Cost of Natural Gas - The Company charges its customers for natural gas consumed using a natural gas cost recovery mechanism set by the FPSC, under which all prudently incurred natural gas costs are passed through to customers without markup, subject to regulatory review. The Company defers or accrues the difference between the actual cost of natural gas and the amount of commodity revenue earned in a given period such that no operating income is recognized related to these costs. The deferred or accrued amount is either billed or refunded to customers prospectively through adjustments to the commodity rate. Deferred and accrued natural gas costs are included in the balance sheets as regulatory assets and regulatory liabilities, respectively.
Income and Other Taxes - The Company uses the liability method of accounting for deferred income taxes and provides deferred income taxes for all income tax temporary differences. Taxes that are collected from customers on behalf of governmental agencies to be remitted to these agencies are presented on the balance sheet.
The Company recognizes tax positions that are “more likely than not” of being sustained upon examination by the appropriate taxing authorities. See Note 9 - Unrecognized Tax Benefits for additional information.
Receivables and Provision for Uncollectible Accounts - The Company’s receivables consist primarily of natural gas sales and transportation services billed to residential, commercial, industrial, and other customers. Customers are billed monthly and payment is due within 30 days. For the majority of receivables, a provision for uncollectible accounts is established based on historical collection experience and other factors. For the remaining receivables, if the Company is aware of a specific customer’s inability to pay, a provision for uncollectible accounts is recorded to reduce the receivable balance to the amount the Company reasonably expects to collect. If circumstances change, the estimate of the recoverability of accounts receivable could change as well. Circumstances that could affect this estimate include, but are not limited to, customer credit issues, customer deposits, and general economic conditions. Customers’ accounts are written off once they are deemed to be uncollectible.
The Company applies the current expected credit loss (CECL) model, to account for credit Losses for certain financial assets, including customer receivables. The CECL model requires an entity to consider current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts in addition to historical information when developing an allowance for credit losses. The Company books the estimate of lifetime credit losses in the month revenue is recognized or in the month losses on previously recognized revenues are identified. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company has a provision for uncollectible customer accounts of approximately $0.6 million and $0.8 million, respectively.
Materials and Supplies - Generally, materials and supplies are charged to inventory when purchased and then expensed or capitalized to plant, as appropriate, at weighted average cost when installed.
Natural Gas for Sale - The Company’s natural gas inventories are carried at cost on a weighted average cost of gas basis.
Internal-Use Software - The Company defers qualifying implementation costs incurred to develop or obtain internal use software associated with cloud computing and hosting arrangements. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company has recognized approximately $4.8 million and $5.1 million, respectively, in Deferred software implementation costs. The costs are included in depreciation and amortization over the 20-year term of the arrangement. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company has approximately $0.7 million and $0.7 million, respectively, of current Prepaid expenses, and $9.8 million and $10.1 million, respectively, of Prepaid software service costs relating to perpetual licensing fees which is being amortized to Other operations and maintenance expenses over the 20 year life of the arrangement.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments - The carrying amount of financial instruments, including receivables, accounts payable, due to affiliates, other current assets and liabilities and accrued interest, approximates fair value due to the short maturity of these instruments.
Base Rates
In March 2018, the FPSC issued an order approving a stipulation and settlement between the Company and several intervenors in the Company’s base rate proceeding that, after including the impact of the tax reform legislation, approved an $11.5 million increase in annual base rate revenues, effective June 1, 2018. The stipulation and settlement also approved the Company to recover the construction costs related to a liquefied natural gas storage facility through an increase in rates to become effective when the facility is placed in service. The storage facility will improve reliability and capacity at the southern section of the Company’s system. Under the terms of the settlement, the Company’s allowed regulatory ROE was 10.19%, with a range of 9.19% to 11.19%. However, if the Company’s earned regulatory ROE falls below 9.19%, the Company could seek retail rate relief. If the earned regulatory ROE rises above 11.19%, any party withstanding, other than the Company, could seek a review of the Company’s retail base rates. The Company agreed not to file a new base rate case with an effective date prior to June 1, 2022.
On May 31, 2022, the Company filed a general base rate increase with the FPSC (2022 base rate case) based on a projected 2023 Test Year. On June 9, 2023, the FPSC issued an order approving a single total base revenue increase of $23.3 million (which
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