Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash. The Partnership considers all highly liquid instruments purchased with an original maturity of three months or less to be cash equivalents. In accordance with the indenture, as amended, and loan agreement, as amended, governing the Green Bonds assumed in the RNG Acquisition (see Notes 4 and 10), the Partnership is required to maintain certain funds in various accounts that are held with a third-party trustee for debt service and other purposes. The amounts deposited in those accounts is considered Restricted Cash and is reported within other current assets (or other assets, as applicable). The balance classified as short-term included accounts for which the cash will be used within one year, and are related to interest payments as well as operating and maintenance activities for the RNG facility in Arizona. The balance classified as long-term represented cash held in a debt service fund for future debt repayments on the Green Bonds for which the first debt redemption payment is due on October 1, 2028. Refer to Note 6, “Selected Balance Sheet Information” for a reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash. The carrying amount approximates fair value because of the short-term maturity of these instruments.

Commodity Price Risk. Given the retail nature of its operations, the Partnership maintains a certain level of priced physical inventory to help ensure its field operations have adequate supply commensurate with the time of year. The Partnership’s strategy is to keep its

physical inventory priced relatively close to market for its field operations. The Partnership enters into a combination of exchange-traded futures and option contracts and, in certain instances, over-the-counter options and swap contracts (collectively, “derivative instruments”) to hedge price risk associated with propane and fuel oil physical inventories, as well as future purchases of propane or fuel oil used in its operations, and to help ensure adequate supply during periods of high demand. In addition, the Partnership sells propane and fuel oil to customers at fixed prices, and enters into derivative instruments to hedge a portion of its exposure to fluctuations in commodity prices as a result of selling the fixed price contracts. Under this risk management strategy, realized gains or losses on derivative instruments will typically offset losses or gains on the physical inventory once the product is sold or delivered as it pertains to fixed price contracts. All of the Partnership’s derivative instruments are reported on the condensed consolidated balance sheet at their fair values. In addition, in the course of normal operations, the Partnership routinely enters into contracts such as forward priced physical contracts for the purchase or sale of propane and fuel oil that qualify for and are designated as normal purchase or normal sale contracts. Such contracts are exempted from the fair value accounting requirements and are accounted for at the time product is purchased or sold under the related contract. The Partnership does not use derivative instruments for speculative trading purposes. Market risks associated with derivative instruments are monitored daily for compliance with the Partnership’s Hedging and Risk Management Policy which includes volume limits for open positions. Priced on-hand inventory is also reviewed and managed daily as to exposures to changing market prices.

On the date that derivative instruments are entered into, other than those designated as normal purchases or normal sales, the Partnership makes a determination as to whether the derivative instrument qualifies for designation as a hedge. Changes in the fair value of derivative instruments are recorded each period in current period earnings or other comprehensive income (“OCI”), depending on whether the derivative instrument is designated as a hedge and, if so, the type of hedge. For derivative instruments designated as cash flow hedges, the Partnership formally assesses, both at the hedge contract’s inception and on an ongoing basis, whether the hedge contract is highly effective in offsetting changes in cash flows of hedged items. Changes in the fair value of derivative instruments designated as cash flow hedges are reported in OCI to the extent effective and reclassified into earnings during the same period in which the hedged item affects earnings. The mark-to-market gains or losses on ineffective portions of cash flow hedges are recognized in earnings immediately. Changes in the fair value of derivative instruments that are not designated as cash flow hedges, and that do not meet the normal purchase and normal sale exemption, are recorded within earnings as they occur. Cash flows associated with derivative instruments are reported as operating activities within the condensed consolidated statement of cash flows.

Interest Rate Risk. A portion of the Partnership’s borrowings bear interest at prevailing interest rates based upon, at the Operating Partnership’s option, Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) plus an applicable margin or the base rate, defined as the higher of the Federal Funds Rate plus ½ of 1% or the agent bank’s prime rate, or SOFR plus 1%, plus the applicable margin. The applicable margin is dependent on the level of the Partnership’s total leverage (the ratio of total debt to income before deducting interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”), as adjusted pursuant to the Credit Agreement). Therefore, the Partnership is subject to interest rate risk on the variable component of the interest rate. From time to time, the Partnership manages part of its variable interest rate risk by entering into interest rate swap agreements. The Partnership did not enter into any interest rate swap agreements during the first quarter of fiscal 2024 or in fiscal 2023.

Valuation of Derivative Instruments. The Partnership measures the fair value of its exchange-traded options and futures contracts using quoted market prices found on the New York Mercantile Exchange (the “NYMEX”) (Level 1 inputs); the fair value of its swap contracts using quoted forward prices and the fair value of its interest rate swaps using model-derived valuations driven by observable projected movements of the 3-month SOFR (Level 2 inputs); and the fair value of its over-the-counter options contracts using Level 3 inputs. The Partnership’s over-the-counter options contracts are valued based on an internal option model. The inputs utilized in the model are based on publicly available information as well as broker quotes. The significant unobservable inputs used in the fair value measurements of the Partnership’s over-the-counter options contracts are interest rate and market volatility.

The following summarizes the fair value of the Partnership’s derivative instruments and their location in the condensed consolidated balance sheets as of December 30, 2023 and September 30, 2023, respectively:


	As of December 30, 2023			As of September 30, 2023
Asset Derivatives	Location	Fair Value		Location	Fair Value
Derivatives not designated as hedging instruments:
Commodity-related derivatives	Other current assets	$	2,345	Other current assets	$	18,538
	Other assets		—	Other assets		8
		$	2,345		$	18,546

Liability Derivatives	Location	Fair Value		Location	Fair Value
Derivatives not designated as hedging instruments:
Commodity-related derivatives	Other current liabilities	$	3,118	Other current liabilities	$	2,427
	Other liabilities		—	Other liabilities		4,784
		$	3,118		$	7,211

The following summarizes the reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances of assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis using significant unobservable inputs:


	Fair Value Measurement Using Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
	Three Months Ended					Three Months Ended
	December 30, 2023					December 24, 2022
	Assets		Liabilities			Assets			Liabilities
Beginning balance of over-the-counter options	$	—	$	806		$	222		$	3,408
Beginning balance realized during the period		—		(613	)		(46	)		(298	)
Contracts purchased during the period		—		—			—			—
Change in the fair value of outstanding contracts		—		25			(65	)		308
Ending balance of over-the-counter options	$	—	$	218		$	111		$	3,418

As of December 30, 2023 and September 30, 2023, the Partnership’s outstanding commodity-related derivatives had a weighted average maturity of approximately four and six months, respectively.

The effect of the Partnership’s derivative instruments on the condensed consolidated statements of operations for the three months ended December 30, 2023 and December 24, 2022 are as follows:

         
        Three Months Ended December 30, 2023

        Three Months Ended December 24, 2022

        Derivatives Not Designated 
as Hedging Instruments

        Unrealized Gains (Losses)
 Recognized in Income

        Unrealized Gains (Losses) 
Recognized in Income

         
        Location

        Amount

        Location

        Amount

Commodity-related derivatives

Cost of products sold

(10,786

)

Cost of products sold

(13,706

)

The following table presents the fair value of the Partnership’s recognized derivative assets and liabilities on a gross basis and amounts offset on the condensed consolidated balance sheets subject to enforceable master netting arrangements or similar agreements:


	As of December 30, 2023							As of September 30, 2023
						Net amounts							Net amounts
						presented in the							presented in the
	Gross amounts		Effects of netting			balance sheet		Gross amounts		Effects of netting			balance sheet
Asset Derivatives
Commodity-related derivatives	$	7,047	$	(4,702	)	$	2,345	$	35,339	$	(16,793	)	$	18,546
Liability Derivatives
Commodity-related derivatives	$	7,820	$	(4,702	)	$	3,118	$	24,004	$	(16,793	)	$	7,211

The Partnership had $4,836 and $-0- posted cash collateral as of December 30, 2023 and September 30, 2023, respectively, with its brokers for outstanding commodity-related derivatives.

Bank Debt, Green Bonds and Senior Notes. The fair value of the Revolving Credit Facility approximates the carrying value since the interest rates are adjusted quarterly to reflect market conditions. The fair values of the Senior Notes are based upon quoted market prices (a Level 1 input) and the fair value of the Green Bonds is based upon a valuation model (a Level 3 input). Senior Notes, Revolving Credit Facility and Green Bonds are defined below in Note 10 (“Long-Term Borrowings”) and the fair values of the Senior Notes and Green Bonds are as follows:


	As of
	December 30,		September 30,
	2023		2023
5.875% Senior Notes due March 1, 2027	$	349,125	$	334,250
5.00% Senior Notes due June 1, 2031		586,918		541,658
5.50% Green Bonds due October 1, 2028 through October 1, 2033		66,131		63,031
	$	1,002,174	$	938,939