Regulatory Matters

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2024

Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Other Disclosure [Abstract]

Regulatory Assets and Liabilities

The Company has recorded the following regulatory assets and liabilities:


	At September 30
	2024		2023
	(Thousands)
Regulatory Assets:
Pension Costs(1) (Note K)	$	30,259	$	20,459
Post-Retirement Benefit Costs(1) (Note K)	7,932		2,536
Recoverable Future Taxes (Note G)	80,084		69,045
System Modernization / Improvement Tracker (2) (See Regulatory Mechanisms in Note A)	47,043		30,375
Asset Retirement Obligations(1) (Note E)	21,951		19,384
Unamortized Debt Expense (Note A)	5,604		7,240
Other(3)	39,101		35,757
Total Regulatory Assets	231,974		184,796
Less: Amounts Included in Other Current Assets	(38,264)		(36,373)
Total Long-Term Regulatory Assets	$	193,710	$	148,423


	At September 30
	2024		2023
	(Thousands)
Regulatory Liabilities:
Cost of Removal Regulatory Liability	$	292,477	$	277,694
Taxes Refundable to Customers (Note G)	305,645		268,562
Post-Retirement Benefit Costs(5) (Note K)	141,199		159,760
Amounts Payable to Customers (See Regulatory Mechanisms in Note A)	42,720		59,019
Environmental Site Remediation Costs(4) (Note L)	5,390		619
Other(6)	34,215		43,167
Total Regulatory Liabilities	821,646		808,821
Less: Amounts included in Current and Accrued Liabilities	(72,072)		(97,124)
Total Long-Term Regulatory Liabilities	$	749,574	$	711,697

(1)Included in Other Regulatory Assets on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

(2)$15,681 and $19,584 are included in Other Current Assets on the Consolidated Balance Sheets at September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, since such amounts are expected to be recovered from ratepayers in the next 12 months. $31,362 and $10,791 are included in Other Regulatory Assets on the Consolidated Balance Sheets at September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

(3)$22,583 and $16,789 are included in Other Current Assets on the Consolidated Balance Sheets at September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, since such amounts are expected to be recovered from ratepayers in the next 12 months. $16,518 and $18,968 are included in Other Regulatory Assets on the Consolidated Balance Sheets at September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

(4)Included in Other Regulatory Liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

(5)$5,800 is included in Other Accruals and Current Liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets at both September 30, 2024 and 2023, since such amounts are expected to be passed back to ratepayers in the next 12 months. $135,399 and $153,960 are included in Other Regulatory Liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets at September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

(6)$23,552 and $32,305 are included in Other Accruals and Current Liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets at September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, since such amounts are expected to be passed back to ratepayers in the next 12 months. $10,663 and $10,862 are included in Other Regulatory Liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets at September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

If for any reason the Company ceases to meet the criteria for application of regulatory accounting treatment for all or part of its operations, the regulatory assets and liabilities related to those portions ceasing to meet such criteria would be eliminated from the Consolidated Balance Sheets and included in income of the period in which the discontinuance of regulatory accounting treatment occurs.

Cost of Removal Regulatory Liability

In the Company’s Utility and Pipeline and Storage segments, costs of removing assets (i.e. asset retirement costs) are collected from customers through depreciation expense. These amounts are not a legal retirement obligation as discussed in Note E — Asset Retirement Obligations. Rather, they are classified as a regulatory liability in recognition of the fact that the Company has collected dollars from customers that will be used in the future to fund asset retirement costs.

New York Jurisdiction

Distribution Corporation’s current delivery rates in its New York jurisdiction were approved by the NYPSC in an order issued on April 20, 2017 with rates becoming effective May 1, 2017 (“2017 Rate Order”). The 2017 Rate Order provided for a return on equity of 8.7% and directed the implementation of an earnings sharing mechanism to be in place beginning on April 1, 2018. On October 31, 2023, Distribution Corporation made a filing with the NYPSC seeking an increase of approximately $88 million in its total annual operating revenues for the projected rate year ending September 30, 2025, with a proposed effective date of October 1, 2024. A Notice of Impending Settlement Negotiations was filed with the NYPSC on March 26, 2024. Thereafter, settlement discussions with parties commenced and to facilitate these discussions, the Company requested postponements of the evidentiary hearing and agreed to extensions of the suspension period for the effective date of new base delivery rates subject to a “make-whole” provision that would permit the Company to recover or refund any revenue under-collections or over-collections, respectively, resulting from the extension period. The settlement negotiations were successful and resulted in a Joint Proposal (“JP”) that establishes a three-year rate plan allowing for an $86 million increase in annual revenue requirement over three years, with the first-year impact of $57 million in fiscal 2025 and the remainder in fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027. The JP settles all contested issues among the signatory parties and includes, among other things, a return on equity of 9.7%, a common equity ratio of 48% for rate setting purposes, an earnings sharing mechanism, an uncollectible expense tracker, and continuation of the Company’s leak prone pipe replacement program. The revenue requirement in the JP also includes the impact of negative pension/OPEB expense. The JP was filed with the NYPSC on September 9, 2024. On November 14, 2024, the NYPSC issued an order extending the suspension period through December 31, 2024. That order also includes a “make-whole” provision from September 30, 2024 until the date new rates take effect under the final decision on the JP.

Pennsylvania Jurisdiction

On October 28, 2022, Distribution Corporation made a filing with the PaPUC seeking an increase in its annual base rate operating revenues of $28.1 million. A settlement involving all active parties to the proceeding was reached and filed with the PaPUC on April 13, 2023. The settlement provided for, among other things, an increase in Distribution Corporation’s annual base rate operating revenues of $23 million. The PaPUC approved the settlement in full, without modification or correction, on June 15, 2023 and new rates went into effect on August 1, 2023.

On April 10, 2024, Distribution Corporation filed with the PaPUC a petition for approval of a distribution system improvement charge (“DSIC”) to recover, between base rate cases, capital expenses related to eligible property constructed or installed to rehabilitate, improve and replace portions of the Company’s natural gas distribution system. If approved as filed, the Company will be able to recover costs associated with plant placed in service on and after August 1, 2024 if its total plant in service exceeds approximately $781.3 million and its quarterly rate of return does not exceed the authorized PaPUC rate of return. As of September 30, 2024, plant placed in service for Distribution Corporation’s Pennsylvania division was $785.2 million. The DSIC petition is currently pending before the PaPUC.

FERC Jurisdiction

Supply Corporation’s rate settlement, approved June 11, 2024 provides that Supply Corporation may make a rate filing for new rates to be effective at any time. As well, any party can make a filing under NGA Section 5. Supply Corporation has no rate case currently on file.

Empire’s 2019 rate settlement requires a Section 4 rate case filing no later than May 1, 2025. Empire is not barred from filing a Section 4 rate case before the May 1, 2025 date. Empire has no rate case currently on file.