10-Q


UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Form 10-Q
(Mark One)
þ
QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the quarterly period ended December 31, 2015
or
¨
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from                    to                    
Commission File Number 1-10042
Atmos Energy Corporation
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
 
Texas and Virginia
 
75-1743247
(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)
 
(IRS employer
identification no.)
 
 
Three Lincoln Centre, Suite 1800
5430 LBJ Freeway, Dallas, Texas
 
75240
(Zip code)
(Address of principal executive offices)
 
 
(972) 934-9227
(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  þ    No  ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  þ    No  ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):
Large Accelerated Filer  þ
  
Accelerated Filer  ¨
  
Non-Accelerated Filer  ¨
  
Smaller Reporting Company  ¨
(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act)    Yes  ¨    No  þ
Number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock, as of January 29, 2016.
Class
  
Shares Outstanding
No Par Value
  
102,106,896




GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS
 
 
 
AEC
Atmos Energy Corporation
AEH
Atmos Energy Holdings, Inc.
AEM
Atmos Energy Marketing, LLC
AOCI
Accumulated other comprehensive income
Bcf
Billion cubic feet
FASB
Financial Accounting Standards Board
Fitch
Fitch Ratings, Ltd.
GAAP
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
GRIP
Gas Reliability Infrastructure Program
Mcf
Thousand cubic feet
MMcf
Million cubic feet
Moody’s
Moody’s Investors Services, Inc.
NYMEX
New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc.
PPA
Pension Protection Act of 2006
PRP
Pipeline Replacement Program
RRC
Railroad Commission of Texas
RRM
Rate Review Mechanism
S&P
Standard & Poor’s Corporation
SEC
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
WNA
Weather Normalization Adjustment

2



PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Item 1.
Financial Statements
ATMOS ENERGY CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
 
 
December 31,
2015
 
September 30,
2015
 
(Unaudited)
 
 
 
(In thousands, except
share data)
ASSETS
 
 
 
Property, plant and equipment
$
9,502,944

 
$
9,240,100

Less accumulated depreciation and amortization
1,849,657

 
1,809,520

Net property, plant and equipment
7,653,287

 
7,430,580

Current assets
 
 
 
Cash and cash equivalents
78,903

 
28,653

Accounts receivable, net
456,904

 
295,160

Gas stored underground
236,017

 
236,603

Other current assets
91,446

 
70,569

Total current assets
863,270

 
630,985

Goodwill
742,702

 
742,702

Deferred charges and other assets
295,394

 
288,678

 
$
9,554,653

 
$
9,092,945

CAPITALIZATION AND LIABILITIES
 
 
 
Shareholders’ equity
 
 
 
Common stock, no par value (stated at $.005 per share); 200,000,000 shares authorized; issued and outstanding: December 31, 2015 — 102,079,316 shares; September 30, 2015 — 101,478,818 shares
$
510

 
$
507

Additional paid-in capital
2,242,307

 
2,230,591

Accumulated other comprehensive loss
(102,962
)
 
(109,330
)
Retained earnings
1,132,254

 
1,073,029

Shareholders’ equity
3,272,109

 
3,194,797

Long-term debt
2,455,474

 
2,455,388

Total capitalization
5,727,583

 
5,650,185

Current liabilities
 
 
 
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities
280,487

 
238,942

Other current liabilities
471,333

 
457,954

Short-term debt
763,236

 
457,927

Total current liabilities
1,515,056

 
1,154,823

Deferred income taxes
1,441,325

 
1,411,315

Regulatory cost of removal obligation
425,555

 
427,553

Pension and postretirement liabilities
289,939

 
287,373

Deferred credits and other liabilities
155,195

 
161,696

 
$
9,554,653

 
$
9,092,945

See accompanying notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

3



ATMOS ENERGY CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
 
 
Three Months Ended 
 December 31
 
2015
 
2014
 
(Unaudited)
(In thousands, except per
share data)
Operating revenues
 
 
 
Regulated distribution segment
$
638,602

 
$
846,772

Regulated pipeline segment
94,677

 
83,567

Nonregulated segment
272,524

 
462,288

Intersegment eliminations
(99,582
)
 
(133,862
)
 
906,221

 
1,258,765

Purchased gas cost
 
 
 
Regulated distribution segment
305,141

 
522,960

Regulated pipeline segment

 

Nonregulated segment
256,766

 
446,249

Intersegment eliminations
(99,449
)
 
(133,729
)
 
462,458

 
835,480

Gross profit
443,763

 
423,285

Operating expenses
 
 
 
Operation and maintenance
124,848

 
118,582

Depreciation and amortization
71,239

 
67,593

Taxes, other than income
51,471

 
49,385

Total operating expenses
247,558

 
235,560

Operating income
196,205

 
187,725

Miscellaneous expense
(1,209
)
 
(1,707
)
Interest charges
30,483

 
29,764

Income before income taxes
164,513

 
156,254

Income tax expense
61,652

 
58,659

Net income
$
102,861

 
$
97,595

Basic and diluted net income per share
$
1.00

 
$
0.96

Cash dividends per share
$
0.42

 
$
0.39

Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding
102,713

 
101,581

See accompanying notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.







 
 
 
 
 



4




ATMOS ENERGY CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
 
 
Three Months Ended 
 December 31
 
2015
 
2014
 
(Unaudited)
(In thousands)
Net income
$
102,861

 
$
97,595

Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax
 
 
 
Net unrealized holding losses on available-for-sale securities, net of tax of $442 and $613
(768
)
 
(1,067
)
Cash flow hedges:
 
 
 
Amortization and unrealized gain (loss) on interest rate agreements, net of tax of $2,749 and $(29,768)
4,783

 
(51,787
)
Net unrealized gains (losses) on commodity cash flow hedges, net of tax of $1,505 and $(18,696)
2,353

 
(28,952
)
Total other comprehensive income (loss)
6,368

 
(81,806
)
Total comprehensive income
$
109,229

 
$
15,789


See accompanying notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

5



ATMOS ENERGY CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
 
 
Three Months Ended 
 December 31
 
2015
 
2014
 
(Unaudited)
(In thousands)
Cash Flows From Operating Activities
 
 
 
Net income
$
102,861

 
$
97,595

Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
 
 
 
Depreciation and amortization:
 
 
 
Charged to depreciation and amortization
71,239

 
67,593

Charged to other accounts
326

 
275

Deferred income taxes
59,299

 
55,418

Other
4,407

 
4,889

Net assets / liabilities from risk management activities
(7,495
)
 
(20,828
)
Net change in operating assets and liabilities
(160,144
)
 
(177,527
)
Net cash provided by operating activities
70,493

 
27,415

Cash Flows From Investing Activities
 
 
 
Capital expenditures
(291,674
)
 
(261,313
)
Other, net
1,029

 
(739
)
Net cash used in investing activities
(290,645
)
 
(262,052
)
Cash Flows From Financing Activities
 
 
 
Net increase in short-term debt
305,309

 
350,574

Net proceeds from issuance of long-term debt

 
493,538

Settlement of interest rate agreements

 
13,364

Repayment of long-term debt

 
(500,000
)
Cash dividends paid
(43,636
)
 
(39,592
)
Repurchase of equity awards

 
(7,985
)
Issuance of common stock
8,729

 
6,312

Net cash provided by financing activities
270,402

 
316,211

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents
50,250

 
81,574

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period
28,653

 
42,258

Cash and cash equivalents at end of period
$
78,903

 
$
123,832


See accompanying notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

6



ATMOS ENERGY CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(Unaudited)
December 31, 2015
1.    Nature of Business
Atmos Energy Corporation (“Atmos Energy” or the “Company”) and our subsidiaries are engaged primarily in the regulated natural gas distribution and pipeline businesses as well as other nonregulated natural gas businesses. Historically, our regulated businesses have generated over 90 percent of our consolidated net income.
Through our regulated distribution business, we deliver natural gas through sales and transportation arrangements to approximately three million residential, commercial, public authority and industrial customers through our six regulated distribution divisions, which at December 31, 2015, covered service areas located in eight states. In addition, we transport natural gas for others through our distribution system. Our regulated businesses also include our regulated pipeline and storage operations, which include the transportation of natural gas to our North Texas distribution system and the management of our underground storage facilities. Our regulated businesses are subject to federal and state regulation and/or regulation by local authorities in each of the states in which our regulated distribution divisions operate.
Our nonregulated businesses operate primarily in the Midwest and Southeast through various wholly-owned subsidiaries of Atmos Energy Holdings, Inc. (AEH). AEH is wholly owned by the Company and based in Houston, Texas. Through AEH, we provide natural gas management and transportation services to municipalities, natural gas distribution companies, including certain divisions of Atmos Energy, and third parties.

2.    Unaudited Financial Information
These consolidated interim-period financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States on the same basis as those used for the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. In the opinion of management, all material adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) necessary for a fair presentation have been made to the unaudited consolidated interim-period financial statements. These consolidated interim-period financial statements are condensed as permitted by the instructions to Form 10-Q and should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements of Atmos Energy Corporation included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. Because of seasonal and other factors, the results of operations for the three-month period ended December 31, 2015 are not indicative of our results of operations for the full 2016 fiscal year, which ends September 30, 2016.
No events have occurred subsequent to the balance sheet date that would require recognition or disclosure in the condensed consolidated financial statements.

Significant accounting policies
Our accounting policies are described in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015.
In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a comprehensive new revenue recognition standard that will supersede virtually all existing revenue recognition guidance under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. Under the new standard, a company will recognize revenue when it transfers promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the company expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. In doing so, companies will need to use more judgment and make more estimates than under current guidance. The new standard is currently scheduled to become effective for us beginning on October 1, 2018 and can be applied either retrospectively to each period presented or as a cumulative-effect adjustment as of the date of adoption. We are currently evaluating the effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows, as well as the transition approach we will select.
In April 2015, the FASB issued guidance to simplify the presentation of debt issuance costs, which requires that debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt liability, consistent with debt discounts. The new standard will be effective for us beginning on October 1, 2016, and will be applied retrospectively. We are currently evaluating the impact this standard may have on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.
In November 2015, the FASB issued guidance that requires all deferred income tax liabilities and assets to be presented as noncurrent in a classified balance sheet. Currently, entities are required to separate deferred income tax liabilities and assets into current and noncurrent amounts in a classified balance sheet. The new standard will become effective for us beginning on October 1, 2017, with the option to early adopt, and can be applied either prospectively or retrospectively. The adoption of this

7



guidance will have no impact on our results of operations or cash flows. The reclassification of amounts from current to noncurrent will affect the presentation of our balance sheet.
Regulatory assets and liabilities
Accounting principles generally accepted in the United States require cost-based, rate-regulated entities that meet certain criteria to reflect the authorized recovery of costs due to regulatory decisions in their financial statements. As a result, certain costs are permitted to be capitalized rather than expensed because they can be recovered through rates. We record certain costs as regulatory assets when future recovery through customer rates is considered probable. Regulatory liabilities are recorded when it is probable that revenues will be reduced for amounts that will be credited to customers through the ratemaking process. Substantially all of our regulatory assets are recorded as a component of deferred charges and other assets and substantially all of our regulatory liabilities are recorded as a component of deferred credits and other liabilities. Deferred gas costs are recorded either in other current assets or liabilities and the regulatory cost of removal obligation is reported separately.
 
Significant regulatory assets and liabilities as of December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2015 included the following:
 
December 31,
2015
 
September 30,
2015
 
(In thousands)
Regulatory assets:
 
 
 
Pension and postretirement benefit costs(1)
$
116,485

 
$
121,183

Infrastructure mechanisms(2)
43,385

 
32,813

Deferred gas costs
16,310

 
9,715

Recoverable loss on reacquired debt
15,680

 
16,319

APT annual adjustment mechanism

 
1,002

Rate case costs
1,568

 
1,533

Other
11,878

 
9,774

 
$
205,306

 
$
192,339

Regulatory liabilities:
 
 
 
Regulatory cost of removal obligation
$
482,544

 
$
483,676

Deferred gas costs
32,895

 
28,100

Asset retirement obligation
9,063

 
9,063

APT annual adjustment mechanism
1,721

 

Other
3,415

 
3,693

 
$
529,638

 
$
524,532

 
(1) 
Includes $14.3 million and $16.6 million of pension and postretirement expense deferred pursuant to regulatory authorization.
(2) 
Infrastructure mechanisms in Texas and Louisiana allow for the deferral of all expenses associated with capital expenditures incurred pursuant to these rules, which primarily consists of interest, depreciation and other taxes, until the next rate proceeding (rate case or annual rate filing), at which time investment and costs would be recoverable through base rates.

3.    Segment Information
We operate the Company through the following three segments:
The regulated distribution segment, which includes our regulated natural gas distribution and related sales operations,
The regulated pipeline segment, which includes the regulated pipeline and storage operations of our Atmos Pipeline — Texas Division and
The nonregulated segment, which is comprised of our nonregulated natural gas management, nonregulated natural gas transmission, storage and other services.
 
Our determination of reportable segments considers the strategic operating units under which we manage sales of various products and services to customers in differing regulatory environments. Although our regulated distribution segment operations are geographically dispersed, they are reported as a single segment as each regulated distribution division has similar economic characteristics. The accounting policies of the segments are the same as those described in the summary of significant

8



accounting policies found in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. We evaluate performance based on net income or loss of the respective operating units.
Income statements for the three month periods ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 by segment are presented in the following tables:
 
Three Months Ended December 31, 2015
 
Regulated
Distribution
 
Regulated
Pipeline
 
Nonregulated
 
Eliminations
 
Consolidated
 
(In thousands)
Operating revenues from external parties
$
637,167

 
$
23,407

 
$
245,647

 
$

 
$
906,221

Intersegment revenues
1,435

 
71,270

 
26,877

 
(99,582
)
 

 
638,602

 
94,677

 
272,524

 
(99,582
)
 
906,221

Purchased gas cost
305,141

 

 
256,766

 
(99,449
)
 
462,458

Gross profit
333,461

 
94,677

 
15,758

 
(133
)
 
443,763

Operating expenses
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Operation and maintenance
91,349

 
27,088

 
6,544

 
(133
)
 
124,848

Depreciation and amortization
57,334

 
12,770

 
1,135

 

 
71,239

Taxes, other than income
45,261

 
5,571

 
639

 

 
51,471

Total operating expenses
193,944

 
45,429

 
8,318

 
(133
)
 
247,558

Operating income
139,517

 
49,248

 
7,440

 

 
196,205

Miscellaneous income (expense)
(752
)
 
(429
)
 
379

 
(407
)
 
(1,209
)
Interest charges
20,705

 
9,147

 
1,038

 
(407
)
 
30,483

Income before income taxes
118,060

 
39,672

 
6,781

 

 
164,513

Income tax expense
44,805

 
14,086

 
2,761

 

 
61,652

Net income
$
73,255

 
$
25,586

 
$
4,020

 
$

 
$
102,861

Capital expenditures
$
166,544

 
$
125,283

 
$
(153
)
 
$

 
$
291,674

 
Three Months Ended December 31, 2014
 
Regulated
Distribution
 
Regulated
Pipeline
 
Nonregulated
 
Eliminations
 
Consolidated
 
(In thousands)
Operating revenues from external parties
$
845,404

 
$
20,551

 
$
392,810

 
$

 
$
1,258,765

Intersegment revenues
1,368

 
63,016

 
69,478

 
(133,862
)
 

 
846,772

 
83,567

 
462,288

 
(133,862
)
 
1,258,765

Purchased gas cost
522,960

 

 
446,249

 
(133,729
)
 
835,480

Gross profit
323,812

 
83,567

 
16,039

 
(133
)
 
423,285

Operating expenses
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Operation and maintenance
86,985

 
24,615

 
7,115

 
(133
)
 
118,582

Depreciation and amortization
55,086

 
11,382

 
1,125

 

 
67,593

Taxes, other than income
43,644

 
4,865

 
876

 

 
49,385

Total operating expenses
185,715

 
40,862

 
9,116

 
(133
)
 
235,560

Operating income
138,097

 
42,705

 
6,923

 

 
187,725

Miscellaneous income (expense)
(1,329
)
 
(252
)
 
300

 
(426
)
 
(1,707
)
Interest charges
21,640

 
8,324

 
226

 
(426
)
 
29,764

Income before income taxes
115,128

 
34,129

 
6,997

 

 
156,254

Income tax expense
43,741

 
12,094

 
2,824

 

 
58,659

Net income
$
71,387

 
$
22,035

 
$
4,173

 
$

 
$
97,595

Capital expenditures
$
166,247

 
$
94,754

 
$
312

 
$

 
$
261,313


9



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Balance sheet information at December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2015 by segment is presented in the following tables:

 
December 31, 2015
 
Regulated
Distribution
 
Regulated
Pipeline
 
Nonregulated
 
Eliminations
 
Consolidated
 
(In thousands)
ASSETS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Property, plant and equipment, net
$
5,779,479

 
$
1,821,114

 
$
52,694

 
$

 
$
7,653,287

Investment in subsidiaries
1,020,629

 

 

 
(1,020,629
)
 

Current assets
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cash and cash equivalents
57,691

 

 
21,212

 

 
78,903

Assets from risk management activities
716

 

 
18,229

 

 
18,945

Other current assets
589,257

 
20,008

 
420,897

 
(264,740
)
 
765,422

Intercompany receivables
943,005

 

 

 
(943,005
)
 

Total current assets
1,590,669

 
20,008

 
460,338

 
(1,207,745
)
 
863,270

Goodwill
575,449

 
132,542

 
34,711

 

 
742,702

Noncurrent assets from risk management activities
96

 

 

 

 
96

Deferred charges and other assets
277,662

 
17,095

 
541

 

 
295,298

 
$
9,243,984

 
$
1,990,759

 
$
548,284

 
$
(2,228,374
)
 
$
9,554,653

CAPITALIZATION AND LIABILITIES
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Shareholders’ equity
$
3,272,109

 
$
602,861

 
$
417,768

 
$
(1,020,629
)
 
$
3,272,109

Long-term debt
2,455,474

 

 

 

 
2,455,474

Total capitalization
5,727,583

 
602,861

 
417,768

 
(1,020,629
)
 
5,727,583

Current liabilities
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Short-term debt
1,017,236

 

 

 
(254,000
)
 
763,236

Liabilities from risk management activities
6,738

 

 

 

 
6,738

Other current liabilities
625,055

 
28,197

 
102,570

 
(10,740
)
 
745,082

Intercompany payables

 
923,366

 
19,639

 
(943,005
)
 

Total current liabilities
1,649,029

 
951,563

 
122,209

 
(1,207,745
)
 
1,515,056

Deferred income taxes
1,008,353

 
434,497

 
(1,525
)
 

 
1,441,325

Noncurrent liabilities from risk management activities
103,337

 

 

 

 
103,337

Regulatory cost of removal obligation
425,555

 

 

 

 
425,555

Pension and postretirement liabilities
289,939

 

 

 

 
289,939

Deferred credits and other liabilities
40,188

 
1,838

 
9,832

 

 
51,858

 
$
9,243,984

 
$
1,990,759

 
$
548,284

 
$
(2,228,374
)
 
$
9,554,653


10





 
September 30, 2015
 
Regulated
Distribution
 
Regulated
Pipeline
 
Nonregulated
 
Eliminations
 
Consolidated
 
(In thousands)
ASSETS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Property, plant and equipment, net
$
5,670,306

 
$
1,706,449

 
$
53,825

 
$

 
$
7,430,580

Investment in subsidiaries
1,038,670

 

 
(2,096
)
 
(1,036,574
)
 

Current assets
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cash and cash equivalents
23,863

 

 
4,790

 

 
28,653

Assets from risk management activities
378

 

 
8,854

 

 
9,232

Other current assets
426,270

 
24,628

 
480,503

 
(338,301
)
 
593,100

Intercompany receivables
887,713

 

 

 
(887,713
)
 

Total current assets
1,338,224

 
24,628

 
494,147

 
(1,226,014
)
 
630,985

Goodwill
575,449

 
132,542

 
34,711

 

 
742,702

Noncurrent assets from risk management activities
368

 

 

 

 
368

Deferred charges and other assets
265,693

 
17,288

 
5,329

 

 
288,310

 
$
8,888,710

 
$
1,880,907

 
$
585,916

 
$
(2,262,588
)
 
$
9,092,945

CAPITALIZATION AND LIABILITIES
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Shareholders’ equity
$
3,194,797

 
$
577,275

 
$
461,395

 
$
(1,038,670
)
 
$
3,194,797

Long-term debt
2,455,388

 

 

 

 
2,455,388

Total capitalization
5,650,185

 
577,275

 
461,395

 
(1,038,670
)
 
5,650,185

Current liabilities
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Short-term debt
782,927

 

 

 
(325,000
)
 
457,927

Liabilities from risk management activities
9,568

 

 

 

 
9,568

Other current liabilities
569,273

 
29,780

 
99,480

 
(11,205
)
 
687,328

Intercompany payables

 
867,409

 
20,304

 
(887,713
)
 

Total current liabilities
1,361,768

 
897,189

 
119,784

 
(1,223,918
)
 
1,154,823

Deferred income taxes
1,008,091

 
406,254

 
(3,030
)
 

 
1,411,315

Noncurrent liabilities from risk management activities
110,539

 

 

 

 
110,539

Regulatory cost of removal obligation
427,553

 

 

 

 
427,553

Pension and postretirement liabilities
287,373

 

 

 

 
287,373

Deferred credits and other liabilities
43,201

 
189

 
7,767

 

 
51,157

 
$
8,888,710

 
$
1,880,907

 
$
585,916

 
$
(2,262,588
)
 
$
9,092,945


11




4.    Earnings Per Share
We use the two-class method of computing earnings per share because we have participating securities in the form of non-vested restricted stock units with a nonforfeitable right to dividend equivalents, for which vesting is predicated solely on the passage of time. The calculation of earnings per share using the two-class method excludes income attributable to these participating securities from the numerator and excludes the dilutive impact of those shares from the denominator. Basic and diluted earnings per share for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 are calculated as follows:
 
Three Months Ended 
 December 31
 
2015
 
2014
 
(In thousands, except per share amounts)
Basic and Diluted Earnings Per Share
 
 
 
Net income
$
102,861

 
$
97,595

Less: Income allocated to participating securities
172

 
216

Income available to common shareholders
$
102,689

 
$
97,379

Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding
102,713

 
101,581

Net income per share - Basic and Diluted
$
1.00

 
$
0.96

2011 Share Repurchase Program
We did not repurchase any shares during the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 under our 2011 share repurchase program, which is scheduled to end on September 30, 2016.
5.    Debt
The nature and terms of our debt instruments and credit facilities are described in detail in Note 5 to the consolidated financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. Except as noted below, there were no material changes in the terms of our debt instruments during the three months ended December 31, 2015.
Long-term debt
Long-term debt at December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2015 consisted of the following:
 
 
December 31, 2015
 
September 30, 2015
 
(In thousands)
Unsecured 6.35% Senior Notes, due June 2017
$
250,000

 
$
250,000

Unsecured 8.50% Senior Notes, due 2019
450,000

 
450,000

Unsecured 5.95% Senior Notes, due 2034
200,000

 
200,000

Unsecured 5.50% Senior Notes, due 2041
400,000

 
400,000

Unsecured 4.15% Senior Notes, due 2043
500,000

 
500,000

Unsecured 4.125% Senior Notes, due 2044
500,000

 
500,000

Medium-term note Series A, 1995-1, 6.67%, due 2025
10,000

 
10,000

Unsecured 6.75% Debentures, due 2028
150,000

 
150,000

Total long-term debt
2,460,000

 
2,460,000

Less:
 
 
 
Original issue discount on unsecured senior notes and debentures
4,526

 
4,612

 
$
2,455,474

 
$
2,455,388

 
On October 15, 2014, we issued $500 million of 4.125% 30-year unsecured senior notes, which replaced, on a long-term basis, our $500 million unsecured 4.95% senior notes. The effective rate of these notes is 4.086%, after giving effect to the offering costs and the settlement of the associated forward starting interest rate swaps. The net proceeds of approximately $494 million were used to repay our $500 million 4.95% senior unsecured notes at maturity on October 15, 2014.


12



Short-term debt
Our short-term debt is utilized to fund ongoing working capital needs, such as our seasonal requirements for gas supply, general corporate liquidity and capital expenditures. Our short-term borrowing requirements are affected primarily by the seasonal nature of the natural gas business. Changes in the price of natural gas and the amount of natural gas we need to supply our customers’ needs could significantly affect our borrowing requirements. Our short-term borrowings typically reach their highest levels in the winter months.
We currently finance our short-term borrowing requirements through a combination of a $1.25 billion commercial paper program, four committed revolving credit facilities and one uncommitted revolving credit facility with third-party lenders. These facilities provide approximately $1.3 billion of working capital funding. At December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2015 a total of $763.2 million and $457.9 million was outstanding under our commercial paper program.
Regulated Operations
We fund our regulated operations as needed, primarily through our commercial paper program and three committed revolving credit facilities with third-party lenders that provide approximately $1.3 billion of working capital funding, including a five-year $1.25 billion unsecured facility with an accordion feature, which, if utilized would increase the borrowing capacity to $1.5 billion, a $25 million unsecured facility and a $10 million unsecured revolving credit facility, which is used primarily to issue letters of credit. Due to outstanding letters of credit, the total amount available to us under our $10 million revolving credit facility was $4.1 million at December 31, 2015.
In addition to these third-party facilities, our regulated operations have a $500 million intercompany revolving credit facility with AEH, which bears interest at the lower of (i) the Eurodollar rate under the five-year revolving credit facility or (ii) the lowest rate outstanding under the commercial paper program. Applicable state regulatory commissions have approved our use of this facility through December 31, 2016.
Nonregulated Operations
Atmos Energy Marketing, LLC (AEM), which is wholly owned by AEH, has one uncommitted $25 million bilateral credit facility and one committed $15 million bilateral credit facility that were renewed and extended in December 2015. The uncommitted $25 million bilateral credit facility currently expires in March 2016 and the $15 million bilateral credit facility expires in September 2016. These facilities are used primarily to issue letters of credit. Due to outstanding letters of credit, the total amount available to us under these bilateral credit facilities was $36.2 million at December 31, 2015.
AEH has a $500 million intercompany demand credit facility with AEC. This facility bears interest at a rate equal to the one-month LIBOR rate plus 3.00 percent. Applicable state regulatory commissions have approved our use of this facility through December 31, 2016.
Shelf Registration

We filed a shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 28, 2013 that originally permitted us to issue a total of $1.75 billion in common stock and/or debt securities. At December 31, 2015, $845 million of securities remain available for issuance under the shelf registration statement until March 28, 2016.
Debt Covenants
The availability of funds under our regulated credit facilities is subject to conditions specified in the respective credit agreements, all of which we currently satisfy. These conditions include our compliance with financial covenants and the continued accuracy of representations and warranties contained in these agreements. We are required by the financial covenants in each of these facilities to maintain, at the end of each fiscal quarter, a ratio of total debt to total capitalization of no greater than 70 percent. At December 31, 2015, our total-debt-to-total-capitalization ratio, as defined in the agreements, was 51 percent. In addition, both the interest margin and the fee that we pay on unused amounts under certain of these facilities are subject to adjustment depending upon our credit ratings.
In addition to these financial covenants, our credit facilities and public indentures contain usual and customary covenants for our business, including covenants substantially limiting liens, substantial asset sales and mergers.
Additionally, our public debt indentures relating to our senior notes and debentures, as well as certain of our revolving credit agreements, each contain a default provision that is triggered if outstanding indebtedness arising out of any other credit agreements in amounts ranging from in excess of $15 million to in excess of $100 million becomes due by acceleration or is not paid at maturity.

13



We were in compliance with all of our debt covenants as of December 31, 2015. If we were unable to comply with our debt covenants, we would likely be required to repay our outstanding balances on demand, provide additional collateral or take other corrective actions.

6.     Interim Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Plan Information
The components of our net periodic pension cost for our pension and other postretirement benefit plans for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 are presented in the following table. Most of these costs are recoverable through our gas distribution rates; however, a portion of these costs is capitalized into our gas distribution rate base. The remaining costs are recorded as a component of operation and maintenance expense.
 
Three Months Ended December 31
 
Pension Benefits
 
Other Benefits
 
2015
 
2014
 
2015
 
2014
 
(In thousands)
Components of net periodic pension cost:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Service cost
$
4,698

 
$
5,051

 
$
2,706

 
$
3,896

Interest cost
7,095

 
6,699

 
3,106

 
3,596

Expected return on assets
(6,881
)
 
(6,436
)
 
(1,566
)
 
(1,608
)
Amortization of transition obligation

 

 
21

 
68

Amortization of prior service credit
(57
)
 
(49
)
 
(411
)
 
(411
)
Amortization of actuarial loss
3,320

 
3,917

 
(542
)
 

Net periodic pension cost
$
8,175

 
$
9,182

 
$
3,314

 
$
5,541

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The assumptions used to develop our net periodic pension cost for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 are as follows:
 
 
Pension Benefits
 
Other Benefits
 
 
2015
 
2014
 
2015
 
2014
Discount rate
 
4.55
%
 
4.43
%
 
4.55
%
 
4.43
%
Rate of compensation increase
 
3.50
%
 
3.50
%
 
N/A

 
N/A

Expected return on plan assets
 
7.00
%
 
7.25
%
 
4.45
%
 
4.60
%
The discount rate used to compute the present value of a plan’s liabilities generally is based on rates of high-grade corporate bonds with maturities similar to the average period over which the benefits will be paid. Generally, our funding policy has been to contribute annually an amount in accordance with the requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. In accordance with the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), we determined the funded status of our plans as of January 1, 2016. Based on that determination, we are not required to make a minimum contribution to our defined benefit plans during the first quarter of fiscal 2016, nor do we anticipate making a contribution during the remainder of the fiscal year.
We contributed $5.5 million to our other post-retirement benefit plans during the three months ended December 31, 2015. We expect to contribute between $15 million and $25 million to these plans during fiscal 2016.

7.    Commitments and Contingencies
Litigation and Environmental Matters
With respect to the specific litigation and environmental-related matters or claims that were disclosed in Note 10 to the financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, there were no material changes in the status of such litigation and environmental-related matters or claims during the three months ended December 31, 2015.
We are a party to various litigation and environmental-related matters or claims that have arisen in the ordinary course of our business. While the results of such litigation and response actions to such environmental-related matters or claims cannot be predicted with certainty, we continue to believe the final outcome of such litigation and matters or claims will not have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

14



Purchase Commitments
Our regulated distribution divisions, except for our Mid-Tex Division, maintain supply contracts with several vendors that generally cover a period of up to one year. Commitments for estimated base gas volumes are established under these contracts on a monthly basis at contractually negotiated prices. Commitments for incremental daily purchases are made as necessary during the month in accordance with the terms of the individual contract.
Our Mid-Tex Division also maintains a limited number of long-term supply contracts to ensure a reliable source of gas for our customers in its service area which obligate it to purchase specified volumes at prices indexed to natural gas distribution hubs. These purchase commitment contracts are detailed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. There were no material changes to the purchase commitments for the three months ended December 31, 2015.
AEH has commitments to purchase physical quantities of natural gas under contracts indexed to the forward NYMEX strip or fixed price contracts. These purchase commitment contracts are detailed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. Except for purchases made in the normal course of business under these contracts, there were no material changes to the purchase commitments for the three months ended December 31, 2015.
Our nonregulated segment maintains long-term contracts related to storage and transportation. These estimated contractual demand fees for contracted storage and transportation under these contracts are detailed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. There were no material changes to the estimated storage and transportation fees for the three months ended December 31, 2015.
Regulatory Matters
Various regulatory agencies, including the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, continue to adopt regulations implementing many of the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. We continue to enact new procedures and modify existing business practices and contractual arrangements to comply with such regulations.  Additional rulemakings are pending which we believe will result in new reporting and disclosure obligations. The costs associated with hedging certain risks inherent in our business may be further increased when these expected additional regulations are adopted.
As of December 31, 2015, rate cases were in progress in our Colorado, Kansas and Kentucky service areas and formula rate filing mechanisms were in progress in Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana and West Texas. These regulatory proceedings are discussed in further detail below in Management’s Discussion and Analysis — Recent Ratemaking Developments.
8.    Financial Instruments
We currently use financial instruments in our regulated distribution and nonregulated segments to mitigate commodity price risk and interest rate risk. The objectives and strategies for using financial instruments, which have been tailored to our regulated distribution and nonregulated segments, and the related accounting for these financial instruments are fully described in Notes 2 and 12 to the consolidated financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. During the three months ended December 31, 2015 there were no changes in our objectives, strategies and accounting for using financial instruments. Our financial instruments do not contain any credit-risk-related or other contingent features that could cause payments to be accelerated when our financial instruments are in net liability positions. The following summarizes those objectives and strategies.

Regulated Commodity Risk Management Activities
Our purchased gas cost adjustment mechanisms essentially insulate our regulated distribution segment from commodity price risk; however, our customers are exposed to the effects of volatile natural gas prices. We manage this exposure through a combination of physical storage, fixed-price forward contracts and financial instruments, primarily over-the-counter swap and option contracts, in an effort to minimize the impact of natural gas price volatility on our customers during the winter heating season.
We typically seek to hedge between 25 and 50 percent of anticipated heating season gas purchases using financial instruments. For the 2015-2016 heating season (generally October through March), in the jurisdictions where we are permitted to utilize financial instruments, we anticipate hedging approximately 33 percent, or 23.0 Bcf of the winter flowing gas requirements. We have not designated these financial instruments as hedges for accounting purposes.

Nonregulated Commodity Risk Management Activities
Our nonregulated segment is exposed to risks associated with changes in the market price of natural gas through the purchase, sale and delivery of natural gas to its customers at competitive prices. We manage our exposure to such risks through a combination of physical storage and financial instruments, including futures, over-the-counter and exchange-traded options and swap contracts with counterparties. Specifically, these operations use financial instruments in the following ways:

15



Gas delivery and related services - Certain financial instruments, designated as cash flow hedges of anticipated purchases and sales at index prices, are used to mitigate the commodity price risk associated with deliveries under fixed-priced forward contracts to either deliver gas to customers or purchase gas from suppliers. These financial instruments have maturity dates ranging from one to 58 months.
Transportation and storage services - Our nonregulated operations use storage swaps and futures to capture additional storage arbitrage opportunities that arise subsequent to the execution of the original fair value hedge associated with our physical natural gas inventory, basis swaps to insulate and protect the economic value of our fixed price and storage books and various over-the-counter and exchange-traded options. These financial instruments have not been designated as hedges for accounting purposes.
Aggregating and purchasing gas supply - Certain financial instruments, designated as fair value hedges, are used to hedge our natural gas inventory used in asset optimization activities.

Interest Rate Risk Management Activities
We periodically manage interest rate risk by entering into financial instruments to effectively fix the Treasury yield component of the interest cost associated with anticipated financings.
As of December 31, 2015, we had forward starting interest rate swaps to effectively fix the Treasury yield component associated with the anticipated issuance of $250 million and $450 million unsecured senior notes in fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2019, at 3.37% and 3.78%, which we designated as cash flow hedges at the time the swaps were executed. As of December 31, 2015, we had $18.6 million of net realized losses in accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) associated with the settlement of financial instruments used to fix the Treasury yield component of the interest cost of financing various issuances of long-term debt and senior notes, which will be recognized as a component of interest expense over the life of the associated notes from the date of settlement. The remaining amortization periods for these settled amounts extend through fiscal 2045.
 
Quantitative Disclosures Related to Financial Instruments
The following tables present detailed information concerning the impact of financial instruments on our condensed consolidated balance sheet and income statements.
As of December 31, 2015, our financial instruments were comprised of both long and short commodity positions. A long position is a contract to purchase the commodity, while a short position is a contract to sell the commodity. As of December 31, 2015, we had net long/(short) commodity contracts outstanding in the following quantities:
Contract Type
 
Hedge Designation
 
Regulated
Distribution
 
Nonregulated
 
 
 
 
Quantity (MMcf)
Commodity contracts
 
Fair Value
 

 
(23,528
)
 
 
Cash Flow
 

 
63,305

 
 
Not designated
 
11,792

 
51,663

 
 
 
 
11,792

 
91,440


16



Financial Instruments on the Balance Sheet
The following tables present the fair value and balance sheet classification of our financial instruments by operating segment as of December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2015. The gross amounts of recognized assets and liabilities are netted within our unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets to the extent that we have netting arrangements with the counterparties.
 
 
 
Regulated Distribution
 
Nonregulated
 
Balance Sheet Location
 
Assets
 
Liabilities
 
Assets
 
Liabilities
 
 
 
 (In thousands)
December 31, 2015
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Designated As Hedges:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Commodity contracts
Other current assets /
Other current liabilities
 
$

 
$

 
$
24,704

 
$
(38,275
)
Commodity contracts
Deferred charges and other assets /
Deferred credits and other liabilities
 

 

 
432

 
(8,821
)
Interest rate contracts
Deferred charges and other assets /
Deferred credits and other liabilities
 

 
(103,142
)
 

 

Total
 
 

 
(103,142
)
 
25,136

 
(47,096
)
Not Designated As Hedges:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Commodity contracts
Other current assets /
Other current liabilities
 
716

 
(6,738
)
 
41,780

 
(42,232
)
Commodity contracts
Deferred charges and other assets /
Deferred credits and other liabilities
 
96

 
(195
)
 
17,577

 
(16,184
)
Total
 
 
812

 
(6,933
)
 
59,357

 
(58,416
)
Gross Financial Instruments
 
 
812

 
(110,075
)
 
84,493

 
(105,512
)
Gross Amounts Offset on Consolidated Balance Sheet:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Contract netting
 
 

 

 
(84,493
)
 
84,493

Net Financial Instruments
 
 
812

 
(110,075
)
 

 
(21,019
)
Cash collateral
 
 

 

 
18,229

 
21,019

Net Assets/Liabilities from Risk Management Activities
 
 
$
812

 
$
(110,075
)
 
$
18,229

 
$

 
 

17



 
 
 
Regulated Distribution
 
Nonregulated
 
Balance Sheet Location
 
Assets
 
Liabilities
 
Assets
 
Liabilities
 
 
 
 (In thousands)
September 30, 2015
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Designated As Hedges:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Commodity contracts
Other current assets /
Other current liabilities
 
$

 
$

 
$
11,680

 
$
(36,067
)
Commodity contracts
Deferred charges and other assets /
Deferred credits and other liabilities
 

 

 
126

 
(9,918
)
Interest rate contracts
Deferred charges and other assets /
Deferred credits and other liabilities
 

 
(110,539
)
 

 

Total
 
 

 
(110,539
)
 
11,806

 
(45,985
)
Not Designated As Hedges:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Commodity contracts
Other current assets /
Other current liabilities
 
378

 
(9,568
)
 
65,239

 
(65,780
)
Commodity contracts
Deferred charges and other assets /
Deferred credits and other liabilities
 
368

 

 
14,318

 
(14,218
)
Total
 
 
746

 
(9,568
)
 
79,557

 
(79,998
)
Gross Financial Instruments
 
 
746

 
(120,107
)
 
91,363

 
(125,983
)
Gross Amounts Offset on Consolidated Balance Sheet:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Contract netting
 
 

 

 
(91,363
)
 
91,363

Net Financial Instruments
 
 
746

 
(120,107
)
 

 
(34,620
)
Cash collateral
 
 

 

 
8,854

 
34,620

Net Assets/Liabilities from Risk Management Activities
 
 
$
746

 
$
(120,107
)
 
$
8,854

 
$

 
Impact of Financial Instruments on the Income Statement
Hedge ineffectiveness for our nonregulated segment is recorded as a component of purchased gas cost and primarily results from differences in the location and timing of the derivative instrument and the hedged item. Hedge ineffectiveness could materially affect our results of operations for the reported period. For the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 we recognized a gain (loss) arising from fair value and cash flow hedge ineffectiveness of $7.9 million and $(2.2) million. Additional information regarding ineffectiveness recognized in the income statement is included in the tables below.
 
Fair Value Hedges
The impact of our nonregulated commodity contracts designated as fair value hedges and the related hedged item on our condensed consolidated income statement for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 is presented below.
 
Three Months Ended 
 December 31
 
2015
 
2014
 
(In thousands)
Commodity contracts
$
5,744

 
$
15,090

Fair value adjustment for natural gas inventory designated as the hedged item
2,161

 
(16,782
)
Total (increase) decrease in purchased gas cost
$
7,905

 
$
(1,692
)
The (increase) decrease in purchased gas cost is comprised of the following:
 
 
 
Basis ineffectiveness
$
1,289

 
$
986

Timing ineffectiveness
6,616

 
(2,678
)
 
$
7,905

 
$
(1,692
)
 
 
 
 

18



Basis ineffectiveness arises from natural gas market price differences between the locations of the hedged inventory and the delivery location specified in the hedge instruments. Timing ineffectiveness arises due to changes in the difference between the spot price and the futures price, as well as the difference between the timing of the settlement of the futures and the valuation of the underlying physical commodity. As the commodity contract nears the settlement date, spot-to-forward price differences should converge, which should reduce or eliminate the impact of this ineffectiveness on purchased gas cost. To the extent that the Company’s natural gas inventory does not qualify as a hedged item in a fair-value hedge, or has not been designated as such, the natural gas inventory is valued at the lower of cost or market.

Cash Flow Hedges
The impact of cash flow hedges on our condensed consolidated income statements for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 is presented below. Note that this presentation does not reflect the financial impact arising from the hedged physical transaction. Therefore, this presentation is not indicative of the economic gross profit we realized when the underlying physical and financial transactions were settled.
 
Three Months Ended December 31, 2015
 
Regulated Distribution
 
Nonregulated
 
Consolidated
 
(In thousands)
Loss reclassified from AOCI for effective portion of commodity contracts
$

 
$
(22,965
)
 
$
(22,965
)
Loss arising from ineffective portion of commodity contracts

 
(43
)
 
(43
)
Total impact on purchased gas cost

 
(23,008
)
 
(23,008
)
Net loss on settled interest rate agreements reclassified from AOCI into interest expense
(137
)
 

 
(137
)
Total Impact from Cash Flow Hedges
$
(137
)
 
$
(23,008
)
 
$
(23,145
)
 
Three Months Ended December 31, 2014
 
Regulated Distribution
 
Nonregulated
 
Consolidated
 
(In thousands)
Gain reclassified from AOCI for effective portion of commodity contracts
$

 
$
344

 
$
344

Loss arising from ineffective portion of commodity contracts

 
(490
)
 
(490
)
Total impact on purchased gas cost

 
(146
)
 
(146
)
Net loss on settled interest rate agreements reclassified from AOCI into interest expense
(444
)


 
(444
)
Total Impact from Cash Flow Hedges
$
(444
)
 
$
(146
)
 
$
(590
)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

19



The following table summarizes the gains and losses arising from hedging transactions that were recognized as a component of other comprehensive income (loss), net of taxes, for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014. The amounts included in the table below exclude gains and losses arising from ineffectiveness because those amounts are immediately recognized in the income statement as incurred.
 
Three Months Ended 
 December 31
 
2015
 
2014
 
(In thousands)
Increase (decrease) in fair value:
 
 
 
Interest rate agreements
$
4,696

 
$
(52,069
)
Forward commodity contracts
(11,656
)
 
(28,742
)
Recognition of (gains) losses in earnings due to settlements:
 
 
 
Interest rate agreements
87

 
282

Forward commodity contracts
14,009

 
(210
)
Total other comprehensive income (loss) from hedging, net of tax(1)
$
7,136

 
$
(80,739
)
 
(1) 
Utilizing an income tax rate ranging from 37 percent to 39 percent based on the effective rates in each taxing jurisdiction.
Deferred gains (losses) recorded in AOCI associated with our interest rate agreements are recognized in earnings as they are amortized over the terms of the underlying debt instruments, while deferred gains (losses) associated with commodity contracts are recognized in earnings upon settlement. The following amounts, net of deferred taxes, represent the expected recognition in earnings of the deferred gains (losses) recorded in AOCI associated with our financial instruments, based upon the fair values of these financial instruments as of December 31, 2015. However, the table below does not include the expected recognition in earnings of our outstanding interest rate agreements as those instruments have not yet settled.
 
Interest Rate
Agreements
 
Commodity
Contracts
 
Total
 
(In thousands)
Next twelve months
$
(347
)
 
$
(17,979
)
 
$
(18,326
)
Thereafter
(18,217
)
 
(5,105
)
 
(23,322
)
Total(1) 
$
(18,564
)
 
$
(23,084
)
 
$
(41,648
)
 
(1) 
Utilizing an income tax rate ranging from 37 percent to 39 percent based on the effective rates in each taxing jurisdiction.
 
Financial Instruments Not Designated as Hedges
The impact of financial instruments that have not been designated as hedges on our condensed consolidated income statements for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 was an (increase) decrease in purchased gas cost of $(2.2) million and $0.9 million. Note that this presentation does not reflect the expected gains or losses arising from the underlying physical transactions associated with these financial instruments. Therefore, this presentation is not indicative of the economic gross profit we realized when the underlying physical and financial transactions were settled.
As discussed above, financial instruments used in our regulated distribution segment are not designated as hedges. However, there is no earnings impact on our regulated distribution segment as a result of the use of these financial instruments because the gains and losses arising from the use of these financial instruments are recognized in the consolidated statement of income as a component of purchased gas cost when the related costs are recovered through our rates and recognized in revenue. Accordingly, the impact of these financial instruments is excluded from this presentation.
9.    Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income
We record deferred gains (losses) in AOCI related to available-for-sale securities, interest rate agreement cash flow hedges and commodity contract cash flow hedges. Deferred gains (losses) for our available-for-sale securities and commodity contract cash flow hedges are recognized in earnings upon settlement, while deferred gains (losses) related to our interest rate agreement cash flow hedges are recognized in earnings as they are amortized. The following tables provide the components of our accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) balances, net of the related tax effects allocated to each component of other comprehensive income.

20



 
Available-
for-Sale
Securities
 
Interest
Rate
Agreement
Cash Flow
Hedges
 
Commodity
Contracts
Cash Flow
Hedges
 
Total
 
(In thousands)
September 30, 2015
$
4,949

 
$
(88,842
)
 
$
(25,437
)
 
$
(109,330
)
Other comprehensive income (loss) before reclassifications
(768
)
 
4,696

 
(11,656
)
 
(7,728
)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income

 
87

 
14,009

 
14,096

Net current-period other comprehensive income (loss)
(768
)
 
4,783

 
2,353

 
6,368

December 31, 2015
$
4,181

 
$
(84,059
)
 
$
(23,084
)
 
$
(102,962
)
 
 
Available-
for-Sale
Securities
 
Interest
Rate
Agreement
Cash Flow
Hedges
 
Commodity
Contracts
Cash Flow
Hedges
 
Total
 
(In thousands)
September 30, 2014
$
7,662

 
$
(18,381
)
 
$
(1,674
)
 
$
(12,393
)
Other comprehensive income (loss) before reclassifications
(1,063
)
 
(52,069
)
 
(28,742
)
 
(81,874
)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income
(4
)
 
282

 
(210
)
 
68

Net current-period other comprehensive income (loss)
(1,067
)
 
(51,787
)
 
(28,952
)
 
(81,806
)
December 31, 2014
$
6,595

 
$
(70,168
)
 
$
(30,626
)
 
$
(94,199
)


The following tables detail reclassifications out of AOCI for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014. Amounts in parentheses below indicate decreases to net income in the statement of income.
 
Three Months Ended December 31, 2015
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income Components
Amount Reclassified from
Accumulated Other
Comprehensive Income      
 
Affected Line Item in the
Statement of Income
 
(In thousands)
 
 
Cash flow hedges
 
 
 
Interest rate agreements
$
(137
)
 
Interest charges
Commodity contracts
(22,965
)
 
Purchased gas cost
 
(23,102
)
 
Total before tax
 
9,006

 
Tax benefit
Total reclassifications
$
(14,096
)
 
Net of tax

21



 
Three Months Ended December 31, 2014
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income Components
Amount Reclassified from
Accumulated Other
Comprehensive Income      
 
Affected Line Item in the
Statement of Income
 
(In thousands)
 
 
Available-for-sale securities
$
6

 
Operation and maintenance expense
 
6

 
Total before tax
 
(2
)
 
Tax expense
 
$
4

 
Net of tax
Cash flow hedges
 
 
 
Interest rate agreements
$
(444
)
 
Interest charges
Commodity contracts
344

 
Purchased gas cost
 
(100
)
 
Total before tax
 
28

 
Tax benefit
 
$
(72
)
 
Net of tax
Total reclassifications
$
(68
)
 
Net of tax
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10.    Fair Value Measurements
We report certain assets and liabilities at fair value, which is defined as 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 (exit price). We record cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable and accounts payable at carrying value, which substantially approximates fair value due to the short-term nature of these assets and liabilities. For other financial assets and liabilities, we primarily use quoted market prices and other observable market pricing information to minimize the use of unobservable pricing inputs in our measurements when determining fair value. The methods used to determine fair value for our assets and liabilities are fully described in Note 2 to the financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. During the three months ended December 31, 2015, there were no changes in these methods.
Fair value measurements also apply to the valuation of our pension and postretirement plan assets. Current accounting guidance requires employers to annually disclose information about fair value measurements of the assets of a defined benefit pension or other postretirement plan. The fair value of these assets is presented in Note 6 to the financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015.
Quantitative Disclosures
Financial Instruments
The classification of our fair value measurements requires judgment regarding the degree to which market data is observable or corroborated by observable market data. Authoritative accounting literature establishes a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value based on observable and unobservable data. The hierarchy categorizes the inputs into three levels, with the highest priority given to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities (Level 1), with the lowest priority given to unobservable inputs (Level 3). The following tables summarize, by level within the fair value hierarchy, our assets and liabilities that were accounted for at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2015. Assets and liabilities are categorized in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement.

22



 
Quoted
Prices in
Active
Markets
(Level 1)
 
Significant
Other
Observable
Inputs
(Level 2)(1)
 
Significant
Other
Unobservable
Inputs
(Level 3)
 
Netting and
Cash
Collateral(2)
 
December 31, 2015
 
(In thousands)
Assets:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial instruments
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Regulated distribution segment
$

 
$
812

 
$

 
$

 
$
812

Nonregulated segment

 
84,493

 

 
(66,264
)
 
18,229

Total financial instruments

 
85,305

 

 
(66,264
)
 
19,041

Hedged portion of gas stored underground
53,347

 

 

 

 
53,347

Available-for-sale securities
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Money market funds

 
72

 

 

 
72

Registered investment companies
41,978

 

 

 

 
41,978

Bonds

 
33,129

 

 

 
33,129

Total available-for-sale securities
41,978

 
33,201

 

 

 
75,179

Total assets
$
95,325

 
$
118,506

 
$

 
$
(66,264
)
 
$
147,567

Liabilities:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial instruments
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Regulated distribution segment
$

 
$
110,075

 
$

 
$

 
$
110,075

Nonregulated segment

 
105,512

 

 
(105,512
)
 

Total liabilities
$

 
$
215,587

 
$

 
$
(105,512
)
 
$
110,075

 
Quoted
Prices in
Active
Markets
(Level 1)
 
Significant
Other
Observable
Inputs
(Level 2)(1)
 
Significant
Other
Unobservable
Inputs
(Level 3)
 
Netting and
Cash
Collateral(3)
 
September 30, 2015
 
(In thousands)
Assets:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial instruments
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Regulated distribution segment
$

 
$
746

 
$

 
$

 
$
746

Nonregulated segment

 
91,363

 

 
(82,509
)
 
8,854

Total financial instruments

 
92,109

 

 
(82,509
)
 
9,600

Hedged portion of gas stored underground
43,901

 

 

 

 
43,901

Available-for-sale securities
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Money market funds

 
1,072

 

 

 
1,072

Registered investment companies
40,619

 

 

 

 
40,619

Bonds

 
32,509

 

 

 
32,509

Total available-for-sale securities
40,619

 
33,581

 

 

 
74,200

Total assets
$
84,520

 
$
125,690

 
$

 
$
(82,509
)
 
$
127,701

Liabilities:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial instruments
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Regulated distribution segment
$

 
$
120,107

 
$

 
$

 
$
120,107

Nonregulated segment

 
125,983

 

 
(125,983
)
 

Total liabilities
$

 
$
246,090

 
$

 
$
(125,983
)
 
$
120,107

 
(1) 
Our Level 2 measurements consist of over-the-counter options and swaps which are valued using a market-based approach in which observable market prices are adjusted for criteria specific to each instrument, such as the strike price, notional amount or basis differences, municipal and corporate bonds which are valued based on the most recent available quoted market prices and money market funds which are valued at cost.

23



(2) 
This column reflects adjustments to our gross financial instrument assets and liabilities to reflect netting permitted under our master netting agreements and the relevant authoritative accounting literature. In addition, as of December 31, 2015, we had $39.2 million of cash held in margin accounts to collateralize certain financial instruments. Of this amount, $21.0 million was used to offset current and noncurrent risk management liabilities under master netting arrangements and the remaining $18.2 million is classified as current risk management assets.
(3) 
This column reflects adjustments to our gross financial instrument assets and liabilities to reflect netting permitted under our master netting agreements and the relevant authoritative accounting literature. In addition, as of September 30, 2015, we had $43.5 million of cash held in margin accounts to collateralize certain financial instruments. Of this amount, $34.6 million was used to offset current and noncurrent risk management liabilities under master netting arrangements and the remaining $8.9 million is classified as current risk management assets.
 
Available-for-sale securities are comprised of the following:
 
Amortized
Cost
 
Gross
Unrealized
Gain
 
Gross
Unrealized
Loss
 
Fair
Value
 
(In thousands)
As of December 31, 2015
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Domestic equity mutual funds
$
30,054

 
$
6,843

 
$
(1,133
)
 
$
35,764

Foreign equity mutual funds
5,346

 
868

 

 
6,214

Bonds
33,149

 
40

 
(60
)
 
33,129

Money market funds
72

 

 

 
72

 
$
68,621

 
$
7,751

 
$
(1,193
)
 
$
75,179

As of September 30, 2015
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Domestic equity mutual funds
$
27,643

 
$
7,332

 
$
(456
)
 
$
34,519

Foreign equity mutual funds
5,261

 
905

 
(66
)
 
6,100

Bonds
32,423

 
106

 
(20
)
 
32,509

Money market funds
1,072

 

 

 
1,072

 
$
66,399

 
$
8,343

 
$
(542
)
 
$
74,200

At December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2015, our available-for-sale securities included $42.1 million and $41.7 million related to assets held in separate rabbi trusts for our supplemental executive benefit plans. At December 31, 2015, we maintained investments in bonds that have contractual maturity dates ranging from January 2016 through September 2020.
These securities are reported at market value with unrealized gains and losses shown as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). We regularly evaluate the performance of these investments on a fund by fund basis for impairment, taking into consideration the fund’s purpose, volatility and current returns. If a determination is made that a decline in fair value is other than temporary, the related fund is written down to its estimated fair value and the other-than-temporary impairment is recognized in the income statement.
Other Fair Value Measures
Our debt is recorded at carrying value. The fair value of our debt is determined using third party market value quotations, which are considered Level 1 fair value measurements for debt instruments with a recent, observable trade or Level 2 fair value measurements for debt instruments where fair value is determined using the most recent available quoted market price. The following table presents the carrying value and fair value of our debt as of December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2015:
 
December 31, 2015
 
September 30, 2015
 
(In thousands)
Carrying Amount
$
2,460,000

 
$
2,460,000

Fair Value
$
2,666,801

 
$
2,669,323

11.    Concentration of Credit Risk
Information regarding our concentration of credit risk is disclosed in Note 15 to the financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. During the three months ended December 31, 2015, there were no material changes in our concentration of credit risk.

24



REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
The Board of Directors and Shareholders of
Atmos Energy Corporation
We have reviewed the condensed consolidated balance sheet of Atmos Energy Corporation and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2015 and the related condensed consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income and cash flows for the three-month periods ended December 31, 2015 and 2014. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management.
We conducted our review in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). A review of interim financial information consists principally of applying analytical procedures and making inquiries of persons responsible for financial and accounting matters. It is substantially less in scope than an audit conducted in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the objective of which is the expression of an opinion regarding the financial statements taken as a whole. Accordingly, we do not express such an opinion.
Based on our review, we are not aware of any material modifications that should be made to the condensed consolidated financial statements referred to above for them to be in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
We have previously audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the consolidated balance sheet of Atmos Energy Corporation and subsidiaries as of September 30, 2015, and the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for the year then ended, not presented herein, and we expressed an unqualified audit opinion on those consolidated financial statements in our report dated November 6, 2015. In our opinion, the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheet of Atmos Energy Corporation and subsidiaries as of September 30, 2015, is fairly stated, in all material respects, in relation to the consolidated balance sheets from which it has been derived.
/s/    ERNST & YOUNG LLP
Dallas, Texas
February 2, 2016

25



Item 2.
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
INTRODUCTION
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the condensed consolidated financial statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Management’s Discussion and Analysis in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2015.
Cautionary Statement for the Purposes of the Safe Harbor under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
The statements contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this Report are forward-looking statements made in good faith by us and are intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this Report, or any other of our documents or oral presentations, the words “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “forecast”, “goal”, “intend”, “objective”, “plan”, “projection”, “seek”, “strategy” or similar words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the statements relating to our strategy, operations, markets, services, rates, recovery of costs, availability of gas supply and other factors. These risks and uncertainties include the following: our ability to continue to access the credit markets to satisfy our liquidity requirements; regulatory trends and decisions, including the impact of rate proceedings before various state regulatory commissions; the impact of adverse economic conditions on our customers; the effects of inflation and changes in the availability and price of natural gas; market risks beyond our control affecting our risk management activities, including commodity price volatility, counterparty creditworthiness or performance and interest rate risk; the concentration of our distribution, pipeline and storage operations in Texas; increased competition from energy suppliers and alternative forms of energy; adverse weather conditions; the capital-intensive nature of our regulated distribution business; increased costs of providing health care benefits along with pension and postretirement health care benefits and increased funding requirements; the inability to continue to hire, train and retain appropriate personnel; possible increased federal, state and local regulation of the safety of our operations; increased federal regulatory oversight and potential penalties; the impact of environmental regulations on our business; the impact of climate changes or related additional legislation or regulation in the future; the inherent hazards and risks involved in operating our distribution and pipeline and storage businesses; the threat of cyber-attacks or acts of cyber-terrorism that could disrupt our business operations and information technology systems; natural disasters, terrorist activities or other events and other risks and uncertainties discussed herein, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. Accordingly, while we believe these forward-looking statements to be reasonable, there can be no assurance that they will approximate actual experience or that the expectations derived from them will be realized. Further, we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of our forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
OVERVIEW
Atmos Energy and our subsidiaries are engaged primarily in the regulated natural gas distribution and transportation and storage businesses as well as other nonregulated natural gas businesses. We distribute natural gas through sales and transportation arrangements to approximately three million residential, commercial, public authority and industrial customers throughout our six regulated distribution divisions, which at December 31, 2015 covered service areas located in eight states. In addition, we transport natural gas for others through our regulated distribution and pipeline systems.
Through our nonregulated businesses, we provide natural gas management and marketing services to municipalities, other local gas distribution companies and industrial customers primarily in the Midwest and Southeast and natural gas transportation and storage services to certain of our regulated distribution divisions and to third parties.

As discussed in Note 3, we operate the Company through the following three segments:

the regulated distribution segment, which includes our regulated natural gas distribution and related sales operations,
the regulated pipeline segment, which includes the regulated pipeline and storage operations of our Atmos Pipeline — Texas Division and
the nonregulated segment, which includes our nonregulated natural gas management, nonregulated natural gas transmission, storage and other services.

26



CRITICAL ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES AND POLICIES
Our condensed consolidated financial statements were prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses and the related disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities. We based our estimates on historical experience and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates, including those related to risk management and trading activities, the allowance for doubtful accounts, legal and environmental accruals, insurance accruals, pension and postretirement obligations, deferred income taxes and the valuation of goodwill, indefinite-lived intangible assets and other long-lived assets. Actual results may differ from such estimates.
Our critical accounting policies used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements are described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015 and include the following:

Regulation
Unbilled revenue
Pension and other postretirement plans
Contingencies
Financial instruments and hedging activities
Fair value measurements
Impairment assessments

Our critical accounting policies are reviewed periodically by the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors. There were no significant changes to these critical accounting policies during the three months ended December 31, 2015.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Executive Summary
Atmos Energy strives to operate its businesses safely and reliably while delivering superior shareholder value. To achieve this objective, we are investing in our infrastructure and seeking to achieve positive rate outcomes that benefit both our customers and the Company.
During the first three months of fiscal 2015, we earned $102.9 million, or $1.00 per diluted share, a five percent increase over the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Regulated operations represented 96 percent of our consolidated net income for the three months ended December 31, 2015. The following table reflects the segregation of our consolidated net income and diluted earnings per share between our regulated and nonregulated operations:
 
Three Months Ended December 31
 
2015
 
2014
 
Change
 
(In thousands, except per share data)
Regulated operations
$
98,841

 
$
93,422

 
$
5,419

Nonregulated operations
4,020

 
4,173

 
(153
)
Net income
$
102,861

 
$
97,595

 
$
5,266

 
 
 
 
 
 
Diluted EPS from regulated operations
$
0.96

 
$
0.92

 
$
0.04

Diluted EPS from nonregulated operations
0.04

 
0.04

 

Consolidated diluted EPS
$
1.00

 
$
0.96

 
$
0.04

Positive rate outcomes achieved in our regulated businesses during fiscal 2015 offset the effect of weather that was 29 percent warmer than the prior-year period. As of December 31, 2015, we had completed four regulatory proceedings resulting in a $13.3 million increase in annual operating income and had seven ratemaking efforts in progress seeking $27.4 million of additional annual operating income.
Capital expenditures for the first three months of fiscal 2016 were $291.7 million. Approximately 83 percent was invested to improve the safety and reliability of our distribution and transportation systems, with a significant portion of this investment incurred under regulatory mechanisms that reduce lag to six months or less. We expect our capital expenditures to range between $1 billion and $1.1 billion for fiscal 2016. We funded our capital expenditure program primarily through operating cash flows of $70.5 million and net short-term borrowings.

27



As a result of the continued contribution and stability of our regulated earnings, cash flows and capital structure, our Board of Directors increased the quarterly dividend by 7.7 percent for fiscal 2016.
Regulated Distribution Segment
The primary factors that impact the results of our regulated distribution operations are our ability to earn our authorized rates of return, the cost of natural gas, competitive factors in the energy industry and economic conditions in our service areas.
Our ability to earn our authorized rates of return is based primarily on our ability to improve the rate design in our various ratemaking jurisdictions by reducing or eliminating regulatory lag and, ultimately, separating the recovery of our approved margins from customer usage patterns. Improving rate design is a long-term process and is further complicated by the fact that we operate in multiple rate jurisdictions.
Seasonal weather patterns can also affect our regulated distribution operations. However, the effect of weather that is above or below normal is substantially offset through weather normalization adjustments, known as WNA, which has been approved by state regulatory commissions for approximately 97 percent of our residential and commercial meters in the following states for the following time periods:
 
 
Kansas, West Texas
October — May
Tennessee
October — April
Kentucky, Mississippi, Mid-Tex
November — April
Louisiana
December — March
Virginia
January — December
Our regulated distribution operations are also affected by the cost of natural gas. The cost of gas is passed through to our customers without markup. Therefore, increases in the cost of gas are offset by a corresponding increase in revenues. Accordingly, we believe gross profit is a better indicator of our financial performance than revenues. However, gross profit in our Texas and Mississippi service areas includes franchise fees and gross receipts taxes, which are calculated as a percentage of revenue (inclusive of gas costs). Therefore, the amount of these taxes included in revenues is influenced by the cost of gas and the level of gas sales volumes. We record the associated tax expense as a component of taxes, other than income. Although changes in these revenue-related taxes arising from changes in gas costs affect gross profit, over time the impact is offset within operating income.
As discussed above, the cost of gas typically does not have a direct impact on our gross profit. However, higher gas costs mean higher bills for our customers, which may adversely impact our accounts receivable collections, resulting in higher bad debt expense and may require us to increase borrowings under our credit facilities resulting in higher interest expense. In addition, higher gas costs, as well as competitive factors in the industry and general economic conditions may cause customers to conserve or, in the case of industrial consumers, to use alternative energy sources. However, gas cost risk has been mitigated in recent years through improvements in rate design that allow us to collect from our customers the gas cost portion of our bad debt expense on approximately 75 percent of our residential and commercial margins.


28



Three Months Ended December 31, 2015 compared with Three Months Ended December 31, 2014
Financial and operational highlights for our regulated distribution segment for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 are presented below.
 
Three Months Ended December 31
 
2015
 
2014
 
Change
 
(In thousands, unless otherwise noted)
Gross profit
$
333,461

 
$
323,812

 
$
9,649

Operating expenses
193,944

 
185,715

 
8,229

Operating income
139,517

 
138,097

 
1,420

Miscellaneous expense
(752
)
 
(1,329
)
 
577

Interest charges
20,705

 
21,640

 
(935
)
Income before income taxes
118,060

 
115,128

 
2,932

Income tax expense
44,805

 
43,741

 
1,064

Net income
$
73,255

 
$
71,387

 
$
1,868

Consolidated regulated distribution sales volumes — MMcf
68,717

 
86,922

 
(18,205
)
Consolidated regulated distribution transportation volumes — MMcf
32,211

 
36,512

 
(4,301
)
Total consolidated regulated distribution throughput — MMcf
100,928

 
123,434

 
(22,506
)
Consolidated regulated distribution average cost of gas per Mcf sold
$
4.44

 
$
6.02

 
$
(1.58
)
Income for our regulated distribution segment increased three percent, primarily due to a $9.6 million increase in gross profit, partially offset by an $8.2 million increase in operating expenses. The quarter-over-quarter increase in gross profit primarily reflects:
a $13.5 million net increase in rate adjustments. Our Mid-Tex Division accounted for $7.1 million of this increase. We also experienced increases in our Mississippi and West Texas Divisions.
a $1.3 million decrease in revenue-related taxes in our Mid-Tex and West Texas Divisions, offset by a corresponding $0.3 million decrease in the related tax expense.
a $1.1 million decrease in consumption. Current-quarter weather was 29 percent warmer than the prior-year quarter, before adjusting for weather normalization mechanisms. As a result, sales volumes decreased 21 percent. 
The increase in operating expenses, which include operation and maintenance expense, provision for doubtful accounts, depreciation and amortization expense and taxes, other than income, was primarily due to increased operation and maintenance expenses due to increased administrative expenses, increased property taxes and depreciation expense associated with increased capital investments.
The following table shows our operating income by regulated distribution division, in order of total rate base, for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014. The presentation of our regulated distribution operating income is included for financial reporting purposes and may not be appropriate for ratemaking purposes.
 
Three Months Ended December 31
 
2015
 
2014
 
Change
 
(In thousands)
Mid-Tex
$
68,131

 
$
59,114

 
$
9,017

Kentucky/Mid-States
18,918

 
19,796

 
(878
)
Louisiana
15,052

 
16,725

 
(1,673
)
West Texas
12,930

 
11,098

 
1,832

Mississippi
12,827

 
14,299

 
(1,472
)
Colorado-Kansas
10,126

 
9,989

 
137

Other
1,533

 
7,076

 
(5,543
)
Total
$
139,517

 
$
138,097

 
$
1,420


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

29



Recent Ratemaking Developments
The amounts described in the following sections represent the operating income that was requested or received in each rate filing, which may not necessarily reflect the stated amount referenced in the final order, as certain operating costs may have changed as a result of a commission’s or other governmental authority’s final ruling. During the first three months of fiscal 2016, we completed four regulatory proceedings, resulting in a $13.3 million increase in annual operating income as summarized below:
Rate Action
 
Annual Increase  to
Operating Income
 
 
(In thousands)
Annual formula rate mechanisms
 
$
13,346

Rate case filings
 

Other rate activity
 

 
 
$
13,346

Additionally, the following ratemaking efforts seeking $27.4 million in annual operating income were in progress as of December 31, 2015:
Division
 
Rate Action
 
Jurisdiction
 
Operating Income
Requested
 
 
 
 
 
 
(In thousands)
Colorado-Kansas
 
Rate Case(1)
 
Colorado
 
$
5,276

Colorado-Kansas
 
Infrastructure Mechanism(2)
 
Colorado
 
764

Colorado-Kansas
 
Rate Case
 
Kansas
 
5,667

Colorado-Kansas
 
Ad Valorem Tax Rider(3)
 
Kansas
 
(183
)
Kentucky/Mid-States
 
Rate Case
 
Kentucky
 
5,531

Louisiana
 
Formula Rate Filing
 
Trans LA
 
6,216

West Texas
 
Formula Rate Filing
 
WT Cities
 
4,168

 
 
 
 
 
 
$
27,439


(1) 
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued a final order approving a $2.1 million increase in annual operating income on January 1, 2016.
(2) 
The PUC allowed the $0.8 million requested amount effected by operation of law on January 1, 2016.
(3) 
The Ad Valorem filing relates to a collection of property taxes in excess of the amount included in our Kansas service area’s base rates.

30



Annual Formula Rate Mechanisms
As an instrument to reduce regulatory lag, formula rate mechanisms allow us to refresh our rates on an annual periodic basis without filing a formal rate case. However, these filings still involve discovery by the appropriate regulatory authorities prior to the final determination of rates under these mechanisms. We currently have formula rate mechanisms in our Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee operations and in substantially all of our Texas divisions. Additionally, we have specific infrastructure programs in substantially all of our distribution divisions with tariffs in place to permit the investment associated with these programs to have their surcharge rate adjusted annually to recover approved capital costs incurred in a prior test-year period. The following table summarizes our annual formula rate mechanisms by state.
 
 
Annual Formula Rate Mechanisms
State
 
Infrastructure Programs
 
Formula Rate Mechanisms
 
 
 
 
 
Colorado
 
System Safety and Integrity Rider (SSIR)
 
Kansas
 
Gas System Reliability Surcharge (GSRS)
 
Kentucky
 
Pipeline Replacement Program (PRP)
 
Louisiana
 
(1)
 
Rate Stabilization Clause (RSC)
Mississippi
 
System Integrity Rider (SIR)
 
Stable Rate Filing (SRF), Supplemental Growth Filing (SGR)
Tennessee
 
 
Annual Rate Mechanism (ARM)
Texas
 
Gas Infrastructure Reliability Program (GRIP), (1)
 
Dallas Annual Rate Review (DARR), Rate Review Mechanism (RRM)
Virginia
 
Steps to Advance Virginia Energy (SAVE)
 

(1) Infrastructure mechanisms in Texas and Louisiana allow for the deferral of all expenses associated with capital expenditures incurred pursuant to these rules, which primarily consists of interest, depreciation and other taxes, until the next rate proceeding (rate case or annual rate filing), at which time investment and costs would be recoverable through base rates.
The following annual formula rate mechanisms had approval dates during the three months ended December 31, 2015.
Division
 
Jurisdiction
 
Test Year
Ended
 
Increase
(Decrease) in
Annual
Operating
Income

 
Effective
Date
 
 
 
 
(In thousands)
2016 Filings:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mississippi
 
Mississippi-SRF(1)
 
10/31/2016
 
$
9,192

 
01/01/2016
Mississippi
 
Mississippi-SGR (2)
 
10/31/2016
 
250

 
12/01/2015
Kentucky/Mid-States
 
Kentucky-PRP
 
09/30/2016
 
3,786

 
10/01/2015
Kentucky/Mid-States
 
Virginia-SAVE
 
09/30/2016
 
118

 
10/01/2015
Total 2016 Filings
 
 
 
 
 
$
13,346

 
 

(1) 
The commission issued a final order approving a $9.2 million increase in annual operating income on December 21, 2015 with an effective date of January 1, 2016.
(2) 
The Mississippi Supplemental Growth Rider (SGR) permits the Company to pursue up to $5.0 million of eligible industrial growth projects beyond the Division’s normal main extension policies. This is the third year of the SGR program.
Rate Case Filings
A rate case is a formal request from Atmos Energy to a regulatory authority to increase rates that are charged to our customers. Rate cases may also be initiated when the regulatory authorities request us to justify our rates. This process is referred to as a “show cause” action. Adequate rates are intended to provide for recovery of the Company’s costs as well as a fair rate of return to our shareholders and ensure that we continue to deliver reliable, reasonably priced natural gas service safely to our customers. No rate cases were completed during the three months ended December 31, 2015.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

31



Other Ratemaking Activity
No other ratemaking activity was completed during the three months ended December 31, 2015.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Regulated Pipeline Segment
Our regulated pipeline segment consists of the pipeline and storage operations of the Atmos Pipeline–Texas Division. The Atmos Pipeline–Texas Division transports and stores natural gas for our Mid-Tex Division and third party local distribution companies and manages five underground storage facilities in Texas. We also provide interruptible transportation, storage and ancillary services to electric generation and industrial customers as well as producers, marketers and other shippers.
Our regulated pipeline segment is impacted by seasonal weather patterns, competitive factors in the energy industry and economic conditions in our Mid-Tex service area. Natural gas prices do not directly impact the results of this segment as revenues are derived from the transportation and storage of natural gas. However, natural gas prices and demand for natural gas could influence the level of drilling activity in the markets that we serve, which may influence the level of throughput we may be able to transport on our pipeline. Further, natural gas price differences between the various hubs that we serve could influence the volumes of gas transported for shippers through our pipeline system and the rates for such transportation.
The results of Atmos Pipeline — Texas Division are also significantly impacted by the natural gas requirements of the Mid-Tex Division because it is the primary transporter of natural gas for our Mid-Tex Division.
Finally, as a regulated pipeline, the operations of the Atmos Pipeline — Texas Division may be impacted by the timing of when costs and expenses are incurred and when these costs and expenses are recovered through its tariffs. Additionally, APT annually uses GRIP to recover capital costs incurred in the prior calendar-year.

Three Months Ended December 31, 2015 compared with Three Months Ended December 31, 2014
Financial and operational highlights for our regulated pipeline segment for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 are presented below.
 
Three Months Ended December 31
 
2015
 
2014
 
Change
 
(In thousands, unless otherwise noted)
Mid-Tex transportation
$
68,287

 
$
60,079

 
$
8,208

Third-party transportation
21,288

 
20,394

 
894

Storage and park and lend services
976

 
1,004

 
(28
)
Other
4,126

 
2,090

 
2,036

Gross profit
94,677

 
83,567

 
11,110

Operating expenses
45,429

 
40,862

 
4,567

Operating income
49,248

 
42,705

 
6,543

Miscellaneous expense
(429
)
 
(252
)
 
(177
)
Interest charges
9,147

 
8,324

 
823

Income before income taxes
39,672

 
34,129

 
5,543

Income tax expense
14,086

 
12,094

 
1,992

Net income
$
25,586

 
$
22,035

 
$
3,551

Gross pipeline transportation volumes — MMcf
178,202

 
181,362

 
(3,160
)
Consolidated pipeline transportation volumes — MMcf
129,159

 
120,634

 
8,525

Net income for our regulated pipeline segment increased 16 percent, primarily due to an $11.1 million increase in gross profit, partially offset by a $4.6 million increase in operating expenses. The increase in gross profit primarily reflects a $10.1 million increase in rates from the approved 2015 GRIP filing. Consolidated volumes are up primarily due to increased market demand from electric generation customers.
Operating expenses increased $4.6 million, primarily due to increased levels of pipeline and right-of-way maintenance activities to improve the safety and reliability of our system and increased depreciation expense associated with increased capital investments.
 
 
 
 
 
 

32



Nonregulated Segment
Our nonregulated operations are conducted through Atmos Energy Holdings, Inc. (AEH), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atmos Energy Corporation and, historically, have represented approximately five percent of our consolidated net income.
AEH's primary business is to buy, sell and deliver natural gas at competitive prices to approximately 1,000 customers located primarily in the Midwest and Southeast areas of the United States. AEH accomplishes this objective by aggregating and purchasing gas supply, arranging transportation and storage logistics and effectively managing commodity price risk.
AEH also earns storage and transportation demand fees primarily from our regulated distribution operations in Louisiana and Kentucky. These demand fees are subject to regulatory oversight and are renewed periodically.
Our nonregulated activities are significantly influenced by competitive factors in the industry and general economic conditions. Therefore, the margins earned from these activities are dependent upon our ability to attract and retain customers and to minimize the cost of buying, selling and delivering natural gas to offer more competitive pricing to those customers.

Natural gas prices can influence:
The demand for natural gas. Higher prices may cause customers to conserve or use alternative energy sources.
Conversely, lower prices could cause customers such as electric power generators to switch from alternative energy
sources to natural gas.
The collection of accounts receivable from customers, which could affect the level of bad debt expense recognized by this segment.
The level of borrowings under our credit facilities, which affects the level of interest expense recognized by this
segment.
Natural gas price volatility can also influence our nonregulated business in the following ways:
Price volatility influences basis differentials, which provide opportunities to profit from identifying the lowest cost
alternative among the natural gas supplies, transportation and markets to which we have access.
Increased or decreased volatility impacts the amounts of unrealized margins recorded in our gross profit and could
impact the amount of cash required to collateralize our risk management liabilities.

Our nonregulated segment manages its exposure to natural gas commodity price risk through a combination of physical storage and financial instruments. Therefore, results for this segment include unrealized gains or losses on its net physical gas position and the related financial instruments used to manage commodity price risk. These margins fluctuate based upon changes in the spreads between the physical and forward natural gas prices. The magnitude of the unrealized gains and losses is also contingent upon the levels of our net physical position at the end of the reporting period.


33



Three Months Ended December 31, 2015 compared with Three Months Ended December 31, 2014
Financial and operating highlights for our nonregulated segment for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 are presented below.
 
Three Months Ended December 31
 
2015
 
2014
 
Change
 
(In thousands, unless otherwise noted)
Realized margins
 
 
 
 
 
Gas delivery and related services
$
11,850

 
$
10,759

 
$
1,091

Storage and transportation services
3,255

 
3,313

 
(58
)
Other
(11,251
)
 
(5,831
)
 
(5,420
)
Total realized margins
3,854

 
8,241

 
(4,387
)
Unrealized margins
11,904

 
7,798

 
4,106

Gross profit
15,758

 
16,039

 
(281
)
Operating expenses
8,318

 
9,116

 
(798
)
Operating income
7,440

 
6,923

 
517

Miscellaneous income
379

 
300

 
79

Interest charges
1,038

 
226

 
812

Income before income taxes
6,781

 
6,997

 
(216
)
Income tax expense
2,761

 
2,824

 
(63
)
Net income
$
4,020

 
$
4,173

 
$
(153
)
Gross nonregulated delivered gas sales volumes — MMcf
96,733

 
108,193

 
(11,460
)
Consolidated nonregulated delivered gas sales volumes — MMcf
85,131

 
90,930

 
(5,799
)
Net physical position (Bcf)
23.5

 
17.1

 
6.4

 
The $0.3 million quarter-over-quarter decrease in gross profit reflects a $4.4 million decrease in realized margins, combined with a $4.1 million increase in unrealized margins. The $4.4 million decrease in realized margins primarily reflects:
A $1.1 million increase in gas delivery and related services margins, primarily due to an increase in per-unit margins from 10 cents to 12 cents per Mcf, partially offset by a six percent decrease in consolidated sales volumes due to warmer weather in the current-year quarter.
A $5.4 million decrease in other realized margins, primarily due to larger losses on the settlement of financial positions in a period of falling gas prices combined with increased third-party storage fees.

Unrealized margins increased $4.1 million, primarily due to the quarter-over-quarter favorable movement of the physical mark on the fair value natural gas inventory hedged positions.
Operating expenses decreased $0.8 million, primarily due to lower bad debt expense.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Liquidity and Capital Resources
The liquidity required to fund our working capital, capital expenditures and other cash needs is provided from a variety of sources including internally generated funds and borrowings under our commercial paper program and bank credit facilities. Additionally, we have various uncommitted trade credit lines with our gas suppliers that we utilize to purchase natural gas on a monthly basis. Finally, from time to time, we raise funds from the public debt and equity capital markets to fund our liquidity needs.
We regularly evaluate our funding strategy and capital structure to ensure that we (i) have sufficient liquidity for our short-term and long-term needs in a cost-effective manner and (ii) maintain a balanced capital structure with a debt-to-capitalization ratio in a target range of 50 to 55 percent. We also evaluate the levels of committed borrowing capacity that we require. We currently have over $1 billion of capacity under our short-term facilities.
We plan to continue to fund our growth through the use of operating cash flows, debt and equity securities while maintaining a balanced capital structure. To support our capital market activities, we have a shelf registration statement on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that originally permitted us to issue a total of $1.75 billion in common stock and/or debt securities. As of December 31, 2015, approximately $845 million of securities remained available for issuance under the shelf registration statement until March 28, 2016.

34



The following table presents our capitalization inclusive of short-term debt and the current portion of long-term debt as of December 31, 2015September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014:
 
 
December 31, 2015
 
September 30, 2015
 
December 31, 2014
 
(In thousands, except percentages)
Short-term debt
$
763,236

 
11.8
%
 
$
457,927

 
7.5
%
 
$
550,903

 
9.1
%
Long-term debt
2,455,474

 
37.8
%
 
2,455,388

 
40.2
%
 
2,455,131

 
40.4
%
Shareholders’ equity
3,272,109

 
50.4
%
 
3,194,797

 
52.3
%
 
3,063,925

 
50.5
%
Total
$
6,490,819

 
100.0
%
 
$
6,108,112

 
100.0
%
 
$
6,069,959

 
100.0
%
Cash Flows
Our internally generated funds may change in the future due to a number of factors, some of which we cannot control. These include regulatory changes, prices for our products and services, demand for such products and services, margin requirements resulting from significant changes in commodity prices, operational risks and other factors.

Cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 are presented below.
 
Three Months Ended December 31
 
2015
 
2014
 
Change
 
(In thousands)
Total cash provided by (used in)
 
 
 
 
 
Operating activities
$
70,493

 
$
27,415

 
$
43,078

Investing activities
(290,645
)
 
(262,052
)
 
(28,593
)
Financing activities
270,402

 
316,211

 
(45,809
)
Change in cash and cash equivalents
50,250

 
81,574

 
(31,324
)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period
28,653

 
42,258

 
(13,605
)
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period
$
78,903

 
$
123,832

 
$
(44,929
)
Cash flows from operating activities
Period-over-period changes in our operating cash flows are primarily attributable to changes in net income and working capital changes, particularly within our regulated distribution segment resulting from changes in the price of natural gas and the timing of customer collections, payments for natural gas purchases and deferred gas cost recoveries.
For the three months ended December 31, 2015, we generated cash flow of $70.5 million from operating activities compared with $27.4 million for the three months ended December 31, 2014. The $43.1 million increase in operating cash flows primarily reflects the timing of customer collections and vendor payments.
Cash flows from investing activities
In executing our regulatory strategy, we target our capital spending on regulatory mechanisms that permit us to earn an adequate return timely on our investment without compromising the safety or reliability of our system. Substantially all of our regulated jurisdictions have rate tariffs that provide the opportunity to include in their rate base approved capital costs on a periodic basis without being required to file a rate case.
In recent years, a substantial portion of our cash resources has been used to fund our ongoing construction program, which enables us to enhance the safety and reliability of the systems used to provide regulated distribution services to our existing customer base, expand our natural gas distribution services into new markets, enhance the integrity of our pipelines and, more recently, expand our intrastate pipeline network. Over the last three fiscal years, approximately 80 percent of our capital spending has been committed to improving the safety and reliability of our system. We anticipate our annual capital spending will be in the range of $1 billion to $1.1 billion through fiscal 2018.
For the three months ended December 31, 2015, capital expenditures were $291.7 million, compared with $261.3 million in the prior-year period. The $30.4 million increase primarily reflects an increase in capital spending in our regulated pipeline segment, primarily related to the enhancement and fortification of two storage fields to ensure the reliability of gas service to our Mid-Tex Division.

35



Cash flows from financing activities
    
For the three months ended December 31, 2015, our financing activities generated $270.4 million of cash compared with $316.2 million generated in the prior-year period. The $45.8 million decrease of cash generated is primarily due to lower net short-term debt borrowings due to higher operating cash flow and period-over-period changes in working capital funding needs compared to the prior year.
The following table summarizes our share issuances for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014.
 
Three Months Ended 
 December 31
 
2015
 
2014
Shares issued:
 
 
 
Direct Stock Purchase Plan
35,417

 
60,936

1998 Long-Term Incentive Plan
458,607

 
477,649

Retirement Savings Plan and Trust
106,474

 
75,580

Outside Directors Stock-for-Fee Plan

 
424

Total shares issued
600,498

 
614,589


The year-over-year decrease in the number of shares issued primarily reflects a decrease in shares issued under the 1998 Long-Term Incentive Plan. For the three months ended December 31, 2015, we did not cancel and retire any shares attributable to federal income tax withholdings on equity awards. For the three months ended December 31, 2014, we canceled and retired 148,464 such shares.

Credit Facilities

Our short-term borrowing requirements are affected primarily by the seasonal nature of the natural gas business and the level of our capital expenditures. Changes in the price of natural gas, the amount of natural gas we need to supply to meet our customers’ needs and our capital spending activities could significantly affect our borrowing requirements. However, our short-term borrowings typically reach their highest levels in the winter months.
We finance our short-term borrowing requirements through a combination of a $1.25 billion commercial paper program, four committed revolving credit facilities and one uncommitted revolving credit facility with third-party lenders that provide approximately $1.3 billion of working capital funding. As of December 31, 2015, the amount available to us under our credit facilities, net of outstanding letters of credit, was $0.6 billion.
Credit Ratings
Our credit ratings directly affect our ability to obtain short-term and long-term financing, in addition to the cost of such financing. In determining our credit ratings, the rating agencies consider a number of quantitative factors, including debt to total capitalization, operating cash flow relative to outstanding debt, operating cash flow coverage of interest and pension liabilities and funding status. In addition, the rating agencies consider qualitative factors such as consistency of our earnings over time, the quality of our management and business strategy, the risks associated with our regulated and nonregulated businesses and the regulatory structures that govern our rates in the states where we operate.
Our debt is rated by three rating agencies: Standard & Poor’s Corporation (S&P), Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) and Fitch Ratings (Fitch). As of December 31, 2015, Moody's and Fitch maintained a stable outlook. S&P issued a revised outlook from stable to positive on October 29, 2015, citing the potential for an upgraded rating in the future if we maintain our current level of financial performance as capital spending levels remain elevated. Our current debt ratings are all considered investment grade and are as follows:
 
S&P
 
Moody’s
 
Fitch
Senior unsecured long-term debt
A-
  
A2
  
A
Commercial paper
A-2
  
P-1
  
F-2
A significant degradation in our operating performance or a significant reduction in our liquidity caused by more limited access to the private and public credit markets as a result of deteriorating global or national financial and credit conditions could trigger a negative change in our ratings outlook or even a reduction in our credit ratings by the three credit rating agencies. This would mean more limited access to the private and public credit markets and an increase in the costs of such borrowings.

36



A credit rating is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The highest investment grade credit rating is AAA for S&P, Aaa for Moody’s and AAA for Fitch. The lowest investment grade credit rating is BBB- for S&P, Baa3 for Moody’s and BBB- for Fitch. Our credit ratings may be revised or withdrawn at any time by the rating agencies, and each rating should be evaluated independently of any other rating. There can be no assurance that a rating will remain in effect for any given period of time or that a rating will not be lowered, or withdrawn entirely, by a rating agency if, in its judgment, circumstances so warrant.
Debt Covenants
We were in compliance with all of our debt covenants as of December 31, 2015. Our debt covenants are described in greater detail in Note 5 to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.
Contractual Obligations and Commercial Commitments
Except as noted in Note 7 to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, there were no significant changes in our contractual obligations and commercial commitments during the three months ended December 31, 2015.

Risk Management Activities
We conduct risk management activities through our regulated distribution and nonregulated segments. In our regulated distribution segment, we use a combination of physical storage, fixed physical contracts and fixed financial contracts to reduce our exposure to unusually large winter-period gas price increases. Additionally, we manage interest rate risk by entering into financial instruments to effectively fix the Treasury yield component of the interest cost associated with anticipated financings.
In our nonregulated segment, we manage our exposure to the risk of natural gas price changes and lock in our gross profit margin through a combination of storage and financial instruments, including futures, over-the-counter and exchange-traded options and swap contracts with counterparties. To the extent our inventory cost and actual sales and actual purchases do not correlate with the changes in the market indices we use in our hedges, we could experience ineffectiveness or the hedges may no longer meet the accounting requirements for hedge accounting, resulting in the financial instruments being treated as mark to market instruments through earnings.
The following table shows the components of the change in fair value of our regulated distribution segment’s financial instruments for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014:
 
Three Months Ended 
 December 31
 
2015
 
2014
 
(In thousands)
Fair value of contracts at beginning of period
$
(119,361
)
 
$
14,284

Contracts realized/settled
(12,630
)
 
(23,156
)
Fair value of new contracts
(183
)
 
(365
)
Other changes in value
22,911

 
(85,611
)
Fair value of contracts at end of period
$
(109,263
)
 
$
(94,848
)
The fair value of our regulated distribution segment’s financial instruments at December 31, 2015 is presented below by time period and fair value source:
 
Fair Value of Contracts at December 31, 2015
 
Maturity in Years
 
 
Source of Fair Value
Less
Than 1
 
1-3
 
4-5
 
Greater
Than 5
 
Total
Fair
Value
 
(In thousands)
Prices actively quoted
$
(6,022
)
 
$
(103,241
)
 
$

 
$

 
$
(109,263
)
Prices based on models and other valuation methods

 

 

 

 

Total Fair Value
$
(6,022
)
 
$
(103,241
)
 
$

 
$

 
$
(109,263
)


37



The following table shows the components of the change in fair value of our nonregulated segment’s financial instruments for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014:
 
Three Months Ended 
 December 31
 
2015
 
2014
 
(In thousands)
Fair value of contracts at beginning of period
$
(34,620
)
 
$
(3,033
)
Contracts realized/settled
18,898

 
7,165

Fair value of new contracts

 

Other changes in value
(5,297
)
 
(30,231
)
Fair value of contracts at end of period
(21,019
)
 
(26,099
)
Netting of cash collateral
39,248

 
43,501

Cash collateral and fair value of contracts at period end
$
18,229

 
$
17,402


The fair value of our nonregulated segment’s financial instruments at December 31, 2015 is presented below by time period and fair value source:
 
Fair Value of Contracts at December 31, 2015
 
Maturity in Years
 
 
Source of Fair Value
Less
Than 1
 
1-3
 
4-5
 
Greater
Than 5
 
Total
Fair
Value
 
(In thousands)
Prices actively quoted
$
(14,023
)
 
$
(6,378
)
 
$
(618
)
 
$

 
$
(21,019
)
Prices based on models and other valuation methods

 

 

 

 

Total Fair Value
$
(14,023
)
 
$
(6,378
)
 
$
(618
)
 
$

 
$
(21,019
)
Pension and Postretirement Benefits Obligations
For the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, our total net periodic pension and other benefits costs were $11.5 million and $14.7 million. A substantial portion of those costs relating to our regulated distribution operations are recoverable through our gas distribution rates; however, a portion of these costs is capitalized into our distribution rate base. The remaining costs are recorded as a component of operation and maintenance expense.
Our fiscal 2016 costs were determined using a September 30, 2015 measurement date. As of September 30, 2015, interest and corporate bond rates utilized to determine our discount rates were higher than the interest and corporate bond rates as of September 30, 2014, the measurement date for our fiscal 2015 net periodic cost. Therefore, we increased the discount rate used to measure our fiscal 2016 net periodic cost from 4.43 percent to 4.55 percent. We lowered our expected return on plan assets from 7.25 percent to 7.00 percent in the determination of our fiscal 2016 net periodic pension cost based upon expected market returns for our targeted asset allocation. In October 2014, the Society of Actuaries released its final report on mortality tables and the mortality improvement scale to reflect increasing life expectancies in the United States and in October 2015, the Society of Actuaries issued an additional report related to mortality tables and the mortality improvement scale. As of September 30, 2015, we updated our assumed mortality tables to incorporate both of these updates. As a result of the net impact of changes in these and other assumptions, we expect our fiscal 2016 net periodic pension cost to decrease by approximately 20 percent.
The amounts with which we fund our defined benefit plans are determined in accordance with the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) and are influenced by the funded position of the plans when the funding requirements are determined on January 1 of each year. Based upon the determination as of January 1, 2015, we are not required to make a minimum contribution to our defined benefit plans during fiscal 2016. However, we may consider whether a voluntary contribution is prudent to maintain certain funding levels.
For the three months ended December 31, 2015 we contributed $5.5 million to our postretirement medical plans. We anticipate contributing between $15 million and $25 million to our postretirement plans during fiscal 2016.
The projected pension liability, future funding requirements and the amount of pension expense or income recognized for the plans are subject to change, depending upon the actuarial value of plan assets in the plans and the determination of future benefit obligations as of each subsequent actuarial calculation date. These amounts will be determined by actual investment

38



returns, changes in interest rates, values of assets in the plans and changes in the demographic composition of the participants in the plans.


39




OPERATING STATISTICS AND OTHER INFORMATION
The following tables present certain operating statistics for our regulated distribution, regulated pipeline and nonregulated segments for the three month periods ended December 31, 2015 and 2014.
Regulated Distribution Sales and Statistical Data
 
Three Months Ended 
 December 31
 
2015
 
2014
METERS IN SERVICE, end of period
 
 
 
Residential
2,891,676

 
2,862,369

Commercial
265,766

 
261,593

Industrial
1,489

 
1,538

Public authority and other
8,421

 
8,451

Total meters
3,167,352

 
3,133,951

 
 
 
 
INVENTORY STORAGE BALANCE — Bcf
58.5

 
53.0

SALES VOLUMES — MMcf(1)
 
 
 
Gas sales volumes
 
 
 
Residential
40,169

 
52,218

Commercial
23,418

 
28,715

Industrial
3,456

 
3,890

Public authority and other
1,674

 
2,099

Total gas sales volumes
68,717

 
86,922

Transportation volumes
35,124

 
38,835

Total throughput
103,841

 
125,757

OPERATING REVENUES (000’s)(1)
 
 
 
Gas sales revenues
 
 
 
Residential
$
415,985

 
$
541,725

Commercial
172,025

 
241,630

Industrial
14,285

 
22,911

Public authority and other
10,533

 
14,998

Total gas sales revenues
612,828

 
821,264

Transportation revenues
19,481

 
19,152

Other gas revenues
6,293

 
6,356

Total operating revenues
$
638,602

 
$
846,772

Average cost of gas per Mcf sold
$
4.44

 
$
6.02

See footnote following these tables.


40



Regulated Pipeline and Nonregulated Operations Sales and Statistical Data
 
Three Months Ended 
 December 31
 
2015
 
2014
CUSTOMERS, end of period
 
 
 
Industrial
758

 
747

Municipal
128

 
129

Other
523

 
539

Total
1,409

 
1,415

NONREGULATED INVENTORY STORAGE
 
 
 
BALANCE — Bcf
25.4

 
21.6

REGULATED PIPELINE VOLUMES — MMcf(1)
178,202

 
181,362

NONREGULATED DELIVERED GAS SALES
 
 
 
VOLUMES — MMcf(1)
96,733

 
108,193

OPERATING REVENUES (000’s)(1)
 
 
 
Regulated pipeline
$
94,677

 
$
83,567

Nonregulated
272,524

 
462,288

Total operating revenues
$
367,201

 
$
545,855

Note to preceding tables:
 
(1) 
Sales volumes and revenues reflect segment operations, including intercompany sales and transportation amounts.
RECENT ACCOUNTING DEVELOPMENTS
Recent accounting developments and their impact on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows are described in Note 2 to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.
 
Item 3.
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Information regarding our quantitative and qualitative disclosures about market risk are disclosed in Item 7A in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. During the three months ended December 31, 2015, there were no material changes in our quantitative and qualitative disclosures about market risk.

Item 4.
Controls and Procedures
Management’s Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
We carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, of the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act). Based on this evaluation, the Company’s principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of December 31, 2015 to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed by us, including our consolidated entities, in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified by the SEC’s rules and forms, including a reasonable level of assurance that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive and principal financial officers, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
    
We did not make any changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the first quarter of the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.


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PART II. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 1.
Legal Proceedings
During the three months ended December 31, 2015, there were no material changes in the status of the litigation and other matters that were disclosed in Note 10 to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. We continue to believe that the final outcome of such litigation and other matters or claims will not have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
 
Item 6.
Exhibits
A list of exhibits required by Item 601 of Regulation S-K and filed as part of this report is set forth in the Exhibits Index, which immediately precedes such exhibits.

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SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
 
 
 
 
ATMOS ENERGY CORPORATION
               (Registrant)
 
 
 
By: /s/    BRET J. ECKERT
 
 
 
Bret J. Eckert
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
(Duly authorized signatory)
Date: February 2, 2016

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EXHIBITS INDEX
Item 6
 
Exhibit
Number
  
Description
Page Number or
Incorporation by
Reference to
12
  
Computation of ratio of earnings to fixed charges
 
15
  
Letter regarding unaudited interim financial information
 
31
  
Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certifications
 
32
  
Section 1350 Certifications*
 
101.INS
  
XBRL Instance Document
 
101.SCH
  
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema
 
101.CAL
  
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase
 
101.DEF
  
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase
 
101.LAB
  
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Labels Linkbase
 
101.PRE
  
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase
 
 
*
These certifications, which were made pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350 by the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, furnished as Exhibit 32 to this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, will not be deemed to be filed with the Commission or incorporated by reference into any filing by the Company under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, except to the extent that the Company specifically incorporates such certifications by reference.

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