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Rate Matters
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2019
Rate Matters [Abstract]  
Rate Matters
10.  Rate Matters
 
From time to time, the Company files applications for rate increases with the PPUC and is granted rate relief as a result of such requests.  The most recent rate request was filed by the Company on May 30, 2018, and sought an annual increase in water rates of $6,399 and an annual increase in wastewater rates of $289.  Effective March 1, 2019, the PPUC authorized an increase in water rates designed to produce approximately $3,361 in additional annual revenues and an increase in wastewater rates designed to produce approximately $289 in additional annual revenues.

As part of a rate order approved by the PPUC, the Company has agreed to return $2,117 to customers as a reconcilable negative surcharge on their bills generated from March 2019 through February 2020 for the benefit of the lower tax rate effective January 1, 2018 resulting from the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or 2017 Tax Act.  During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, the Company increased its regulatory liability by reducing revenue by $14 and $319, respectively, including the gross-up of revenue necessary to return, in rates, the effect of this temporary tax difference, and reclassified $0 and $27, respectively, from excess accumulated deferred income taxes on accelerated depreciation recorded at December 31, 2017.  During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, the Company returned negative surcharges of $562 and $1,360, respectively.

The PPUC permits water utilities to collect a distribution system improvement charge, or DSIC.  The DSIC allows the Company to add a charge to customers' bills for qualified replacement costs of certain infrastructure without submitting a rate filing.  This surcharge mechanism typically adjusts periodically based on additional qualified capital expenditures completed or anticipated in a future period.  The DSIC is capped at 5% of base rates, and is reset to zero when new base rates that reflect the costs of those additions become effective or when a utility's earnings exceed a regulatory benchmark. The DSIC reset to zero when the new base rates took effect March 1, 2019. The DSIC provided revenues of $0 and $512 for the three months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively, and $249 and $1,428 for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively.