Shareholders' Equity

Shelf Registration

On March 28, 2016, we filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue, from time to time, up to $2.5 billion in common stock and/or debt securities, which replaced our registration statement that expired on March 28, 2016.

At-the-Market Equity Sales Program

On March 28, 2016, we entered into an at-the-market (ATM) equity distribution agreement (the Agreement) with Goldman, Sachs & Co., Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC in their capacity as agents and/or as principals (Agents). Under the terms of the Agreement, we may issue and sell, through any of the Agents, shares of our common stock, up to an aggregate offering price of $200 million, through the period ended March 28, 2019. We may also sell shares from time to time to an Agent for its own account at a price to be agreed upon at the time of sale. We will pay each Agent a commission of 1.0% of the gross offering proceeds of the shares sold through it as a sales agent. We have no obligation to offer or sell any shares under the Agreement, and may at any time suspend offers and sales under the Agreement. The shares will be issued pursuant to our shelf registration statement filed with the SEC on March 28, 2016. There were no transactions under the ATM program during the second fiscal quarter of 2016.

1998 Long-Term Incentive Plan

In August 1998, the Board of Directors approved and adopted the 1998 Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP), which became effective in October 1998 after approval by our shareholders. The LTIP is a comprehensive, long-term incentive compensation plan providing for discretionary awards of incentive stock options, non-qualified stock options, stock appreciation rights, bonus stock, time-lapse restricted stock, time-lapse restricted stock units, performance-based restricted stock units and stock units to certain employees and non-employee directors of the Company and our subsidiaries. The objectives of this plan include attracting and retaining the best personnel, providing for additional performance incentives and promoting our success by providing employees with the opportunity to acquire our common stock.

As of September 30, 2015, we were authorized to grant awards for up to a maximum of 8.7 million shares of common stock under this plan subject to certain adjustment provisions. In February 2016, our shareholders voted to increase the number of authorized LTIP shares by 2.5 million shares and to extend the term of the plan for an additional five years, through September 2021. On March 29, 2016, we filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-8 to register an additional 2.5 million shares; we also listed such shares with the New York Stock Exchange.

2011 Share Repurchase Program

We did not repurchase any shares during the six months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015 under our 2011 share repurchase program, which is scheduled to end on September 30, 2016.

Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income

We record deferred gains (losses) in AOCI related to available-for-sale securities, interest rate agreement cash flow hedges and commodity contract cash flow hedges. Deferred gains (losses) for our available-for-sale securities and commodity contract cash flow hedges are recognized in earnings upon settlement, while deferred gains (losses) related to our interest rate agreement cash flow hedges are recognized in earnings as they are amortized. The following tables provide the components of our accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) balances, net of the related tax effects allocated to each component of other comprehensive income.



	Available- for-Sale Securities			Interest Rate Agreement Cash Flow Hedges			Commodity Contracts Cash Flow Hedges			Total
	(In thousands)
September 30, 2015	$	4,949		$	(88,842	)	$	(25,437	)	$	(109,330	)
Other comprehensive loss before reclassifications	(1,568		)	(49,008		)	(19,185		)	(69,761		)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income	(79		)	173			21,758			21,852
Net current-period other comprehensive income (loss)	(1,647		)	(48,835		)	2,573			(47,909		)
March 31, 2016	$	3,302		$	(137,677	)	$	(22,864	)	$	(157,239	)



	Available- for-Sale Securities			Interest Rate Agreement Cash Flow Hedges			Commodity Contracts Cash Flow Hedges			Total
	(In thousands)
September 30, 2014	$	7,662		$	(18,381	)	$	(1,674	)	$	(12,393	)
Other comprehensive loss before reclassifications	(101		)	(84,824		)	(38,902		)	(123,827		)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income	(4		)	368			7,768			8,132
Net current-period other comprehensive income (loss)	(105		)	(84,456		)	(31,134		)	(115,695		)
March 31, 2015	$	7,557		$	(102,837	)	$	(32,808	)	$	(128,088	)

The following tables detail reclassifications out of AOCI for the three and six months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015. Amounts in parentheses below indicate decreases to net income in the statement of income.



	Three Months Ended March 31, 2016
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income Components	Amount Reclassified from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income			Affected Line Item in the Statement of Income
	(In thousands)
Available-for-sale securities	$	124		Operation and maintenance expense
	124			Total before tax
	(45		)	Tax expense
	$	79		Net of tax
Cash flow hedges
Interest rate agreements	$	(136	)	Interest charges
Commodity contracts	(12,703		)	Purchased gas cost
	(12,839		)	Total before tax
	5,004			Tax benefit
	$	(7,835	)	Net of tax
Total reclassifications	$	(7,756	)	Net of tax



	Three Months Ended March 31, 2015
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income Components	Amount Reclassified from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income			Affected Line Item in the Statement of Income
	(In thousands)
Cash flow hedges
Interest rate agreements	$	(136	)	Interest charges
Commodity contracts	(13,078		)	Purchased gas cost
	(13,214		)	Total before tax
	5,150			Tax benefit
Total reclassifications	$	(8,064	)	Net of tax




	Six Months Ended March 31, 2016
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income Components	Amount Reclassified from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income			Affected Line Item in the Statement of Income
	(In thousands)
Available-for-sale securities	$	124		Operation and maintenance expense
	124			Total before tax
	(45		)	Tax expense
	$	79		Net of tax
Cash flow hedges
Interest rate agreements	$	(273	)	Interest charges
Commodity contracts	(35,668		)	Purchased gas cost
	(35,941		)	Total before tax
	14,010			Tax benefit
	$	(21,931	)	Net of tax
Total reclassifications	$	(21,852	)	Net of tax




	Six Months Ended March 31, 2015
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income Components	Amount Reclassified from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income			Affected Line Item in the Statement of Income
	(In thousands)
Available-for-sale securities	$	6		Operation and maintenance expense
	6			Total before tax
	(2		)	Tax expense
	$	4		Net of tax
Cash flow hedges
Interest rate agreements	$	(580	)	Interest charges
Commodity contracts	(12,734		)	Purchased gas cost
	(13,314		)	Total before tax
	5,178			Tax benefit
	$	(8,136	)	Net of tax
Total reclassifications	$	(8,132	)	Net of tax