Retirement Plan And Other Post-Retirement Benefits (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Components of Net Periodic Benefit Cost

Components of Net Periodic Benefit Cost (in thousands):

	Retirement Plan						Other Post-Retirement Benefits
Three Months Ended December 31,	2015			2014			2015			2014
Service Cost	$	2,928		$	3,012		$	583		$	673
Interest Cost	10,579			10,304			5,096			4,821
Expected Return on Plan Assets	(14,842		)	(14,904		)	(7,883		)	(8,522		)
Amortization of Prior Service Cost (Credit)	308			46			(228		)	(478		)
Amortization of Losses	8,062			9,032			1,382			1,037
Net Amortization and Deferral for Regulatory Purposes (Including Volumetric Adjustments) (1)	1,906			1,292			4,121			4,920
Net Periodic Benefit Cost	$	8,941		$	8,782		$	3,071		$	2,451

⁽¹⁾  The Company’s policy is to record retirement plan and other post-retirement benefit costs in the Utility segment on a volumetric basis to reflect the fact that the Utility segment experiences higher throughput of natural gas in the winter months and lower throughput of natural gas in the summer months.