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Regulatory Matters | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2025
Regulated Operations [Abstract] |
Regulatory Matters | Regulatory Matters In accordance with accounting principles for rate-regulated enterprises, GSWC and BVES record regulatory assets, which represent probable future recovery of incurred costs from customers through the ratemaking process, and regulatory liabilities, which represent probable future refunds that are to be credited to customers through the ratemaking process. At March 31, 2025, GSWC and BVES had $59.6 million of net regulatory assets on the balance sheets, which included $153.6 million of regulatory assets net of $94.0 million of regulatory liabilities. As authorized by the CPUC, the majority of the regulatory assets and liabilities accrue interest at the current 90-day commercial-paper rate. There are approximately $31.8 million of regulatory assets not accruing a carrying cost, which included $15.7 million related to flowed-through deferred income taxes including the gross-up portion on the deferred tax resulting from the excess deferred income tax regulatory liability, and $13.1 million related to memorandum accounts authorized by the CPUC to track unrealized gains and losses on BVES’s purchase power contracts over the term of the contracts. The remaining $3.0 million relates to other regulatory assets that do not provide for a carrying cost. Furthermore, there are $90.8 million of regulatory liabilities not incurring interest that consisted of $67.5 million related to excess deferred income taxes arising from the lower federal income tax rate under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted in December 2017 that are being refunded to customers, and $23.3 million related to the net over funded position in Registrant’s pension and other retirement obligations (not including the two-way pension balancing accounts, which accrues interest). Regulatory assets represent costs incurred by GSWC and/or BVES for which they have received or expect to receive rate recovery in the future. In determining the probability of costs being recognized in other periods, GSWC and BVES consider regulatory rules and decisions, past practices, and other facts or circumstances that would indicate if recovery is probable. If the CPUC determines that a portion of either GSWC’s or BVES’s regulatory assets are not recoverable in customer rates, the applicable utility must determine if it has suffered an asset impairment that requires it to write down the asset’s value. Regulatory assets are offset against regulatory liabilities within each ratemaking area. Amounts expected to be collected or refunded in the next twelve months have been classified as current assets and current liabilities by ratemaking area. Regulatory assets, less regulatory liabilities, included in the consolidated balance sheets are as follows:
(dollars in thousands) |  | March 31, 2025 |  | December 31, 2024
GSWC |  |  |  |
2025 general rate case memorandum account (unbilled revenue) |  | $ | 4,416 |  |  | $ | — |
2022/2023 general rate case memorandum accounts (unbilled revenue) |  | 34,494 |  |  | 37,711 |
Water revenue adjustment mechanism, net of modified cost balancing account |  | 23,421 |  |  | 29,738 |
Asset retirement obligations |  | 7,660 |  |  | 7,501 |
Flowed-through deferred income taxes, net |  | 13,909 |  |  | 12,506 |
Low income rate assistance balancing accounts |  | 9,835 |  |  | 8,834 |
Other regulatory assets |  | 12,138 |  |  | 11,352 |
Excess deferred income taxes |  | (63,610) |  |  | (63,682) |
Pensions and other post-retirement obligations |  | (24,115) |  |  | (25,179) |
Other regulatory liabilities |  | (927) |  |  | (608) |
Total GSWC |  | $ | 17,221 |  |  | $ | 18,173 |
BVES |  |  |  |
Derivative instrument memorandum account (Note 5) |  | $ | 13,094 |  |  | $ | 8,823 |
2023/2024 general rate case memorandum accounts (unbilled revenue) |  | 10,036 |  |  | 9,777 |
Wildfire mitigation and other fire prevention related costs memorandum accounts |  | 14,755 |  |  | 14,681 |
Other regulatory assets |  | 9,890 |  |  | 8,853 |
Other regulatory liabilities |  | (5,404) |  |  | (5,628) |
Total BVES |  | $ | 42,371 |  |  | $ | 36,506 |
Total AWR |  | $ | 59,592 |  |  | $ | 54,679 |
Regulatory matters are discussed in the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 filed with the SEC. The discussion below focuses on significant matters and developments since December 31, 2024. 2025 General Rate Case Memorandum Account: On August 14, 2023, GSWC filed a general rate case application for all of its water regions and the general office. On January 30, 2025, the CPUC issued a final decision in connection with GSWC’s general rate case that adopted a settlement agreement between GSWC and Cal Advocates and set new rates for 2025 – 2027. GSWC continued to bill its customers based on the existing adopted 2024 rates until the new 2025 rates were approved and implemented effective February 1, 2025. GSWC had filed with the CPUC to establish a memorandum account to track interim rates, which made the new 2025 rates retroactive to January 1, 2025. As of March 31, 2025, there is an aggregate cumulative balance of $4.4 million under-collection recorded as a regulatory asset for retroactive water revenues. On April 14, 2025, GSWC filed an advice letter to recover the cumulative retroactive amounts related to January 2025 with a 12-month surcharge effective May 1, 2025. 2022/2023 General Rate Case Memorandum Accounts: In June 2023, the CPUC adopted a final decision in GSWC’s general rate case application for all its water regions and its general office that determined new water rates for the years 2022–2024, with new rates retroactive to January 1, 2022. Upon receiving the final decision, GSWC filed for the implementation of 2023 rate increases that went into effect on July 31, 2023. Due to the delay in finalizing the water general rate case, water revenues billed to customers for the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the period from January 1, 2023 to July 30, 2023 were based on 2021 adopted rates. G SWC was authorized to create general rate case memorandum accounts to track the revenue differences between the 2021 adopted rates and the 2022 and 2023 rates authorized by the CPUC for future recovery. In October 2023, surcharges were implemented to recover the cumulative retroactive rate differences over 36 months. As of March 31, 2025, there is an aggregate cumulative amount of $34.5 million under-collection in the general rate case memorandum account that GSWC has recorded as a regulatory asset for retroactive water revenues. Alternative-Revenue Programs: Since 2008 and through December 31, 2024, GSWC recorded the difference between what it bills its water customers and that which is authorized by the CPUC using the Water Revenue Adjustment Mechanism (“WRAM”) and the Modified Cost Balancing Account (“MCBA”) approved by the CPUC. The over- or under-collection of the WRAM is aggregated with the MCBA over- or under-collection for the corresponding ratemaking area and bears interest at the current 90-day commercial-paper rate. As of March 31, 2025, GSWC had an aggregated net regulatory asset of $23.4 million, which is comprised of a $22.6 million under-collection in the WRAM accounts and a $0.8 million under-collection in the MCBA accounts, both related to pre-2025 revenue and supply cost activity. On March 31, 2025, GSWC filed an advice letter to recover all pre-2025 WRAM/MCBA balances. The surcharges filed were made effective May 1, 2025, with the majority of the balances to be recovered within 18 months. The CPUC’s final decision in connection with the most recent GRC rejected GSWC’s request for the continuation of the WRAM and MCBA, and instead orders GSWC to transition to a modified rate adjustment mechanism (a Monterey-style WRAM or “M-WRAM”) and an incremental cost balancing account (“ICBA”) for supply costs. The new M-WRAM tracks the difference between the revenue based on actual metered sales through a tiered volumetric rate and the revenue that would have been received with the same actual metered sales if a standard quantity rate had been in effect. The new ICBA for supply costs tracks differences between the CPUC-authorized per-unit prices of water production costs and actual per-unit prices of water production costs. Both the M-WRAM and the ICBA were effective January 1, 2025. During the three months ended March 31, 2025, the balances recorded in the new M-WRAM and ICBA were not material. As required by the accounting guidance for alternative revenue programs, GSWC is required to collect its WRAM and M-WRAM balances within 24 months following the year in which an under-collection is recorded. As of March 31, 2025, there were no significant WRAM or M-WRAM under-collections that were estimated to be collected over more than a 24 month period. BVES Regulatory Assets: On January 16, 2025, the CPUC adopted a final decision that, among other things, set the new rates for the years 2023 – 2026 and adopted a settlement agreement in its entirety. BVES was authorized by the CPUC to establish a general rate case memorandum account that made the new rates retroactive to January 1, 2023 with new 2025 rates implemented effective March 1, 2025. Because of the delay in finalizing the electric general rate case, billed electric revenues for the years of 2023, 2024 and through February 2025, were based on 2022 adopted rates. The general rate case memorandum account tracks the revenue differences between the 2022 adopted rates and the 2023 and 2024 rates authorized by the CPUC for future recovery. As of March 31, 2025, the aggregate cumulative under-collection in retroactive revenues related to the full year of 2023 and 2024 amounted to $10.0 million. On February 28, 2025, BVES filed an advice letter to recover the cumulative retroactive amounts related to 2023 and 2024 through a surcharge to be collected over a 36-month period. The surcharge was implemented and made effective on April 1, 2025. Furthermore, the impact of the new rates related to the months of January and February 2025 have been added to the Base Revenue Requirement Adjustment Mechanism balancing account for future recovery. Among other things, the settlement agreement adopted in the final decision also approved for recovery the requested capital expenditures and other incremental operating costs already incurred prior to 2023 in connection with BVES’s wildfire mitigation plans (“WMP”s) that were not included in customer rates prior to receiving a CPUC final decision on its recent general rate case. The decision approved BVES’s recovery of incremental vegetation management costs and other wildfire mitigation and prevention costs incurred prior to 2023 that were being tracked in memorandum accounts for future recovery and were recorded as regulatory assets. As of March 31, 2025, BVES had a total of approximately $14.8 million in regulatory assets related to these memorandum accounts. During the first quarter of 2025, BVES filed advice letters to recover all pre-2023 costs included in the vegetation management and other WMP memorandum accounts, which will be recovered over a period of 24 to 36 months through surcharges that were implemented on March 1, 2025 and April 1, 2025. Other Regulatory Assets: Other regulatory assets represent costs incurred by GSWC or BVES for which they have received or expect to receive rate recovery in the future. Registrant believes that these regulatory assets are supported by regulatory rules and decisions, past practices, and other facts or circumstances that indicate recovery is probable. If the CPUC determines that a portion of either GSWC’s or BVES’s assets are not recoverable in customer rates, the applicable entity must determine if it has suffered an asset impairment that requires it to write down the regulatory asset to the amount that is probable of recovery.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for detailed information about regulatory assets and liabilities, including current and noncurrent assets created when regulatory agencies permit the deferral of costs to the balance sheet that would otherwise be required to appear on the company's income statement and would be charged against current expenses or revenues, as well as current and noncurrent liabilities created when regulatory agencies permit. + References No definition available. + Details
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