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Summary of Accounting Policies | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2020
Accounting Policies [Abstract] |
Summary of Accounting Policies | Summary of Accounting Policies Basis of Presentation References in this document to the “Company,” “Chesapeake Utilities,” “we,” “us” and “our” are intended to mean Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, its divisions and/or its subsidiaries, as appropriate in the context of the disclosure. The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in compliance with the rules and regulations of the SEC and GAAP. In accordance with these rules and regulations, certain information and disclosures normally required for audited financial statements have been condensed or omitted. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, included in our latest Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019. In the opinion of management, these financial statements reflect all adjustments that are necessary for a fair presentation of our results of operations, financial position and cash flows for the interim periods presented. Where necessary to improve comparability, prior period amounts have been changed to conform to current period presentation. Due to the seasonality of our business, results for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of results for the entire fiscal year. Revenue and earnings are typically greater during the first and fourth quarters, when consumption of energy is highest due to colder temperatures. Beginning in the third quarter of 2019, our management began executing a strategy to sell the operating assets of PESCO. In the fourth quarter of 2019, we closed on four separate transactions to sell PESCO's assets and contracts. As a result of these sales, we have fully exited the natural gas marketing business, which provided natural gas management and supply services to commercial and industrial customers in Florida, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and other states. Accordingly, PESCO’s historical financial results are reflected in our condensed consolidated financial statements as discontinued operations, which required retrospective application to financial information for all periods presented. Refer to Note 3, Acquisitions and Divestitures, for further information Effects of COVID-19 On March 13, 2020, the CDC declared a national emergency due to the rapidly growing outbreak of COVID-19. In response to this declaration and the rapid spread of COVID-19 within the United States, federal, state and local governments throughout the country imposed varying degrees of restrictions on social and commercial activity to promote social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of the illness. These restrictions have continued to significantly impact economic conditions in the United States. We are considered an “essential business,” which allows us to continue our operational activities and construction projects while the social distancing restrictions remain in place. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions, we implemented our pandemic response plan, which includes having all employees who can work remotely do so in order to promote social distancing and providing personal protective equipment to field employees to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Impacts from the restrictions imposed in our service territories and the implementation of our pandemic response plan, included reduced consumption of energy largely in the commercial and industrial sectors, higher bad debt expenses and incremental expenses associated with COVID-19, including personal protective equipment and premium pay for field personnel. The additional operating expenses we incurred support the ongoing delivery of our essential services during these unprecedented times. As the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing, we are continuing to assess recoverability and to date, have not established regulatory assets associated with the incremental net expense impacts, as currently authorized by the Delaware, Maryland and Florida PSCs. We are committed to communicating timely updates and will continue to monitor developments affecting our employees, customers, suppliers, and stockholders and take additional precautions as warranted to operate safely and to comply with the CDC, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, state and local requirements in order to protect our employees, customers and the communities we serve, and update and communicate the ongoing financial impact on our results once determined. Refer to Note 5, Rates and Other Regulatory Activities, for further information on the potential deferral of incremental expenses associated with COVID-19. FASB Statements and Other Authoritative Pronouncements Recently Adopted Accounting Standards Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (ASC 326) - In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, which changes how entities account for credit losses for most financial assets and certain other instruments, and subsequent guidance which served to clarify or amend the original standard. ASU 2016-13 and the related amendments require entities to estimate lifetime expected credit losses for trade receivables and to provide additional disclosure related to credit losses. We adopted ASU 2016-13 on January 1, 2020 and recorded an immaterial cumulative effect in retained earnings as of that date. As a result, prior period financial information has not been recast and continues to be reported under the accounting guidance that was effective during those periods. Our estimate for expected credit losses has been developed by analyzing our portfolio of financial assets that present potential credit exposure risk. These assets consist solely of our trade receivables from customers and contract assets. The estimate is based on five years of historical collections experience, a review of current economic and operating conditions in our service territories, and an examination of economic indicators which provide a reasonable and supportable basis of potential future activity. Those indicators include metrics which we believe provide insight into the future collectability of our trade receivables such as unemployment rates and economic growth statistics in our service territories. When determining estimated credit losses, we analyzed the balance of our trade receivables based on the underlying service line they pertain to. This resulted in an examination of trade receivables from our energy distribution, energy transmission, energy delivery services and propane operations service lines. Our energy distribution service line consists of all our regulated distribution utility operations on the Delmarva Peninsula and throughout Florida. These business units have the ability to recover their costs through the rate making process, which can include consideration for amounts historically written off as a component of their rate base. Therefore, they possess a mechanism to recover credit losses which we believe reduces their exposure to credit risk. Our energy transmission and energy delivery services business units consist of our natural gas pipelines and our mobile compressed natural gas ("CNG") delivery operations. The majority of the customer base these business units serve are regulated distribution utilities who also have the ability to recover their costs. We believe this cost recovery mechanism significantly reduces the amount of credit risk they present. Our propane operations are unregulated and do not have the same ability to recover their costs as our regulated operations. However, historically our propane operations have not had material write offs relative to the amounts of revenues earned. Our estimate of expected credit losses reflects our anticipated losses associated with our trade receivables as a result of non-payment from our customers beginning the day the trade receivable is established. We believe the risk of loss associated with trade receivables classified as current presents the least amount of credit exposure risk and therefore, we assign a lower estimate to our current trade receivables. As our trade receivables age outside of their expected due date, our estimate increases. Our allowance for credit losses relative to the balance of our trade receivables has historically been immaterial as a result of on time payment activity from our customers. During the first quarter of 2020, COVID-19 began to rapidly spread within the United States. Federal, state and local governments throughout the country imposed restrictions to promote social distancing to slow the spread of the virus, which has also had the effect of limiting commercial activity. These measures have resulted in significant job losses and a slowing of economic activity across the United States and in the areas that we serve. We have been identified as an “essential business,” which allowed us to continue operational activity and construction projects with social distancing restrictions in place. We have considered the impact of COVID-19 for the nine months ended September 30, 2020, monitored developments that impact our customers’ ability to pay and have revised our estimates of expected credit losses. Our prior estimates for expected credit losses had not included an evaluation of current conditions or forward-looking economic indicators as we were not required to consider those factors under the previous incurred loss accounting guidance. The below table provides a reconciliation of our allowance for credit losses at September 30, 2020:
(in thousands) |
Balance at December 31, 2019 | $ | 1,337 |
Additions: |
Provision for credit losses | 2,810 |
Recoveries | 577 |
Deductions: |
Write offs | (594) |
Balance at September 30, 2020 | $ | 4,130 |
Fair Value Measurement (ASC 820) - In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13, Disclosure Framework - Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement, which removes, modifies and adds certain disclosure requirements on fair value measurements in ASC 820. We adopted ASU 2018-13 beginning January 1, 2020 and, since the changes only impacted disclosures, its adoption did not have a material impact on our financial position or results of operations. Intangibles - Goodwill (ASC 350) - In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-04, Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment, which simplifies how an entity is required to test goodwill for impairment by eliminating Step 2 from the goodwill impairment test. ASU 2017-04 was effective beginning January 1, 2020. The amendments included in this ASU are to be applied prospectively, and are not expected to have a material impact on our financial position or results of operations.

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