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Income Taxes (Tables)
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Schedule Of Income Tax Expense Domestic
Income tax (benefit) expense is comprised of the following (in thousands):
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2019
 
2018
 
2017
Federal
 
 
 
 
 
Current
$
(6,076
)
 
$
(5,526
)
 
$
806

Deferred
(15,169
)
 
(15,588
)
 
17,378

Investment tax credits
(12
)
 
(33
)
 
166

State
 
 
 
 
 
Current
27

 
38

 
33

Deferred
1,305

 
2,399

 
(5,015
)
Income Tax (Benefit) Expense
$
(19,925
)
 
$
(18,710
)
 
$
13,368
Schedule of Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation
The following table reconciles our effective income tax rate to the federal statutory rate:
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2019
 
2018
 
2017
Federal statutory rate
21.0
 %
 
21.0
 %
 
35.0
 %
State income tax, net of federal provisions
0.7

 
0.9

 
(1.9
)
Recognition of unrecognized tax benefit
(12.5
)
 
—

 
—

Flow-through repairs deductions
(10.8
)
 
(10.8
)
 
(17.3
)
Production tax credits
(6.3
)
 
(6.1
)
 
(6.3
)
Plant and depreciation of flow through items
(2.2
)
 
(1.2
)
 
(1.3
)
Amortization of excess DIT
(0.9
)
 
(2.1
)
 
—

Impact of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
(0.1
)
 
(11.1
)
 
—

Prior year permanent return to accrual adjustments
0.3

 
(1.7
)
 
(0.3
)
Other, net
(0.1
)
 
0.6

 
(0.3
)
Effective tax rate
(10.9
)%
 
(10.5
)%
 
7.6
 %


The table below summarizes the significant differences in income tax (benefit) expense based on the differences between our effective tax rate and the federal statutory rate (in thousands).
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2019
 
2018
 
2017
Income Before Income Taxes
$
182,195

 
$
178,250

 
$
176,071

 
 
 
 
 
 
Income tax calculated at federal statutory rate
38,261

 
37,433

 
61,625

 
 
 
 
 
 
Permanent or flow through adjustments:
 
 
 
 
 
State income, net of federal provisions
1,251

 
1,613

 
(3,258
)
Recognition of unrecognized tax benefit
(22,825
)
 
—

 
—

Flow-through repairs deductions
(19,706
)
 
(19,323
)
 
(30,490
)
Production tax credits
(11,483
)
 
(10,890
)
 
(11,032
)
Plant and depreciation of flow through items
(3,952
)
 
(2,175
)
 
(2,208
)
Amortization of excess DIT
(1,688
)
 
(3,731
)
 
—

Impact of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
(198
)
 
(19,840
)
 
—

Prior year permanent return to accrual adjustments
559

 
(2,978
)
 
(629
)
Other, net
(144
)
 
1,181

 
(640
)
 
(58,186
)
 
(56,143
)
 
(48,257
)
 
 
 
 
 
 
Income Tax (Benefit) Expense
$
(19,925
)
 
$
(18,710
)
 
$
13,368
Schedule of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities
The components of the net deferred income tax liability recognized in our Consolidated Balance Sheets are related to the following temporary differences (in thousands):
 
December 31,
 
2019
 
2018
Production tax credit
$
50,440

 
$
38,956

Pension / postretirement benefits
30,041

 
30,634

Customer advances
14,975

 
13,190

Compensation accruals
13,163

 
11,885

NOL carryforward
10,050

 
28,326

Unbilled revenue
9,820

 
12,305

Reserves and accruals
7,069

 
1,100

Environmental liability
5,938

 
5,810

Interest rate hedges
3,956

 
4,074

AMT credit carryforward
3,400

 
6,799

Other, net
1,801

 
1,353

Deferred Tax Asset
150,653

 
154,432

Excess tax depreciation
(393,287
)
 
(371,216
)
Goodwill amortization (1)
(82,595
)
 
(81,104
)
Flow through depreciation
(71,679
)
 
(57,456
)
Regulatory assets and other (1)
(51,078
)
 
(39,274
)
Deferred Tax Liability
(598,639
)
 
(549,050
)
Deferred Tax Liability, net
$
(447,986
)
 
$
(394,618
)

___________________________

(1) The presentation of the December 31, 2018, deferred tax liabilities has been corrected to reflect a decrease of $38.3 million in deferred tax liabilities from goodwill amortization and a corresponding increase in deferred tax liabilities from regulatory assets and other related to amortization of intangible assets. This correction in presentation had no effect on income tax expense (benefit), or net income, or the presentation of deferred taxes on the consolidated balance sheets.
Summary of Income Tax Contingencies The change in unrecognized tax benefits is as follows (in thousands):

 
2019
 
2018
 
2017
Unrecognized Tax Benefits at January 1
$
56,150

 
$
57,473

 
$
88,429

Gross increases - tax positions in prior period
539

 
—

 
—

Gross decreases - tax positions in prior period
—

 
—

 
(22,973
)
Gross increases - tax positions in current period
—

 
338

 
—

Gross decreases - tax positions in current period
(1,489
)
 
(1,661
)
 
(7,983
)
Lapse of statute of limitations
(20,115
)
 
—

 
—

Unrecognized Tax Benefits at December 31
$
35,085

 
$
56,150

 
$
57,473