1 million as of June 30, 2021 for natural gas and electric distribution operations. The regulatory asset is being amortized over two years and is recovered through the Purchased Gas Adjustment and Swing Service mechanisms for our natural gas distribution businesses and through the Fuel Purchased Power Cost Recovery clause for our electric division. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, our total COVID-19 regulatory asset balance was $0.2 million and $1.2 million, respectively.

Customer rates for our regulated business were adjusted, as approved by the regulators, prior to 2020 except for Elkton Gas, which implemented a one-time bill credit in May 2020. The following table summarized the regulatory liabilities related to accumulated deferred taxes ("ADIT") associated with TCJA for our regulated businesses as of December 31, 2023 and 2022:


	Amount (in thousands)
Operation and Regulatory Jurisdiction	December 31, 2023	December 31, 2022	Status
Eastern Shore (FERC)	$34,190	$34,190	Will be addressed in Eastern Shore's next rate case filing.
Chesapeake Delaware natural gas division (Delaware PSC)	$12,038	$12,230	PSC approved amortization of ADIT in January 2019.
Chesapeake Maryland natural gas division (Maryland PSC)	$3,585	$3,703	PSC approved amortization of ADIT in May 2018.
Sandpiper Energy (Maryland PSC)	$3,487	$3,597	PSC approved amortization of ADIT in May 2018.
Florida Natural Gas distribution (Florida PSC) (1)	$26,757	$27,179	PSC issued order authorizing amortization and retention of net ADIT liability by the Company in February 2019.


FPU electric division (Florida PSC)	$4,760	$4,993	In January 2019, PSC issued order approving amortization of ADIT through purchased power cost recovery, storm reserve and rates.
Elkton Gas (Maryland PSC)	$1,027	$1,059	PSC approved amortization of ADIT in March 2018.

(1) In accordance with the Florida PSC approval of our natural gas base rate proceeding, effective March 1, 2023, our natural gas distribution businesses in Florida have been consolidated and amounts above are now being presented on a consolidated basis consistent with the final rate order.

At December 31, 2023 and 2022, our regulated utility operations recorded the following regulatory assets and liabilities included in our consolidated balance sheets, including amounts attributable to FCG. These assets and liabilities will be recognized as revenues and expenses in future periods as they are reflected in customers’ rates.


	As of December 31,
	2023		2022
(in thousands)
Regulatory Assets
Under-recovered purchased fuel, gas and conservation cost recovery (1) (2)	$	13,696	$	43,583
Under-recovered GRIP revenue (3)	1,777		1,705
Deferred postretirement benefits (4)	10,802		13,927
Deferred conversion and development costs (1)	21,466		23,653
Acquisition adjustment (5)	31,857		25,609
Deferred costs associated with COVID-19 (6)	190		1,233
Deferred storm costs (7)	19,370		27,687
Deferred rate case expenses - current	1,171		—
Other	15,573		12,256
Total Regulatory Assets	$	115,902	$	149,653


Regulatory Liabilities
Self-insurance (8)	$	521	$	339
Over-recovered purchased fuel and conservation cost recovery (1)	12,340		3,827
Over-recovered GRIP revenue (3)	501		—
Storm reserve (8)	1,900		2,845
Accrued asset removal cost (9)	86,534		50,261
Deferred income taxes due to rate change (10)	105,055		87,690
Interest related to storm recovery (7)	536		1,207
Other	1,611		1,851
Total Regulatory Liabilities	$	208,998	$	148,020

(2) At December 31, 2022, includes $21.2 million being recovered over a three year period primarily concentrated in our electric division. Per Florida PSC approval, our electric division was allowed to recover these amounts over an extended period of time in an effort to reduce the impact of increased commodity prices to our customers. Recovery of these costs began in January 2023.

(3) The Florida PSC allowed us to recover through a surcharge, capital and other program-related-costs, inclusive of an appropriate return on investment, associated with accelerating the replacement of qualifying distribution mains and services (defined as any material other than coated steel or plastic) in FPU’s natural gas distribution, Fort Meade division and Chesapeake Utilities’ CFG division. We are allowed to recover the asset or are required to pay the liability in rates related to GRIP.

(4) The Florida PSC allowed FPU to treat as a regulatory asset the portion of the unrecognized costs pursuant to ASC Topic 715, Compensation - Retirement Benefits, related to its regulated operations. This balance also includes the portion of pension settlement expense associated with the termination of the Chesapeake Pension Plan pursuant to an order from the FERC and the respective PSCs that allowed us to defer Eastern Shore, Delaware and Maryland Divisions' portion. See Note 16, Employee Benefit Plans, for additional information.

(5) We are allowed to include the premiums paid in various natural gas utility acquisitions in Florida in our rate bases and recover them over a specific time period pursuant to the Florida PSC approvals. We paid $34.2 million of the premium in 2009, including a gross up for income tax, because it is not tax deductible, and $0.7 million of the premium paid by FPU in 2010. For additional information, see Florida Natural Gas Rate Case discussion above.

(7) The Florida PSC authorized us to recover regulatory assets (including interest) associated with the recovery of Hurricanes Michael and Dorian storm costs which will be amortized between 6 and 10 years. Recovery of these costs includes a component of an overall return on capital additions and regulatory assets.

(8) We have storm reserves in our Florida regulated energy operations and self-insurance for our regulated energy operations that allow us to collect through rates amounts to be used against general claims, storm restoration costs and other losses as they are incurred.

(10) We recorded a regulatory liability for our regulated businesses related to the revaluation of accumulated deferred tax assets/liabilities as a result of the TCJA. The liability will be amortized over a period between 5 to 80 years based on the remaining life of the associated property. Based upon the regulatory proceedings, we will pass back the respective portion of the excess accumulated deferred taxes to rate payers. See Note 11, Income Taxes, for additional information.