Revenue and Accounts Receivable

6 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]

Revenue and Accounts Receivable

Revenue and Accounts Receivable

Revenue

Our revenue recognition policy is fully described in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020. The following tables disaggregate our revenue from contracts with customers by customer type and segment and provide a reconciliation to total operating revenues, including intersegment revenues, for the three and six months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020.

	Three Months Ended March 31, 2021				Three Months Ended March 31, 2020
	Distribution		Pipeline and Storage		Distribution		Pipeline and Storage
	(In thousands)
Gas sales revenues:
Residential	$	893,720	$	—	$	596,315	$	—
Commercial	326,182		—		230,779		—
Industrial	31,066		—		25,628		—
Public authority and other	20,227		—		14,662		—
Total gas sales revenues	1,271,195		—		867,384		—
Transportation revenues	30,973		151,565		28,504		154,748
Miscellaneous revenues	3,325		3,878		6,986		1,335
Revenues from contracts with customers	1,305,493		155,443		902,874		156,083
Alternative revenue program revenues(1)	(23,313)		(1,275)		29,638		(9,846)
Other revenues	494		—		493		—
Total operating revenues	$	1,282,674	$	154,168	$	933,005	$	146,237

	Six Months Ended March 31, 2021				Six Months Ended March 31, 2020
	Distribution		Pipeline and Storage		Distribution		Pipeline and Storage
	(In thousands)
Gas sales revenues:
Residential	$	1,485,554	$	—	$	1,148,391	$	—
Commercial	535,129		—		442,093		—
Industrial	55,774		—		50,553		—
Public authority and other	33,289		—		27,684		—
Total gas sales revenues	2,109,746		—		1,668,721		—
Transportation revenues	58,740		316,326		55,144		306,758
Miscellaneous revenues	5,721		9,026		13,772		6,490
Revenues from contracts with customers	2,174,207		325,352		1,737,637		313,248
Alternative revenue program revenues(1)	(15,872)		(11,471)		22,887		(18,835)
Other revenues	989		—		985		—
Total operating revenues	$	2,159,324	$	313,881	$	1,761,509	$	294,413

(1)    In our distribution segment, we have weather-normalization adjustment mechanisms that serve to mitigate the effects of weather on our revenue. Additionally, APT has a regulatory mechanism that requires that we share with its tariffed customers 75% of the difference between the total non-tariffed revenues earned during a test period and a regulatorily determined revenue benchmark.

Accounts receivable and allowance for uncollectible accounts

Accounts receivable arise from natural gas sales to residential, commercial, industrial, public authority and other customers. Our accounts receivable balance includes unbilled amounts which represent a customer’s consumption of gas from the date of the last cycle billing through the last day of the month. The receivable balances are short term and generally do not extend beyond one month. To minimize credit risk, we assess the credit worthiness of new customers, require deposits where necessary, assess late fees, pursue collection activities and disconnect service for nonpayment. After disconnection, accounts are written off when deemed uncollectible.

As described in Note 2 to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, on October 1, 2020, we adopted new accounting guidance which requires credit losses on our accounts receivable to be measured using an expected credit loss model over the entire contractual term from the date of initial recognition. At each reporting period, we assess the allowance for uncollectible accounts based on historical experience, current conditions and consideration of expected future conditions. Circumstances which could affect our estimates include, but are not limited to, customer credit issues, the level of natural gas prices, customer deposits and general economic conditions.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020 we temporarily suspended disconnecting customers for nonpayment and stopped charging late fees. We are actively working with our customers experiencing financial hardship to offer flexible payment options and directing them to aid agencies for financial assistance. Our allowance for uncollectible accounts reflects the expected impact on our customers’ ability to pay when we resume disconnection activity.

Rollforwards of our allowance for uncollectible accounts for the three and six months ended March 31, 2021 are presented in the table below. The allowance excludes the gas cost portion of customers’ bills for approximately 78 percent of our customers as we have the ability to collect these gas costs through our gas cost recovery mechanisms in most of our jurisdictions.

	Three Months Ended March 31, 2021
	(In thousands)
Beginning balance, December 31, 2020	$	35,089
Current period provisions	11,532
Write-offs charged against allowance	(2,381)
Recoveries of amounts previously written off	440
Ending balance, March 31, 2021	$	44,680

	Six Months Ended March 31, 2021
	(In thousands)
Beginning balance, September 30, 2020	$	29,949
Current period provisions	18,469
Write-offs charged against allowance	(4,669)
Recoveries of amounts previously written off	931
Ending balance, March 31, 2021	$	44,680