Retirement Plan And Other Post-Retirement Benefits (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Components of Net Periodic Benefit Cost

Components of Net Periodic Benefit Cost (in thousands):

	Retirement Plan						Other Post-Retirement Benefits
Three Months Ended March 31,	2016			2015			2016			2015
Service Cost	$	2,928		$	3,012		$	583		$	673
Interest Cost	10,579			10,304			5,096			4,821
Expected Return on Plan Assets	(14,842		)	(14,904		)	(7,883		)	(8,522		)
Amortization of Prior Service Cost (Credit)	308			46			(228		)	(478		)
Amortization of Losses	8,062			9,032			1,382			1,037
Net Amortization and Deferral for Regulatory Purposes (Including Volumetric Adjustments) (1)	5,609			7,055			6,599			7,396
Net Periodic Benefit Cost	$	12,644		$	14,545		$	5,549		$	4,927

	Retirement Plan						Other Post-Retirement Benefits
Six Months Ended March 31,	2016			2015			2016			2015
Service Cost	$	5,855		$	6,024		$	1,166		$	1,346
Interest Cost	21,158			20,608			10,193			9,642
Expected Return on Plan Assets	(29,685		)	(29,808		)	(15,768		)	(17,044		)
Amortization of Prior Service Cost (Credit)	617			92			(456		)	(956		)
Amortization of Losses	16,124			18,065			2,765			2,074
Net Amortization and Deferral for Regulatory Purposes (Including Volumetric Adjustments) (1)	7,516			8,346			10,720			12,316
Net Periodic Benefit Cost	$	21,585		$	23,327		$	8,620		$	7,378

⁽¹⁾  The Company’s policy is to record retirement plan and other post-retirement benefit costs in the Utility segment on a volumetric basis to reflect the fact that the Utility segment experiences higher throughput of natural gas in the winter months and lower throughput of natural gas in the summer months.