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Segment Information
 6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 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 June 30,
In thousandsNGDOther
(NW Natural)		NW NaturalOther
(NW Holdings)		NW Holdings
2021
Operating revenues$139,614 $4,965 $144,579 $4,338 $148,917 
Depreciation and amortization27,273 257 27,530 614 28,144 
Income (loss) from operations11,331 2,808 14,139 (1,515)12,624 
Net income (loss) from continuing operations(1,381)1,970 589 (1,313)(724)
Capital expenditures60,376 693 61,069 3,337 64,406 
2020
Operating revenues$126,992 $4,165 $131,157 $3,814 $134,971 
Depreciation and amortization24,738 248 24,986 850 25,836 
Income (loss) from operations6,434 2,465 8,899 43 8,942 
Net income (loss) from continuing operations(6,347)1,635 (4,712)(420)(5,132)
Capital expenditures61,472 521 61,993 2,843 64,836 

Six Months Ended June 30,
In thousandsNGDOther
(NW Natural)		NW NaturalOther
(NW Holdings)		NW Holdings
2021
Operating revenues$440,952 $15,977 $456,929 $7,934 $464,863 
Depreciation and amortization54,186 513 54,699 1,542 56,241 
Income (loss) from operations97,818 11,439 109,257 (1,927)107,330 
Net income (loss) from continuing operations52,544 8,156 60,700 (1,907)58,793 
Capital expenditures124,368 799 125,167 4,941 130,108 
Total assets at June 30, 20213,587,966 51,466 3,639,432 144,068 3,783,500 
2020
Operating revenues$405,479 $8,207 $413,686 $6,436 $420,122 
Depreciation and amortization48,684 492 49,176 1,335 50,511 
Income (loss) from operations81,692 4,228 85,920 (532)85,388 
Net income (loss) from continuing operations41,596 2,871 44,467 (1,323)43,144 
Capital expenditures117,629 598 118,227 4,055 122,282 
Total assets at June 30, 2020(1)
3,470,306 10,398 3,480,704 144,251 3,624,955 
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 $16.4 million as of June 30, 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 June 30,Six Months Ended June 30,
In thousands2021202020212020
NGD margin calculation:
NGD distribution revenues$134,849 $122,071 $431,402 $395,632 
Other regulated services4,765 4,921 9,550 9,847 
Total NGD operating revenues139,614 126,992 440,952 405,479 
Less: NGD cost of gas41,249 41,265 153,515 149,860 
          Environmental remediation1,509 1,622 5,286 5,627 
 Revenue taxes5,650 4,454 18,305 16,197 
NGD margin$91,206 $79,651 $263,846 $233,795