Regulatory Matters

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

In accordance with accounting principles for rate-regulated enterprises, Registrant records regulatory assets, which represent probable future recovery of costs from customers through the ratemaking process, and regulatory liabilities, which represent probable future refunds that are to be credited to customers through the ratemaking process. At September 30, 2019, Registrant had approximately $53.4 million of regulatory liabilities, net of regulatory assets, not accruing carrying costs. Of this amount, (i) $80.3 million of regulatory liabilities are excess deferred income taxes arising from the lower federal income tax rate due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ("Tax Act") enacted in December 2017 that are expected to be refunded to customers, (ii) $14.0 million of regulatory liabilities are from flowed-through deferred income taxes, (iii) $35.0 million of regulatory assets relates to the underfunded position in Registrant's pension and other post-retirement obligations (not including the two-way pension balancing accounts), and (iv) $3.0 million of regulatory assets relates to a memorandum account authorized by the CPUC to track unrealized gains and losses on BVES's purchase power contracts over the term of the contracts. The remainder of regulatory assets relates to other items that do not provide for or incur carrying costs.

Regulatory assets represent costs incurred by GSWC for which it has received or expects to receive rate recovery in the future. In determining the probability of costs being recognized in other periods, GSWC considers regulatory rules and decisions, past practices, and other facts or circumstances that would indicate if recovery is probable. If the CPUC determines that a portion of GSWC’s assets are not recoverable in customer rates, GSWC must determine if it has suffered an asset impairment that requires it to write down the asset's value. Regulatory assets are offset against regulatory liabilities within each ratemaking area. Amounts expected to be collected or refunded in the next twelve months have been classified as current assets and current liabilities by ratemaking area. Regulatory assets, less regulatory liabilities, included in the consolidated balance sheets are as follows:



(dollars in thousands)	September 30, 2019			December 31, 2018
GSWC
Water Revenue Adjustment Mechanism and Modified Cost Balancing Account	$	29,228		$	17,763
Costs deferred for future recovery on Aerojet case	8,663			9,516
Pensions and other post-retirement obligations (Note 8)	32,222			33,124
Derivative unrealized loss (Note 5)	3,022			311
Low income rate assistance balancing accounts	538			2,784
General rate case memorandum accounts	6,014			5,054
Excess deferred income taxes	(80,303		)	(81,465		)
Flow-through taxes, net	(14,037		)	(15,273		)
Other regulatory assets	17,310			15,656
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act memorandum accounts	—			(8,293		)
Various refunds to customers	(7,921		)	(7,517		)
Total	$	(5,264	)	$	(28,340	)

Regulatory matters are discussed in the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 filed with the SEC. The discussion below focuses on significant matters and developments since December 31, 2018.

Alternative-Revenue Programs:

GSWC records the difference between what it bills its water customers and that which is authorized by the CPUC using the Water Revenue Adjustment Mechanism ("WRAM") and Modified Cost Balancing Account (“MCBA”) accounts approved by the CPUC. The over- or under-collection of the WRAM is aggregated with the MCBA over- or under-collection for the corresponding ratemaking area and bears interest at the current 90-day commercial paper rate.

As required by the accounting guidance for alternative revenue programs, GSWC is required to collect its WRAM balances, net of its MCBA, within 24 months following the year in which an under-collection is recorded in order to recognize such amounts as revenue. The recovery periods for the majority of GSWC's WRAM/MCBA balances are primarily within 12 to 24 months. GSWC has implemented surcharges to recover its WRAM/MCBA balances as of December 31, 2018. For the three months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, surcharges (net of surcredits) of approximately $5.5 million and $7.7 million, respectively, were billed to customers to recover previously incurred under-collections in the WRAM/MCBA accounts. For the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, surcharges (net of surcredits) of approximately $9.1 million and $17.5 million, respectively, were billed to customers to recover previously incurred under-collections in the WRAM/MCBA accounts. During the nine months ended September 30, 2019, GSWC recorded additional net under-collections in the WRAM/MCBA accounts of approximately $20.5 million due to lower-than-adopted water usage, as well as higher-than-adopted supply costs currently in billed customer rates. As of September 30, 2019, GSWC had an aggregated regulatory asset of $29.2 million, which is comprised of a $19.1 million under-collection in the WRAM accounts and a $10.1 million under-collection in the MCBA accounts.

General Rate Case Filings:

Water Segment:

In July 2017, GSWC filed a general rate case application for all of its water regions and the general office to determine new rates for the years 2019 - 2021. On May 30, 2019, the CPUC issued a final decision on GSWC's water general rate case with rates retroactive to January 1, 2019. Among other things, the final decision approves in its entirety a settlement agreement that had been entered into between GSWC and the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office in August 2018. As a result, the final decision authorizes GSWC to invest approximately $334.5 million in capital expenditures over the rate cycle. The $334.5 million of infrastructure investment includes $20.4 million of capital projects to be filed for revenue recovery through advice letters when those projects are completed.

As a result of the May 2019 CPUC decision, GSWC implemented new water rates on June 8, 2019. Due to the delay in receiving a final decision by the CPUC, billed water revenues up to June 8, 2019 were based on 2018 adopted rates. The new rates are retroactive to January 1, 2019 and, as a result, the cumulative retroactive impact of the CPUC decision was recorded during the second quarter of 2019, primarily affecting water revenues, supply costs and depreciation expense. Accordingly, GSWC added approximately $5.6 million to the general rate case memorandum accounts regulatory asset representing the rate difference between interim rates and final rates authorized by the CPUC retroactive to January 1, 2019. Surcharges were implemented in September 2019 to recover the retroactive rate difference over approximately 12 - 24 months. The final decision also approved the recovery of previously incurred costs that were being tracked in CPUC-authorized memorandum accounts, which resulted in a reduction to administrative and general expense of approximately $1.1 million, which was also recorded during the second quarter of 2019.

In December 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ("Tax Act") was signed into federal law. The provisions of this major tax reform were generally effective January 1, 2018. The most significant provisions of the Tax Act impacting GSWC was the reduction of the federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% and the elimination of bonus depreciation for regulated utilities. Pursuant to a CPUC directive, the 2018 impact of the Tax Act on the water adopted revenue requirement was tracked in a memorandum account effective January 1, 2018. On July 1, 2018, new lower water rates, which incorporated the new federal income tax rate, were implemented for all water ratemaking areas. As a result of receiving the May 2019 CPUC final decision on the water general rate case, in the third quarter of 2019 GSWC refunded approximately $7.2 million of over-collections recorded in this memorandum account as a one-time surcredit to water customers.

Electric Segment:

In May 2017, GSWC filed its electric general rate case application with the CPUC to determine new electric rates for the years 2018 through 2021. In November 2018, GSWC and the Public Advocates Office filed a joint motion to adopt a settlement agreement between the two parties resolving all issues in connection with the general rate case. On August 15, 2019, the CPUC issued a final decision, adopting the settlement agreement which, among other things, extends the rate cycle by an additional year (new rates will be effective for 2018 - 2022) and is retroactive to January 1, 2018. Because of the delay in finalizing the electric general rate case, billed electric revenues during the first two quarters of 2019, and all of 2018, were based on 2017 adopted rates pending a final decision by the CPUC in the rate case application. As a result, a $2.3 million retroactive increase to revenues related to the full year of 2018 was recorded during the third quarter of 2019 with a corresponding increase to GSWC's regulatory assets for future recovery from customers.