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Segment Information
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2021
Segment Reporting [Abstract]  
Segment Information SEGMENT INFORMATION
We primarily operate in one reportable business segment, which is NW Natural's local gas distribution business and is referred to as the NGD segment. NW Natural and NW Holdings also have investments and business activities not specifically related to the NGD, which are aggregated and reported as other and described below for each entity.

Natural Gas Distribution
NW Natural's local gas distribution segment is a regulated utility principally engaged in the purchase, sale, and delivery of natural gas and related services to customers in Oregon and southwest Washington. In addition to NW Natural's local gas distribution business, the NGD segment also includes the portion of the Mist underground storage facility used to serve NGD customers, the North Mist gas storage expansion, NWN Gas Reserves, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Energy Corp, and NW Natural RNG Holding Company, LLC, a holding company established to invest in the development and procurement of renewable natural gas.

NW Natural
NW Natural's activities in Other include Interstate Storage Services and third-party asset management service for NW Natural’s contracted interstate pipeline and storage capacity, appliance retail center operations, and corporate operating and non-operating revenues and expenses that cannot be allocated to NGD operations.

Earnings from third party asset management include earnings from the management of upstream interstate pipeline and storage capacity when not needed to serve NGD customers. Under the Oregon sharing mechanism, NW Natural retains 80% of the pre-tax income from these services when the costs of the capacity were not included in NGD rates, or 10% of the pre-tax income when the costs have been included in these rates. The remaining 20% and 90%, respectively, are recorded in a deferred regulatory account for prospective NGD customer billing credits.
NW Holdings
NW Holdings' activities in Other include all remaining activities not associated with NW Natural, specifically: NWN Water, which consolidates the water and wastewater utility operations and is pursuing other investments in the water sector through itself and wholly-owned subsidiaries; NWN Gas Storage, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NWN Energy; NWN Energy's equity investment in TWH through August 6, 2020; and other pipeline assets in NNG Financial. For more information on the sale of TWH, see Note 13. Other also includes corporate revenues and expenses that cannot be allocated to other operations, including certain business development activities.

Segment Information Summary
Inter-segment transactions were immaterial for the periods presented. The following table presents summary financial information concerning the reportable segment and other of continuing operations. See Note 17 for information regarding discontinued operations for NW Holdings.
Three Months Ended March 31,
In thousandsNGDOther
(NW Natural)		NW NaturalOther
(NW Holdings)		NW Holdings
2021
Operating revenues$301,338 $11,012 $312,350 $3,596 $315,946 
Depreciation and amortization26,913 256 27,169 928 28,097 
Income (loss) from operations86,487 8,631 95,118 (412)94,706 
Net income (loss) from continuing operations53,925 6,186 60,111 (594)59,517 
Capital expenditures63,992 106 64,098 1,604 65,702 
Total assets at March 31, 20213,570,153 49,415 3,619,568 139,057 3,758,625 
2020
Operating revenues$278,487 $4,042 $282,529 $2,622 $285,151 
Depreciation and amortization23,946 244 24,190 485 24,675 
Income (loss) from operations75,258 1,763 77,021 (575)76,446 
Net income (loss) from continuing operations47,943 1,236 49,179 (903)48,276 
Capital expenditures56,157 77 56,234 1,212 57,446 
Total assets at March 31, 2020(1)
3,776,650 48,746 3,825,396 160,835 3,986,231 
Total assets at December 31, 2020
3,549,868 49,468 3,599,336 157,043 3,756,379 
(1)     Total assets for NW Holdings exclude assets related to discontinued operations of $15.3 million as of March 31, 2020.

Natural Gas Distribution Margin
NGD margin is a financial measure used by the Chief Operating Decision Maker (CODM), consisting of NGD operating revenues, reduced by the associated cost of gas, environmental remediation expense, and revenue taxes. The cost of gas purchased for NGD customers is generally a pass-through cost in the amount of revenues billed to regulated NGD customers. Environmental remediation expense represents collections received from customers through the environmental recovery mechanism in Oregon as well as adjustments for the environmental earnings test when applicable. This is offset by environmental remediation expense presented in operating expenses. Revenue taxes are collected from NGD customers and remitted to taxing authorities. The collections from customers are offset by the expense recognition of the obligation to the taxing authority. By subtracting cost of gas, environmental remediation expense, and revenue taxes from NGD operating revenues, NGD margin provides a key metric used by the CODM in assessing the performance of the NGD segment.

The following table presents additional segment information concerning NGD margin:
Three Months Ended March 31,
In thousands20212020
NGD margin calculation:
NGD distribution revenues$296,553 $273,561 
Other regulated services4,785 4,926 
Total NGD operating revenues301,338 278,487 
Less: NGD cost of gas112,266 108,595 
          Environmental remediation3,777 4,005 
 Revenue taxes12,655 11,743 
NGD margin$172,640 $154,144