<SEC-DOCUMENT>0000914317-13-000805.txt : 20130730
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<ACCEPTANCE-DATETIME>20130612125439
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ACCESSION NUMBER:		0000914317-13-000805
CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE:	CORRESP
PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT:		1
FILED AS OF DATE:		20130612

FILER:

	COMPANY DATA:	
		COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:			MIDDLESEX WATER CO
		CENTRAL INDEX KEY:			0000066004
		STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION:	WATER SUPPLY [4941]
		IRS NUMBER:				221114430
		STATE OF INCORPORATION:			NJ
		FISCAL YEAR END:			1231

	FILING VALUES:
		FORM TYPE:		CORRESP

	BUSINESS ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		1500 RONSON RD
		STREET 2:		P O BOX 1500
		CITY:			ISELIN
		STATE:			NJ
		ZIP:			08830
		BUSINESS PHONE:		7326341500

	MAIL ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		1500 RONON ROAD
		CITY:			ISELIN
		STATE:			NJ
		ZIP:			08830
</SEC-HEADER>
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<TYPE>CORRESP
<SEQUENCE>1
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<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0; text-align: right">June 12, 2013</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">By Email</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">Mr. William H. Thompson</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">Accounting Branch Chief</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">United States Securities and Exchange Commission</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">Washington, DC 20549</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">&nbsp;</P>

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<TD STYLE="width: 0"></TD><TD STYLE="width: 0.5in"><B>Re:</B></TD><TD><B>Middlesex Water Company</B><BR>
<B>Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2012 (the &ldquo;Form 10-K&rdquo;)</B><BR>
<B>Filed March 7, 2013</B><BR>
<BR>
<B>File No. 0-00422</B></TD></TR></TABLE>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">Dear Mr. Thompson:</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0; text-align: justify">This letter responds to your comment letter
dated May 30, 2013 and provides supplemental information with respect thereto.</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0; text-align: justify">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0; text-align: justify"><U>Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December
31, 2012</U></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0; text-align: justify">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0; text-align: justify">Fair Value of Financial Instruments, page 50</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0; text-align: justify">&nbsp;</P>

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<TD STYLE="width: 0.5in"></TD><TD STYLE="width: 0.25in">1.</TD><TD STYLE="text-align: justify">We reviewed your response to comment three in our letter dated May 14, 2013. Please tell why you
cannot use a present value technique to estimate the fair value of the other long term debt. Please refer to the application guidance
in ASC 820-10-55-4 through 20.</TD></TR></TABLE>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0; text-align: justify">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0 0 0 0.75in; text-align: justify"><B>Response: </B>The Other Long
Term Debt referred to above is debt of non-public subsidiaries (the &ldquo;Subsidiaries&rdquo;) of Middlesex Water Company (the
&ldquo;Company&rdquo;). The Subsidiaries are not rated nor is the issued debt rated by any corporate rating agency, and as such,
it would be difficult to determine interest rates on comparable debt to use in a present value technique.</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0 0 0 0.75in; text-align: justify">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0 0 0 0.75in; text-align: justify">Accounting Standards Codification
(&ldquo;ASC&rdquo;) 820, <I>Fair Value Measurements</I>, defines fair value as &ldquo;the price that would be received to sell
an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date&rdquo;,
the disclosure of which is to provide meaningful analysis to investors or potential investors when analyzing a company&rsquo;s
performance or future perfomance. As regulated utilities, the Subsidiaries follow the guidance in ASC 980, <I>Regulated Operations</I>,
which requires any gain or loss associated with a long-term debt transaction to be flowed through to regulated public water utility
customers of the Subsidiaries and as such would not be realized by the Company shareholders or potential shareholders as a gain
or loss directly in the income statement.</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0 0 0 0.75in; text-align: justify"><B>&nbsp;</B></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0 0 0 0.75in; text-align: justify">Given that 1) the Subsidiaries that
issued the debt are not rated nor is the issued debt rated and thus interest rates for comparable debt are not readily determinable;
2) the Subsidiaries that issued the debt are regulated public water utilities and flow through any gain or loss on the disposition
of long-term debt to customers and not Company shareholders or potential shareholders; and 3) there is no quoted market price or
an active market for these series of long-term debt, the Company believes the level of effort to develop a fair value for these
financial instruments would not translate into beneficial information for investors or potential investors when analyzing the performance
of the Company.</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0 0 0 0.75in; text-align: justify">&nbsp;</P>

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<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0 0 0 0.75in; text-align: justify"></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">Mr. William H. Thompson</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">June 12, 2013</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">Page 2</P>



<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0 0 0 0.75in; text-align: justify"></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0 0 0 0.75in; text-align: justify">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0 0 0 0.75in; text-align: justify"></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0 0 0 0.75in; text-align: justify">As described in our May 24, 2013
response letter, the Company proposes to expand on its disclosure for these series of long-term debt as follows (changes are in
<B>bold</B>):</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0 0 0 0.75in; text-align: justify">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0 0 0 0.75in; text-align: justify"><I>For other long-term debt for
which there was no quoted market price and <B>there is not an active trading market</B>, it was not practicable to estimate their
fair value <B>(for details, including carrying value, interest rate and due date on these series of long-term debt, please refer
to those series noted as &ldquo;Amortizing Secured Note&rdquo; and &ldquo;State Revolving Trust Note&rdquo; on the Consolidated
Statements of Capital Stock and Long-Term Debt)</B>. </I></P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0; text-align: justify">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">If there are further questions or if any clarification of the above
responses is needed, please feel free to contact the undersigned.</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">&nbsp;</P>

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    <TD STYLE="width: 50%; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">&nbsp;</TD>
    <TD STYLE="width: 50%; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">Sincerely,</TD></TR>
<TR STYLE="vertical-align: top; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">
    <TD STYLE="padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">&nbsp;</TD>
    <TD STYLE="padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">&nbsp;</TD></TR>
<TR STYLE="vertical-align: top; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">
    <TD STYLE="padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">&nbsp;</TD>
    <TD STYLE="padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">&nbsp;</TD></TR>
<TR STYLE="vertical-align: top; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">
    <TD STYLE="padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">&nbsp;</TD>
    <TD STYLE="padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">&nbsp;</TD></TR>
<TR STYLE="vertical-align: top; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">
    <TD STYLE="padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">&nbsp;</TD>
    <TD STYLE="padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">/s/ A. Bruce O&rsquo;Connor</TD></TR>
<TR STYLE="vertical-align: top; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">
    <TD STYLE="padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">&nbsp;</TD>
    <TD STYLE="padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-left: 5.4pt; font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">Vice President and Chief Financial Officer</TD></TR>
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<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">&nbsp;</P>

<P STYLE="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif; margin: 0">Cc: Mr. Anthony W. Watson</P>



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