Regulatory assets and liabilities

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Regulatory Assets and Liabilities Disclosure [Abstract]

Regulatory Assets and Liabilities

Regulatory assets and liabilities

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

	Estimated Recovery Period as of September 30, 2020	*	September 30, 2020		September 30, 2019		December 31, 2019
			(In thousands)
Regulatory assets:
Current:
Natural gas costs recoverable through rate adjustments	Up to 1 year		$	48,478	$	39,383	$	42,823
Cost recovery mechanisms	Up to 1 year		8,177		8,706		6,288
Conservation programs	Up to 1 year		7,857		7,776		6,963
Other	Up to 1 year		14,613		13,316		7,539
			79,125		69,181		63,613
Noncurrent:
Pension and postretirement benefits	**		157,015		165,843		157,069
Asset retirement obligations	Over plant lives		68,815		64,771		66,000
Plant to be retired	-		57,499		26,152		32,931
Manufactured gas plant site remediation	-		25,964		15,510		15,126
Natural gas costs recoverable through rate adjustments	Up to 3 years		24,677		53,618		46,381
Cost recovery mechanisms	Up to 10 years		14,281		12,206		13,108
Taxes recoverable from customers	Over plant lives		10,847		11,600		11,486
Long-term debt refinancing costs	Up to 17 years		3,826		4,439		4,286
Other	Up to 19 years		6,840		8,660		7,397
			369,764		362,799		353,784
Total regulatory assets			$	448,889	$	431,980	$	417,397
Regulatory liabilities:
Current:
Natural gas costs refundable through rate adjustments			$	20,556	$	19,194	$	23,825
Electric fuel and purchased power deferral			6,171		2,040		5,824
Taxes refundable to customers			4,223		4,309		3,472
Other			8,887		11,402		9,814
			39,837		36,945		42,935
Noncurrent:
Taxes refundable to customers			232,186		253,703		246,034
Plant removal and decommissioning costs			173,367		174,595		173,722
Pension and postretirement benefits			17,991		15,190		18,065
Other			11,392		10,272		9,549
			434,936		453,760		447,370
Total regulatory liabilities			$	474,773	$	490,705	$	490,305
Net regulatory position			$	(25,884)	$	(58,725)	$	(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 September 30, 2020 and 2019, and December 31, 2019, approximately $318.2 million, $278.6 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 one aging coal-fired electric generating unit in early 2021 and two units in 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.