Regulatory Matters

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Regulatory Assets and Liabilities Disclosure [Abstract]

COVID-19 Regulatory Filings

In response to COVID-19, we received approvals or directives from the regulatory commissions in the states in which we operate. The ongoing impacts of these approvals or directives are described in the table below:


Jurisdiction	Moratorium in Place?	Regulatory Asset balance as of September 30, 2021 (in millions)		Regulatory Asset balance as of December 31, 2020 (in millions)		Deferred COVID-19 Costs
Columbia of Ohio	No	$	2.1	$	2.0	Incremental operation and maintenance expenses
NIPSCO	No	$	2.2	$	9.2	Incremental bad debt expense and the costs to implement the requirements of the COVID-19 related order
Columbia of Pennsylvania	No	$	6.5	$	5.4	Incremental bad debt expense incurred from March 13, 2020 through December 31, 2021, above levels currently in rates
Columbia of Virginia	No	$	1.4	$	—	Incremental incurred costs (including incremental bad debt expense), subject to an earnings test review
Columbia of Maryland	No	$	0.9	$	0.7	Incremental costs (including incremental bad debt expense) incurred to ensure that customers have essential utility service during the state of emergency in Maryland. Such incremental costs must be offset by any benefit received in connection with the pandemic

The Pennsylvania PUC adopted an order on March 11, 2021, and subsequently reaffirmed their stance in a June 23, 2021 order, which lifted its prior pandemic-related moratorium on service terminations for non-payments of utility bills beginning April 1, 2021. Pursuant to that order, Pennsylvania utilities are required to offer payment plans on billing arrearages, with the length of such payment plans depending on a customer's income level. Pursuant to a subsequent order, Pennsylvania utilities were no longer required to offer these extended pandemic-related payment arrangements to customers in arrears as of October 1, 2021.

For Columbia of Virginia, the moratorium on non-residential disconnections ended on October 6, 2020, and the moratorium on residential disconnections and late payment fees ended on August 30, 2021. Legislative and regulatory requirements extending COVID-19 payment plans between 6 and 24 months remain in place.

In conjunction with the order issued by the PSC of Maryland on June 15, 2021, all termination moratoriums will be lifted the later of November 1, 2021 or 30 days after the Maryland Relief Act funds have been applied to customer accounts. Columbia of Maryland received approximately $0.8 million of assistance that were applied to customer accounts in August 2021 in accordance with the terms of the order. As such, all termination moratoriums were lifted and normal collections procedures resumed on November 1, 2021.

Unless otherwise noted above, all other pandemic-related regulatory actions have expired or been lifted.