XML 25 R12.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT
v3.4.0.3

Employee Benefit Plans: | 3 Months Ended
--- | ---
Mar. 31, 2016
Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract] |
Employee Benefit Plans | Employee Benefit Plans: The components of net periodic benefit costs, before allocation to the overhead pool, for Registrant’s pension plan, postretirement plan and Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan ("SERP") for the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015 are as follows:
|  | For The Three Months Ended March 31,
|  | Pension Benefits |  | Other Postretirement Benefits |  | SERP
(dollars in thousands) |  | 2016 |  | 2015 |  | 2016 |  | 2015 |  | 2016 |  | 2015
Components of Net Periodic Benefits Cost: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Service cost |  | $ | 1,232 |  |  | $ | 1,686 |  |  | $ | 68 |  |  | $ | 95 |  |  | $ | 200 |  |  | $ | 204 |
Interest cost |  | 1,930 |  |  | 1,939 |  |  | 97 |  |  | 114 |  |  | 186 |  |  | 163 |
Expected return on plan assets |  | (2,460 | ) |  | (2,446 | ) |  | (122 | ) |  | (123 | ) |  | — |  |  | — |
Amortization of transition |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |
Amortization of prior service cost (benefit) |  | 12 |  |  | 30 |  |  | (9 | ) |  | (50 | ) |  | 6 |  |  | 29 |
Amortization of actuarial (gain) loss |  | 127 |  |  | 469 |  |  | (150 | ) |  | (53 | ) |  | 73 |  |  | 108 |
Net periodic pension cost under accounting standards |  | 841 |  |  | 1,678 |  |  | (116 | ) |  | (17 | ) |  | 465 |  |  | 504 |
Regulatory adjustment — deferred |  | 359 |  |  | 11 |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |  |  | — |
Total expense recognized, before allocation to overhead pool |  | $ | 1,200 |  |  | $ | 1,689 |  |  | $ | (116 | ) |  | $ | (17 | ) |  | $ | 465 |  |  | $ | 504 |
Registrant expects to contribute approximately $5.5 million to its pension plan during 2016. During 2015, Registrant updated key assumptions used for the valuation of the pension, post-retirement and supplemental executive retirement plans. These updates included: (i) an increase in the discount rates; (ii) updates in demographic assumptions, such as retirement and termination rates, to reflect recent changes in participant behavior, and (iii) salary increases based on Registrant’s recent and future expected experience. As a result of these updates in actuarial assumptions, as well as the pension plan closure to new employees hired after December 31, 2010, net periodic benefit costs decreased for the three months ended March 31, 2016 as compared to the same period in 2015. Regulatory Adjustment: As authorized by the CPUC in the most recent water and electric general rate case decisions, GSWC utilizes two-way balancing accounts for its water and electric regions and the general office to track differences between the forecasted annual pension expenses in rates or expected to be in rates and the actual annual expense recorded by GSWC in accordance with the accounting guidance for pension costs. As of March 31, 2016, GSWC has a total $1.8 million net under-collection in the two-way pension balancing accounts included as part of the pension regulatory asset (Note 2).

X
- References No definition available. + Details
Name: | us-gaap_CompensationAndRetirementDisclosureAbstract
Namespace Prefix: | us-gaap_
Data Type: | xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration

X
- Definition The entire disclosure for pension and other postretirement benefits. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 715 -SubTopic 80 -Section 50 -Paragraph 11 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=49170332&loc=SL14450702-114947 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 715 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=58740216&loc=d3e2410-114920 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 715 -SubTopic 60 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6414203&loc=d3e39675-114964 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 715 -SubTopic 70 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=49170846&loc=d3e28014-114942 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 715 -SubTopic 60 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6414199&loc=d3e39622-114963 + Details
Name: | us-gaap_PensionAndOtherPostretirementBenefitsDisclosureTextBlock
Namespace Prefix: | us-gaap_
Data Type: | nonnum:textBlockItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration