Income Taxes (Table)

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2013

Schedule of Components of Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

The components of income tax expense from continuing operations for 2013, 2012 and 2011 were as follows:



	2013			2012			2011
	(In thousands)
Current
Federal	$	—		$	631		$	(13,298	)
State	8,178			6,888			6,841
Deferred
Federal	124,836			103,971			107,950
State	9,605			(13,237		)	5,498
Investment tax credits	(20		)	(27		)	(172		)
	$	142,599		$	98,226		$	106,819

Schedule of Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation

Reconciliations of the provision for income taxes computed at the statutory rate to the reported provisions for income taxes from continuing operations for 2013, 2012 and 2011 are set forth below:



	2013			2012			2011
	(In thousands)
Tax at statutory rate of 35%	$	130,655		$	101,648		$	103,743
Common stock dividends deductible for tax reporting	(2,153		)	(2,096		)	(1,930		)
Penalties	153			66			2,292
Recognition (settlement) of uncertain tax positions	1,341			1,831			(4,950		)
State taxes (net of federal benefit)	10,687			(5,958		)	8,109
Other, net	1,916			2,735			(445		)
Income tax expense	$	142,599		$	98,226		$	106,819

Schedule of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

The tax effect of temporary differences that gave rise to significant components of the deferred tax liabilities and deferred tax assets at September 30, 2013 and 2012 are presented below:



	2013			2012
	(In thousands)
Deferred tax assets:
Accruals not currently deductible for tax purposes	$	11,496		$	7,906
Customer advances	4,279			4,721
Nonqualified benefit plans	52,051			48,513
Postretirement benefits	63,919			62,802
Treasury lock agreements	—			25,448
Unamortized investment tax credit	6			14
Tax net operating loss and credit carryforwards	206,996			164,419
Difference between book and tax on mark to market accounting	2,271			2,342
Other, net	—			7,223
Total deferred tax assets	341,018			323,388
Deferred tax liabilities:
Difference in net book value and net tax value of assets	(1,445,450		)	(1,254,698		)
Pension funding	(23,480		)	(32,812		)
Gas cost adjustments	(19,182		)	(21,806		)
Interest rate agreements	(21,726		)	—
Cost expensed for tax purposes and capitalized for book purposes	(2,815		)	(2,065		)
Other, net	(7,115		)	—
Total deferred tax liabilities	(1,519,768		)	(1,311,381		)
Net deferred tax liabilities	$	(1,178,750	)	$	(987,993	)
Deferred credits for rate regulated entities	$	(51	)	$	140