Revenue and Accounts Receivable

9 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 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 nine months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020.

	Three Months Ended June 30, 2021				Three Months Ended June 30, 2020
	Distribution		Pipeline and Storage		Distribution		Pipeline and Storage
	(In thousands)
Gas sales revenues:
Residential	$	336,016	$	—	$	286,937	$	—
Commercial	157,314		—		101,055		—
Industrial	25,348		—		17,019		—
Public authority and other	8,870		—		7,063		—
Total gas sales revenues	527,548		—		412,074		—
Transportation revenues	25,903		164,619		22,532		164,675
Miscellaneous revenues	2,615		3,895		2,793		2,277
Revenues from contracts with customers	556,066		168,514		437,399		166,952
Alternative revenue program revenues(1)	2,206		(5,527)		(2,567)		(8,944)
Other revenues	478		—		476		—
Total operating revenues	$	558,750	$	162,987	$	435,308	$	158,008

	Nine Months Ended June 30, 2021				Nine Months Ended June 30, 2020
	Distribution		Pipeline and Storage		Distribution		Pipeline and Storage
	(In thousands)
Gas sales revenues:
Residential	$	1,821,570	$	—	$	1,435,328	$	—
Commercial	692,443		—		543,148		—
Industrial	81,122		—		67,572		—
Public authority and other	42,159		—		34,747		—
Total gas sales revenues	2,637,294		—		2,080,795		—
Transportation revenues	84,643		480,945		77,676		471,433
Miscellaneous revenues	8,336		12,921		16,565		8,767
Revenues from contracts with customers	2,730,273		493,866		2,175,036		480,200
Alternative revenue program revenues(1)	(13,666)		(16,998)		20,320		(27,779)
Other revenues	1,467		—		1,461		—
Total operating revenues	$	2,718,074	$	476,868	$	2,196,817	$	452,421

(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 resumed disconnection activity during the third quarter of fiscal 2021. 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.

Rollforwards of our allowance for uncollectible accounts for the three and nine months ended June 30, 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 June 30, 2021
	(In thousands)
Beginning balance, March 31, 2021	$	44,680
Current period provisions	14,403
Write-offs charged against allowance	(2,875)
Recoveries of amounts previously written off	437
Ending balance, June 30, 2021	$	56,645

	Nine Months Ended June 30, 2021
	(In thousands)
Beginning balance, September 30, 2020	$	29,949
Current period provisions	32,872
Write-offs charged against allowance	(7,544)
Recoveries of amounts previously written off	1,368
Ending balance, June 30, 2021	$	56,645