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Regulatory assets and liabilities | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2021
Regulatory Assets and Liabilities Disclosure [Abstract] |
Regulatory Assets and Liabilities | Regulatory assets and liabilities The following table summarizes the individual components of unamortized regulatory assets and liabilities:
| Estimated Recovery or Refund Period as of September 30, 2021 | * | September 30, 2021 | September 30, 2020 | December 31, 2020
|  |  | (In thousands)
Regulatory assets: |  |  |  |  |
Current: |  |  |  |  |
Natural gas costs recoverable through rate adjustments | Up to 1 year |  | $ | 98,211 |  | $ | 48,478 |  | $ | 42,481 |
Conservation programs | Up to 1 year |  | 8,495 |  | 7,857 |  | 7,117 |
Cost recovery mechanisms | Up to 1 year |  | 4,693 |  | 8,177 |  | 10,645 |
Other | Up to 1 year |  | 21,736 |  | 14,613 |  | 8,284 |
|  |  | 133,135 |  | 79,125 |  | 68,527 |
Noncurrent: |  |  |  |  |
Pension and postretirement benefits | ** |  | 155,888 |  | 157,015 |  | 155,942 |
Plant costs/asset retirement obligations | Over plant lives |  | 73,528 |  | 68,815 |  | 71,740 |
Plant retirement | - |  | 48,544 |  | 57,499 |  | 65,919 |
Cost recovery mechanisms | Up to 10 years |  | 43,955 |  | 14,281 |  | 16,245 |
Manufactured gas plant site remediation | - |  | 26,000 |  | 25,964 |  | 26,429 |
Taxes recoverable from customers | Over plant lives |  | 11,438 |  | 10,847 |  | 10,785 |
Natural gas costs recoverable through rate adjustments | Up to 3 years |  | 6,084 |  | 24,677 |  | 21,539 |
Long-term debt refinancing costs | Up to 39 years |  | 3,952 |  | 3,826 |  | 4,426 |
Other | Up to 18 years |  | 9,856 |  | 6,840 |  | 6,356 |
|  |  | 379,245 |  | 369,764 |  | 379,381 |
Total regulatory assets |  |  | $ | 512,380 |  | $ | 448,889 |  | $ | 447,908 |
Regulatory liabilities: |  |  |  |  |
Current: |  |  |  |  |
Taxes refundable to customers | Up to 1 year |  | $ | 3,867 |  | $ | 4,223 |  | $ | 3,557 |
Electric fuel and purchased power deferral | Up to 1 year |  | 3,205 |  | 6,171 |  | 3,667 |
Natural gas costs refundable through rate adjustments | - |  | — |  | 20,556 |  | 18,565 |
Other | Up to 1 year |  | 9,419 |  | 8,887 |  | 5,661 |
|  |  | 16,491 |  | 39,837 |  | 31,450 |
Noncurrent: |  |  |  |  |
Taxes refundable to customers | Over plant lives |  | 218,566 |  | 232,186 |  | 227,850 |
Plant removal and decommissioning costs | Over plant lives |  | 172,683 |  | 173,367 |  | 167,171 |
Pension and postretirement benefits | ** |  | 16,915 |  | 17,991 |  | 16,989 |
Other | Up to 21 years |  | 17,977 |  | 11,392 |  | 16,065 |
|  |  | 426,141 |  | 434,936 |  | 428,075 |
Total regulatory liabilities |  |  | $ | 442,632 |  | $ | 474,773 |  | $ | 459,525 |
Net regulatory position |  |  | $ | 69,748 |  | $ | (25,884) |  | $ | (11,617) |
*Estimated recovery or refund period for amounts currently being recovered or refunded in rates charged to customers. ** Recovered as expense is incurred or cash contributions are made.
Regulatory assets not earning a rate of return were approximately $318.2 million at September 30, 2021 and 2020, and $332.5 million at December 31, 2020; however, these regulatory assets are expected to be recovered from customers in future rates. These assets are largely comprised of the unfunded portion of pension and postretirement benefits, asset retirement obligations, accelerated depreciation on plant retirement and the estimated future cost of manufactured gas plant site remediation. In February 2021, a prolonged period of unseasonably cold temperatures in the central United States significantly increased the demand for electric and natural gas services and contributed to increased market prices. Overall, Montana-Dakota and Great Plains incurred approximately $44.0 million in increased natural gas costs in order to maintain services for its customers. These extraordinary gas costs were recorded as regulatory assets as they are expected to be recovered from customers. Montana-Dakota and Great Plains have received approval for the recovery of purchased gas adjustments related to the cold-weather event in all jurisdictions impacted, including out-of-cycle purchased gas adjustment requests in most jurisdictions. For a discussion of the Company's most recent cases by jurisdiction, see Note 19. In 2019, the Company experienced increased natural gas costs in Washington from the rupture of the Enbridge pipeline in Canada in late 2018. As a result, the Company requested, and the WUTC approved, recovery of the balance of natural gas costs recoverable related to this period of time over three years rather than its normal one-year recovery period. In February 2019, the Company announced the retirement of three aging coal-fired electric generating units. The Company accelerated the depreciation related to these facilities in property, plant and equipment and recorded the difference between the accelerated depreciation, in accordance with GAAP, and the depreciation approved for rate-making purposes as regulatory assets. The first unit ceased operations on March 31, 2021, and in the second quarter of 2021, the Company began amortizing plant retirement and closure costs related to this facility. Requests have been filed with the NDPSC and SDPUC to offset the savings associated with the cessation of operations of this unit with the amortization of the deferred regulatory assets. In the second quarter of 2021, the Company moved the costs being recovered for this facility from plant retirement to cost recovery mechanisms in the previous table. The remaining two units are expected to be retired in early 2022. The Company expects to recover the regulatory assets related to the plant retirements in future rates. If, for any reason, the Company's regulated businesses cease to meet the criteria for application of regulatory accounting for all or part of their operations, the regulatory assets and liabilities relating to those portions ceasing to meet such criteria would be removed from the balance sheet and included in the statement of income or accumulated other comprehensive loss in the period in which the discontinuance of regulatory accounting occurs.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for detailed information about regulatory assets and liabilities, including current and noncurrent assets created when regulatory agencies permit the deferral of costs to the balance sheet that would otherwise be required to appear on the company's income statement and would be charged against current expenses or revenues, as well as current and noncurrent liabilities created when regulatory agencies permit. + References No definition available. + Details
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