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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies | 6 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2021
Accounting Policies [Abstract] |
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies | 1. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES BASIS OF PRESENTATION – These notes are an integral part of the accompanying unaudited financial statements of Spire Inc. (“Spire” or the “Company”) presented on a consolidated basis, Spire Missouri Inc. (“Spire Missouri”) and Spire Alabama Inc. (“Spire Alabama”). Spire Missouri and Spire Alabama are wholly owned subsidiaries of Spire. Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama and the subsidiaries of Spire EnergySouth Inc. (“Spire EnergySouth”) are collectively referred to as the “Utilities.” The subsidiaries of Spire EnergySouth are Spire Gulf Inc. and Spire Mississippi Inc. The accompanying unaudited financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) for interim financial information with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Rule 10-01 of Regulation S‑X. Accordingly, they do not include all the disclosures required for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited financial statements include all adjustments necessary for the fair presentation of the results of operations for the periods presented. This Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the Notes to Financial Statements contained in Spire’s, Spire Missouri’s and Spire Alabama’s combined Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020. The consolidated financial position, results of operations, and cash flows of Spire include the accounts of the Company and all its subsidiaries. Transactions and balances between consolidated entities have been eliminated from the consolidated financial statements of Spire. In compliance with GAAP, transactions between Spire Missouri and Spire Alabama and their affiliates, as well as intercompany balances on their balance sheets, have not been eliminated from their separate financial statements. NATURE OF OPERATIONS – Spire has two reportable segments: Gas Utility and Gas Marketing. The Gas Utility segment consists of the regulated natural gas distribution operations of the Company and is the core business segment of Spire in terms of revenue and earnings. The Gas Utility segment is comprised of the operations of: Spire Missouri, serving St. Louis, Kansas City, and other areas in Missouri; Spire Alabama, serving central and northern Alabama; and the subsidiaries of Spire EnergySouth, serving southern Alabama and south-central Mississippi. The Gas Marketing segment includes Spire’s largest gas-related business, Spire Marketing Inc. (“Spire Marketing”), which provides non-regulated natural gas services, primarily in the central and southern United States (U.S.). The activities of other subsidiaries are reported as Other and are described in Note 9, Information by Operating Segment. Spire Missouri and Spire Alabama each have a single reportable segment. Nearly all the Company’s earnings are derived from its Gas Utility segment. Due to the seasonal nature of the Utilities’ business and the Spire Missouri rate design, earnings are typically concentrated during the heating season of November through April each fiscal year. As a result, the interim statements of income for Spire, Spire Missouri and Spire Alabama are not necessarily indicative of annual results or representative of succeeding quarters of the fiscal year. REGULATED OPERATIONS – The Utilities account for their regulated operations in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 980, Regulated Operations. This topic sets forth the application of GAAP for those companies whose rates are established by or are subject to approval by an independent third-party regulator. The provisions of this accounting guidance require, among other things, that financial statements of a regulated enterprise reflect the actions of regulators, where appropriate. These actions may result in the recognition of revenues and expenses in time periods that are different than non-regulated enterprises. When this occurs, costs are deferred as assets in the balance sheet (regulatory assets) and recorded as expenses when those amounts are reflected in rates. In addition, regulators can impose liabilities upon a regulated company for amounts previously collected from customers and for recovery of costs that are expected to be incurred in the future (regulatory liabilities). Management believes that the current regulatory environment supports the continued use of these regulatory accounting principles and that all regulatory assets and regulatory liabilities are recoverable or refundable through the regulatory process. As authorized by the Missouri Public Service Commission (MoPSC), the Mississippi Public Service Commission (MSPSC) and the Alabama Public Service Commission (APSC), the Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA) clauses and Gas Supply Adjustment (GSA) riders allow the Utilities to pass through to customers the cost of purchased gas supplies. Regulatory assets and liabilities related to the PGA clauses and the GSA riders are both labeled Unamortized Purchased Gas Adjustments herein. See additional information about regulatory assets and liabilities in Note 4, Regulatory Matters. DERIVATIVES – In the course of their business, certain subsidiaries of Spire enter into commitments associated with the purchase or sale of natural gas. Certain of their derivative natural gas contracts are designated as normal purchases or normal sales and, as such, are excluded from the scope of FASB ASC Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging. Those contracts are accounted for as executory contracts and recorded on an accrual basis. Revenues and expenses from such contracts are recorded gross. Contracts not designated as normal purchases or normal sales are recorded as derivatives with changes in fair value recognized in earnings in the periods prior to physical delivery. Certain of Spire Marketing’s wholesale purchase and sale transactions are classified as trading activities for financial reporting purposes, with income and expenses presented on a net basis in natural gas expenses in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income. TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES – Transactions between affiliates of the Company have been eliminated from the consolidated financial statements of Spire. As reflected in their separate financial statements, Spire Missouri and Spire Alabama borrowed funds from the Company and incurred related interest, and in 2021, Spire Alabama lent excess funds to the Company and earned related interest. Spire Missouri and Spire Alabama also participated in normal intercompany shared services transactions. Spire Missouri’s and Spire Alabama’s other transactions with affiliates are presented below:
|  | Three Months Ended March 31, |  |  | Six Months Ended March 31, |
|  | 2021 |  |  | 2020 |  |  | 2021 |  |  | 2020 |
Spire Missouri |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Purchases of natural gas from Spire Marketing Inc. |  | $ | 57.6 |  |  | $ | 13.3 |  |  | $ | 68.3 |  |  | $ | 32.8 |
Transportation services received from Spire STL Pipeline LLC |  |  | 7.9 |  |  |  | 7.9 |  |  |  | 16.0 |  |  |  | 11.8 |
Sales of natural gas to Spire Marketing Inc. |  |  | — |  |  |  | — |  |  |  | 1.1 |  |  |  | — |
Transportation services received from Spire NGL Inc. |  |  | 0.2 |  |  |  | 0.2 |  |  |  | 0.5 |  |  |  | 0.5 |
Spire Alabama |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Purchases of natural gas from Spire Marketing Inc. |  | $ | 5.8 |  |  | $ | 1.0 |  |  | $ | 10.6 |  |  | $ | 4.3 |
Sales of natural gas to Spire Marketing Inc. |  |  | 0.1 |  |  |  | — |  |  |  | 0.1 |  |  |  | — |
ACCRUED CAPITAL EXPENDITURES – Accrued capital expenditures, shown in the following table, are excluded from capital expenditures in the statements of cash flows until paid.
|  | March 31, |  |  | September 30, |  |  | March 31, |
|  | 2021 |  |  | 2020 |  |  | 2020 |
Spire |  | $ | 36.1 |  |  | $ | 67.6 |  |  | $ | 51.4 |
Spire Missouri |  |  | 21.8 |  |  |  | 34.3 |  |  |  | 21.5 |
Spire Alabama |  |  | 4.7 |  |  |  | 17.0 |  |  |  | 17.6 |
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE AND ALLOWANCE FOR CREDIT LOSSES – Trade accounts receivable are recorded at the amounts due from customers, including unbilled amounts. Accounts receivable are written off when they are deemed to be uncollectible. An allowance for expected credit losses is estimated and updated based on relevant data and trends such as accounts receivable aging, historical write-off experience, current write-off trends, economic conditions, and the impact of weather and availability of customer payment assistance on collection trends. For the Utilities, net write-offs as a percentage of revenue has historically been the best predictor of base net write-off experience over time. Management judgment is applied in the development of the allowance due to the complexity of variables and subjective nature of certain relevant factors. For March 31, 2021, and September 30, 2020, the estimates for expected credit losses were increased as a result of considerations related to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), including trends from previous economic downturns, the effects of moratoriums on gas service cutoffs, and the effects of slower-than-normal disconnection activity in general, offset by the amount subject to specific recovery under Missouri’s deferral order (see Note 4, Regulatory Matters). The accounts receivable of Spire’s non-utility businesses are evaluated separately from those of the Utilities. The allowance for credit losses for those other businesses is based on a continuous evaluation of the individual counterparty risk and is not significant for the periods presented. Activity in the allowance for credit losses for the three and six months ended March 31, 2021, is shown in the following table.
| Three Months Ended March 31, 2021 |  |  | Six Months Ended March 31, 2021 |
|  |  |  |  | Spire |  |  | Spire |  |  |  |  |  |  | Spire |  |  | Spire |
| Spire |  |  | Missouri |  |  | Alabama |  |  | Spire |  |  | Missouri |  |  | Alabama |
Allowance at beginning of period | $ | 28.9 |  |  | $ | 21.4 |  |  | $ | 6.2 |  |  | $ | 24.9 |  |  | $ | 18.1 |  |  | $ | 5.5 |
Provision for expected credit losses |  | 6.6 |  |  |  | 5.7 |  |  |  | 0.6 |  |  |  | 10.7 |  |  |  | 9.0 |  |  |  | 1.3 |
Write-offs, net of recoveries |  | (1.1 | ) |  |  | (0.5 | ) |  |  | (0.3 | ) |  |  | (1.2 | ) |  |  | (0.5 | ) |  |  | (0.3 | )
Allowance at end of period | $ | 34.4 |  |  | $ | 26.6 |  |  | $ | 6.5 |  |  | $ | 34.4 |  |  | $ | 26.6 |  |  | $ | 6.5 |
NEW ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS – In June 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses: Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, which was later supplemented by ASU Nos. 2018-19, 2019-04, 2019-05 and 2019-11. The new standard replaces the current “incurred loss” model with an “expected loss” model for certain instruments, including trade receivables, requiring measurement of all expected credit losses for financial assets held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts. It also required entities to record credit loss allowances for available-for-sale securities rather than impair the carrying amount of the securities. Spire, Spire Missouri and Spire Alabama adopted the new standard for the quarter ended December 31, 2020. Based on the credit quality of the existing available-for-sale securities portfolio, no allowance for credit losses was recognized for those investments. Application of the new guidance did not result in any significant modifications to the Company’s policies related to recognizing an allowance on trade receivables, and the adoption of the new standard did not have a material impact on Spire’s, Spire Missouri’s and Spire Alabama’s financial statements. RECLASSIFICATIONS – Spire’s consolidated statements of income historically showed Gas Utility operating revenues and expense line items separately from Gas Marketing and other operations. The current presentation shows operating revenues and expense line items on a consolidated basis. Disaggregated data is presented in Note 9, Information by Operating Segment. Prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform with the current period presentation.

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