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Segment Information
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2022
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 segment, 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 in Oregon, 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 regulated renewable natural gas for NW Natural.

NW Natural
NW Natural's activities in Other include Interstate Storage Services and third-party asset management services for the Mist facility in Oregon, appliance retail center operations, and corporate operating and non-operating revenues and expenses that cannot be allocated to NGD operations.

Earnings from Interstate Storage Services assets are primarily related to firm storage capacity revenues. Earnings from the Mist facility also include revenue, net of amounts shared with NGD customers, from management of NGD assets at Mist and upstream pipeline 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 to a deferred regulatory account for crediting back to NGD customers.

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 Water's equity investment in Avion Water Company, Inc.; NWN Gas Storage, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NWN Energy; other pipeline assets in NNG Financial; and NW Natural Renewables Holdings, LLC and its non-regulated renewable natural gas activities. 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.
Three Months Ended September 30,
In thousandsNGDOther
(NW Natural)		NW NaturalOther
(NW Holdings)		NW Holdings
2022
Operating revenues$103,295 $7,131 $110,426 $6,413 $116,839 
Depreciation27,937 264 28,201 825 29,026 
Income (loss) from operations(20,910)5,616 (15,294)367 (14,927)
Net income (loss)(23,016)4,210 (18,806)(781)(19,587)
Capital expenditures79,847 431 80,278 3,868 84,146 
2021
Operating revenues$91,042 $4,994 $96,036 $5,411 $101,447 
Depreciation27,462 257 27,719 719 28,438 
Income (loss) from operations(18,288)3,203 (15,085)694 (14,391)
Net income (loss)(23,297)2,279 (21,018)363 (20,655)
Capital expenditures72,822 1,410 74,232 8,036 82,268 

Nine Months Ended September 30,
In thousandsNGDOther
(NW Natural)		NW NaturalOther
(NW Holdings)		NW Holdings
2022
Operating revenues$629,327 $17,974 $647,301 $14,799 $662,100 
Depreciation82,372 794 83,166 2,399 85,565 
Income (loss) from operations75,328 12,054 87,382 (1,132)86,250 
Net income (loss)32,531 8,812 41,343 (2,976)38,367 
Capital expenditures235,249 1,218 236,467 15,375 251,842 
Total assets at September 30, 20223,968,040 56,712 4,024,752 275,960 4,300,712 
2021
Operating revenues$531,994 $20,971 $552,965 $13,345 $566,310 
Depreciation81,648 770 82,418 2,261 84,679 
Income (loss) from operations79,530 14,642 94,172 (1,233)92,939 
Net income (loss)29,247 10,435 39,682 (1,544)38,138 
Capital expenditures197,190 2,209 199,399 12,977 212,376 
Total assets at September 30, 20213,730,595 50,366 3,780,961 148,264 3,929,225 
Total assets at December 31, 20213,846,112 52,260 3,898,372 166,232 4,064,604 

Natural Gas Distribution Margin
NGD margin is the primary 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 environmental recovery mechanisms in Oregon and Washington as well as adjustments for the Oregon 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 September 30,Nine Months Ended September 30,
In thousands2022202120222021
NGD margin calculation:
NGD distribution revenues$98,391 $86,271 $614,605 $517,673 
Other regulated services4,904 4,771 14,722 14,321 
Total NGD operating revenues103,295 91,042 629,327 531,994 
Less: NGD cost of gas36,258 25,322 261,678 178,837 
          Environmental remediation975 806 7,945 6,092 
 Revenue taxes4,375 3,838 25,907 22,143 
NGD margin$61,687 $61,076 $333,797 $324,922