Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Contingency

v2.4.1.9
Contingency
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Contingency
CONTINGENCY
The Company's, wholly owned subsidiary, MoGas, has a contingency arising from its certification proceeding before the FERC. As part of that proceeding, the FERC determined initial rates to be used by MoGas. The Missouri Public Service Commission ("MPSC") alleged that MoGas improperly included a purported acquisition premium associated with purchasing certain assets for the purpose of determining those rates. The FERC held that the issue did not need to be determined until MoGas filed its next rate case, which it was ordered to do within a certain period of time. The MPSC appealed that decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which reversed the FERC's decision and remanded the matter to the FERC on the limited issue of whether the premium was properly included in the initial rates. In the interim MoGas filed and settled the required rate case which noted that the outcome of the settlement could impact rates. The FERC continued to maintain that the purchase price of the assets could be included in the rate base. The MPSC petitioned the D.C Circuit for review of the FERC's orders. MoGas is an intervenor in that proceeding. On April 7, 2015, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling upholding the FERC's decision to allow MoGas to include the acquisition premium in their rate base for purposes of determining initial rates.

Management has analyzed the facts and circumstances surrounding this issue and believes it has meritorious defenses and that a loss is not reasonably possible and plans to vigorously defend these allegations. Additionally, pursuant to the terms of the MoGas Purchase Agreement, in the unlikely scenario that MoGas is required to pay damages as a result of the ruling, the seller has agreed to indemnify MoGas in full.