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SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies) | 9 Months Ended
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Jun. 30, 2015
Accounting Policies [Abstract] |
Available for Sale Securities | Available for Sale Securities Included in other noncurrent assets on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets are certain investments in equity securities of a publicly traded energy company that have a fair value of $9.9 million and $10.7 million as of June 30, 2015 and September 30, 2014, respectively. Total unrealized gains associated with these equity securities, which are included as a part of accumulated other comprehensive income, a component of common stock equity, were $7.3 million, or $4.3 million after tax, and $8.1 million, or $4.8 million after tax, as of June 30, 2015 and September 30, 2014, respectively. Reclassifications of realized gains out of other comprehensive income into income are determined based on average cost.
Loan Receivable | Loan Receivable NJNG provides interest-free loans, with terms ranging from two to 10 years, to customers that elect to purchase and install certain energy efficient equipment in accordance with its BPU-approved SAVEGREEN program. The loans are recognized at net present value on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Company has recorded $5.2 million and $3.9 million in other current assets and $33.7 million and $27.3 million in other noncurrent assets as of June 30, 2015 and September 30, 2014, respectively, on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, related to the loans. NJR's policy is to establish an allowance for doubtful accounts when loan balances are in arrears for more than 60 days. As of June 30, 2015 and September 30, 2014, there was no allowance for doubtful accounts established for the SAVEGREEN loans.
Recent Updates to the Accounting Standards Codification | Recent Updates to the Accounting Standards Codification Income Taxes In July 2013, the FASB issued ASU No. 2013-11, an amendment to ASC 740, Income Taxes, which clarifies financial statement presentation for unrecognized tax benefits. The ASU requires that an unrecognized tax benefit, or portion thereof, shall be presented in the balance sheet as a reduction to a deferred tax asset for a net operating loss carryforward, similar tax loss or a tax credit carryforward. To the extent such a deferred tax asset is not available or the Company does not intend to use it to settle any additional taxes that would result from the disallowance of a tax position, the related unrecognized tax benefit will be presented as a liability in the financial statements. The amended guidance became effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2013. The Company currently does not have unrecognized tax benefits recorded on its balance sheet and there was no impact to its financial position upon adoption. Discontinued Operations In April 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-08, Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosures of Disposals of Components of an Entity. The new guidance changes the definition and reporting of discontinued operations to include only those disposals that represent a strategic shift and that have a major effect on an entity's operations and financial results. The new guidance, which also requires additional disclosures, becomes effective for annual periods beginning on or after December 15, 2014 and interim periods within those years. The Company does not expect this standard to have any impact to its financial position, results of operations and cash flows upon adoption. Revenue In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, and added Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, to the ASC. ASC 606 supersedes ASC 605, Revenue Recognition, as well as most industry-specific guidance, and prescribes a single, comprehensive revenue recognition model designed to improve financial reporting comparability across entities, industries, jurisdictions and capital markets. The new guidance will become effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2016. In July 2015, the FASB voted to defer the implementation of the new guidance for one year. Upon adoption, the guidance will be applied on a full or modified retrospective basis. The Company is currently evaluating the provisions of ASC 606 to understand the impact, if any, to its financial position, results of operations and cash flows upon adoption. Stock Compensation In June 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-12, an amendment to ASC 718, Compensation - Stock Compensation, which clarifies the accounting for performance awards when the terms of the award provide that a performance target could be achieved after the requisite service period. The new guidance will become effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2015. The Company does not expect this standard to have any impact to its financial position, results of operations and cash flows upon adoption. Extraordinary and Unusual Items In January 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-01, an amendment to ASC 225, Income Statement, which eliminates the concept of extraordinary items and, therefore, removes the requirement for separate presentation, net of tax, after income from continuing operations. The new guidance will become effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2015. The Company does not expect this standard to have any impact to its financial position, results of operations and cash flows upon adoption. Consolidation In February 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-02, an amendment to ASC 810, Consolidation, which changes the consolidation analysis required under U.S. GAAP and reevaluates whether limited partnerships and similar entities must be consolidated. The new guidance will become effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2015. Upon adoption, the amendment will be applied on a full or modified retrospective basis. The Company is currently evaluating the provisions of ASC 810 to understand the impact, if any, to its financial position, results of operations and cash flows upon adoption. Interest In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-03, an amendment to ASC 835, Interest - Imputation of Interest, which simplifies the presentation of debt issuance costs by requiring them to be presented in the balance sheet as a deduction from the carrying amount of the liability. The amendments do not affect the recognition and measurement guidance for debt issuance costs. The amended guidance becomes effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2015. Upon adoption, the amendment will be applied on a retrospective basis. The Company is currently evaluating the amendments to understand the impact to its financial position, results of operations and cash flows upon adoption. Intangibles In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-05, an amendment to ASC 350, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other - Internal-Use Software, which clarifies the accounting for fees in a cloud computing arrangement. The amendments provide guidance on how an entity should evaluate the accounting for fees paid in a cloud computing arrangement to determine whether an arrangement includes the sale or license of software. The amended guidance becomes effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2015. Upon adoption, the amendments can be applied on a prospective or retrospective basis. The Company is currently evaluating the amendment to understand the impact to its financial position, results of operations and cash flows upon adoption.
Derivatives | The Company is subject to commodity price risk due to fluctuations in the market price of natural gas, SRECs and electricity. To manage this risk, the Company enters into a variety of derivative instruments including, but not limited to, futures contracts, physical forward contracts, financial options and swaps to economically hedge the commodity price risk associated with its existing and anticipated commitments to purchase and sell natural gas, SRECs and electricity. In addition, the Company may utilize foreign currency derivatives as cash flow hedges of Canadian dollar denominated gas purchases and/or sales. These contracts, with a few exceptions as described below, are accounted for as derivatives. Accordingly, all of the financial and certain of the Company's physical derivative instruments are recorded at fair value on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. For a more detailed discussion of the Company's fair value measurement policies and level disclosures associated with the NJR's derivative instruments, see Note 5. Fair Value. Since NJRES chooses not to designate its financial commodity and physical forward commodity derivatives as accounting hedges or to elect NPNS, changes in the fair value of these derivative instruments are recorded as a component of gas purchases or operating revenues, as appropriate for NJRES, on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations as unrealized gains or (losses). For NJRES at settlement, realized gains and (losses) on all financial derivative instruments are recognized as a component of gas purchases and realized gains and (losses) on all physical derivatives follow the presentation of the related unrealized gains and (losses) as a component of either gas purchases or operating revenues. NJRES also enters into natural gas transactions in Canada and, consequently, is exposed to fluctuations in the value of Canadian currency relative to the US dollar. NJRES may utilize foreign currency derivatives to lock in the currency translation rate associated with natural gas transactions denominated in Canadian currency. The derivatives may include currency forwards, futures, or swaps and are accounted for as derivatives. These derivatives may be used to hedge future forecasted cash payments associated with transportation and storage contracts along with purchases of natural gas. The Company designates these foreign currency derivatives as cash flow hedges of that exposure, and expects the hedge relationship to be highly effective throughout the term. Since NJRES designates its foreign exchange contracts as cash flow hedges, changes in fair value of the effective portion of the hedge are recorded in OCI. When the foreign exchange contracts are settled and the related purchases are recognized in income, realized gains and (losses) are recognized in gas purchases on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations. As of June 30, 2015, the Company had no open foreign currency hedges. As a result of NJRES entering into transactions to borrow gas, commonly referred to as “park and loans,” an embedded derivative is created related to differences between the fair value of the amount borrowed and the fair value of the amount that will ultimately be repaid, based on changes in the forward price for natural gas prices at the borrowed location over the contract term. This embedded derivative is accounted for as a forward sale in the month in which the repayment of the borrowed gas is expected to occur, and is considered a derivative transaction that is recorded at fair value on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, with changes in value recognized in current period earnings. Changes in fair value of NJNG's financial derivative instruments are recorded as a component of regulatory assets or liabilities on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. NJNG has received regulatory approval to defer and to recover these amounts through future BGSS rates as an increase or decrease to the cost of natural gas in NJNG's tariff for gas service. The Company elects NPNS accounting treatment on all physical commodity contracts at NJNG. These contracts are accounted for on an accrual basis. Accordingly, physical purchases are recognized in regulatory assets or liabilities on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets when the contract settles and the natural gas is delivered. The average cost of natural gas is amortized in current period earnings based on the current BPU BGSS factor and therm sales. NJRCEV hedges certain of its expected production of SRECs through forward and futures contracts. The contracts require the Company to physically deliver the SRECs upon settlement. The Company elects NPNS accounting treatment on all SREC forward and futures contracts it enters into during the period. NJRCEV recognizes the related revenue upon transfer of the SREC certificate to the counterparty.
Fair Value Hierarchy | Fair Value Hierarchy NJR applies fair value measurement guidance to its financial assets and liabilities, as appropriate, which include financial derivatives and physical commodity contracts qualifying as derivatives, available for sale securities and other financial assets and liabilities. In addition, authoritative accounting literature prescribes the use of a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value based on the source of the data used to develop the price inputs. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities and the lowest priority to inputs that are based on unobservable market data and include the following:
Level 1 | Unadjusted quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in active markets. NJR's Level 1 assets and liabilities include exchange traded futures and options contracts, listed equities, and money market funds. Exchange traded futures and options contracts include all energy contracts traded on the NYMEX/CME and ICE that NJR refers internally to as basis swaps, fixed swaps, futures and financial options that are cleared through a FCM.
Level 2 | Other significant observable inputs such as interest rates or price data, including both commodity and basis pricing that is observed either directly or indirectly from publications or pricing services. NJR's Level 2 assets and liabilities include over-the-counter physical forward commodity contracts and swap contracts or derivatives that are initially valued using observable quotes and are subsequently adjusted to include time value, credit risk or estimated transport pricing components for which no basis price is available. Level 2 financial derivatives consist of transactions with non-FCM counterparties (basis swaps, fixed swaps and/or options). NJNG's treasury lock is also considered Level 2 as valuation is based on quoted market interest and swap rates as inputs to the valuation model. Inputs are verifiable and do not require significant management judgment. For some physical commodity contracts the Company utilizes transportation tariff rates that are publicly available and that it considers to be observable inputs that are equivalent to market data received from an independent source. There are no significant judgments or adjustments applied to the transportation tariff inputs and no market perspective is required. Even if the transportation tariff input was considered to be a “model”, it would still be considered to be a Level 2 input as:
1) The data is widely accepted and public 2) The data is non-proprietary and sourced from an independent third party 3) The data is observable and published These additional adjustments are generally not considered to be significant to the ultimate recognized values.
Level 3 | Inputs derived from a significant amount of unobservable market data. These include NJR's best estimate of fair value and are derived primarily through the use of internal valuation methodologies.

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- Definition Disclosure of accounting policy for investments in debt and equity securities that are classified as available-for-sale. This policy also may describe the entity's accounting treatment for transfers between investment categories, how the entity determines whether impairments of available-for-sale securities are other than temporary, and how the fair values of such securities are determined. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6367646&loc=d3e18780-107790 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 320 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27724398&loc=d3e27161-111563 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) -Number Topic 5 -Section M Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 02 -Paragraph 2, 12 -Article 5 + Details
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- Definition Disclosure of accounting policy for trade and other accounts receivable, and finance, loan and lease receivables, including those classified as held for investment and held for sale. This disclosure may include (1) the basis at which such receivables are carried in the entity's statements of financial position (2) how the level of the valuation allowance for receivables is determined (3) when impairments, charge-offs or recoveries are recognized for such receivables (4) the treatment of origination fees and costs, including the amortization method for net deferred fees or costs (5) the treatment of any premiums or discounts or unearned income (6) the entity's income recognition policies for such receivables, including those that are impaired, past due or placed on nonaccrual status and (7) the treatment of foreclosures or repossessions (8) the nature and amount of any guarantees to repurchase receivables. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6367646&loc=d3e18780-107790 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 310 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6378556&loc=d3e10133-111534 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 310 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (a) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35738203&loc=d3e4975-111524 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 02 -Paragraph 3-5 -Article 5 + Details
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