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Fair Value of Financial Instruments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

For cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, accounts payable and short-term debt, the carrying amount is assumed to approximate fair value due to the short-term nature of these items.

Investments held in a Rabbi Trust for the supplemental executive retirement plan ("SERP") are measured at fair value and totaled $22.8 million as of September 30, 2020. All equity investments in the Rabbi Trust are Level 1 investments in mutual funds. The investments held in the Rabbi Trust are included in "Other Property and Investments" on Registrant's balance sheets.

The table below estimates the fair value of long-term debt held by GSWC. The fair values as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019 were determined using rates for similar financial instruments of the same duration utilizing Level 2 methods and assumptions. Changes in the assumptions will produce different results.


	September 30, 2020				December 31, 2019
(dollars in thousands)	Carrying Amount		Fair Value		Carrying Amount		Fair Value
Financial liabilities:
Long-term debt—GSWC (1)	$	444,349	$	546,363	$	284,699	$	376,467

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(1) Excludes debt issuance costs and redemption premiums.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the fair value of financial instruments (as defined), including financial assets and financial liabilities (collectively, as defined), and the measurements of those instruments as well as disclosures related to the fair value of non-financial assets and liabilities. Such disclosures about the financial instruments, assets, and liabilities would include: (1) the fair value of the required items together with their carrying amounts (as appropriate); (2) for items for which it is not practicable to estimate fair value, disclosure would include: (a) information pertinent to estimating fair value (including, carrying amount, effective interest rate, and maturity, and (b) the reasons why it is not practicable to estimate fair value; (3) significant concentrations of credit risk including: (a) information about the activity, region, or economic characteristics identifying a concentration, (b) the maximum amount of loss the entity is exposed to based on the gross fair value of the related item, (c) policy for requiring collateral or other security and information as to accessing such collateral or security, and (d) the nature and brief description of such collateral or security; (4) quantitative information about market risks and how such risks are managed; (5) for items measured on both a recurring and nonrecurring basis information regarding the inputs used to develop the fair value measurement; and (6) for items presented in the financial statement for which fair value measurement is elected: (a) information necessary to understand the reasons for the election, (b) discussion of the effect of fair value changes on earnings, (c) a description of [similar groups] items for which the election is made and the relation thereof to the balance sheet, the aggregate carrying value of items included in the balance sheet that are not eligible for the election; (7) all other required (as defined) and desired information.

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