the authorized costs of $ 76 are to be recovered via a surcharge over a twenty-year period beginning october 2012 . surcharges collected as of december 31 , 2015 and 2014 were $ 4 and $ 5 , respectively . in addition to the authorized costs , the company expects to incur additional costs totaling $ 34 , which will be recovered from contributions made by the california state coastal conservancy . contributions collected as of december 31 , 2015 and 2014 were $ 8 and $ 5 , respectively . regulatory balancing accounts accumulate differences between revenues recognized and authorized revenue requirements until they are collected from customers or are refunded . regulatory balancing accounts include low income programs and purchased power and water accounts . debt expense is amortized over the lives of the respective issues . call premiums on the redemption of long- term debt , as well as unamortized debt expense , are deferred and amortized to the extent they will be recovered through future service rates . purchase premium recoverable through rates is primarily the recovery of the acquisition premiums related to an asset acquisition by the company 2019s california subsidiary during 2002 , and acquisitions in 2007 by the company 2019s new jersey subsidiary . as authorized for recovery by the california and new jersey pucs , these costs are being amortized to depreciation and amortization in the consolidated statements of operations through november 2048 . tank painting costs are generally deferred and amortized to operations and maintenance expense in the consolidated statements of operations on a straight-line basis over periods ranging from five to fifteen years , as authorized by the regulatory authorities in their determination of rates charged for service . other regulatory assets include certain deferred business transformation costs , construction costs for treatment facilities , property tax stabilization , employee-related costs , business services project expenses , coastal water project costs , rate case expenditures and environmental remediation costs among others . these costs are deferred because the amounts are being recovered in rates or are probable of recovery through rates in future periods . regulatory liabilities the regulatory liabilities generally represent probable future reductions in revenues associated with amounts that are to be credited or refunded to customers through the rate-making process . the following table summarizes the composition of regulatory liabilities as of december 31: .
what were the removal costs as a percent of total regulatory costs in 2015
removal costs recovered through rates are estimated costs to retire assets at the end of their expected useful life that are recovered through customer rates over the life of the associated assets . in december 2008 , the company 2019s subsidiary in new jersey , at the direction of the new jersey puc , began to depreciate $ 48 of the total balance into depreciation and amortization expense in the consolidated statements of operations via straight line amortization through november 2048 . pension and other postretirement benefit balancing accounts represent the difference between costs incurred and costs authorized by the puc 2019s that are expected to be refunded to customers. .