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Regulatory assets and liabilities | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2023
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 March 31, 2023 | * | March 31, 2023 | March 31, 2022 | December 31, 2022
|  |  | (In thousands)
Regulatory assets: |  |  |  |  |
Current: |  |  |  |  |
Natural gas costs recoverable through rate adjustments | Up to 1 year |  | $ | 198,166 |  | $ | 66,132 |  | $ | 141,306 |
Conservation programs | Up to 1 year |  | 8,599 |  | 7,567 |  | 8,544 |
Cost recovery mechanisms | Up to 1 year |  | 3,954 |  | 3,432 |  | 4,019 |
Other | Up to 1 year |  | 5,599 |  | 11,947 |  | 11,223 |
|  |  | 216,318 |  | 89,078 |  | 165,092 |
Noncurrent: |  |  |  |  |
Pension and postretirement benefits | ** |  | 143,349 |  | 142,681 |  | 143,349 |
Cost recovery mechanisms | Up to 10 years |  | 65,732 |  | 67,989 |  | 67,171 |
Plant costs/asset retirement obligations | Over plant lives |  | 44,131 |  | 63,325 |  | 44,462 |
Manufactured gas plant site remediation | - |  | 26,605 |  | 26,089 |  | 26,624 |
Environmental compliance programs | - |  | 21,942 |  | — |  | — |
Plant to be retired | - |  | 21,072 |  | 29,452 |  | 21,525 |
Taxes recoverable from customers | Over plant lives |  | 12,198 |  | 12,492 |  | 12,330 |
Long-term debt refinancing costs | Up to 37 years |  | 3,041 |  | 3,636 |  | 3,188 |
Other | Up to 16 years |  | 11,430 |  | 13,564 |  | 11,010 |
|  |  | 349,500 |  | 359,228 |  | 329,659 |
Total regulatory assets |  |  | $ | 565,818 |  | $ | 448,306 |  | $ | 494,751 |
Regulatory liabilities: |  |  |  |  |
Current: |  |  |  |  |
Electric fuel and purchased power deferral | Up to 1 year |  | 9,630 |  | — |  | 4,929 |
Natural gas costs refundable through rate adjustments | Up to 1 year |  | 6,331 |  | 13,107 |  | 955 |
Conservation programs | Up to 1 year |  | 3,834 |  | 144 |  | 4,126 |
Cost recovery mechanisms | Up to 1 year |  | 2,926 |  | 2,550 |  | 1,977 |
Taxes refundable to customers | Up to 1 year |  | 1,513 |  | 3,470 |  | 3,937 |
Refundable fuel and electric costs | Up to 1 year |  | 1,179 |  | 316 |  | 3,253 |
Other | Up to 1 year |  | 18,982 |  | 11,599 |  | 7,263 |
|  |  | 44,395 |  | 31,186 |  | 26,440 |
Noncurrent: |  |  |  |  |
Plant removal and decommissioning costs | Over plant lives |  | 214,467 |  | 171,485 |  | 208,650 |
Taxes refundable to customers | Over plant lives |  | 200,879 |  | 212,472 |  | 203,222 |
Cost recovery mechanisms | Up to 19 years |  | 16,313 |  | 9,508 |  | 14,025 |
Accumulated deferred investment tax credit | Up to 19 years |  | 13,996 |  | 13,352 |  | 13,594 |
Pension and postretirement benefits | ** |  | 7,376 |  | 20,434 |  | 7,376 |
Other | Up to 15 years |  | 1,638 |  | 6,377 |  | 1,587 |
|  |  | 454,669 |  | 433,628 |  | 448,454 |
Total regulatory liabilities |  |  | $ | 499,064 |  | $ | 464,814 |  | $ | 474,894 |
Net regulatory position |  |  | $ | 66,754 |  | $ | (16,508) |  | $ | 19,857 |
*Estimated recovery or refund period for amounts currently being recovered or refunded in rates to customers. ** Recovered as expense is incurred or cash contributions are made.
At March 31, 2023 and 2022, and December 31, 2022, approximately $255.6 million, $268.1 million and $242.5 million, respectively, of regulatory assets were not earning a rate of return; 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, accelerated depreciation on plant retirement, the estimated future cost of manufactured gas plant site remediation and the costs associated with environmental compliance. The Company is subject to environmental compliance regulations in certain states which require natural gas distribution companies to reduce overall GHG emissions to certain thresholds as established by each applicable state. Compliance with these standards may be achieved through increased energy efficiency and conservation measures, purchased emission allowances and offsets, purchases of community climate investment credits and purchases of low carbon fuels. Emission allowances are allocated by the respective states to the Company at no cost, of which a portion is required to be sold at auction. The Company expects the compliance costs for these regulations and the revenues from the sale of the allocated emissions allowances will be passed through to customers in rates and has, accordingly, deferred the environmental compliance obligation as a regulatory asset. In the last half of 2021 through 2022, the Company experienced high natural gas costs due to increase in demand outpacing the supply along with the impact of global events. Additionally, in December 2022 and January 2023, natural gas prices significantly increased across the Pacific Northwest from multiple price-pressuring events including wide-spread below-normal temperatures and higher natural gas consumption; reduced natural gas flows due to pipeline constraints, including maintenance in West Texas; and historically low regional natural gas storage levels. This increase in natural gas costs experienced in certain jurisdictions was partially offset by the recovery of prior period natural gas costs being recovered over a period longer than the normal one-year period. For a discussion of the Company's most recent cases by jurisdiction, see Note 19. 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. Requests were filed with the NDPSC and SDPUC, and subsequently approved, to offset the savings associated with the cessation of operations of these units with the amortization of the deferred regulatory assets. The Company ceased operations of Lewis & Clark Station in March 2021 and Units 1 and 2 at Heskett Station in February 2022. The Company subsequently reclassified the costs being recovered for these facilities from plant retirement to cost recovery mechanisms in the previous table and began amortizing the associated plant retirement and closure costs in the jurisdictions where requests were filed. 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 written off 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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