Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies (Policy)

3 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Principles of Consolidation

Principles of Consolidation. The Company consolidates all entities in which it has a controlling financial interest. All significant intercompany balances and transactions are eliminated. The Company uses proportionate consolidation when accounting for drilling arrangements related to oil and gas producing properties accounted for under the full cost method of accounting.

    The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.  Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Earnings For Interim Periods

Earnings for Interim Periods.  The Company, in its opinion, has included all adjustments (which consist of only normally recurring adjustments, unless otherwise disclosed in this Form 10-Q) that are necessary for a fair statement of the results of operations for the reported periods. The consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, included herein, should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes for the years ended September 30, 2021, 2020 and 2019 that are included in the Company's 2021 Form 10-K.  The consolidated financial statements for the year ended September 30, 2022 will be audited by the Company's independent registered public accounting firm after the end of the fiscal year.

    The earnings for the three months ended December 31, 2021 should not be taken as a prediction of earnings for the entire fiscal year ending September 30, 2022.  Most of the business of the Utility segment is seasonal in nature and is influenced by weather conditions.  Due to the seasonal nature of the heating business in the Utility segment, earnings during the winter months normally represent a substantial part of the earnings that this business is expected to achieve for the entire fiscal year.  The Company’s business segments are discussed more fully in Note 9 – Business Segment Information.

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.  The components, as reported on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets, of the total cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash presented on the Statement of Cash Flows are as follows (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended  December 31, 2021				Three Months Ended  December 31, 2020
	Balance at October 1, 2021		Balance at December 31, 2021		Balance at October 1, 2020		Balance at December 31, 2020
Cash and Temporary Cash Investments	$	31,528	$	79,065	$	20,541	$	109,413
Hedging Collateral Deposits	88,610		—		—		—
Cash, Cash Equivalents, and Restricted Cash	$	120,138	$	79,065	$	20,541	$	109,413

    The Company considers all highly liquid debt instruments purchased with a maturity date of generally three months or less to be cash equivalents. The Company’s restricted cash is composed entirely of amounts reported as Hedging Collateral Deposits on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Hedging Collateral Deposits is an account title for cash held in margin accounts funded by the Company to serve as collateral for hedging positions. In accordance with its accounting policy, the Company does not offset hedging collateral deposits paid or received against related derivative financial instruments liability or asset balances.

Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts

Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts. The allowance for uncollectible accounts is the Company’s best estimate of the amount of probable credit losses in the existing accounts receivable. The allowance is determined based on historical experience, the age of customer accounts, other specific information about customer accounts, and the economic environment. Account balances are charged off against the allowance twelve months after the account is final billed or when it is anticipated that the receivable will not be recovered.

    Activity in the allowance for uncollectible accounts for the three months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 are as follows (in thousands):

	Balance at Beginning of Period		Additions Charged to Costs and Expenses		Discounts on Purchased Receivables		Net Accounts Receivable Recovered (Written-Off)		Balance at End of Period
Three Months Ended December 31, 2021
Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts	$	31,639	$	3,742	$	161	$	57	$	35,599
Three Months Ended December 31, 2020
Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts	$	22,810	$	4,679	$	170	$	(1,438)	$	26,221

Gas Stored Underground

Gas Stored Underground.  In the Utility segment, gas stored underground is carried at lower of cost or net realizable value, on a LIFO method.  Gas stored underground normally declines during the first and second quarters of the year and is replenished during the third and fourth quarters.  In the Utility segment, the current cost of replacing gas withdrawn from storage is recorded in the Consolidated Statements of Income and a reserve for gas replacement is recorded in the Consolidated Balance Sheets under the caption “Other Accruals and Current Liabilities.”  Such reserve, which amounted to $2.7 million at December 31, 2021, is reduced to zero by September 30 of each year as the inventory is replenished.

Materials, Supplies and Emission Allowances

Materials, Supplies and Emission Allowances. The components of the Company's materials, supplies and emission allowances are as follows (in thousands):

	At December 31, 2021		At September 30, 2021
Materials and Supplies - at average cost	$	36,233	$	34,880
Emission Allowances	11,118		18,680
	$	47,351	$	53,560

Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, Plant and Equipment.  In the Company’s Exploration and Production segment, oil and gas property acquisition, exploration and development costs are capitalized under the full cost method of accounting. Under this methodology, all costs associated with property acquisition, exploration and development activities are capitalized, including internal costs directly identified with acquisition, exploration and development activities. The internal costs that are capitalized do not include any costs related to production, general corporate overhead, or similar activities. The Company does not recognize any gain or loss on the sale or other disposition of oil and gas properties unless the gain or loss would significantly alter the relationship between capitalized costs and proved reserves of oil and gas attributable to a cost center. The Company's capitalized costs relating to oil and gas producing activities, net of accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization, were $2.0 billion and $1.9 billion at December 31, 2021 and September 30, 2021, respectively.

    Capitalized costs include costs related to unproved properties, which are excluded from amortization until proved reserves are found or it is determined that the unproved properties are impaired.  Such costs amounted to $120.0 million and $103.8 million at December 31, 2021 and September 30, 2021, respectively.  All costs related to unproved properties are reviewed quarterly to determine if impairment has occurred. The amount of any impairment is transferred to the pool of capitalized costs being amortized.

    Capitalized costs are subject to the SEC full cost ceiling test. The ceiling test, which is performed each quarter, determines a limit, or ceiling, on the amount of property acquisition, exploration and development costs that can be capitalized. The ceiling under this test represents (a) the present value of estimated future net cash flows, excluding future cash outflows associated with settling asset retirement obligations that have been accrued on the balance sheet, using a discount factor of 10%, which is computed by applying prices of oil and gas (as adjusted for hedging) to estimated future production of proved oil and gas reserves as of the date of the latest balance sheet, less estimated future expenditures, plus (b) the cost of unproved properties not being depleted, less (c) income tax effects related to the differences between the book and tax basis of the properties. The gas and oil prices used to calculate the full cost ceiling are based on an unweighted arithmetic average of the first day of the month oil and gas prices for each month within the twelve-month period prior to the end of the reporting period. If capitalized costs, net of accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization and related deferred income taxes, exceed the ceiling at the end of any quarter, a permanent non-cash impairment is required to be charged to earnings in that quarter. At December 31, 2021, the ceiling exceeded the book value of the oil and gas properties by approximately $1.3 billion.  In adjusting estimated

future net cash flows for hedging under the ceiling test at December 31, 2021, estimated future net cash flows were decreased by $297.8 million.

    The principal assets of the Utility, Pipeline and Storage and Gathering segments, consisting primarily of gas distribution pipelines, transmission pipelines, storage facilities, gathering lines and compressor stations, are recorded at historical cost. There were no indications of any impairments to property, plant and equipment in the Utility, Pipeline and Storage and Gathering segments at December 31, 2021.

Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss

Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss. The components of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss and changes for the three months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, net of related tax effect, are as follows (amounts in parentheses indicate debits) (in thousands): 

	Gains and Losses on Derivative Financial Instruments		Funded Status of the Pension and Other Post-Retirement Benefit Plans		Total
Three Months Ended December 31, 2021
Balance at October 1, 2021	$	(449,962)	$	(63,635)	$	(513,597)
Other Comprehensive Gains and Losses Before Reclassifications	118,483		—		118,483
Amounts Reclassified From Other Comprehensive Income	118,088		—		118,088
Balance at December 31, 2021	$	(213,391)	$	(63,635)	$	(277,026)
Three Months Ended December 31, 2020
Balance at October 1, 2020	$	(24,865)	$	(89,892)	$	(114,757)
Other Comprehensive Gains and Losses Before Reclassifications	34,791		—		34,791
Amounts Reclassified From Other Comprehensive Income	225		—		225
Balance at December 31, 2020	$	10,151	$	(89,892)	$	(79,741)

Reclassifications Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss

Reclassifications Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss.  The details about the reclassification adjustments out of accumulated other comprehensive loss for the three months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 are as follows (amounts in parentheses indicate debits to the income statement) (in thousands):

Details About Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss Components	Amount of Gain or (Loss) Reclassified from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss		Affected Line Item in the Statement Where Net Income is Presented
	Three Months Ended December 31,
	2021	2020
Gains (Losses) on Derivative Financial Instrument Cash Flow Hedges:
Commodity Contracts	($162,629)	($310)	Operating Revenues
Foreign Currency Contracts	41	(1)	Operating Revenues
	(162,588)	(311)	Total Before Income Tax
	44,500	86	Income Tax Expense
	($118,088)	($225)	Net of Tax

Other Current Assets

Other Current Assets.  The components of the Company’s Other Current Assets are as follows (in thousands):

	At December 31, 2021		At September 30, 2021
Prepayments	$	12,997	$	14,164
Prepaid Property and Other Taxes	15,366		14,788
State Income Taxes Receivable	3,516		1,502
Regulatory Assets	32,435		29,206
	$	64,314	$	59,660

Other Accruals and Current Liabilities

Other Accruals and Current Liabilities.  The components of the Company’s Other Accruals and Current Liabilities are as follows (in thousands):

	At December 31, 2021		At September 30, 2021
Accrued Capital Expenditures	$	51,685	$	42,541
Regulatory Liabilities	22,937		60,860
Reserve for Gas Replacement	2,724		—
Liability for Royalty and Working Interests	43,138		31,483
Federal Income Taxes Payable	79		154
Non-Qualified Benefit Plan Liability	15,408		15,408
Other	51,994		43,723
	$	187,965	$	194,169

Earnings Per Common Share

Earnings Per Common Share.  Basic earnings per common share is computed by dividing income or loss by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding for the period. Diluted earnings per common share reflects the potential dilution that could occur if securities or other contracts to issue common stock were exercised or converted into common stock.  For purposes of determining earnings per common share, the potentially dilutive securities the Company had outstanding were SARs, restricted stock units and performance shares. For the quarter ended December 31, 2021, the diluted weighted average shares outstanding shown on the Consolidated Statements of Income reflects the potential dilution as a result of these securities as determined using the Treasury Stock Method. SARs, restricted stock units and performance shares that are antidilutive are excluded from the calculation of diluted earnings per common share. There were 8,732 securities and 373,378 securities excluded as being antidilutive for the quarters ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively.

Stock-Based Compensation

Stock-Based Compensation.  The Company granted 195,397 performance shares during the quarter ended December 31, 2021. The weighted average fair value of such performance shares was $65.39 per share for the quarter ended December 31, 2021. Performance shares are an award constituting units denominated in common stock of the Company, the number of which may be adjusted over a performance cycle based upon the extent to which performance goals have been satisfied.  Earned performance shares may be distributed in the form of shares of common stock of the Company, an equivalent value in cash or a combination of cash and shares of common stock of the Company, as determined by the Company. The performance shares do not entitle the participant to receive dividends during the vesting period.

    The performance shares granted during the quarter ended December 31, 2021 include awards that must meet a performance goal related to either relative return on capital over a three-year performance cycle ("ROC performance shares"), methane intensity and greenhouse gas emissions reductions over a three-year performance cycle ("ESG performance shares") or relative shareholder return over a three-year performance cycle ("TSR performance shares"). The performance goal related to the ROC performance shares over the three-year performance cycle is the Company’s total return on capital relative to the total return on capital of other companies in a group selected by the Compensation Committee (“Report Group”).  Total return on capital for a given company means the average of the Report Group companies’ returns on capital for each twelve month period corresponding to each of the Company’s fiscal years during the performance cycle, based on data reported for the Report Group companies in the Bloomberg database.  The number of these ROC performance shares that will vest and be paid will depend upon the Company’s performance relative to the Report Group and not upon the absolute level of return achieved by the Company.  The fair value of the ROC performance shares is calculated by multiplying the expected number of shares that will be issued by the average market price of Company common stock on the date of grant reduced by the present value of forgone

dividends over the vesting term of the award.  The fair value is recorded as compensation expense over the vesting term of the award.

    The performance goal related to the ESG performance shares over the three-year performance cycle consists of two parts: reductions in the rates of intensity of methane emissions for each of the Company's operating segments, and reduction of the consolidated Company's total greenhouse gas emissions. The Company's Compensation Committee set specific target levels for methane intensity rates and total greenhouse gas emissions, and the performance goal is intended to incentivize and reward performance that helps position the Company to meet or exceed its 2030 methane intensity and greenhouse gas reduction targets. The number of these ESG performance shares that will vest and be paid out will depend upon the number of methane intensity segment targets achieved and whether the Company meets the total greenhouse gas emissions target. The fair value of these ESG performance shares is calculated by multiplying the expected number of shares that will be issued by the average market price of Company common stock on the date of grant reduced by the present value of forgone dividends over the vesting term of the award.  The fair value is recorded as compensation expense over the vesting term of the award.

    The performance goal related to the TSR performance shares over the three-year performance cycle is the Company’s three-year total shareholder return relative to the three-year total shareholder return of the other companies in the Report Group.  Three-year total shareholder return for a given company will be based on the data reported for that company (with the starting and ending stock prices over the performance cycle calculated as the average closing stock price for the prior calendar month and with dividends reinvested in that company’s securities at each ex-dividend date) in the Bloomberg database.  The number of these TSR performance shares that will vest and be paid will depend upon the Company’s performance relative to the Report Group and not upon the absolute level of return achieved by the Company.  The fair value price at the date of grant for the TSR performance shares is determined using a Monte Carlo simulation technique, which includes a reduction in value for the present value of forgone dividends over the vesting term of the award.  This price is multiplied by the number of TSR performance shares awarded, the result of which is recorded as compensation expense over the vesting term of the award.

    The Company granted 127,295 restricted stock units during the quarter ended December 31, 2021.  The weighted average fair value of such restricted stock units was $54.06 per share for the quarter ended December 31, 2021.  Restricted stock units represent the right to receive shares of common stock of the Company (or the equivalent value in cash or a combination of cash and shares of common stock of the Company, as determined by the Company) at the end of a specified time period. These restricted stock units do not entitle the participant to receive dividends during the vesting period. The accounting for restricted stock units is the same as the accounting for restricted share awards, except that the fair value at the date of grant of the restricted stock units must be reduced by the present value of forgone dividends over the vesting term of the award.