FAIR VALUE

Fair Value of Assets and Liabilities

The fair value of cash and temporary investments, accounts receivable, current loan receivables, accounts payable, commercial paper and borrowings under revolving credit facilities are estimated to equal their carrying amounts due to the short maturity of those instruments. Non-current loan receivables are recorded based on what the Company expects to receive, which approximates fair value. The Company regularly evaluates the credit quality and collection profile of its customers to approximate fair value.

The estimated fair value of long-term debt, including current maturities and excluding capital leases is as follows:



(Thousands)	March 31, 2016		September 30, 2015
Carrying value ⁽¹⁾	$	807,845	$	807,845
Fair market value	$	832,202	$	817,319


(1)	Excludes capital leases of $48.2 million and $46.9 million as of March 31, 2016 and September 30, 2015, respectively.

NJR utilizes a discounted cash flow method to determine the fair value of its debt. Inputs include observable municipal and corporate yields, as appropriate for the maturity of the specific issue and the Company's credit rating. As of March 31, 2016, NJR discloses its debt within Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.

Fair Value Hierarchy

NJR applies fair value measurement guidance to its financial assets and liabilities, as appropriate, which include financial derivatives and physical commodity contracts qualifying as derivatives, available for sale securities and other financial assets and liabilities. In addition, authoritative accounting literature prescribes the use of a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value based on the source of the data used to develop the price inputs. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities and the lowest priority to inputs that are based on unobservable market data and include the following:

Level 1

Unadjusted quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in active markets. NJR's Level 1 assets and liabilities include exchange traded natural gas futures and options contracts, listed equities and money market funds. Exchange traded futures and options contracts include all energy contracts traded on the NYMEX/CME and ICE that NJR refers internally to as basis swaps, fixed swaps, futures and financial options that are cleared through a FCM.

Level 2

Other significant observable inputs such as interest rates or price data, including both commodity and basis pricing that is observed either directly or indirectly from publications or pricing services. NJR's Level 2 assets and liabilities include over-the-counter physical forward commodity contracts and swap contracts, SREC forward sales or derivatives that are initially valued using observable quotes and are subsequently adjusted to include time value, credit risk or estimated transport pricing components for which no basis price is available. Level 2 financial derivatives consist of transactions with non-FCM counterparties (basis swaps, fixed swaps and/or options). NJNG's treasury lock is also considered Level 2 as valuation is based on quoted market interest and swap rates as inputs to the valuation model. Inputs are verifiable and do not require significant management judgment. For some physical commodity contracts the Company utilizes transportation tariff rates that are publicly available and that it considers to be observable inputs that are equivalent to market data received from an independent source. There are no significant judgments or adjustments applied to the transportation tariff inputs and no market perspective is required. Even if the transportation tariff input were considered to be a “model,” it would still be considered to be a Level 2 input as:

1) The data is widely accepted and public

2) The data is non-proprietary and sourced from an independent third party

3) The data is observable and published

These additional adjustments are generally not considered to be significant to the ultimate recognized values.


Level 3	Inputs derived from a significant amount of unobservable market data. These include NJR's best estimate of fair value and are derived primarily through the use of internal valuation methodologies.

Assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis are summarized as follows:



	Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets			Significant Other Observable Inputs			Significant Unobservable Inputs
(Thousands)	(Level 1)			(Level 2)			(Level 3)			Total
As of March 31, 2016:
Assets:
Physical commodity contracts		$	—		$	6,217		$	—	$	6,217
Financial commodity contracts		49,753			—			—		49,753
Financial commodity contracts - foreign exchange		—			7			—		7
Available for sale equity securities - energy industry		73,444			—			—		73,444
Other ⁽¹⁾		1,607			—			—		1,607
Total assets at fair value		$	124,804		$	6,224		$	—	$	131,028
Liabilities:
Physical commodity contracts		$	—		$	9,140		$	—	$	9,140
Financial commodity contracts		45,576			—			—		45,576
Interest rate contracts		—			12,932			—		12,932
Total liabilities at fair value		$	45,576		$	22,072		$	—	$	67,648
As of September 30, 2015:
Assets:
Physical commodity contracts		$	—		$	6,572		$	—	$	6,572
Financial commodity contracts		38,515			—			—		38,515
Available for sale equity securities - energy industry		59,475			—			—		59,475
Other ⁽¹⁾		1,572			—			—		1,572
Total assets at fair value		$	99,562		$	6,572		$	—	$	106,134
Liabilities:
Physical commodity contracts		$	—		$	9,281		$	—	$	9,281
Financial commodity contracts		24,821			—			—		24,821
Interest rate contracts		—			4,228			—		4,228
Total liabilities at fair value		$	24,821		$	13,509		$	—	$	38,330


(1)	Includes various money market funds.