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Asset Retirement Obligations
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2013
Asset Retirement Obligation Disclosure [Abstract]  
Asset Retirement Obligations
ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATIONS
The Company records the fair value of a liability for an asset retirement obligation in the period in which it is incurred. When the liability is initially recorded, the associated costs of the asset retirement obligation are capitalized as part of the carrying amount of the related long-lived asset. The liability is accreted to its present value each period and the related capitalized costs are depreciated over the useful life of the related asset. Upon retirement of the asset, the Company either settles the retirement obligation for its recorded amount or incurs a gain or loss. The Company records regulatory assets and liabilities for the difference between asset retirement costs currently recovered in rates and asset retirement obligations recorded since asset retirement costs are recovered through rates charged to customers. The regulatory assets do not earn a return.
Specifically, the Company has recorded liabilities for future asset retirement obligations to:
•
restore ponds at Colstrip,
•
cap a landfill at the Kettle Falls Plant,
•
remove plant and restore the land at the Coyote Springs 2 site at the termination of the land lease,
•
remove asbestos at the corporate office building, and
•
dispose of PCBs in certain transformers.
Due to an inability to estimate a range of settlement dates, the Company cannot estimate a liability for the:
•
removal and disposal of certain transmission and distribution assets, and
•
abandonment and decommissioning of certain hydroelectric generation and natural gas storage facilities.
The following table documents the changes in the Company’s asset retirement obligation during the years ended December 31 (dollars in thousands):
 
2013
 
2012
 
2011
Asset retirement obligation at beginning of year
$
3,168

 
$
3,513

 
$
3,887

Liability settled
(263
)
 
(559
)
 
(612
)
Accretion expense (income)
(46
)
 
214

 
238

Asset retirement obligation at end of year
$
2,859

 
$
3,168

 
$
3,513