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AFFILIATIONS, DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS AND RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Business Combinations [Abstract]  
AFFILIATIONS, DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS AND RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS AFFILIATIONS, DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS AND RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS:
AFFILIATIONS — The following affiliated entities are accounted for under the equity method:

PennEast - Midstream has a 20% investment in PennEast. SJG and ETG are each parties to a precedent capacity agreement with PennEast. The following events have occurred with respect to PennEast in recent months:

•On September 10, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that PennEast does not have eminent domain authority over NJ state-owned lands. A Petition for Rehearing En Banc was denied by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on November 5, 2019.
•On October 8, 2019, the NJDEP denied and closed PennEast’s application for several permits without prejudice, citing the Third Circuit decision. On October 11, 2019, PennEast submitted a letter to the NJDEP objecting to its position that the application is administratively incomplete. PennEast's objections were rejected by the NJDEP on November 18, 2019.
•In December 2019, PennEast asked the FERC for a two-year extension to construct the pipeline.
•On January 30, 2020, the FERC voted to approve PennEast’s petition for a declaratory order and expedited action requesting that the body issue an order interpreting the Natural Gas Act’s eminent domain authority. On the same day, PennEast filed an amendment with FERC to construct PennEast in two phases. Phase one consists of construction of a pipeline in Pennsylvania from the eastern Marcellus Shale region in Luzerne County that would terminate in Northampton County. Phase two includes construction of the remaining original certificated route in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Construction is expected to begin following approval by FERC of the phased approach and receipt of any remaining governmental and regulatory permits.
•On February 18, 2020, PennEast filed a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States ("petition") to review the September 10, 2019 Third Circuit decision.
•On February 20, 2020, FERC granted PennEast’s request for a two-year extension to complete the construction of the pipeline.
•On April 14, 2020, The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the state of New Jersey to respond to PennEast's petition. The court directed NJ respondents, including state agencies and the NJ Conservation Foundation, to answer the petition by PennEast. The state responded on June 2.
•On June 25, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court examined the PennEast case to determine if it would review the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
•On June 29, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court invited the U.S. Solicitor General to file a brief expressing the views of the United States.

PennEast management remains committed to pursuing the project and intends to pursue all available options. SJI, along with the other partners, are intending to contribute to the project.

Our investment in PennEast totaled $89.4 million and $82.7 million as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. At September 30, 2020, the Company evaluated its investment in PennEast for impairment and determined there is not a triggering event for other-than-temporary impairment, and has not recorded any impairment charge to reduce the carrying value of our investment. Our evaluation considered that the pending legal proceedings are ongoing, and the intent is to move forward with all potential legal proceedings and other options available. Our evaluation also considered the current economic conditions as a result of COVID-19, noting that the timelines, potential options and legal proceedings have not been impacted. However, it is reasonably possible that the legal proceedings could have unfavorable outcomes, or there could be other future unfavorable developments, such as a reduced likelihood of success from development options and legal outcomes, estimated increases in construction costs, increases in the discount rate, or further significant delays, or PennEast could conclude that the project is not viable or does not go forward as actions progress. These could impact our conclusions with respect to other-than-temporary impairment and may require that we recognize an impairment charge of up to our recorded investment in the project,
net of any cash and working capital. We will continue to monitor and update this analysis as required. Different assumptions could affect the timing and amount of any charge recorded in a period.

Energenic - Marina and a joint venture partner formed Energenic, in which Marina has a 50% equity interest. Energenic developed and operated on-site, self-contained, energy-related projects. Energenic currently does not have any projects that are operational.

Millennium - SJI and a joint venture partner formed Millennium, in which SJI has a 50% equity interest. Millennium reads utility customers’ meters on a monthly basis for a fee.

Potato Creek - SJI and a joint venture partner formed Potato Creek, in which SJI has a 30% equity interest. Potato Creek owns and manages the oil, gas and mineral rights of certain real estate in Pennsylvania.

EnergyMark - SJE has a 33% investment in EnergyMark, an entity that acquires and markets natural gas to retail end users.

SJRG had net sales to EnergyMark of $1.8 million and $3.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively and $10.4 million and $22.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Affiliate Transactions - During the first nine months of 2020, SJI had net repayments from unconsolidated affiliates of $1.2 million. During the first nine months of 2019, SJI made investments in and advances to unconsolidated affiliates of $6.0 million.  As of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the outstanding balance of Notes Receivable – Affiliate was $14.9 million and $18.1 million, respectively. These Notes Receivable-Affiliates balances are broken out as follows:

•As of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, $12.4 million and $13.1 million, respectively, of notes are related to Energenic; such notes are secured by Energenic's cogeneration assets for energy service projects, accrue interest at 7.5% and are to be repaid through 2025. Losses incurred in the current periods at Energenic are offset against the Notes Receivable – Affiliate balance as our investment in the Energenic affiliate has been reduced to zero as a result of prior period losses.

•As of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the remaining $2.5 million and $5.0 million, respectively, of these notes are unsecured and accrue interest at variable rates.

SJI holds significant variable interests in these entities but is not the primary beneficiary. Consequently, these entities are accounted for under the equity method because SJI does not have both (a) the power to direct the activities of the entity that most significantly impact the entity’s economic performance and (b) the obligation to absorb losses of the entity that could potentially be significant to the entity or the right to receive benefits from the entity that could potentially be significant to the entity. As of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, SJI had a net asset of approximately $92.9 million and $87.1 million, respectively, included in Investment in Affiliates on the condensed consolidated balance sheets related to equity method investees. SJI’s maximum exposure to loss from these entities as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019 is limited to its combined investments in these entities and the Notes Receivable-Affiliate in the aggregate amount of $107.8 million and $105.2 million, respectively.

DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS - Discontinued Operations consist of the environmental remediation activities related to the properties of SJF and the product liability litigation and environmental remediation activities related to the prior business of Morie. SJF is a subsidiary of EMI, an SJI subsidiary, which previously operated a fuel oil business. Morie is the former sand mining and processing subsidiary of EMI. EMI sold the common stock of Morie in 1996.

SJI conducts tests annually to estimate the environmental remediation costs for these properties (see Note 11).
Summarized operating results of the discontinued operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, were (in thousands, except per share amounts):
Three Months Ended
September 30,		Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 2020201920202019
Loss before Income Taxes:  
Sand Mining$3 $(16)$(32)$(60)
Fuel Oil(76)(59)(193)(212)
Income Tax Benefits15 16 47 56 
Loss from Discontinued Operations — Net$(58)$(59)$(178)$(216)
Earnings Per Common Share from  
Discontinued Operations — Net:  
Basic and Diluted$— $— $— $— 

SJG RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS - There have been no significant changes in the nature of SJG’s related-party transactions since December 31, 2019. See Note 3 to the Financial Statements in Item 8 of SJI's and SJG’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 for a detailed description of the related parties and their associated transactions.

A summary of related-party transactions involving SJG, excluding pass-through items, included in SJG's Operating Revenues were as follows (in thousands):
Three Months Ended
September 30,		Nine Months Ended
September 30,
2020201920202019
Operating Revenues/Affiliates:  
SJRG$595 $1,092 $2,192 $3,518 
Marina— 82 60 290 
Other20 20 59 60 
Total Operating Revenue/Affiliates$615 $1,194 $2,311 $3,868 
Related-party transactions involving SJG, excluding pass-through items, included in SJG's Cost of Sales and Operating Expenses were as follows (in thousands):
Three Months Ended
September 30,		Nine Months Ended
September 30,
2020201920202019
Costs of Sales/Affiliates (Excluding depreciation and amortization)  
SJRG*$1,808 $2,326 $3,404 $8,908 
Operations Expense/Affiliates:
SJI$5,909 $5,087 $17,463 $15,507 
SJIU743 630 2,616 1,971 
Millennium814 794 2,461 2,118 
Other453 340 1,335 6,790 
Total Operations Expense/Affiliates$7,919 $6,851 $23,875 $26,386 

*These costs are included in SJG's Cost of Sales on the condensed statements of income/(loss). As discussed in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of SJI’s and SJG's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, revenues and expenses related to the energy trading activities of the wholesale energy operations at SJRG are presented on a net basis in Operating Revenues – Nonutility on the condensed consolidated income statement.