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Employee Benefit Plans
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2021
Retirement Benefits [Abstract]  
Employee Benefit Plans Employee Benefit Plans
The components of net periodic benefit costs for Registrant’s pension plan, postretirement medical benefit plan, and SERP for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020 were as follows:
For The Three Months Ended March 31,
 Pension BenefitsOther
Postretirement
Benefits		SERP
(dollars in thousands)202120202021202020212020
Components of Net Periodic Benefits Cost:      
Service cost$1,625 $1,408 $40 $47 $348 $244 
Interest cost1,712 1,954 31 56 229 247 
Expected return on plan assets(3,134)(2,950)(134)(127)— — 
Amortization of prior service cost 109 109 — — — — 
Amortization of actuarial (gain) loss993 442 (287)(199)419 211 
Net periodic benefits costs under accounting standards1,305 963 (350)(223)996 702 
Regulatory adjustment - deferred(351)(93)— — — — 
Total expense (benefit) recognized, before surcharges and allocation to overhead pool$954 $870 $(350)$(223)$996 $702 
For the pension plan obligation, Registrant used a discount rate of 2.55% as of December 31, 2020 to determine the projected benefit obligation (“PBO”) of $272.8 million. Discount rates as of March 31, 2021 are approximately 65-basis points higher than those used as of December 31, 2020 based on recent changes in market interest-rate conditions. A 65-basis point increase in the assumed discount rate would have decreased the PBO as of December 31, 2020 by approximately 10% or $27.3 million. In 2021, Registrant expects to contribute approximately $3.6 million to its pension plan.
As authorized by the CPUC in the water and electric general rate case decisions, GSWC and BVESI each utilize two-way balancing accounts to track differences between the forecasted annual pension expenses in rates, or expected to be in rates, and the actual annual expense recorded in accordance with the accounting guidance for pension costs.  During the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, GSWC's actual pension expense was higher than the amounts included in water customer rates by $351,000 and $93,000, respectively. BVESI's actual expense was lower than the amounts included in electric customer rates for all periods presented. As of March 31, 2021, GSWC and BVESI had over-collections in their two-way pension balancing accounts of $665,000 and $256,000, respectively, included as part of regulatory assets and liabilities (Note 3).