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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies: (Policies) | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2022
Accounting Policies [Abstract] |
Nature of Operation and Basis of Presentation | Nature of Operations: American States Water Company (“AWR”) is the parent company of Golden State Water Company (“GSWC”), Bear Valley Electric Service, Inc. ("BVESI"), and American States Utility Services, Inc. (“ASUS”) (and its wholly owned subsidiaries: Fort Bliss Water Services Company (“FBWS”), Terrapin Utility Services, Inc. (“TUS”), Old Dominion Utility Services, Inc. (“ODUS”), Palmetto State Utility Services, Inc. (“PSUS”), Old North Utility Services, Inc. (“ONUS”), Emerald Coast Utility Services, Inc. ("ECUS"), and Fort Riley Utility Services, Inc. ("FRUS")). The subsidiaries of ASUS are collectively referred to as the “Military Utility Privatization Subsidiaries”. AWR, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, serves over one million people in nine states. GSWC and BVESI are both California public utilities. GSWC is engaged in the purchase, production, distribution and sale of water throughout California serving approximately 262,900 customer connections. BVESI distributes electricity in several San Bernardino County mountain communities in California serving approximately 24,700 customer connections. The California Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”) regulates GSWC’s and BVESI's businesses in matters including properties, rates, services, facilities, and transactions between GSWC, BVESI, and their affiliates. ASUS, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, operates, maintains and performs construction activities (including renewal and replacement capital work) on water and/or wastewater systems at various U.S. military bases pursuant to initial 50-year firm fixed-price contracts. These contracts are subject to annual economic price adjustments and modifications for changes in circumstances, changes in laws and regulations, and additions to the contract value for new construction of facilities at the military bases. There is no direct regulatory oversight by the CPUC over AWR or the operations, rates or services provided by ASUS or any of its wholly owned subsidiaries. Basis of Presentation: The consolidated financial statements and notes thereto are presented in a combined report filed by two separate Registrants: AWR and GSWC. References in this report to “Registrant” are to AWR and GSWC, collectively, unless otherwise specified. AWR owns all of the outstanding common shares of GSWC, BVESI and ASUS. ASUS owns all of the outstanding common stock of the Military Utility Privatization Subsidiaries. The consolidated financial statements of AWR include the accounts of AWR and its subsidiaries. These financial statements are prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"). Intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in the AWR consolidated financial statements. The consolidated financial statements included herein have been prepared by Registrant, without audit, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The December 31, 2021 condensed consolidated balance sheet data was derived from audited financial statements but does not include all disclosures required by GAAP. The preparation of the consolidated financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities, at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from these estimates. In the opinion of management, all adjustments consisting of normal, recurring items, and estimates necessary for a fair statement of the results for the interim periods have been made. It is suggested that these consolidated financial statements be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 filed with the SEC.
Related Party Transactions and Financing Activities | Related Party Transactions and Financing Activities: GSWC, BVESI and ASUS provide and/or receive various support services to and from their parent, AWR, and among themselves. GSWC has allocated certain corporate office administrative and general costs to its affiliates, BVESI and ASUS, using allocation factors approved by the CPUC. GSWC allocated corporate office administrative and general costs to BVESI of approximately $794,000 and $799,000 during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. GSWC allocated corporate office administrative and general costs to ASUS of approximately $1.6 million and $1.5 million during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. AWR borrows under a credit facility and provides funds to GSWC and ASUS in support of their operations. On April 22, 2022, the credit facility was amended to increase the borrowing capacity from $200.0 million to $280.0 million. The amendment also changed the benchmark interest rate from the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR"). This credit agreement expires in May 2023. Registrant does not believe the change in benchmark rates will have a material impact on its financing costs. The interest rate charged to GSWC and ASUS is sufficient to cover AWR’s interest expense under the credit facility. As of March 31, 2022, there was $189.5 million outstanding under this facility. Registrant expects to issue long-term debt through GSWC prior to May 2023, and use the debt proceeds to pay off borrowings under this facility. BVESI has a separate $35 million revolving credit facility, which was amended in December 2021 to reduce the interest rate and fees charged, as well as to extend the maturity date by a year to July 1, 2024. As of March 31, 2022, there was $32.0 million outstanding under this facility. Under the terms of the credit agreement, BVESI has the option to increase the facility by an additional $15 million, subject to lender approval. Interest rates under this facility are generally based on LIBOR. Under the terms of the December 2021 amendment, upon discontinuation of a benchmark rate such as LIBOR, the lender may replace LIBOR with a benchmark rate replacement such as SOFR. Registrant does not believe the change from LIBOR to a new benchmark rate will have a material impact on its financing costs. Registrant does not have any other borrowings or debt indexed to LIBOR. GSWC’s intercompany borrowing agreement with AWR and BVESI’s revolving credit facility are considered short-term debt arrangements by the CPUC. Both GSWC and BVESI have been authorized by the CPUC to borrow under these arrangements for a term of up to 24 months. Borrowings under these arrangements are, therefore, required to be fully paid off within a 24-month period. GSWC’s next pay-off period for its intercompany borrowings from AWR ends in May 2023, and BVESI’s pay-off period for its credit facility ends in July 2022. Accordingly, as of March 31, 2022, the $32.0 million outstanding under BVESI's credit facility has been classified as a current liability in AWR's Consolidated Balance Sheet. On April 28, 2022, BVESI completed the issuance of $35 million in unsecured private placement notes consisting of $17.5 million at a coupon rate of 4.548% due April 28, 2032, and $17.5 million at a coupon rate of 4.949% due April 28, 2037. The covenant requirements under these notes are similar to the terms of BVESI's revolving credit facility. BVESI used the proceeds to pay down amounts outstanding under its credit facility, thus complying with the CPUC's 24-month rule.
COVID-19 Impact | COVID-19 Impact: GSWC, BVESI and ASUS have continued their operations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic given that their water, wastewater and electric utility services are deemed essential. The Company continues to monitor the guidance provided by federal, state, and local health authorities and other government officials. Due to falling transmission rates in California and other variables, employees have begun returning to company offices. The CPUC has authorized GSWC and BVESI to track incremental costs, including bad debt expense, in excess of what is included in their respective revenue requirements incurred as a result of the pandemic in COVID-19-related memorandum accounts, such as a Catastrophic Event Memorandum Account ("CEMA"), which is to be filed with the CPUC for future recovery. As of March 31, 2022, GSWC and BVESI had approximately $4.5 million and $576,000, respectively, in regulatory asset accounts related to bad debt expense in excess of their revenue requirements, the purchase of personal protective equipment, additional incurred printing costs, and other incremental COVID-19-related costs. CEMA and other emergency-type memorandum accounts are well-established cost recovery mechanisms authorized as a result of a state/federal declared emergency, and are therefore recognized as regulatory assets for future recovery. As a result, the amounts recorded in the COVID-19-related memorandum accounts have not impacted GSWC's or BVESI's earnings. Thus far, the COVID-19 pandemic has not had a material impact on ASUS's current operations. GSWC and BVESI continue to experience delinquent customer accounts receivable due to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in both GSWC and BVESI increasing their allowances for doubtful accounts during the three months ended March 31, 2022. However, the CPUC's moratoriums on service disconnections for nonpayment for water and electric customers have ended, and service disconnections due to nonpayment for commercial customers have resumed. In accordance with Senate Bill 998 guidelines, service disconnections due to nonpayment for residential customers are set to resume in May 2022. Furthermore, in January 2022, GSWC received $9.5 million in COVID relief funds through the California Water and Wastewater Arrearage Payment Program to provide assistance to customers for their water debt accrued during the COVID-19 pandemic by remitting federal funds that the state received from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to the utility on behalf of eligible customers. GSWC applied these funds to its delinquent customers' eligible balances. In February 2022, BVESI received $321,000 from the state of California for similar customer relief funding for unpaid electric customer bills incurred during the pandemic. The CPUC requires that amounts tracked in GSWC's and BVESI's COVID-19 memorandum accounts for unpaid customer bills be first offset by any (i) federal and state relief for water or electric utility bill debt, and (ii) customer payments through payment plan arrangements, prior to receiving recovery from customers at large. After these offsets are made, GSWC will file with the CPUC for recovery of the remaining balance. BVESI intends to include the remaining balance in its COVID-19 memorandum account for recovery in its next general rate case application expected to be filed in June 2022.
Accounting Pronouncements to Be Adopted in 2022 | Accounting Pronouncements to Be Adopted in 2022: In November 2021, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2021-10 Government Assistance (Topic 832): Disclosures by Business Entities about Government Assistance. The amendments in this Update require disclosures about transactions with a government such as government grants or assistance. The amendments in this Update are effective for all entities within their scope for financial statements issued for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2021. Registrant does not expect this guidance to have a material impact on Registrant's financial statement disclosures.

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