Unaudited Financial Information (Table)

3 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Significant regulatory assets and liabilities as of December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2015 included the following:



	December 31, 2015		September 30, 2015
	(In thousands)
Regulatory assets:
Pension and postretirement benefit costs⁽¹⁾	$	116,485	$	121,183
Infrastructure mechanisms⁽²⁾	43,385		32,813
Deferred gas costs	16,310		9,715
Recoverable loss on reacquired debt	15,680		16,319
APT annual adjustment mechanism	—		1,002
Rate case costs	1,568		1,533
Other	11,878		9,774
	$	205,306	$	192,339
Regulatory liabilities:
Regulatory cost of removal obligation	$	482,544	$	483,676
Deferred gas costs	32,895		28,100
Asset retirement obligation	9,063		9,063
APT annual adjustment mechanism	1,721		—
Other	3,415		3,693
	$	529,638	$	524,532


⁽¹⁾	Includes $14.3 million and $16.6 million of pension and postretirement expense deferred pursuant to regulatory authorization.


⁽²⁾	Infrastructure mechanisms in Texas and Louisiana allow for the deferral of all expenses associated with capital expenditures incurred pursuant to these rules, which primarily consists of interest, depreciation and other taxes, until the next rate proceeding (rate case or annual rate filing), at which time investment and costs would be recoverable through base rates.