Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

The major components of depreciable plant and equipment as of December 31, 2019 and 2018 are as follows:

	2019		2018
Equipment	$	521,183	335,358
Transmission and distribution	2,207,051		1,375,821
Office buildings and other structures	260,220		121,872
Total depreciable plant and equipment	$	2,988,454	1,833,051

Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method over the estimated remaining service lives of groups of assets, ranging from 5 to 75 years. The estimated service lives of depreciable plant and equipment are as follows:

	Useful Lives
Equipment	5 to 35 years
Transmission and distribution plant	35 to 75 years
Office buildings and other structures	7 to 50 years

Schedule of Real Estate Investments

The major components of real estate investments as of December 31, 2019 and 2018 are as follows:

	2019		2018
Land	$	14,168	13,262
Buildings and improvements	43,531		43,074
Total real estate investment	$	57,699	56,336

Schedule of Future Minimum Rental Payments for Operating Leases

The following schedule shows the future minimum rental payments to be received from third parties under operating leases that have remaining noncancelable lease terms in excess of one year as of December 31, 2019:

Year ending December 31:	Rental Revenue
2020	$	4,520
2021	3,208
2022	2,527
2023	2,564
2024	2,645
Thereafter	10,544

Schedule of Balancing and Memorandum Accounts

SJWC met the recognition requirements for certain of its balancing and memorandum accounts and certain amounts subject to balancing and memorandum accounts and recorded revenue and regulatory assets as follows:

	For the year ended December 31, 2019
	Beginning Balance			Regulatory Asset Increase (Decrease)		Refunds (Collections) Adjustments		Surcharge Offset and Other	Ending Balance
Revenue accounts:
2014 - 2017 WCMA	$	7,750		—		(7,042	)	—	708
2018 WCMA	9,386			(9,386	)	—		—	—
2012 General Rate Case true-up	11,328			96		(10,672	)	—	752
Cost of capital memorandum accounts	(1,523		)	(30	)	—		—	(1,553	)
Tax memorandum account	(6,504		)	(139	)	—		—	(6,643	)
All others	5,112			4,475		(4,791	)	—	4,796
Total revenue accounts	25,549			(4,984	)	(22,505	)	—	(1,940	)
Cost-recovery accounts:
Water supply costs	9,617			207		(5,496	)	—	4,328
Pension	(1,843		)	745		3,547		—	2,449
All others	1,090			10		(654	)	—	446
Total cost-recovery accounts	8,864			962		(2,603	)	—	7,223
Total	$	34,413		(4,022	)	(25,108	)	—	5,283

	For the year ended December 31, 2018
	Beginning Balance			Regulatory Asset Increase (Decrease)		Refunds (Collections) Adjustments		Surcharge Offset and Other	Ending Balance
Revenue accounts:
2014 - 2017 WCMA	$	6,680		1,066		4		—	7,750
2018 WCMA	—			9,386		—		—	9,386
2012 General Rate Case true-up	11,319			—		9		—	11,328
Cost of capital memorandum accounts	(144		)	(1,379	)	—		—	(1,523	)
Tax memorandum account	—			(6,504	)	—		—	(6,504	)
All others	3,850			1,258		4		—	5,112
Total revenue accounts	21,705			3,827		17		—	25,549
Cost-recovery accounts:
Water supply costs	8,679			939		(1	)	—	9,617
Pension	(2,459		)	614		2		—	(1,843	)
All others	—			1,090		—		—	1,090
Total cost-recovery accounts	6,220			2,643		1		—	8,864
Total	$	27,925		6,470		18		—	34,413

	For the year ended December 31, 2017
	Beginning Balance			Regulatory Asset Increase (Decrease)	Refunds (Collections) Adjustments		Surcharge Offset and Other		Ending Balance
Revenue accounts:
2014 - 2017 WCMA	$	1,589		17,288	(4,704	)	(7,493	)	6,680
2012 General Rate Case true-up	20,682			—	(9,363	)	—		11,319
Cost of capital memorandum accounts	(817		)	—	673		—		(144	)
Drought surcharges	(7,688		)	—	(765	)	8,453		—
Cost-recovery accounts	3,181			3,815	(776	)	—		6,220
All others	8,962			1,084	(6,271	)	75		3,850
Total	$	25,909		22,187	(21,206	)	1,035		27,925

Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities

Regulatory assets and liabilities are comprised of the following as of December 31:

	2019		2018
Regulatory assets:
Income tax temporary differences, net	$	2,433	—
Postretirement pensions and other medical benefits	73,525		66,233
Business combinations debt premium, net	25,020		—
Balancing and memorandum accounts, net	5,283		34,413
WRA	9,108		—
Other, net	5,048		2,979
Total regulatory assets, net in Consolidated Balance Sheets	120,417		103,625
Less: current regulatory asset, net	6,472		26,910
Total regulatory assets, net, less current portion	$	113,945	76,715
Regulatory liability:
Income tax temporary differences, net	$	—	59,149
Total regulatory liability in Consolidated Balance Sheets	$	—	59,149

Schedule of Estimated Refunds of Advances for Construction and Contributions in Aid of Construction

stimated refunds for the next five years and thereafter are shown below:

	Estimated Refunds
2020	$	2,890
2021	2,890
2022	2,890
2023	2,878
2024	2,799
Thereafter	49,631

Schedule of Asset Retirement Obligations

December 31, 2019 and 2018, the asset retirement obligation is as follows:

	2019			2018
Retirement obligation	$	4,803		4,803
Discount rate	6		%	6	%
Regulatory asset, present value, recorded as a liability	$	942		942

Disaggregation of Revenue

The major streams of revenue for SJW Group are as follows:

	2019			2018		2017
Revenue from contracts with customers	$	447,720		389,302		381,777
Alternative revenue programs, net	(18,232		)	10,456		12,584
Other balancing and memorandum accounts revenue, net (1)	(14,403		)	(7,541	)	(10,838	)
Rental income	5,397			5,482		5,702
	$	420,482		397,699		389,225

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(1) For year ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, $962 and $2,643, respectively, of amounts related to cost-recovery balancing accounts which upon adoption of Topic 606 are recorded as capitalized costs rather than revenue until recovery is approved by the CPUC. Prior to adoption of Topic 606, these amounts were recorded as revenue. For further discussion, please see “Balancing and Memorandum Accounts” above.