Cool winter boosts Avista’s earnings

A cooler winter helped boost Avista Corp.’s first quarter earnings, company officials said Wednesday.

The Spokane-based utility reported net income of $56.1 million, or 89 cents per share, for the first quarter, compared to $46.4 million, or 74 cents per share, for the first quarter of 2015.

While the recent winter was colder than the previous one, it was warmer than normal. So Avista also benefited from a “decoupling surcharge” approved by state regulators for Washington, Idaho and Oregon that helped the utility offset lower-than-expected electric and natural gas loads, officials said. Decoupling takes away the utility’s incentives to sell more energy to increase profits.

Avista officials said the company’s earnings also reflect higher base rates for natural gas customers. However, ratepayers are still benefiting from lower wholesale natural gas costs, which have offset the increase in base rates, said Casey Fielder, an Avista spokeswoman. The wholesale cost of natural gas and transporting it to Avista facilities accounts for about half of a customer’s monthly bill.

Electric generation from Avista’s dams was higher than normal during the quarter because of the region’s early snowmelt, officials said.

“Our earnings were a little better than expected, and at this point, we are on track to hit our earnings targets for the year,” said Scott Morris, Avista’s chairman and CEO, in a news release.

The company expects 2016 earnings in the range of $1.96 to $2.16 per share.