as part of our continued efforts in environmental stewardship , we recently established our carbon reduction vision for montana , committing to reduce the carbon intensity of our montana electric energy portfolio 90 percent by 2045 , as compared with our 2010 carbon intensity baseline . over the last decade , we have already reduced the carbon intensity of our energy generation in montana by more than 50 percent . our vision for the future builds on the progress we have already made . already , the foundation of our energy generation is our hydroelectric system , which is 100 percent carbon free and is readily available capacity . for us , wind generation is a close second and continues to grow . while utility-scale solar energy is not a significant portion of our energy mix today , we expect it to evolve along with advances in energy storage . we are committed to working with our customers and communities to help them achieve their sustainability goals and add new technology on our system . how we performed in 2020 compared to our 2019 results replace_table_token_6_th consolidated net income in 2020 was $ 155.2 million as compared with $ 202.1 million in 2019. this decrease was primarily due to an income tax benefit in 2019 , lower gross margin in 2020 due primarily to warmer winter weather and impacts of the covid-19 pandemic , a disallowance of prior period supply costs , lower supply cost recovery , and higher depreciation and depletion expense , offset in part by a decrease in operating , general and administrative expenses . significant trends and regulation covid-19 pandemic we are one of many companies providing essential services during the national emergency related to the covid-19 pandemic . our level of service to our 743,000 customers remains uninterrupted . we implemented a comprehensive set of actions to help our customers , communities , and employees , while maintaining our commitments to provide reliable service and to continue to monitor and adapt our financial business plan for the evolving covid-19 pandemic challenges . in march , we voluntarily informed both our retail customers and state regulators that disconnections for non-payment would be temporarily suspended , and we have provided an incremental $ 400,000 in charitable contributions and aid to assist the communities we serve . our ceo made an official declaration of emergency in accordance with our continuity of operations plan and emergency standard operating procedures , implementing an incident command structure that remains in effect . we have taken extra 34 precautions for our employees who work in the field and for employees who continue to work in our facilities . this includes implementation of work from home policies , social-distancing protocols , face-covering directives , and travel restrictions where appropriate . currently , we do not anticipate any employee layoffs and are continuing to hire for critical positions to maintain our high level of reliability and customer service . we continue to implement strong physical and cyber-security measures to enable our systems to continue to serve our operational needs with a remote workforce and to keep our company running to provide high quality service to our customers . in august , we advised customers that we would resume the disconnection process for customers whose accounts are in arrears . however , beginning in november our normal winter disconnection procedures were in effect . 2020 impact - the covid-19 pandemic has impacted our financial results with a reduction in our commercial and industrial sales volumes , offset in part by an increase in usage by residential customers . we also experienced an increase in certain operating expenses including an increase in uncollectible accounts and interest expense offset in part by lower operating expenses as detailed below . covid-19 continues to be an evolving situation and we expect to continue to experience impacts to our financial results in 2021. replace_table_token_7_th ( 1 ) non-gaap financial measure . see `` non-gaap financial measure `` above . ( 2 ) income tax benefit calculated using a 25.3 % effective tax rate we submitted accounting order requests in montana and south dakota to allow for the deferral of uncollectible accounts expense in excess of amounts currently recovered from customers and to determine ratemaking treatment in a future proceeding . the sdpuc issued an order in august 2020 , authorizing deferral of costs for possible recovery through future rates . as of december 31 , 2020 we have deferred $ 0.2 million of uncollectible accounts expense into a regulatory asset in south dakota . the mpsc issued an order in november 2020 , declining to authorize establishment of a regulatory asset for the deferral of the incremental bad debt expense . we are working with customers who have been unable to pay during the covid-19 pandemic , including offering extended payment arrangements . in each of our jurisdictions , we resumed disconnection procedures for non-payment during the third quarter of 2020 , supporting our efforts to reduce past due customer balances . we are subject to certain annual winter disconnection procedures , which went into effect on november 1st and will remain in effect through march 31st . the continued progression of and global response to the covid-19 pandemic increases the risk of delays in construction activities and equipment deliveries related to our capital projects , including potential delays in obtaining permits from government agencies , resulting in a potential deferral of capital expenditures . while we have not experienced significant supply 35 chain challenges to date and were able to execute on over $ 400 million in planned capital investment projects during 2020 , we continue to closely manage and monitor developments in our supply chain . the ongoing impacts of the covid-19 pandemic remain uncertain . story_separator_special_tag due to actual price escalation , which was less than estimated ( $ 2.2 million in the current period compared with $ 3.3 million in the prior period ) ; and higher costs of approximately $ 2.2 million , due to a $ 0.9 million reduction in costs for the adjustment to actual output and pricing for the current contract year as compared with a $ 3.1 million reduction in costs in the prior period . the inclusion in the prior period of lower montana electric supply costs as a result of changes in the associated statute , offset in part by lower supply costs in 2020 ; lower demand to transmit energy across our transmission lines due to market conditions and pricing , including the closure of colstrip units 1 and 2 ; and an increase in montana electric rates . 44 the change in regulatory amortization revenue is due to timing differences between when we incur electric supply costs and when we recover these costs in rates from our customers , which has a minimal impact on gross margin . our wholesale and other revenues are largely gross margin neutral as they are offset by changes in cost of sales . 45 natural gas operations we have various classifications of natural gas revenues , defined as follows : retail : sales of natural gas to residential , commercial and industrial customers , and the impact of regulatory mechanisms . regulatory amortization : primarily represents timing differences for natural gas supply costs and property taxes between when we incur these costs and when we recover these costs in rates from our customers , which is also reflected in cost of sales and therefore has minimal impact on gross margin . the amortization of these amounts are offset in retail revenue . wholesale : primarily represents transportation and storage for others . year ended december 31 , 2020 compared with year ended december 31 , 2019 replace_table_token_19_th ( 1 ) non-gaap financial measure . see `` non-gaap financial measure `` above . replace_table_token_20_th replace_table_token_21_th 46 the following summarizes the components of the changes in natural gas gross margin for the years ended december 31 , 2020 and 2019 ( in millions ) : gross margin 2020 vs. 2019 gross margin items impacting net income retail volumes $ ( 10.6 ) montana rates ( 1.2 ) other 1.3 change in gross margin impacting net income ( 10.5 ) gross margin items offset within net income property taxes recovered in revenue , offset in property tax expense 0.5 operating expenses recovered in revenue , offset in operating expense 0.1 gas production taxes recovered in revenue , offset in property and other taxes ( 0.1 ) change in items offset within net income 0.5 decrease in gross margin ( 1 ) $ ( 10.0 ) ( 1 ) non-gaap financial measure . see `` non-gaap financial measure `` above . gross margin decreased $ 10.0 million , including a $ 10.5 million decrease from items impacting net income and a $ 0.5 million increase from items offset within net income . the change in gross margin for items impacting net income includes the following : a decrease in gas volumes due to warmer winter weather , offset in part by customer growth . in addition , impacts of the covid-19 pandemic drove a decline of approximately of $ 1- $ 2 million , as a result of lower customer usage ; and a reduction of rates due to the step down of our montana gas production assets . our wholesale and other revenues are largely gross margin neutral as they are offset by changes in cost of sales . 47 story_separator_special_tag style= `` color : # 000000 ; font-family : 'times new roman ' , sans-serif ; font-size:10pt ; font-weight:400 ; line-height:100 % `` > $ 305.0 minimum amount outstanding $ — as of february 5 , 2021 , our availability under our revolving credit facilities was approximately $ 231.0 million . credit ratings in general , less favorable credit ratings make debt financing more costly and more difficult to obtain on terms that are favorable to us and our customers , may impact our trade credit availability , and could result in the need to issue additional equity securities . fitch ratings ( fitch ) , moody 's investors service ( moody 's ) , and s & p global ratings ( s & p ) are independent credit-rating agencies that rate our debt securities . these ratings indicate the agencies ' assessment of our ability to pay interest and principal when due on our debt . as of february 5 , 2021 , our current ratings with these agencies are as follows : senior secured rating senior unsecured rating commercial paper outlook fitch a a- f2 stable moody 's a3 baa2 prime-2 stable s & p a- bbb a-2 stable _ a security rating is not a recommendation to buy , sell or hold securities . such rating may be subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the credit rating agency and each rating should be evaluated independently of any other rating . capital requirements our capital expenditures program is subject to continuing review and modification . actual utility construction expenditures may vary from estimates due to changes in electric and natural gas projected load growth , changing business operating conditions and other business factors . we anticipate funding capital expenditures through cash flows from operations , available credit sources , debt and equity issuances and future rate increases . our estimated capital expenditures are discussed above in the `` significant infrastructure investments and initiatives `` section . 49 contractual obligations and other commitments we have a variety of contractual obligations and other commitments that require payment of cash at certain specified periods . the following table summarizes our contractual cash obligations and commitments as of december 31 , 2020. see additional discussion in note 18 - commitments and

liquidity and capital resources we require liquidity to support and grow our business , and use our liquidity for working capital needs , capital expenditures , investments in or acquisitions of assets , and to repay debt . we believe our cash flows from operations and existing borrowing capacity should be sufficient to fund our operations , service existing debt , pay dividends , and fund capital expenditures ( excluding strategic growth opportunities ) . the amount of capital expenditures and dividends are subject to certain factors including the use of existing cash , cash equivalents and the receipt of cash from operations . in addition , a material change in operations or available financing could impact our current liquidity and ability to fund capital resource requirements , and we may defer a portion of our planned capital expenditures as necessary . we issue debt securities to refinance retiring maturities , reduce revolver debt , fund construction programs and for other general corporate purposes . to fund our strategic growth opportunities we utilize available cash flow , debt capacity and equity issuances that allows us to maintain investment grade ratings . we plan to maintain a 50 - 55 percent debt to total capital ratio excluding finance leases , and expect to continue targeting a long-term dividend payout ratio of 60 - 70 percent of earnings per share ; however , there can be no assurance that we will be able to meet these targets . based upon our current capital expenditure expectations , we anticipate initiating a 3-year $ 200 million at-the-market ( atm ) offering during 2021 and begin issuing equity under that program to help fund such capital expenditures . equity issuances will be sized to help maintain and protect current credit ratings . capital investment in response to montana electric supply resource planning would be incremental to these amounts .


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```liquidity and capital resources we require liquidity to support and grow our business , and use our liquidity for working capital needs , capital expenditures , investments in or acquisitions of assets , and to repay debt . we believe our cash flows from operations and existing borrowing capacity should be sufficient to fund our operations , service existing debt , pay dividends , and fund capital expenditures ( excluding strategic growth opportunities ) . the amount of capital expenditures and dividends are subject to certain factors including the use of existing cash , cash equivalents and the receipt of cash from operations . in addition , a material change in operations or available financing could impact our current liquidity and ability to fund capital resource requirements , and we may defer a portion of our planned capital expenditures as necessary . we issue debt securities to refinance retiring maturities , reduce revolver debt , fund construction programs and for other general corporate purposes . to fund our strategic growth opportunities we utilize available cash flow , debt capacity and equity issuances that allows us to maintain investment grade ratings . we plan to maintain a 50 - 55 percent debt to total capital ratio excluding finance leases , and expect to continue targeting a long-term dividend payout ratio of 60 - 70 percent of earnings per share ; however , there can be no assurance that we will be able to meet these targets . based upon our current capital expenditure expectations , we anticipate initiating a 3-year $ 200 million at-the-market ( atm ) offering during 2021 and begin issuing equity under that program to help fund such capital expenditures . equity issuances will be sized to help maintain and protect current credit ratings . capital investment in response to montana electric supply resource planning would be incremental to these amounts .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : as part of our continued efforts in environmental stewardship , we recently established our carbon reduction vision for montana , committing to reduce the carbon intensity of our montana electric energy portfolio 90 percent by 2045 , as compared with our 2010 carbon intensity baseline . over the last decade , we have already reduced the carbon intensity of our energy generation in montana by more than 50 percent . our vision for the future builds on the progress we have already made . already , the foundation of our energy generation is our hydroelectric system , which is 100 percent carbon free and is readily available capacity . for us , wind generation is a close second and continues to grow . while utility-scale solar energy is not a significant portion of our energy mix today , we expect it to evolve along with advances in energy storage . we are committed to working with our customers and communities to help them achieve their sustainability goals and add new technology on our system . how we performed in 2020 compared to our 2019 results replace_table_token_6_th consolidated net income in 2020 was $ 155.2 million as compared with $ 202.1 million in 2019. this decrease was primarily due to an income tax benefit in 2019 , lower gross margin in 2020 due primarily to warmer winter weather and impacts of the covid-19 pandemic , a disallowance of prior period supply costs , lower supply cost recovery , and higher depreciation and depletion expense , offset in part by a decrease in operating , general and administrative expenses . significant trends and regulation covid-19 pandemic we are one of many companies providing essential services during the national emergency related to the covid-19 pandemic . our level of service to our 743,000 customers remains uninterrupted . we implemented a comprehensive set of actions to help our customers , communities , and employees , while maintaining our commitments to provide reliable service and to continue to monitor and adapt our financial business plan for the evolving covid-19 pandemic challenges . in march , we voluntarily informed both our retail customers and state regulators that disconnections for non-payment would be temporarily suspended , and we have provided an incremental $ 400,000 in charitable contributions and aid to assist the communities we serve . our ceo made an official declaration of emergency in accordance with our continuity of operations plan and emergency standard operating procedures , implementing an incident command structure that remains in effect . we have taken extra 34 precautions for our employees who work in the field and for employees who continue to work in our facilities . this includes implementation of work from home policies , social-distancing protocols , face-covering directives , and travel restrictions where appropriate . currently , we do not anticipate any employee layoffs and are continuing to hire for critical positions to maintain our high level of reliability and customer service . we continue to implement strong physical and cyber-security measures to enable our systems to continue to serve our operational needs with a remote workforce and to keep our company running to provide high quality service to our customers . in august , we advised customers that we would resume the disconnection process for customers whose accounts are in arrears . however , beginning in november our normal winter disconnection procedures were in effect . 2020 impact - the covid-19 pandemic has impacted our financial results with a reduction in our commercial and industrial sales volumes , offset in part by an increase in usage by residential customers . we also experienced an increase in certain operating expenses including an increase in uncollectible accounts and interest expense offset in part by lower operating expenses as detailed below . covid-19 continues to be an evolving situation and we expect to continue to experience impacts to our financial results in 2021. replace_table_token_7_th ( 1 ) non-gaap financial measure . see `` non-gaap financial measure `` above . ( 2 ) income tax benefit calculated using a 25.3 % effective tax rate we submitted accounting order requests in montana and south dakota to allow for the deferral of uncollectible accounts expense in excess of amounts currently recovered from customers and to determine ratemaking treatment in a future proceeding . the sdpuc issued an order in august 2020 , authorizing deferral of costs for possible recovery through future rates . as of december 31 , 2020 we have deferred $ 0.2 million of uncollectible accounts expense into a regulatory asset in south dakota . the mpsc issued an order in november 2020 , declining to authorize establishment of a regulatory asset for the deferral of the incremental bad debt expense . we are working with customers who have been unable to pay during the covid-19 pandemic , including offering extended payment arrangements . in each of our jurisdictions , we resumed disconnection procedures for non-payment during the third quarter of 2020 , supporting our efforts to reduce past due customer balances . we are subject to certain annual winter disconnection procedures , which went into effect on november 1st and will remain in effect through march 31st . the continued progression of and global response to the covid-19 pandemic increases the risk of delays in construction activities and equipment deliveries related to our capital projects , including potential delays in obtaining permits from government agencies , resulting in a potential deferral of capital expenditures . while we have not experienced significant supply 35 chain challenges to date and were able to execute on over $ 400 million in planned capital investment projects during 2020 , we continue to closely manage and monitor developments in our supply chain . the ongoing impacts of the covid-19 pandemic remain uncertain . story_separator_special_tag due to actual price escalation , which was less than estimated ( $ 2.2 million in the current period compared with $ 3.3 million in the prior period ) ; and higher costs of approximately $ 2.2 million , due to a $ 0.9 million reduction in costs for the adjustment to actual output and pricing for the current contract year as compared with a $ 3.1 million reduction in costs in the prior period . the inclusion in the prior period of lower montana electric supply costs as a result of changes in the associated statute , offset in part by lower supply costs in 2020 ; lower demand to transmit energy across our transmission lines due to market conditions and pricing , including the closure of colstrip units 1 and 2 ; and an increase in montana electric rates . 44 the change in regulatory amortization revenue is due to timing differences between when we incur electric supply costs and when we recover these costs in rates from our customers , which has a minimal impact on gross margin . our wholesale and other revenues are largely gross margin neutral as they are offset by changes in cost of sales . 45 natural gas operations we have various classifications of natural gas revenues , defined as follows : retail : sales of natural gas to residential , commercial and industrial customers , and the impact of regulatory mechanisms . regulatory amortization : primarily represents timing differences for natural gas supply costs and property taxes between when we incur these costs and when we recover these costs in rates from our customers , which is also reflected in cost of sales and therefore has minimal impact on gross margin . the amortization of these amounts are offset in retail revenue . wholesale : primarily represents transportation and storage for others . year ended december 31 , 2020 compared with year ended december 31 , 2019 replace_table_token_19_th ( 1 ) non-gaap financial measure . see `` non-gaap financial measure `` above . replace_table_token_20_th replace_table_token_21_th 46 the following summarizes the components of the changes in natural gas gross margin for the years ended december 31 , 2020 and 2019 ( in millions ) : gross margin 2020 vs. 2019 gross margin items impacting net income retail volumes $ ( 10.6 ) montana rates ( 1.2 ) other 1.3 change in gross margin impacting net income ( 10.5 ) gross margin items offset within net income property taxes recovered in revenue , offset in property tax expense 0.5 operating expenses recovered in revenue , offset in operating expense 0.1 gas production taxes recovered in revenue , offset in property and other taxes ( 0.1 ) change in items offset within net income 0.5 decrease in gross margin ( 1 ) $ ( 10.0 ) ( 1 ) non-gaap financial measure . see `` non-gaap financial measure `` above . gross margin decreased $ 10.0 million , including a $ 10.5 million decrease from items impacting net income and a $ 0.5 million increase from items offset within net income . the change in gross margin for items impacting net income includes the following : a decrease in gas volumes due to warmer winter weather , offset in part by customer growth . in addition , impacts of the covid-19 pandemic drove a decline of approximately of $ 1- $ 2 million , as a result of lower customer usage ; and a reduction of rates due to the step down of our montana gas production assets . our wholesale and other revenues are largely gross margin neutral as they are offset by changes in cost of sales . 47 story_separator_special_tag style= `` color : # 000000 ; font-family : 'times new roman ' , sans-serif ; font-size:10pt ; font-weight:400 ; line-height:100 % `` > $ 305.0 minimum amount outstanding $ — as of february 5 , 2021 , our availability under our revolving credit facilities was approximately $ 231.0 million . credit ratings in general , less favorable credit ratings make debt financing more costly and more difficult to obtain on terms that are favorable to us and our customers , may impact our trade credit availability , and could result in the need to issue additional equity securities . fitch ratings ( fitch ) , moody 's investors service ( moody 's ) , and s & p global ratings ( s & p ) are independent credit-rating agencies that rate our debt securities . these ratings indicate the agencies ' assessment of our ability to pay interest and principal when due on our debt . as of february 5 , 2021 , our current ratings with these agencies are as follows : senior secured rating senior unsecured rating commercial paper outlook fitch a a- f2 stable moody 's a3 baa2 prime-2 stable s & p a- bbb a-2 stable _ a security rating is not a recommendation to buy , sell or hold securities . such rating may be subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the credit rating agency and each rating should be evaluated independently of any other rating . capital requirements our capital expenditures program is subject to continuing review and modification . actual utility construction expenditures may vary from estimates due to changes in electric and natural gas projected load growth , changing business operating conditions and other business factors . we anticipate funding capital expenditures through cash flows from operations , available credit sources , debt and equity issuances and future rate increases . our estimated capital expenditures are discussed above in the `` significant infrastructure investments and initiatives `` section . 49 contractual obligations and other commitments we have a variety of contractual obligations and other commitments that require payment of cash at certain specified periods . the following table summarizes our contractual cash obligations and commitments as of december 31 , 2020. see additional discussion in note 18 - commitments and

