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Derivative Instruments | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2019
Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract] |
Derivative Instruments | Derivative Instruments GSWC's electric division, BVES, purchases power under long-term contracts at a fixed cost depending on the amount of power and the period during which the power is purchased under such contracts. In August 2019, the CPUC approved an application that allowed BVES to enter into new long-term purchased power contracts with energy providers, which BVES executed in September 2019. BVES began taking power under these long-term contracts during the fourth quarter of 2019 at a fixed cost over three and five-year terms depending on the amount of power and period during which the power is purchased under the contracts. These long-term contracts are subject to the accounting guidance for derivatives and require mark-to-market derivative accounting. Among other things, the CPUC also authorized BVES to establish a regulatory asset and liability memorandum account to offset the mark-to-market entries required by the accounting guidance. Accordingly, all unrealized gains and losses generated from these purchased power contracts are deferred on a monthly basis into a non-interest bearing regulatory memorandum account that tracks the changes in fair value of the derivative throughout the term of the contract. As a result, these unrealized gains and losses do not impact GSWC’s earnings. As of December 31, 2019, there was a $3.2 million unrealized loss in the memorandum account, with a corresponding unrealized loss liability for the three and five-year purchased power contract as a result of the fixed prices being greater than the futures energy prices. The notional volume of derivatives remaining under these long-term contracts as of December 31, 2019 was approximately 638,000 megawatt hours. As previously discussed in Note 1, the accounting guidance for fair value measurements establishes a framework for measuring fair value and requires fair value measurements to be classified and disclosed in one of three levels. Registrant’s valuation model utilizes various inputs that include quoted market prices for energy over the duration of the contracts. The market prices used to determine the fair value for these derivative instruments were estimated based on independent sources such as broker quotes and publications that are not observable in or corroborated by the market. When such inputs have a significant impact on the measurement of fair value, the instrument is categorized as Level 3. Accordingly, the valuation of the derivatives on Registrant’s purchased power contracts have been classified as Level 3 for all periods presented. The following table presents changes in the fair value of GSWC’s derivatives for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018:
(dollars in thousands) |  | 2019 |  | 2018
Balance, at beginning of the period |  | $ | (311 | ) |  | $ | (2,941 | )
Unrealized (loss) gain on purchased power contracts |  | (2,860 | ) |  | 2,630 |
Balance, at end of the period |  | $ | (3,171 | ) |  | $ | (311 | )

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- Definition The entire disclosure for derivative instruments and hedging activities including, but not limited to, risk management strategies, non-hedging derivative instruments, assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, and methodologies and assumptions used in determining the amounts. + References Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 815 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2229140 + Details
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