Revenue and Accounts Receivable (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]

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, 2024 and 2023.


	Three Months Ended March 31, 2024				Three Months Ended March 31, 2023
	Distribution		Pipeline and Storage		Distribution		Pipeline and Storage
	(In thousands)
Gas sales revenues:
Residential	$	1,065,296	$	—	$	943,090	$	—
Commercial	404,701		—		398,812		—
Industrial	30,419		—		45,044		—
Public authority and other	21,120		—		22,686		—
Total gas sales revenues	1,521,536		—		1,409,632		—
Transportation revenues	37,607		223,159		33,511		190,248
Miscellaneous revenues	3,724		2,162		2,662		1,152
Revenues from contracts with customers	1,562,867		225,321		1,445,805		191,400
Alternative revenue program revenues	22,315		(1,834)		53,910		(6,976)
Other revenues	3,999		—		495		—
Total operating revenues	$	1,589,181	$	223,487	$	1,500,210	$	184,424



	Six Months Ended March 31, 2024				Six Months Ended March 31, 2023
	Distribution		Pipeline and Storage		Distribution		Pipeline and Storage
	(In thousands)
Gas sales revenues:
Residential	$	1,792,978	$	—	$	1,896,141	$	—
Commercial	681,954		—		787,479		—
Industrial	58,650		—		104,259		—
Public authority and other	35,704		—		45,512		—
Total gas sales revenues	2,569,286		—		2,833,391		—
Transportation revenues	71,374		438,464		65,673		385,500
Miscellaneous revenues	6,367		5,204		4,944		3,874
Revenues from contracts with customers	2,647,027		443,668		2,904,008		389,374
Alternative revenue program revenues	39,716		(9,012)		35,588		(18,321)
Other revenues	7,776		—		1,040		—
Total operating revenues	$	2,694,519	$	434,656	$	2,940,636	$	371,053

Schedule of Allowance for Credit Loss Activity

Rollforwards of our allowance for uncollectible accounts for the three and six months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 are presented in the table below. The allowance excludes the gas cost portion of customers’ bills for approximately 88 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.

In December 2023, the Mississippi Public Service Commission approved the recovery of uncollectible accounts through our purchased gas cost mechanism over a two-year period rather than through our annual filing mechanism over a one-year period. As a result of this decision, we recorded a $13.9 million reduction to bad debt expense during the first quarter of fiscal 2024. Of this amount, $9.7 million represents future recovery of customer receivables previously written off since April 2022 but not yet recovered through our rates. This amount increased our deferred gas cost regulatory asset. The remaining $4.2 million reduction represents a reversal of our allowance for uncollectible accounts for customer balances that have not yet been written off.


	Three Months Ended March 31, 2024
	(In thousands)
Beginning balance, December 31, 2023	$	35,406
Current period provisions	12,797
Write-offs charged against allowance	(5,859)
Recoveries of amounts previously written off	361

Ending balance, March 31, 2024	$	42,705


	Three Months Ended March 31, 2023
	(In thousands)
Beginning balance, December 31, 2022	$	47,613
Current period provisions	13,009
Write-offs charged against allowance	(8,333)
Recoveries of amounts previously written off	462
Ending balance, March 31, 2023	$	52,751



	Six Months Ended March 31, 2024
	(In thousands)
Beginning balance, September 30, 2023	$	40,840
Current period provisions	19,547
Write-offs charged against allowance	(14,616)
Recoveries of amounts previously written off	1,126
Mississippi recovery of uncollectible accounts	(4,192)
Ending balance, March 31, 2024	$	42,705



	Six Months Ended March 31, 2023
	(In thousands)
Beginning balance, September 30, 2022	$	49,993
Current period provisions	20,242
Write-offs charged against allowance	(18,754)
Recoveries of amounts previously written off	1,270
Ending balance, March 31, 2023	$	52,751