14. REPORTING SEGMENT AND OTHER OPERATIONS DATA The Company organizes its businesses based on a combination of factors, including its products and its regulatory environment. As a result, the Company manages its businesses through the following reporting segments and other operations: the Natural Gas Distribution segment consists of regulated energy and off-system, capacity and storage management operations; the Clean Energy Ventures segment consists of capital investments in clean energy projects; the Energy Services segment consists of unregulated wholesale and retail energy operations; the Midstream segment consists of the Companys investments in natural gas transportation and storage facilities; the Home Services and Other operations consist of heating, cooling and water appliance sales, installations and services, other investments and general corporate activities. Information related to the Companys various reporting segments and other operations is detailed below: (Thousands) Fiscal Years Ended September 30, 2018 2017 2016 Operating revenues Natural Gas Distribution External customers $ 731,865 $ 695,637 $ 594,346 Clean Energy Ventures External customers 71,375 64,394 53,540 Energy Services External customers (1) 2,064,477 1,462,365 1,187,754 Intercompany 48,327 316 9,499 Subtotal 2,916,044 2,222,712 1,845,139 Home Services and Other External customers 47,392 46,221 45,265 Intercompany 2,665 3,370 3,232 Eliminations (50,992 ) (3,686 ) (12,731 ) Total $ 2,915,109 $ 2,268,617 $ 1,880,905 Depreciation and amortization Natural Gas Distribution $ 53,208 $ 49,347 $ 47,828 Clean Energy Ventures 31,877 31,834 23,971 Energy Services (2) 76 63 88 Midstream 6 6 6 Subtotal 85,167 81,250 71,893 Home Services and Other 780 798 981 Eliminations (246 ) (207 ) (126 ) Total $ 85,701 $ 81,841 $ 72,748 Interest income (3) Natural Gas Distribution $ 614 $ 555 $ 115 Energy Services 240 6 98 Midstream 3,374 2,195 1,524 Subtotal 4,228 2,756 1,737 Home Services and Other 1,476 590 397 Eliminations (5,090 ) (1,312 ) (2,006 ) Total $ 614 $ 2,034 $ 128 (1) Includes sales to Canada, which are immaterial. (2) The amortization of acquired wholesale energy contracts is excluded above and is included in gas purchases - nonutility on the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations. (3) Included in other income, net on the Consolidated Statements of Operations. (Thousands) Fiscal Years Ended September 30, 2018 2017 2016 Interest expense, net of capitalized interest Natural Gas Distribution $ 25,299 $ 25,818 $ 19,930 Clean Energy Ventures 18,320 16,263 10,304 Energy Services 3,945 2,747 1,095 Midstream 1,667 960 287 Subtotal 49,231 45,788 31,616 Home Services and Other 7 410 252 Eliminations (2,952 ) (1,312 ) (824 ) Total $ 46,286 $ 44,886 $ 31,044 Income tax (benefit) provision Natural Gas Distribution $ (1,910 ) $ 43,485 $ 34,951 Clean Energy Ventures (79,932 ) (31,161 ) (26,592 ) Energy Services 24,996 (4,015 ) 7,030 Midstream (8,548 ) 5,820 6,130 Subtotal (65,394 ) 14,129 21,519 Home Services and Other 11,944 3,857 1,387 Eliminations (335 ) 357 624 Total $ (53,785 ) $ 18,343 $ 23,530 Equity in earnings of affiliates Midstream $ 16,165 $ 17,797 $ 13,936 Eliminations (3,157 ) (3,984 ) (4,421 ) Total $ 13,008 $ 13,813 $ 9,515 Net financial earnings (loss) Natural Gas Distribution $ 84,048 $ 86,930 $ 76,104 Clean Energy Ventures 75,849 24,873 28,393 Energy Services 60,378 18,554 21,934 Midstream 24,367 12,857 9,406 Subtotal 244,642 143,214 135,837 Home Services and Other (3,829 ) 6,811 2,882 Eliminations (327 ) (633 ) (634 ) Total $ 240,486 $ 149,392 $ 138,085 Capital expenditures Natural Gas Distribution $ 254,523 $ 176,249 $ 205,133 Clean Energy Ventures 123,421 149,400 149,063 Midstream 5,431   Subtotal 383,375 325,649 354,196 Home Services and Other 1,213 2,434 1,896 Total $ 384,588 $ 328,083 $ 356,092 Investments in equity investees Midstream 16,151 27,070 11,176 Total $ 16,151 $ 27,070 $ 11,176 The Chief Executive Officer, who uses NFE as a measure of profit or loss in measuring the results of the Companys reporting segments and operations, is the chief operating decision maker of the Company. A reconciliation of consolidated NFE to consolidated net income is as follows: (Thousands) 2018 2017 2016 Consolidated net financial earnings $ 240,486 $ 149,392 $ 138,085 Less: Unrealized loss (gain) on derivative instruments and related transactions 26,770 (11,241 ) 46,883 Tax effect (4,512 ) 4,062 (17,018 ) Effects of economic hedging related to natural gas inventory (22,570 ) 38,470 (36,816 ) Tax effect 7,362 (13,964 ) 13,364 Consolidated net income $ 233,436 $ 132,065 $ 131,672 The Company uses derivative instruments as economic hedges of purchases and sales of physical gas inventory. For GAAP purposes, these derivatives are recorded at fair value and related changes in fair value are included in reported earnings. Revenues and cost of gas related to physical gas flow are recognized when the gas is delivered to customers. Consequently, there is a mismatch in the timing of earnings recognition between the economic hedges and physical gas flows. Timing differences occur in two ways:  Unrealized gains and losses on derivatives are recognized in reported earnings in periods prior to physical gas inventory flows; and  Unrealized gains and losses of prior periods are reclassified as realized gains and losses when derivatives are settled in the same period as physical gas inventory movements occur. NFE is a measure of the earnings based on eliminating these timing differences, to effectively match the earnings effects of the economic hedges with the physical sale of gas, SRECs and foreign currency contracts. Consequently, to reconcile between net income and NFE, current-period unrealized gains and losses on the derivatives are excluded from NFE as a reconciling item. Additionally, realized derivative gains and losses are also included in current-period net income. However, NFE includes only realized gains and losses related to natural gas sold out of inventory, effectively matching the full earnings effects of the derivatives with realized margins on physical gas flows. Included in the tax effects are current and deferred income tax expense corresponding with the non-GAAP measure. Also included in the tax effects during fiscal 2018 , are the impacts of the Tax Act and resulting revaluation of the deferred income taxes that arose from derivative and hedging activity as measured under NFE. The revaluation caused the effective tax rate on reconciling items to differ from the statutory rate in effect for the year. The Company also calculates a quarterly tax adjustment based on an estimated annual effective tax rate for NFE purposes. The Companys assets for the various reporting segments and business operations are detailed below: (Thousands) 2018 2017 2016 Assets at end of period: Natural Gas Distribution $ 2,663,054 $ 2,519,578 $ 2,517,401 Clean Energy Ventures (1) 865,018 771,340 665,696 Energy Services 396,852 398,277 327,626 Midstream 242,069 232,806 186,259 Subtotal 4,166,993 3,922,001 3,696,982 Home Services and Other 114,732 114,801 109,487 Intercompany assets (2) (138,061 ) (108,295 ) (87,899 ) Total $ 4,143,664 $ 3,928,507 $ 3,718,570 (1) Includes assets held for sale of $206.9 million for September 30, 2018 . (2) Consists of transactions between subsidiaries that are eliminated and reclassified in consolidation.