RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

3 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

In January 2010, NJNG entered into a 10-year agreement effective April 1, 2010, for 3 Bcf of firm storage capacity with Steckman Ridge. Under the terms of the agreement, NJNG incurs demand fees, at market rates, of approximately $9.3 million annually, a portion of which is eliminated in consolidation. These fees are recoverable through NJNG's BGSS mechanism and are included in regulatory assets.

NJRES may periodically enter into storage or park and loan agreements with its affiliated FERC-regulated natural gas storage facility, Steckman Ridge. As of December 31, 2016, NJRES has entered into storage and park and loan transactions with Steckman Ridge for varying terms, all of which expire by October 2020.

Demand fees, net of eliminations, associated with Steckman Ridge were as follows:



	Three Months Ended
	December 31,
(Thousands)	2016		2015
NJNG	$	1,410	$	1,389
NJRES	701		685
Total	$	2,111	$	2,074

The following table summarizes demand fees payable to Steckman Ridge as of:



(Thousands)	December 31, 2016		September 30, 2016
NJNG	$	778	$	775
NJRES	377		375
Total	$	1,155	$	1,150

NJNG and NJRES have entered into various asset management agreements, the effects of which are eliminated in consolidation. Under the terms of these agreements, NJNG releases certain transportation and storage contracts to NJRES. NJNG retains the right to purchase market priced gas or fixed price storage gas from NJRES. As of December 31, 2016, NJNG and NJRES had three asset management agreements with expiration dates ranging from March 2017 through March 2018.

NJNG has entered into a 15 year transportation precedent agreement for committed capacity of 180,000 Dths per day with PennEast, which is estimated to be in service by the first quarter of fiscal 2019.