Retirement Plan And Other Post-Retirement Benefits (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Retirement Plan And Other Post-Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

Components Of Net Periodic Benefit Cost

Components of Net Periodic Benefit Cost (in thousands):

Three months ended March 31,
	Retirement Plan		Other Post-Retirement Benefits
	2012	2011	2012	2011
Service Cost	$3,551	$3,693	$1,004	$1,069
Interest Cost	10,381	10,669	5,329	5,471
Expected Return on Plan Assets	(14,925)	(14,776)	(7,243)	(7,291)
Amortization of Prior Service Cost	67	147	(534)	(427)
Amortization of Transition Amount	-	-	3	135
Amortization of Losses	9,904	8,718	6,014	5,948
Net Amortization and Deferral for
Regulatory Purposes (Including
Volumetric Adjustments) (1)	2,200	3,556	5,141	6,042
	$11,178	$12,007	$9,714	$10,947

Six months ended March 31,
	Retirement Plan		Other Post-Retirement Benefits
	2012	2011	2012	2011
Service Cost	$7,101	$7,386	$2,008	$2,138
Interest Cost	20,763	21,338	10,657	10,942
Expected Return on Plan Assets	(29,850)	(29,552)	(14,486)	(14,582)
Amortization of Prior Service Cost	134	294	(1,069)	(854)
Amortization of Transition Amount	-	-	5	270
Amortization of Losses	19,807	17,437	12,029	11,896
Net Amortization and Deferral for
Regulatory Purposes (Including
Volumetric Adjustments) (1)	399	1,762	7,274	7,963
Net Periodic Benefit Cost	$18,354	$18,665	$16,418	$17,773

⁽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 reflectthe fact thatthe Utility segmentexperiences higherthroughput ofnatural gas in the winter months and lower

throughput of natural gas in the summer months.