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Long-Term Debt, Credit Arrangements, Leases And Guarantees | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2011
Long-Term Debt, Credit Arrangements, Leases And Guarantees [Abstract] |
Long-Term Debt, Credit Arrangements, Leases And Guarantees | Note 3: Long-Term Debt, Credit Arrangements, Leases and Guarantees The Company funds a portion of its operations through the issuance of long-term debt and through short-term borrowings under its revolving credit facility. The Company's subsidiaries conduct a portion of their operations in leased facilities and also lease some of their machinery, vehicles and office equipment. Details regarding long-term debt, short-term debt and leases follow: Long-Term Debt and Interest Expense Long-Term Debt Structure and Covenants—The agreements under which the long-term debt of Unitil and its utility subsidiaries, Unitil Energy, Fitchburg, Northern Utilities, and Granite State, were issued contain various covenants and restrictions. These agreements do not contain any covenants or restrictions pertaining to the maintenance of financial ratios or the issuance of short-term debt. These agreements do contain covenants relating to, among other things, the issuance of additional long-term debt, cross-default provisions and business combinations, as described below. The long-term debt of Unitil is issued under Unsecured Promissory Notes with negative pledge provisions. The long-term debt's negative pledge provisions contain restrictions which, among other things, limit the incursion of additional long-term debt. Accordingly, in order for Unitil to issue new long-term debt, the covenants of the existing long-term agreement(s) must be satisfied, including that Unitil have total funded indebtedness less than 70% of total capitalization, and earnings available for interest equal to at least two times the interest charges for funded indebtedness. Each future senior long-term debt issuance of Unitil will rank pari passu with all other senior unsecured long-term debt issuances. The Unitil agreement requires that if Unitil defaults on any other future long-term debt agreement(s), it would constitute a default under its present long-term debt agreement. Furthermore, the default provisions are triggered by the defaults of Unitil Energy and Fitchburg or certain other actions against Unitil subsidiaries. Substantially all of the property of Unitil Energy is subject to liens of indenture under which First Mortgage Bonds (FMB) have been issued. In order to issue new FMB, the customary covenants of the existing Unitil Energy Indenture Agreement must be met, including that Unitil Energy have sufficient available net bondable plant to issue the securities and projected earnings available for interest charges equal to at least two times the annual interest requirement. The Unitil Energy agreements further require that if Unitil Energy defaults on any Unitil Energy FMB, it would constitute a default for all Unitil Energy FMB. The Unitil Energy default provisions are not triggered by the actions or defaults of Unitil or its other subsidiaries. All of the long-term debt of Fitchburg, Northern Utilities and Granite State are issued under Unsecured Promissory Notes with negative pledge provisions. Each issue of long-term debt ranks pari passu with its other senior unsecured long-term debt within that subsidiary. The long-term debt's negative pledge provisions contain restrictions which, among other things, limit the incursion of additional long-term debt. Accordingly, in order for Fitchburg, Northern Utilities or Granite State to issue new long-term debt, the covenants of the existing long-term agreements of that subsidiary must be satisfied, including that the subsidiary have total funded indebtedness less than 65% of total capitalization. Additionally, to issue new long-term debt, Fitchburg must maintain earnings available for interest equal to at least two times the interest charges for funded indebtedness. As with the Unitil Energy agreements, the Fitchburg, Northern Utilities and Granite State agreements each require that if that subsidiary defaults on any of its own long-term debt agreements, it would constitute a default under all of that subsidiary's long-term debt agreements. Each of the Fitchburg, Northern Utilities and Granite State default provisions are not triggered by the actions or defaults of Unitil or any of its other subsidiaries. The Unitil, Unitil Energy, Fitchburg, Northern Utilities and Granite State long-term debt instruments and agreements contain covenants restricting the ability of each company to incur liens and to enter into sale and leaseback transactions, and restricting the ability of each company to consolidate with, to merge with or into, or to sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of its assets. The Granite State notes are guaranteed by Unitil for the payment of principal, interest and other amounts payable. This guarantee will terminate if Granite State is reorganized and merges with and into Northern Utilities. At December 31, 2011, there were no restrictions on Unitil's Retained Earnings for the payment of common dividends. Unitil Energy, Fitchburg, Northern Utilities and Granite State pay dividends to their sole shareholder, Unitil Corporation, and these dividends are the primary source of cash for the payment of dividends to Unitil's common shareholders. Debt Repayment—The total aggregate amount of debt repayments relating to bond issues and normal scheduled long-term debt repayments amounted to $462,055, $426,643, and $393,946 in 2011, 2010, and 2009, respectively. The aggregate amount of bond repayment requirements and normal scheduled long-term debt repayments for each of the five years following 2011 is: 2012 – $500,405; 2013 – $541,938; 2014 – $2,486,919; 2015 – $4,035,633; and 2016 – $17,421,724, respectively. Long-Term Debt Issuances On March 2, 2010, both Unitil Energy and Northern Utilities closed long-term financings:
| (i) | Unitil Energy closed $15,000,000 of First Mortgage Bonds, through a private placement marketing process to institutional investors. The First Mortgage Bonds have a coupon rate of 5.24% and have a final maturity of ten years. Unitil Energy used the net proceeds from this long-term financing to repay short-term debt and for general corporate purposes.
| (ii) | Northern Utilities closed $25,000,000 of Senior Unsecured Notes, through a private placement marketing process to institutional investors. The Senior Unsecured Notes have a coupon rate of 5.29% and have a final maturity of ten years. Northern Utilities used the net proceeds from this long-term financing to repay short-term debt and for general corporate purposes.
Fair Value of Long-Term Debt—Currently, the Company believes that there is no active market in the Company's debt securities, which have all been sold through private placements. If there were an active market for the Company's debt securities, the fair value of the Company's long-term debt would be estimated based on the quoted market prices for the same or similar issues, or on the current rates offered to the Company for debt of the same remaining maturities. In estimating the fair value of the Company's long-term debt, the assumed market yield reflects the Moody's Baa Utility Bond Average Yield for December 2011. The carrying value of the Company's long-term debt at December 31, 2011 is $288.3 million. The fair value of the Company's long-term debt at December 31, 2011 is estimated to be approximately $338.7 million. Costs, including prepayment costs, associated with the early settlement of long-term debt are not taken into consideration in determining fair value. Details on long-term debt at December 31, 2011 and 2010 are shown below:
|  | December 31, |
Long-Term Debt (millions) |  | 2011 |  |  | 2010 |
Unitil Corporation Senior Notes: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
6.33% Notes, Due May 1, 2022 |  | $ | 20.0 |  |  | $ | 20.0 |
Unitil Energy First Mortgage Bonds: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
5.24% Series, Due March 2, 2020 |  |  | 15.0 |  |  |  | 15.0 |
8.49% Series, Due October 14, 2024 |  |  | 15.0 |  |  |  | 15.0 |
6.96% Series, Due September 1, 2028 |  |  | 20.0 |  |  |  | 20.0 |
8.00% Series, Due May 1, 2031 |  |  | 15.0 |  |  |  | 15.0 |
6.32% Series, Due September 15, 2036 |  |  | 15.0 |  |  |  | 15.0 |
Fitchburg Long-Term Notes: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
6.75% Notes, Due November 30, 2023 |  |  | 19.0 |  |  |  | 19.0 |
7.37% Notes, Due January 15, 2029 |  |  | 12.0 |  |  |  | 12.0 |
7.98% Notes, Due June 1, 2031 |  |  | 14.0 |  |  |  | 14.0 |
6.79% Notes, Due October 15, 2025 |  |  | 10.0 |  |  |  | 10.0 |
5.90% Notes, Due December 15, 2030 |  |  | 15.0 |  |  |  | 15.0 |
Northern Utilities Senior Notes: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
6.95% Senior Notes, Series A, Due December 3, 2018 |  |  | 30.0 |  |  |  | 30.0 |
5.29% Senior Notes, Due March 2, 2020 |  |  | 25.0 |  |  |  | 25.0 |
7.72% Senior Notes, Series B, Due December 3, 2038 |  |  | 50.0 |  |  |  | 50.0 |
Granite State Senior Notes: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
7.15% Senior Notes, Due December 15, 2018 |  |  | 10.0 |  |  |  | 10.0 |
Unitil Realty Corp. Senior Secured Notes: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
8.00% Notes, Due August 1, 2017 |  |  | 3.3 |  |  |  | 3.8 |
Total Long-Term Debt |  |  | 288.3 |  |  |  | 288.8 |
Less: Current Portion |  |  | 0.5 |  |  |  | 0.5 |
Total Long-Term Debt, Less Current Portion |  | $ | 287.8 |  |  | $ | 288.3 |
Interest Expense, net—Interest expense is presented in the financial statements net of interest income. Interest expense is mainly comprised of interest on long-term debt and short-term borrowings. In addition, certain reconciling rate mechanisms used by the Company's distribution operating utilities give rise to regulatory assets (and regulatory liabilities) on which interest is calculated. Unitil's utility subsidiaries operate a number of reconciling rate mechanisms to recover specifically identified costs on a pass through basis. These reconciling rate mechanisms track costs and revenue on a monthly basis. In any given month, this monthly tracking and reconciling process will produce either an under-collected or an over-collected balance of costs. In accordance with the distribution utilities' rate tariffs, interest is accrued on these balances and will produce either interest income or interest expense. Consistent with regulatory precedent, interest income is recorded on an under-collection of costs, which creates a regulatory asset to be recovered in future periods when rates are reset. Interest expense is recorded on an over-collection of costs, which creates a regulatory liability to be refunded in future periods when rates are reset. A summary of interest expense and interest income is provided in the following table:
Interest Expense, net (millions) |
|  | 2011 |  |  | 2010 |  |  | 2009 |
Interest Expense |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Long-term Debt |  | $ | 20.3 |  |  | $ | 20.0 |  |  | $ | 18.2 |
Short-term Debt |  |  | 1.7 |  |  |  | 1.7 |  |  |  | 2.1 |
Regulatory Liabilities |  |  | — |  |  |  | 0.3 |  |  |  | 0.3 |
Subtotal Interest Expense |  |  | 22.0 |  |  |  | 22.0 |  |  |  | 20.6 |
Interest Income |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Regulatory Assets |  |  | (1.1 | ) |  |  | (3.5 | ) |  |  | (3.6 | )
AFUDC(1) and Other |  |  | (0.5 | ) |  |  | (0.4 | ) |  |  | (1.2 | )
Subtotal Interest Income |  |  | (1.6 | ) |  |  | (3.9 | ) |  |  | (4.8 | )
Total Interest Expense, net |  | $ | 20.4 |  |  | $ | 18.1 |  |  | $ | 15.8 |
| (1) | AFUDC—Allowance for Funds Used During Construction
Credit Arrangements Unitil has a revolving credit facility with a group of banks that extends to October 8, 2013. The borrowing limit under the revolving credit facility was $115.0 million at December 31, 2011 and $80.0 million at December 31, 2010. There was $87.9 million and $66.8 million in short-term debt outstanding through bank borrowings under the revolving credit facility at December 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010, respectively. The total amount of credit available under the Company's revolving credit facility was $27.1 million and $13.2 million at December 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010, respectively. The revolving credit facility contains customary terms and conditions for credit facilities of this type, including, without limitation, covenants restricting the Company's ability to incur liens, merge or consolidate with another entity or change its line of business. The revolving credit agreement also contains a covenant restricting the Company's ability to permit funded debt to exceed 65% of capitalization at the end of each fiscal quarter. As of December 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010, the Company was in compliance with the financial covenants contained in the revolving credit agreement. On October 12, 2011, Unitil entered into the Fifth Amendment agreement with Bank of America, N.A., as administrative agent, and a syndicate of other lenders party thereto, further amending the revolving credit agreement dated as of November 26, 2008. The revolving credit agreement was previously amended on January 2, 2009, March 16, 2009, October 13, 2009 and October 8, 2010 to, among other things, increase the maximum borrowings under the facility, provide for a base rate interest rate option, reflect letter of credit availability, modify certain financial reporting requirements and extend the scheduled termination date of the facility. The Fifth Amendment agreement increased the maximum borrowings under the facility to $115 million, changed the additional interest margin applicable to borrowings at a fluctuating rate of interest per annum equal to the daily London Interbank Offered Rate from 2.00% to 1.75%, and changed the annual letter of credit fee from 1.625% of the daily amount available to be drawn under letters of credit issued under the credit facility to 1.500% of such daily amount. The weighted average interest rates on all short-term borrowings were 2.2%, 2.3%, and 3.4% during 2011, 2010, and 2009, respectively. Northern Utilities enters into asset management agreements under which Northern Utilities releases certain natural gas pipeline and storage assets, resells the natural gas storage inventory to an asset manager and subsequently repurchases the inventory over the course of the natural gas heating season at the same price at which it sold the natural gas inventory to the asset manager. There was $14.9 million and $11.7 million outstanding at December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively, related to these asset management agreements. The amount of natural gas inventory released in December 2011, which was payable in January 2012, is $2.5 million and recorded in Accounts Payable at December 31, 2011. The amount of natural gas inventory released in December 2010, which was payable in January 2011, is $3.9 million and recorded in Accounts Payable at December 31, 2010. Leases Unitil's subsidiaries conduct a portion of their operations in leased facilities and also lease some of their vehicles, machinery and office equipment under both capital and operating lease arrangements. Total rental expense under operating leases charged to operations for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009 amounted to $1.4 million, $1.0 million and $1.0 million respectively. Fitchburg leases its operations facility in Fitchburg, Massachusetts under an operating lease, with a primary term through January 31, 2013. The lease agreement allows for three additional five-year renewal periods at the option of Fitchburg. The following is a schedule of future operating lease payment obligations and future minimum lease payments under capital leases as of December 31, 2011:
Year Ending December 31, (000's) |  | Operating Leases |  |  | Capital Leases |
2012 |  | $ | 1,187 |  |  | $ | 829 |
2013 |  |  | 822 |  |  |  | 513 |
2014 |  |  | 584 |  |  |  | 161 |
2015 |  |  | 474 |  |  |  | 28 |
2016 |  |  | 240 |  |  |  | 9 |
2017 – 2021 |  |  | 178 |  |  |  | — |
Total Payments |  | $ | 3,485 |  |  | $ | 1,540 |
Guarantees The Company provides limited guarantees on certain energy and natural gas storage management contracts entered into by the distribution utilities. The Company's policy is to limit the duration of these guarantees. As of December 31, 2011, there were approximately $37.2 million of guarantees outstanding and the longest term guarantee extends through February 2014. The Company also guarantees the payment of principal, interest and other amounts payable on the notes issued by Unitil Realty and Granite State. As of December 31, 2011, the principal amount outstanding for the 8% Unitil Realty notes was $3.3 million, and the principal amount outstanding for the 7.15% Granite State notes was $10.0 million.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for information about short-term and long-term debt arrangements, which includes amounts of borrowings under each line of credit, note payable, commercial paper issue, bonds indenture, debenture issue, own-share lending arrangements and any other contractual agreement to repay funds, and about the underlying arrangements, rationale for a classification as long-term, including repayment terms, interest rates, collateral provided, restrictions on use of assets and activities, whether or not in compliance with debt covenants, and other matters important to users of the financial statements, such as the effects of refinancing and noncompliance with debt covenants. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 210 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.19,20,22) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 129 -Paragraph 2, 4 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 02 -Paragraph 19, 20, 22 -Article 5 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 505 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21475-112644 + Details
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