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Risk Management Activities (Notes)
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2014
Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]  
Risk Management Activities
RISK MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

Our activities in the regulated and non-regulated energy sectors expose us to a number of risks in the normal operation of our businesses. Depending on the activity, we are exposed to varying degrees of market risk and credit risk. To manage and mitigate these identified risks, we have adopted the Black Hills Corporation Risk Policies and Procedures as discussed in our 2013 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Market Risk

Market risk is the potential loss that might occur as a result of an adverse change in market price or rate. We are exposed to the following market risks including, but not limited to:

•
Commodity price risk associated with our natural long position in crude oil and natural gas reserves and production; and our fuel procurement for certain of our gas-fired generation assets; and

•
Interest rate risk associated with our variable-rate debt.

Credit Risk

Credit risk is the risk of financial loss resulting from non-performance of contractual obligations by a counterparty.

For production and generation activities, we attempt to mitigate our credit exposure by conducting business primarily with high credit quality entities, setting tenor and credit limits commensurate with counterparty financial strength, obtaining master netting agreements, and mitigating credit exposure with less creditworthy counterparties through parental guarantees, prepayments, letters of credit, and other security agreements.

We perform ongoing credit evaluations of our customers and adjust credit limits based upon payment history and the customer’s current creditworthiness, as determined by review of their current credit information. We maintain a provision for estimated credit losses based upon historical experience and any specific customer collection issue that is identified.

As of September 30, 2014, our credit exposure included a $0.5 million exposure to non-investment grade energy marketing companies. The remainder of our credit exposure was concentrated primarily among retail utility customers, investment grade rated companies, cooperative utilities and federal agencies. Our derivative and hedging activities recorded in the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss) and Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) are detailed below and in Note 9.

Oil and Gas

We produce natural gas and crude oil through our exploration and production activities. Our natural long positions, or unhedged open positions, result in commodity price risk and variability to our cash flows.

To mitigate commodity price risk and preserve cash flows, we primarily use OTC swaps, exchange traded futures and related options to hedge portions of our crude oil and natural gas production. We elect hedge accounting on these instruments. These transactions were designated at inception as cash flow hedges, documented under accounting standards for derivatives and hedging, and initially met prospective effectiveness testing. Effectiveness of our hedging position is evaluated at least quarterly.

The derivatives were marked to fair value and were recorded as Derivative assets or Derivative liabilities on the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The effective portion of the gain or loss on these derivatives for which we have elected cash flow hedge accounting is reported in AOCI in the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets and the ineffective portion, if any, is reported in Revenue in the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss).

The contract or notional amounts, terms of our commodity derivatives, and the derivative balances for our Oil and Gas segment reflected on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets were as follows (dollars in thousands) as of:
 
September 30, 2014
 
December 31, 2013
 
September 30, 2013
 
Crude Oil Futures, Swaps and Options
Natural Gas Futures and Swaps
 
Crude Oil Futures, Swaps and Options
Natural Gas Futures and Swaps
 
Crude Oil Futures, Swaps and Options
Natural Gas Futures and Swaps
Notional (a)
391,500

7,930,000

 
412,500

7,082,500

 
499,500

9,874,000

Maximum terms in months (b)
1

1

 
3

1

 
3

1

Derivative assets, current
$
—

$
—

 
$
55

$
—

 
$
13

$
113

Derivative assets, non-current
$
—

$
—

 
$
—

$
—

 
$
—

$
—

Derivative liabilities, current
$
—

$
—

 
$
—

$
—

 
$
98

$
52

Derivative liabilities, non-current
$
—

$
—

 
$
—

$
—

 
$
—

$
—

__________
(a)
Crude oil in Bbls, natural gas in MMBtus.
(b)
Refers to the tenor of the derivative instrument. Assets and liabilities are classified as current/non-current based on the production month hedged and the corresponding settlement of the derivative instrument.
A $0.7 million gain is included in AOCI at September 30, 2014, and would be realized over the next 12 months if market prices remained equal to September 30, 2014 prices. Future realized gains or losses fluctuate with market prices.

Utilities

The operations of our utilities, including natural gas sold by our Gas Utilities and natural gas used for Electric Utility generation plants or those plants under PPAs where our Electric Utilities must provide the generation fuel (tolling agreements), expose our utility customers to volatility in natural gas prices. Therefore, as allowed or required by state utility commissions, we have entered into commission-approved hedging programs utilizing natural gas futures, options and basis swaps to reduce our customers’ underlying exposure to these fluctuations. These transactions are considered derivatives, and in accordance with accounting standards for derivatives and hedging, mark-to-market adjustments are recorded as Derivative assets or Derivative liabilities on the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, net of balance sheet offsetting as permitted by GAAP. Unrealized and realized gains and losses, as well as option premiums and commissions on these transactions are recorded as Regulatory assets or Regulatory liabilities in the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets in accordance with state commission guidelines. When the related costs are recovered through our rates, the hedging activity is recognized in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss).

The contract or notional amounts and terms of the natural gas derivative commodity instruments held at our Utilities were as follows, as of:
 
September 30, 2014
 
December 31, 2013
 
September 30, 2013
 
Notional
(MMBtus)
 
Maximum
Term
(months) (a)
 
Notional
(MMBtus)
 
Maximum
Term
(months) (a)
 
Notional
(MMBtus)
 
Maximum
Term
(months) (a)
Natural gas futures purchased
16,290,000

 
74
 
17,930,000

 
84
 
14,010,000

 
74
Natural gas options purchased
7,070,000

 
6
 
3,890,000

 
8
 
6,810,000

 
6
Natural gas basis swaps purchased
12,025,000

 
63
 
14,785,000

 
60
 
9,790,000

 
63

__________
(a) Term reflects the maximum forward period hedged.

We had the following derivative balances related to the hedges in our Utilities reflected in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of (in thousands):
 
September 30, 2014
December 31, 2013
September 30, 2013
Derivative assets, current
$
—

$
662

$
—

Derivative assets, non-current
$
—

$
—

$
—

Derivative liabilities, non-current
$
—

$
—

$
—

Net unrealized (gain) loss included in Regulatory assets or Regulatory liabilities
$
7,470

$
7,567

$
10,652



Financing Activities

We entered into floating-to-fixed interest rate swap agreements to reduce our exposure to interest rate fluctuations associated with our floating rate debt obligations. The contract or notional amounts, terms of our interest rate swaps and the interest rate swaps balances reflected on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets were as follows (dollars in thousands) as of:
 
September 30, 2014
 
December 31, 2013
 
September 30, 2013
 
Interest Rate
Swaps (a)
 
Interest Rate
Swaps (a)
 
Interest Rate
Swaps (b)
De-designated
Interest Rate
Swaps (c)
Notional
$
75,000

 
$
75,000

 
$
150,000

$
250,000

Weighted average fixed interest rate
4.97
%
 
4.97
%
 
5.04
%
5.67
%
Maximum terms in years
2.25

 
3.00

 
3.25

0.25

Derivative liabilities, current
$
3,397

 
$
3,474

 
$
7,039

$
58,755

Derivative liabilities, non-current
$
3,273

 
$
5,614

 
$
11,388

$
—

__________
(a)
These swaps are designated to borrowings on our Revolving Credit Facility, and are priced using three-month LIBOR, matching the floating portion of the related debt.
(b)
At September 30, 2013, $75 million of these interest rate swaps was designated to borrowings on our Revolving Credit Facility and $75 million was designated to borrowings on our project financing debt at Black Hills Wyoming. These swaps were priced using three-month LIBOR, matching the floating portion of the related debt. The portion of the swaps that was designated to Black Hills Wyoming was settled during the fourth quarter of 2013 upon repayment of the Black Hills Wyoming project financing.
(c)
These swaps were settled during the fourth quarter of 2013.

Based on September 30, 2014, market interest rates and balances related to our interest rate swaps, a loss of approximately $3.4 million would be realized, reported in pre-tax earnings and reclassified from AOCI during the next 12 months. Estimated and actual realized gains or losses will change during future periods as market interest rates change.

Cash Flow Hedges

The impacts of cash flow hedges on our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss) were as follows (in thousands):
Three Months Ended September 30, 2014
Derivatives in Cash Flow Hedging Relationships
 
Amount of
Gain/(Loss)
Recognized
in AOCI
Derivative
(Effective
Portion)
 
Location
of Gain/(Loss)
Reclassified
from AOCI
into Income
(Effective
Portion)
 
Amount of
Reclassified
Gain/(Loss)
from AOCI
into Income
(Effective
Portion)
 
Location of
Gain/(Loss)
Recognized
in Income
on Derivative
(Ineffective
Portion)
 
Amount of
Gain/(Loss)
Recognized in
Income on
Derivative
(Ineffective
Portion)
Interest rate swaps
 
$
152

 
Interest expense
 
$
(925
)
 
 
 
$
—

Commodity derivatives
 
4,833

 
Revenue
 
(1,135
)
 
 
 
—

Total
 
$
4,985

 
 
 
$
(2,060
)
 
 
 
$
—


Three Months Ended September 30, 2013
Derivatives in Cash Flow Hedging Relationships
 
Amount of
Gain/(Loss)
Recognized
in AOCI
Derivative
(Effective
Portion)
 
Location
of Gain/(Loss)
Reclassified
from AOCI
into Income
(Effective
Portion)
 
Amount of
Reclassified
Gain/(Loss)
from AOCI
into Income
(Effective
Portion)
 
Location of
Gain/(Loss)
Recognized
in Income
on Derivative
(Ineffective
Portion)
 
Amount of
Gain/(Loss)
Recognized in
Income on
Derivative
(Ineffective
Portion)
Interest rate swaps
 
$
(907
)
 
Interest expense
 
$
(1,844
)
 
 
 
$
—

Commodity derivatives
 
(2,140
)
 
Revenue
 
(168
)
 
 
 
—

Total
 
$
(3,047
)
 
 
 
$
(2,012
)
 
 
 
$
—


Nine Months Ended September 30, 2014
Derivatives in Cash Flow Hedging Relationships
 
Amount of
Gain/(Loss)
Recognized
in AOCI
Derivative
(Effective
Portion)
 
Location
of Gain/(Loss)
Reclassified
from AOCI
into Income
(Effective
Portion)
 
Amount of
Reclassified
Gain/(Loss)
from AOCI
into Income
(Effective
Portion)
 
Location of
Gain/(Loss)
Recognized
in Income
on Derivative
(Ineffective
Portion)
 
Amount of
Gain/(Loss)
Recognized in
Income on
Derivative
(Ineffective
Portion)
Interest rate swaps
 
$
(277
)
 
Interest expense
 
$
(2,745
)
 
 
 
$
—

Commodity derivatives
 
(1,376
)
 
Revenue
 
(2,697
)
 
 
 
—

Total
 
$
(1,653
)
 
 
 
$
(5,442
)
 
 
 
$
—


Nine Months Ended September 30, 2013
Derivatives in Cash Flow Hedging Relationships
 
Amount of
Gain/(Loss)
Recognized
in AOCI
Derivative
(Effective
Portion)
 
Location
of Gain/(Loss)
Reclassified
from AOCI
into Income
(Effective
Portion)
 
Amount of
Reclassified
Gain/(Loss)
from AOCI
into Income
(Effective
Portion)
 
Location of
Gain/(Loss)
Recognized
in Income
on Derivative
(Ineffective
Portion)
 
Amount of
Gain/(Loss)
Recognized in
Income on
Derivative
(Ineffective
Portion)
Interest rate swaps
 
$
141

 
Interest expense
 
$
(5,460
)
 
 
 
$
—

Commodity derivatives
 
86

 
Revenue
 
896

 
 
 
—

Total
 
$
227

 
 
 
$
(4,564
)
 
 
 
$
—