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REGULATORY ASSETS AND REGULATORY LIABILITIES
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020
Regulatory Assets and Liabilities Disclosure [Abstract]  
REGULATORY ASSETS AND REGULATORY LIABILITIES REGULATORY ASSETS AND REGULATORY LIABILITIES:There have been no significant changes to the nature of the Utilities' regulatory assets and liabilities since December 31, 2019, which are described in Note 11 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of SJI’s and SJG's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.
The Utilities' Regulatory Assets as of March 31, 2020 consisted of the following items (in thousands):
March 31, 2020
SJGETGELKTotal SJI
Environmental Remediation Costs:
Expended - Net$158,947  $10,564  $—  $169,511  
Liability for Future Expenditures132,938  105,984  —  238,922  
   Insurance Recovery Receivables—  (13,615) —  (13,615) 
Deferred ARO Costs37,821  23,511  —  61,332  
Deferred Pension Costs - Unrecognized Prior Service Cost—  36,566  —  36,566  
Deferred Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Costs72,010  1,825  —  73,835  
Deferred Gas Costs - Net28,171  —  —  28,171  
CIP Receivable24,244  —  —  24,244  
SBC Receivable1,670  —  —  1,670  
Deferred Interest Rate Contracts11,375  —  —  11,375  
EET12,557  —  —  12,557  
Pipeline Supplier Service Charges503  —  —  503  
Pipeline Integrity Cost6,080  —  —  6,080  
AFUDC - Equity Related Deferrals10,950  —  —  10,950  
WNC—  8,214  156  8,370  
Other Regulatory Assets20,918  8,037  —  28,955  
Total Regulatory Assets$518,184  $181,086  $156  $699,426  

The Utilities' Regulatory Assets as of December 31, 2019 consisted of the following items (in thousands):

December 31, 2019
SJGETGELKTotal SJI
Environmental Remediation Costs:
Expended - Net$156,279  $16,955  $—  $173,234  
Liability for Future Expenditures131,262  101,083  —  232,345  
   Insurance Recovery Receivables—  (20,423) —  (20,423) 
Deferred ARO Costs36,515  18,108  —  54,623  
Deferred Pension Costs - Unrecognized Prior Service Cost—  37,378  —  37,378  
Deferred Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Costs72,010  1,825  —  73,835  
Deferred Gas Costs - Net49,469  5,301  293  55,063  
SBC Receivable1,478  —  —  1,478  
Deferred Interest Rate Contracts7,856  —  —  7,856  
EET12,877  —  —  12,877  
Pipeline Supplier Service Charges525  —  —  525  
Pipeline Integrity Cost6,516  —  —  6,516  
AFUDC - Equity Related Deferrals10,712  —  —  10,712  
WNC—  —  231  231  
Other Regulatory Assets10,678  9,004  —  19,682  
Total Regulatory Assets$496,177  $169,231  $524  $665,932  
Except where noted below, all regulatory assets are or are expected to be recovered through utility rate charges, as detailed in the following discussion. The Utilities are currently permitted to recover interest on Environmental Remediation Costs, SBC Receivable, EET and Pipeline Integrity Costs, while the other assets are being recovered without a return on investment.

ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION COSTS - SJG and ETG have regulatory assets associated with environmental costs related to the cleanup of environmental sites. SJG has 12 sites where SJG or its predecessors previously operated gas manufacturing plants, while ETG is subject to environmental remediation liabilities associated with five former manufactured gas plant sites in New Jersey. "Environmental Remediation Cost: Expended - Net" represents what was actually spent to clean up the sites, less recoveries through the RAC and insurance carriers. These costs meet the deferral requirements of ASC 980, as the BPU allows SJG and ETG to recover such expenditures through the RAC. "Environmental Remediation Cost: Liability for Future Expenditures" relates to estimated future expenditures required to complete the remediation of these sites. SJG and ETG recorded this estimated amount as a regulatory asset with the corresponding current and noncurrent liabilities on the condensed consolidated balance sheets under the captions "Current Liabilities" (SJI and SJG), "Deferred Credits and Other Noncurrent Liabilities" (SJI) and "Regulatory and Other Noncurrent Liabilities" (SJG). The BPU allows SJG to recover the deferred costs over seven-year periods after they are incurred. Environmental remediation costs at ETG are recoverable from customers through the RAC approved by the BPU. "Insurance Recovery Receivables" represents the balance of an insurance settlement executed in the fourth quarter of 2019 with a third party. This settlement, which is expected to be received in installments through the end of 2021, will be returned to ETG's customers through the RAC. Of the original total of $20.4 million, $6.8 million was received by ETG in 2020.

DEFERRED GAS COSTS - NET - Over/under collections of gas costs are monitored through SJG's and ETG's BGSS clause. Net undercollected gas costs are classified as a regulatory asset and net overcollected gas costs are classified as a regulatory liability. Derivative contracts used to hedge natural gas purchases are also included in the BGSS, subject to BPU approval (see Note 12). SJG's balance as of both March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 also includes $22.9 million of costs related to a previous pricing dispute on a long-term gas supply contract. We believe that the amount paid by SJG to the third party supplier to settle the pricing dispute reflects a gas cost that ultimately will be recovered from SJG's customers through adjusted rates through the BGSS clause. The BGSS regulatory assets of SJI and SJG decreased $26.9 million and $21.3 million, respectively, from December 31, 2019 to March 31, 2020, primarily due to recoveries from customers exceeding the actual gas commodity costs and changes in valuations of hedged natural gas positions from prior periods. ETG's deferred gas costs-net are over-recovered at March 31,2020, resulting in a regulatory liability.

DEFERRED ARO COSTS - The Utilities record AROs primarily related to the legal obligation to cut and cap gas distribution pipelines when taking those pipelines out of service. Deferred ARO costs represent the period to period passage of time (accretion) and the revision to cash flows originally estimated to settle the retirement obligation. The Deferred ARO Costs regulatory asset increased $6.7 million from December 31, 2019 to March 31, 2020, due to revisions to the settlement timing, retirement costs, and changes to inflation and discount rates used to measure the expected retirement. Corresponding decreases are made to the ARO liability, thus having no impact on earnings.

CIP RECEIVABLE - The CIP tracking mechanism at SJG adjusts earnings when actual usage per customer experienced during the period varies from an established baseline usage per customer. Actual usage per customer was less than the established baseline during the first three months of 2020, resulting in a regulatory asset at March 31, 2020 as compared to a regulatory liability at December 31, 2019. This is primarily the result of warmer than normal weather experienced in the region.

WNC - The tariffs for ETG include a weather normalization clause that reduces customer bills when weather is colder than normal and increases customer bills when weather is warmer than normal. The overall change in ETG's weather normalization from a regulatory liability at December 31,2019 to a regulatory asset at March 31, 2020 was due to timing of collections from customers and warmer than normal weather during the first three months 2020.

OTHER REGULATORY ASSETS - Some of the assets included in Other Regulatory Assets are currently being recovered from ratepayers as approved by the BPU. Management believes the remaining deferred costs are probable of recovery from ratepayers through future utility rates. Included in Other Regulatory Assets for SJG is the impact of the ERIP on SJG employees, see Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of SJI’s and SJG's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in Other Regulatory Assets is primarily due to a $10.1 million reclassification of costs from Utility Plant to regulatory assets related to a previous project to re-power the former BL England facility with natural gas (see Note 7).
The Utilities Regulatory Liabilities as of March 31, 2020 consisted of the following items (in thousands):

March 31, 2020
SJGETGELKTotal SJI
Excess Plant Removal Costs$14,963  $37,901  $—  $52,864  
Excess Deferred Taxes242,576  116,743  —  359,319  
Deferred Revenues - Net—  6,183  —  6,183  
Amounts to be Refunded to Customers—  10,252  —  10,252  
Other Regulatory Liabilities—  1,880  —  1,880  
Total Regulatory Liabilities$257,539  $172,959  $—  $430,498  

The Utilities Regulatory Liabilities as of December 31, 2019 consisted of the following items (in thousands):

December 31, 2019
 SJGETGELKTotal SJI
Excess Plant Removal Costs$16,333  $36,343  $—  $52,676  
Excess Deferred Taxes251,355  117,695  —  369,050  
Deferred Revenues - Net—  52  —  52  
CIP Payable6,794  —  —  6,794  
WNC—  2,684  —  2,684  
Amounts to be Refunded to Customers—  10,625  —  10,625  
Other Regulatory Liabilities—  1,037  —  1,037  
Total Regulatory Liabilities$274,482  $168,436  $—  $442,918  

EXCESS DEFERRED TAXES - This liability is recognized as a result of Tax Reform enacted into law on December 22, 2017. The decrease in this liability from December 31, 2019 to March 31, 2020 is related to excess tax amounts returned to customers through customer billings. The Unprotected amount of excess deferred taxes will be returned to customers over a five year period. The determination of the treatment for the remaining amount of excess deferred taxes will be deferred until SJG's next base rate case as approved by the BPU (see Note 7).

EXCESS PLANT REMOVAL COSTS - The Utilities accrue and collect for cost of removal of utility property. This regulatory liability represents customer collections in excess of actual expenditures, which will be returned to customers as a reduction to depreciation expense.

DEFERRED REVENUES - NET - Over/under collections of gas costs are monitored through SJG's and ETG's bill credit. Net undercollected gas costs are classified as a regulatory asset and net overcollected gas costs are classified as a regulatory liability. Derivative contracts used to hedge natural gas purchases are also included in the BGSS, subject to BPT approval. As a result of over-collection, ETG resulted in a regulatory liability at March 31, 2020 as compared to a regulatory asset at December 31, 2019.

AMOUNTS TO BE REFUNDED TO CUSTOMERS - See "AMA" section in Note 1.