Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Significant Accounting Policies

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Nature of Operations: American States Water Company (“AWR”) is the parent company of Golden State Water Company (“GSWC”), Bear Valley Electric Service, Inc. ("BVESI"), and American States Utility Services, Inc. (“ASUS”) (and its wholly owned subsidiaries: Fort Bliss Water Services Company (“FBWS”), Terrapin Utility Services, Inc. (“TUS”), Old Dominion Utility Services, Inc. (“ODUS”), Palmetto State Utility Services, Inc. (“PSUS”), Old North Utility Services, Inc. (“ONUS”), Emerald Coast Utility Services, Inc. ("ECUS"), and Fort Riley Utility Services, Inc. ("FRUS")).  The subsidiaries of ASUS are collectively referred to as the “Military Utility Privatization Subsidiaries”. On July 1, 2020, GSWC completed the transfer of the electric utility assets and liabilities from its electric division to BVESI, a separate legal entity and wholly owned subsidiary of AWR (Note 11). This reorganization did not result in any substantive changes to AWR's operations and business segments. AWR, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, serves over one million people in nine states.

 GSWC and BVESI are both California public utilities. GSWC is engaged in the purchase, production, distribution and sale of water throughout California serving approximately 262,500 customer connections. BVESI distributes electricity in several San Bernardino County mountain communities in California serving approximately 24,600 customer connections. The California Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”) regulates GSWC’s and BVESI's businesses in matters including properties, rates, services, facilities, and transactions between GSWC, BVESI, and their affiliates.

ASUS, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, operates, maintains and performs construction activities (including renewal and replacement capital work) on water and/or wastewater systems at various U.S. military bases pursuant to initial 50-year firm fixed-price contracts. These contracts are subject to annual economic price adjustments and modifications for changes in circumstances, changes in laws and regulations, and additions to the contract value for new construction of facilities at the military bases.

There is no direct regulatory oversight by the CPUC over AWR or the operations, rates or services provided by ASUS or any of its wholly owned subsidiaries.

Basis of Presentation: The consolidated financial statements and notes thereto are presented in a combined report filed by two separate Registrants: AWR and GSWC. References in this report to “Registrant” are to AWR and GSWC, collectively, unless otherwise specified. AWR owns all of the outstanding common shares of GSWC, BVESI and ASUS. ASUS owns all of the outstanding common stock of the Military Utility Privatization Subsidiaries. The consolidated financial statements of AWR include the accounts of AWR and its subsidiaries. These financial statements are prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"). Intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in the AWR consolidated financial statements.

The consolidated financial statements included herein have been prepared by Registrant, without audit, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).  The December 31, 2020 condensed consolidated balance sheet data was derived from audited financial statements but does not include all disclosures required by GAAP. The preparation of the consolidated financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities, at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from these estimates. In the opinion of management, all adjustments consisting of normal, recurring items, and estimates necessary for a fair statement of the results for the interim periods have been made. It is suggested that these consolidated financial statements be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 filed with the SEC.

Related Party Transactions and Financing Activities: GSWC, BVESI and ASUS provide and/or receive various support services to and from their parent, AWR, and among themselves. GSWC has allocated certain corporate office administrative and general costs to its affiliates, BVESI and ASUS, using allocation factors approved by the CPUC. GSWC allocated corporate office administrative and general costs to the electric segment of approximately $653,000 and $643,000 during the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively and $2.1 million and $2.2 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. GSWC allocated corporate office administrative and general costs to ASUS of approximately $1.2 million during each of the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, and $4.0 million and $3.8 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

AWR borrows under a $200.0 million credit facility and provides funds to GSWC and ASUS in support of their operations.  This credit agreement expires in May 2023. The interest rate charged to GSWC and ASUS is sufficient to cover AWR’s interest expense under the credit facility. As of September 30, 2021, there was $162.0 million outstanding under this facility. BVESI has a separate $35 million revolving credit facility to support its operations and capital expenditures. BVESI's credit facility expires in July 2023. Under the terms of the credit agreement, BVESI has the option to request an increase in the facility of an additional $15 million, which is subject to approval by the financial institution. As of September 30, 2021, there was $28.0 million outstanding under this facility.

GSWC’s intercompany borrowing agreement with AWR and BVESI’s revolving credit facility are considered short-term debt arrangements by the CPUC. Both GSWC and BVESI have been authorized by the CPUC to borrow under these arrangements for a term of up to 24 months. Borrowings under these arrangements are, therefore, required to be fully paid off within a 24-month period. GSWC’s next pay-off period for its intercompany borrowings from AWR ends in May 2023, and BVESI’s pay-off period for its credit facility ends in July 2022. Accordingly, as of September 30, 2021, the $28.0 million outstanding under BVESI's credit facility has been classified as a current liability in AWR's Consolidated Balance Sheet.

On May 24, 2021, GSWC redeemed early its 9.56% private placement notes in the amount of $28.0 million, which pursuant to the note agreement included a redemption premium of 3.0% on par value, or $840,000. GSWC recovers redemption premiums in its embedded cost of debt as filed in cost of capital proceedings where the cost savings from redeeming higher interest rate debt are passed on to customers. Accordingly, the redemption premium has been deferred as a regulatory asset. GSWC funded the redemption by borrowing from AWR parent. AWR, in turn, funded from its revolving credit facility.

In October 2020, AWR issued an interest bearing promissory note to GSWC, which expires in May 2023. Under the terms of the note, AWR may borrow amounts up to $30 million for working capital purposes. AWR agrees to pay any unpaid principal amounts outstanding under this note, plus accrued interest. The borrowing and repayment activity of this note is reflected on GSWC's statements of cash flows under investing activities. There were no amounts outstanding under this note as of September 30, 2021.

    COVID-19 Impact: GSWC, BVESI and ASUS have continued their operations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic given that their water, wastewater and electric utility services are deemed essential. AWR's responses take into account orders issued by the CPUC, and the guidance provided by federal, state, and local health authorities and other government officials for the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the actions taken by GSWC and BVESI continue to include suspending service disconnections for nonpayment pursuant to CPUC and state orders, and telecommuting by employees. The suspension of water- service disconnections at GSWC was implemented in response to an executive order from the governor of California. On July 15, 2021, the CPUC issued a final decision in the second phase of the Low-Income Affordability Rulemaking which, among other things, extended the moratorium on water-service disconnections due to non-payment of past-due amounts billed to residential customers until the earlier of February 1, 2022 or pursuant to further CPUC guidance on the matter. On June 24, 2021, the CPUC issued a final decision to extend the moratorium on electric customer service disconnections until September 30, 2021. Under the terms of CPUC-adopted payment plans, actual electric service disconnections for non-payment will occur no earlier than December 1, 2021.

The pandemic has caused volatility on financial markets resulting in fluctuations in the fair value of plan assets in GSWC's pension and other retirement plans. Furthermore, as discussed above, GSWC's and BVESI's response to the pandemic required the suspension of service disconnections for nonpayment, which has significantly increased the amount of delinquent customer accounts receivable during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the expected future credit losses on utility customer bills, GSWC and BVESI have increased their allowance for doubtful accounts for past due customer receivables. However, the CPUC has authorized GSWC and BVESI to track incremental costs, including bad debt expense, in excess of what is included in their respective revenue requirements incurred as a result of the pandemic in COVID-19-related memorandum accounts, such as a Catastrophic Event Memorandum Account ("CEMA"), which is to be filed with the CPUC for future recovery. GSWC and BVESI have recorded a combined total of approximately $8.5 million in these accounts as regulatory assets, as it is believed such amounts are probable of recovery. CEMA and other emergency-type memorandum accounts are well-established cost recovery mechanisms authorized as a result of a state/federal declared emergency, and are therefore recognized as regulatory assets for future recovery. As a result, the amounts recorded in the COVID-19-related memorandum accounts have not impacted GSWC's or BVESI's earnings. Thus far, the COVID-19 pandemic has not had a material impact on ASUS's operations.

The CPUC requires that amounts tracked in GSWC's and BVESI's COVID-19 memorandum accounts for unpaid customer bills be offset by any (i) federal and state relief for water utility bill debt, and (ii) customer payments through payment plan arrangements, prior to receiving recovery from customers. After these offsets are made, GSWC will file with the CPUC for recovery of the remaining balance. BVESI intends to include the remaining balance in its COVID-19 memorandum account for recovery in its next general rate case application expected to be filed in 2022. On July 12, 2021, the governor of California approved SB-129 Budget Act of 2021, which includes almost $1 billion in relief funding for overdue water customer bills, and almost $1 billion in relief funding for overdue electric customer bills. The water utility relief funding is being managed by the

State Water Resources Control Board through the California Water and Wastewater Arrearage Payment Program to provide direct assistance to community water systems to credit customer accounts for water debt accrued during the COVID-19 pandemic. The electric utility relief funding is being managed by the California Department of Community Services and Development through the California Arrearage Payment Program. Both GSWC and BVESI intend to seek recovery of overdue amounts from all available funding sources. Funds for both water and electric utility relief are expected to be distributed to utilities during the fourth quarter of 2021 or the first quarter of 2022.

Accounting Pronouncements Adopted in 2021:

In December 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740)—Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes. The amendments in this update simplify the accounting for income taxes by removing certain exceptions and clarifying certain requirements regarding franchise taxes, goodwill, consolidated tax expenses, and annual effective tax rate calculations. The adoption of this guidance effective January 1, 2021 did not have a material impact on Registrant's financial statements.