Regulatory assets and liabilities

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2020

Regulatory Assets and Liabilities Disclosure [Abstract]

Regulatory assets and liabilities

The following table summarizes the individual components of unamortized regulatory assets and liabilities:


	Estimated Recovery Period as of June 30, 2020	*	June 30, 2020		June 30, 2019		December 31, 2019
			(In thousands)
Regulatory assets:
Current:
Natural gas costs recoverable through rate adjustments	Up to 1 year		$	42,582	$	65,448	$	42,823
Cost recovery mechanisms	Up to 1 year		7,781		7,484		6,288
Conservation programs	Up to 1 year		7,256		6,529		6,963
Other	Up to 1 year		2,938		1,200		7,539
			60,557		80,661		63,613
Noncurrent:
Pension and postretirement benefits	**		157,033		165,861		157,069
Asset retirement obligations	Over plant lives		68,191		64,215		66,000
Plant to be retired	-		49,185		16,933		32,931
Natural gas costs recoverable through rate adjustments	Up to 3 years		27,184		29,095		46,381
Manufactured gas plant site remediation	-		14,826		15,387		15,126
Cost recovery mechanisms	Up to 10 years		13,140		11,004		13,108
Taxes recoverable from customers	Over plant lives		10,890		11,755		11,486
Long-term debt refinancing costs	Up to 17 years		3,980		4,592		4,286
Other	Up to 19 years		6,596		8,322		7,397
			351,025		327,164		353,784
Total regulatory assets			$	411,582	$	407,825	$	417,397
Regulatory liabilities:
Current:
Natural gas costs refundable through rate adjustments			$	29,557	$	25,737	$	23,825
Electric fuel and purchased power deferral			7,799		4,686		5,824
Taxes refundable to customers			4,012		7,104		3,472
Other			6,632		12,447		9,814
			48,000		49,974		42,935
Noncurrent:
Taxes refundable to customers			236,142		256,921		246,034
Plant removal and decommissioning costs			173,399		173,661		173,722
Pension and postretirement benefits			18,015		15,215		18,065
Other			11,096		10,067		9,549
			438,652		455,864		447,370
Total regulatory liabilities			$	486,652	$	505,838	$	490,305
Net regulatory position			$	(75,070)	$	(98,013)	$	(72,908)

*Estimated recovery period for regulatory assets currently being recovered in rates charged to customers.

** Recovered as expense is incurred or cash contributions are made.

At June 30, 2020 and 2019, and December 31, 2019, approximately $296.6 million, $290.7 million and $276.5 million, respectively, of regulatory assets were not earning a rate of return; however, these regulatory assets are expected to be recovered from customers in future rates.

In 2019, the Company experienced increased natural gas costs in Washington from the rupture of the Enbridge pipeline in Canada in late 2018. As a result, the Company requested, and the WUTC approved, recovery of the balance of natural gas costs recoverable related to this period of time over three years rather than its normal one-year recovery period.

In February 2019, the Company announced that it intends to retire three aging coal-fired electric generating units in early 2021 and early 2022. The Company has accelerated the depreciation related to these facilities in property, plant and equipment and has recorded the difference between the accelerated depreciation, in accordance with GAAP, and the depreciation approved for

rate-making purposes as regulatory assets. The Company expects to recover the regulatory assets related to the plants to be retired in future rates.

If, for any reason, the Company's regulated businesses cease to meet the criteria for application of regulatory accounting for all or part of their operations, the regulatory assets and liabilities relating to those portions ceasing to meet such criteria would be removed from the balance sheet and included in the statement of income or accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) in the period in which the discontinuance of regulatory accounting occurs.