(8) Deferred Charges and Liabilities

Deferred Charges

Deferred charges, net of amortization, consisted of the following at December 31:



	2016		2015
Regulatory assets:
Debt issuance and reacquisition costs	$	492,850	$	247,481
Refurbishment of transmission equipment		104,939		114,198
Feasibility studies		1,387,285		551,122
Beluga gas compression		0		508,866
Cooper Lake relicensing / projects		5,280,006		5,410,109
Fuel supply		2,005,052		939,768
Storm damage		647,381		841,595
Other regulatory deferred charges		849,933		1,056,909
Bond interest - market risk management		5,365,190		5,871,286
Environmental matters		1,024,171		1,069,522
Total regulatory assets		17,156,807		16,610,856
Other deferred charges:
NRECA pension plan prepayment		7,925,050		0
Post retirement benefit obligation		59,100		200,900
Total other deferred charges		7,984,150		200,900
Total deferred charges	$	25,140,957	$	16,811,756

Deferred charges, not currently being recovered in rates charged to consumers, consisted of the following at December 31:



	2016		2015
Regulatory assets:
Multi-stage Energy Storage	$	1,117,860	$	124,569
Regulatory studies and other		46,721		360,879
Total regulatory assets		1,164,581		485,448
Other deferred charges:
NRECA pension plan prepayment		7,925,050		0
Post retirement benefit obligation		59,100		200,900
Total other deferred charges		7,984,150		200,900
Total deferred charges	$	9,148,731	$	686,348

We believe all regulatory assets not currently being recovered in rates charged to consumers are probable of recovery in the future based upon prior recovery of similar costs allowed by our regulator. The recovery of regulatory assets is approved by the RCA either in standard SRFs, general rate case filings or specified independent requests. In most cases, deferred charges are recovered over the life of the underlying asset.

Deferred Liabilities

Deferred liabilities, at December 31 consisted of the following:



	2016		2015
Refundable consumer advances for construction	$	328,360	$	823,115
Estimated initial installation costs for meters		118,854		105,274
Post retirement benefit obligation		732,200		874,000
Total deferred liabilities	$	1,179,414	$	1,802,389