SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

Utility Plant balances as of December 31, 2013 and 2012 were comprised of the following (in thousands):



	2013		2012
Utility Plant:
Production Plant	$	296	$	296
Storage Plant	22,538		20,316
Transmission Plant	248,074		250,886
Distribution Plant	1,417,939		1,297,619
General Plant	53,162		49,586
Other Plant	1,855		1,855
Utility Plant in Service	1,743,864		1,620,558
Construction Work in Progress	72,940		38,232
Total Utility Plant	$	1,816,804	$	1,658,790

Asset retirement obligation activity

ARO activity during 2013 and 2012 was as follows (in thousands):



	2013			2012
ARO as of January 1,	$	38,892		$	29,388
Accretion	1,514			1,870
Additions	743			989
Settlements	(1,630		)	(1,603		)
Revisions in Estimated Cash Flows *	1,659			8,248
ARO as of December 31,	$	41,178		$	38,892

* The revision in estimated cash flows in 2013 reflects an increase in the inflation rate used to determine the ARO settlement amount. In 2012, the revision in estimated cash flows reflected increases in the contractual cost as well as changes in the discount rates used to determine the ARO. A corresponding increase was made to regulatory assets, thus having no impact on earnings.